X-MEN #103 (August 2000)

The Goth

Credits: Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Raney (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters), Liquid! (colors)

UNCANNY X-MEN #382 (July 2000)

Lost Souls

Credits: Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Raney (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Comicraft’s Saida Temofonte (letters), Brian Haberlin (colors)

Summary: Cable offers the team psychic protection to enter Phoenix’s mind. Soon, he must also defend her body from a new attack by the Shockwave Riders. Phoenix successfully defends herself inside the mind of the dying Shockwave Rider, but is unprepared for the astral arrival of the Lost Souls. The shadowy Neo faction invade the minds of the X-Men, manipulating their greatest fears, pressuring them to give in to despair. Phoenix overpowers their dark force, then uses her powers to revive the dying Shockwave Rider. The X-Men attempt to part peacefully with the Neo soldiers. Later, Gambit urges the team to join him on a mission he declares more important than the Neo.

UNCANNY X-MEN Annual #15 - August 1991

Kings of Pain Part 3 - Queens of Sacrifice

Credits:  Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tom Raney (penciler), Joe Rubenstein & Co. (inks), Brad Vancata (colors), Joe Rosen (letters)

Summary:  X-Force and the New Warriors arrive on Muir Island and are promptly attacked by its Shadow King-influenced inhabitants.  When Cable explains to Moira MacTaggart that Harness and Piecemeal are absorbing her son’s energy, she stops the fight.  The teams unite and travel to Edinburgh to stop Harness and Piecemeal.  During the battle, Harness’ armor is damaged, revealing Harness as a female.  The teams are even more shocked to discover Harness is Piecemeal’s mother.  Soon, Piecemeal absorbs so much energy he disappears in a fog; in his place is a shadowy figure claiming to be both Proteus and Piecemeal.  Suddenly, the energy explodes.

Continuity Notes:  

• Who exactly is supposed to be on Muir Island at this point is hard to keep track of.  Madrox and Siryn are now there, following the Fallen Angels miniseries, but characters last seen on the Island like Amanda Sefton, Sharon Friedlander, and Tom Corsi are gone.
• Shatterstar uses his energy-blasting powers yet again this issue.  Feral is also still in a developmental stage, as she’s deferential to Cable during battle.   The Feral we’ll see in the ongoing X-Force series is relentlessly nasty and would only grudgingly obey any orders.

Creative Differences:  Some added word balloons on page thirty-three clarify what Silhouette’s powers are.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  Both Namorita and Polaris have gratuitous thong shots this issue.

I Love the '90s:  Harness is totally going to surrender to the Edinburgh police…“NOT!”

Review:  So, how did this end up as the Uncanny X-Men annual?  Well, during the “Shattered Star” period that had the X-Men split across the globe, most of them suffering amnesia, the closest thing Marvel had to a united X-team was the collection of minor characters on Muir Island.  (Many of them not even mutants.)  I seem to recall the Muir Island team was actually listed as the X-Men on some piece of merchandising Marvel released circa 1990; Marvel couldn’t really point to another group of characters and call them the X-Men, so they had to make do.  

By the time of the 1991 annuals, however, there was a united X-team; a large lineup that famously posed together for the cover of Uncanny X-Men #275.  Figuring out how to cram that team into a story that’s taking place before the big crossover set on Muir Island was problematic, however.  Plus, it’s possible that work began on these annuals long before the specific lineup in the monthly title was nailed down (at one point, Guido used to make it into group shots of the X-Men on promo images).  So, working in one final appearance of the Muir Island team before “The Muir Island Saga” makes sense, plus it gives Nicieza an opportunity to use Moira MacTaggart in the story.  This might not be the X-Men that people actually wanted to see in an Uncanny X-Men annual, but I can understand the logic behind the decision.

Much of the story is spent recapping the previous installments, along with the original Proteus storyline from the late ‘70s in Uncanny X-Men.  The plot also has to address the fact that the Muir Island team is currently possessed by the Shadow King, which gets hand-waved fairly quickly after a pointless fight scene.  (And even Bob Harras’ footnotes seem to indicate he’s not entirely sure what’s supposed to be going on at Muir Island.)  Given the circumstances of the plot, this should be an opportunity for Nicieza to do some heavy, emotional work with Moira, but she spends the bulk of the issue merely barking out orders to the teams or spouting pseudo-scientific gibberish.  There are around two dozen characters in this story by now, and because they spend most of this story fighting one another, there really is no room for something thoughtful and quiet, like Nicieza’s previous portrayal of Moira in Classic X-Men #36.  That’s not to say the characters are entirely generic, though.  The idea that Piecemeal is being exploited because of his powers ties in with an early (and quickly ignored) theme of the X-Force series; that this team isn’t going to take mutant oppression lightly.  And Nicieza is still able to work in some fun interactions amongst the New Warriors cast, so it’s not a complete loss.  

Visually, Tom Raney’s art is all over the place, which is probably a combination of him being a new artist and being inked by an unknown number of unnamed inkers.  The best pages show Raney has a real talent for drawing multiple characters and complex designs.  I also remember being genuinely grossed out by his portrayal of the corpulent Piecemeal as a kid.  That stuff is disturbing.

The Killing Stroke Part Two - The Razor’s Edge

Credits:  Fabian Nicieza (writer), Jerry DeCaire (penciler), Joe Rubenstein (inker), Mike Thomas (colors), Joe Rosen (letters)

Summary:  The surviving members of Freedom Force flee with Dr. Kurtzmann.  When Blob and Pyro are cornered, they decide to kill Dr. Kurtzmann to prevent Desert Sword from taking him.  Meanwhile, Crimson Commando and Avalanche are severely injured by landmines outside the Kuwait International Airport.

I Love the ‘90s:  I would say most of the members of Desert Sword are too politically incorrect to appear today, at least not without a few indignant internet editorials.

Review:  The dismantling of Freedom Force continues, and this time the tiny page count actively works against the story.  Because everything feels rushed, Pyro’s decision to kill Dr. Kurtzmann and the possible death of more Freedom Force members just lack any real drama.  And once Desert Sword exits the shadows and makes a real appearance, it’s obvious that most of these guys are Marvel Comics Presents material at best.  Jerry DeCaire’s art is very attractive, though, reminding me of Kerry Gammill’s work from this era.  Despite its flaws, this is still more entertaining than most annual backups.

The Origin of the X-Men

Credits:  Len Kaminski (writer), Ernie Stiner (penciler), Don Hudson (inker), Kevin Tinsley (colors), Joe Rosen (letters)

Summary:  Major Domo presents the history of the X-Men to Mojo.  Mojo refuses to believe it, however, telling him to do more research.

Review:  It’s another history lesson back-up.  There’s little here for anyone who already knows the history, but the Mojo angle thankfully isn’t used as an excuse for a thousand Hollywood references this time.  Ernie Stiner’s art is reminiscent of early Mike Mignola, which helps to alleviate some of the boredom.

The Enemy Within

Credits:  Len Kaminski (writer), Kirk Jarvinen (penciler), Brad Vancata (inks/colors), Mike Heisler (letters)

Summary:  In a nightmare, Wolverine is stalked by his adamantium skeleton.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  Wolverine is nude throughout the story, covered by tastefully placed shadows.

Review:  I’ve always liked this back-up, mainly due to Kirk Jarvinen’s art.  He’s the first non-Jim Lee artist that I thought could draw a Jim Lee-style Wolverine right.  The visual of an animated adamantium skeleton forcibly merging with Wolverine also creeped me out as a kid.  The story’s too short to really work as a psychological piece, but Kaminski gets the basic idea across.  Not a bad way to close out the annual at all.

X-MEN UNLIMITED #24 - September 1999

Search and Destroy

Credits: Joe Pruett (writer), Pascal Alixe (penciler), Koblish, Collazo, Ramos, Pepoy, Czop (inkers), Mark Bernardo (colors), Sharpefont & P. T. (letters)

Summary: An injured Japanese girl is taken to Dr. Cecilia Reyes’ office for treatment. Discovering that the girl was in a plane crash with her father, Cecilia and Wolverine search the woods for survivors. They soon learn that the plane was escaping Japanese authorities, who have accused the girl’s father, Inazo, of selling military secrets. The heroes rescue the survivors from Silver Samurai and his army of soldiers. Cecilia nurses Inazo’s business partner Tokitoshi back to health, only to have him turn on her when it’s revealed that he is the true traitor. Cecilia uses her powers to defend herself, then demands that everyone receive medical attention at her office before Tokitoshi is taken into custody.

Continuity Notes: According to Cecilia, her forcefield is an extension of her body that “still sends signals to my brain to alert me to the pain…but it does protect me from bodily harm.” This is the first time that I can recall a story suggesting that Cecilia actually feels pain when objects hit her bio-field. It seems to me that she would’ve been more whiney and obnoxious in her initial appearances if that were the case.

Review: Okay, perhaps Magneto Rex wasn’t entirely Joe Pruett’s fault. This isn’t so bad; not that the story isn’t filled with holes (Silver Samurai represents the Japanese government now? Fugitives escape Japan for…its ally, America? Their plane is flying over America’s east coast instead of its west?), but it’s structured well and Pruett manages to write plausible, cliché-free dialogue for most of the issue. It’s also nice to see Cecilia again, given the embarrassing way Marvel forced her out of the book during the previous year. Pruett seems to be hinting at Cecilia’s return to the team, as the story centers around Cecilia finding the inner strength to be the hero Wolverine believes her to be, and ends with a message about the importance of family. (Not that Cecilia’s X-Men “family” seemed too broken up over her departure, but that’s the state of the titles in the late ‘90s.) The art is provided by Pascal Alixe, whose style is about as far away from the Jim Lee and Joe Mad imitators of the day as you can get. His work is a strange amalgam of John Paul Leon and Steve Leialoha, and while it’s not always pretty, I would say it’s a step above X-Men Unlimited’s usual caliber of artists.

Aftermath

Credits: Joe Pruett (writer), Tom Raney (penciler), Holdredge, DeCastro, Perrotta, Martinez (inkers), Mark Bernardo (colors), Sharpefont & P. T. (letters)

Summary: Magneto meets with his cabinet: Quicksilver is given permission to free the Legacy Virus infected Mutates from their camps, Alda Huxley cautions against Genosha’s isolationism, and Phillip Moreau warns of a Magistrate uprising, while Fabian Cortez studies footage of Magneto’s initial appearance in Genosha. Magneto demands he leave the room, and then reflects on his new position.

Continuity Notes: There’s a brief hint of romantic feelings for Alda Huxley on Magneto’s behalf. Was this the reason why Marvel felt the need to insert her into Genosha’s new status quo?

Review: Oh, and now we’re back to being terrible. This is just as clunky and overwritten as the Magneto Rex miniseries it follows, which is a shame. It’s hard to believe the same writer is responsible for both stories in this comic, but for whatever reason, Pruett simply seems unable to produce readable Magneto/Genosha material.

Finally, the letters page reveals that the next issue begins X-Men Unlimited’s new direction. Accompanied by a Brett Booth pin-up, the editors ask readers to “expect stories that will be a part of the ongoing X-Men saga from over in the pages of Uncanny X-Men and X-Men.” Translation: “We know we’re filler. You know we’re filler. We know you know we’re filler. Maybe we can do something about that.” The plan doesn’t work, but I’ll give them points for at least acknowledging the problem.

MUTANT X #5 - February 1999

Goblins in the Night

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

Summary: The Six team up with Man-Spider to stop the Green Goblin and his army of cloned goblins. The Green Goblin is cornered by the Fallen and Madelyne, whose Goblin Queen persona has emerged. Man-Spider arrives and is shocked by their behavior. With the Fallen’s help, Madelyne kills Man-Spider and Green Goblin. The Brute witnesses the event, but is silenced when the Fallen threatens to kill his parents. The murders are pinned on the Brute, who is taken into custody.

“That’s Crazy Because They’re Different”: This reality’s Spider-Man goes by Man-Spider, presumably because he has six arms (a callback to the storyline in Amazing Spider-Man #100-102). Also, this reality has a President Starr, which may or may not be a reference to an existing Marvel Universe character.

Better Than X-Factor?: This isn’t much of an improvement, to be honest. At the time, Howard Mackie was the sole in-continuity Spider-Man writer, a responsibility that I don’t think any writer had been given since the spin-offs began, so perhaps he’s playing off the reputation Marvel tried to build for him as the “Spider-Guy” with this issue. Of course, the critical consensus was that Mackie was unsuited to be the Spider-Guy, and the material produced during his stint turned out to be even worse than many were expecting, so this issue isn’t off to a great start. Mackie tries to throw in some clone-related meta-humor, but it feels awkward and a little forced. Plus, his Green Goblin isn’t any different from the standard Green Goblin of the era, right up to the nonsensical “world domination” schemes that were grafted on to Norman Osborn in the late ‘90s, so that’s another letdown.

Revealing that Madelyne and the Fallen are so evil they’ll casually kill their opponents and frame a teammate does up the stakes for this universe, however. We haven’t seen just how nasty Havok’s teammates can be in this reality, perhaps because the creative team was still trying to work out just how far to take the idea, so at the very least some new revelations are being made. Unfortunately, much of the action in this issue is hard to follow, and almost every page is drowning in unnecessary text. There’s also an awkward scene at the end that reveals that the Brute had an off-panel confrontation with the police after leaving the murder scene. I honestly can’t think of a single reason why this scene occurred in-between pages, especially when the Goblin fight dragged on forever. There should’ve been plenty of pages to work that scene in. For the most part, this book hasn’t felt as sloppy as X-Factor could be, but this is not an encouraging sign.

MUTANT X #3 - December 1998

The Pack

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

Summary: On their way to Alaska, the Six are shot down by the Canadian military. The team is kidnapped by the Pack, leaving Havok alone. After he accidentally uncovers the abandoned Weapon X facility, the Pack agrees to free the team. Inside, the flood of memories drives the Pack insane, leading to another fight with the Six. Alpha Flight arrives and arrests the Pack. To avoid an international incident, the Six peaceably leave.

“That’s Crazy Because They’re Different”: The Pack consists of Wolverine, Sabretooth, and Wild Child. They’re all feral, and apparently only Wolverine has (limited) verbal skills. In this reality, the Weapon X project existed to create super-soldiers to fight against America in the Canadian/American conflict.

Better Than X-Factor?: Even though this is the weakest issue so far, yes. The idea of a militarized, hostile Canada is so absurd I can’t help but to like it, but the introduction of the Pack is a disappointment. The actual plotting of the issue is also a bit sloppy, as the story requires 1) the Brute to abruptly switch sides twice, with no compelling reason either time, 2) Havok to luckily blast into the hidden entrance of the Weapon X facility, 3) the Pack to irrationally turn on the Six for a second fight, and 4) Alpha Flight to conveniently arrive in time to stop the battle. Mackie is still having some fun with the premise, though. Havok presents a rational argument to the Six, explaining that being stuck in an alternate reality is no more implausible than anything that’s already happened to the team. That’s, you know, a good point. Maddie counters that even if he’s telling the truth, in this reality Havok’s respected by his peers, is married, has a baby, and lives a nice life. Why would he want to give that up? That’s not a bad argument, either. Just think -- two pages of rational conversation in a Howard Mackie comic. How often did that ever happen in X-Factor?

MUTANT X #2 - November 1998

No Way Out!

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Tom Raney (penciler), Andrew Pepoy & Walden Wong (inks), Gina Going (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

Summary: The Six aid the Fantastic Four against aspiring inter-dimensional tyrant, Moot. When Moot possesses Reed Richards’ body, he’s rescued by Havok. Richards listens to Havok’s story of slipping in-between dimensions and examines him. Finally, he offers a solution -- psychiatric help from Dr. Leonard Samson.

“That’s Crazy Because They’re Different”: In this reality the Fantastic Four were apparently never exposed to cosmic rays and instead wear cybernetic armor. I assume they also eschew code names, since Reed Richards doesn’t recognize the name “Mr. Fantastic.” Ben Grimm is much larger with what appears to be a glowing skull head, which may or may not be a part of his suit.

Continuity Notes: This reality’s Havok had a fling with Sue Storm, and Reed Richards is still angry about it. Madelyne makes him promise that there’s nothing going on between him and Sue anymore.

Better Than X-Factor?: Yes. Placing Havok in Namor’s role in the classic FF love triangle is an unexpected twist, and it leads the story in some interesting directions. Does Reed genuinely think Havok has brain damage, or is he setting up his former rival to be institutionalized out of spite? I like the fact that Mackie isn’t forcing Havok to keep the truth a secret for an unnatural period time, also. Havok might briefly play along while he’s still trying to figure out what happened, but it’s hard to believe that he would unnecessarily lie to his teammates after he’s confirmed that he really is in an alternate reality. The catch is, no one on this Earth has even heard of alternate realities (except for Moot, who doesn’t know how to access them but knows he wants to rule them), so instead they just assume he’s insane. Using an altered version of the Fantastic Four also opens up the question of when exactly this timeline diverged from the main Marvel Universe, which introduces numerous possibilities. The first issue just showed an alternate history for the X-Men, but now we see much larger implications for this new world. All of this is more intriguing than any of the byzantine “mysteries” that never amounted to anything in X-Factor.

MUTANT X #1 - October 1998

In the End…As In the Beginning

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

Summary: Havok floats in a black void until he encounters the recently deceased body of another timeline’s Havok. Possessing his body, Havok emerges in a new reality. In this world, he leads the Six with his wife, Marvel Woman. After defeating a Sentinel attack, Havok and the Six stop a rogue Nick Fury and SHIELD from unleashing the Legacy Virus.

“That’s Crazy Because They’re Different”: In this reality, Havok was a founding member of the X-Men. He now leads the Six, formerly the government-sponsored superhero team X-Factor, which consists of Marvel Woman (Madelyne Pryor), the Fallen (Archangel), the Brute (the Beast), Ice-Man (Iceman), and Bloodstorm (Storm). Elektra is nanny to Havok and Madelyne’s son, Scotty. In this world, Madelyne Pryor rescued her son in “Inferno” by striking a deal with N’astirh (she occasionally manifests the Goblin Queen persona), Archangel developed the ability to breathe fire from Apocalypse, the Beast grew green and amphibious (and less intelligent) after experimenting on himself, Iceman’s powers never recovered from Loki’s manipulations, and Storm remained a vampire after her encounter with Dracula.

Continuity Notes: The Six wonder why Sentinels are attacking them since human/mutant relations are “on an upswing.” Fury was discharged by the government for his extreme anti-mutant views. Cyclops died as a child during his family’s plane crash, leading Havok to name his son in his brother’s honor. Little Scotty instinctively knows that “our” Havok is not his father. Jean Grey also served in the X-Men as “Ariel” before her death. The Six split from the X-Men after Xavier left Magneto in charge of the school.

Better Than X-Factor?: By X-Factor I mean Howard Mackie’s run specifically, since comparing it to something like Peter David’s stint would be an apples and oranges kind of thing. And, yes, this is better than a good 90% of Mackie’s X-Factor issues. The dialogue is still extremely wooden in places, and while some of the characters are mocked within the story for their “extraneous exposition,” Madelyne lets out this gem without comment: “Ororo, the gale force winds you are summoning up and directing toward this one don’t seem to be having any more effect than either Havok’s or my powers.” Seriously, how does something like that get published?

Anyway, nitpicking aside, most of the dialogue is at least passable, and the situation Mackie has dumped Havok into has a lot of potential. He knows nothing of this world, his wife has a secret deal with demons, most of his teammates resemble monsters, and his son knows he’s an imposter. The premise of an alternate reality that’s allowed Havok to develop out of brother’s shadow is pretty novel, and it’s telling that these X-Men have lost so many of the battles they won in our reality under Havok.

Some of the status quo changes, like Storm’s vampirism, make sense while others seem too arbitrary. (Why would Havok replacing Cyclops on the X-Men lead Beast to develop a different formula? Or Apocalypse to mutate Archangel in a different way?) It’s hard to see the logic behind these choices. Later on, this book will become notorious for Mackie’s capricious reality warps, so this stuff is fairly mild. If you think Elektra the nanny and Nick Fury the bigot are too ridiculous, there’s much worse coming.

At any rate, aside from those complaints, I’m still willing to give the new reality a chance at this point. Considering the hasty development of this book, it’s actually impressive that a new reality has been fleshed out so quickly, and over the course of thirty story pages (and six character bios in the back) Mackie gives the readers a lot of info to digest. Unfortunately, Tom Raney’s art is looking a bit rushed. He has a tendency to occasionally produce faces that are oddly distorted, and there’s a higher ratio of those present in this issue. When he’s on his game though, like in the opening sequence, it’s hard to find any faults. One of the problems with X-Factor in the later years was the consistently below-par art, a situation that seems to be rectified now.

UNCANNY X-MEN #380 – May 2000

Uncanny X-Men #380

Heaven’s Shadow

Credits: Alan Davis (plot), Terry Kavanagh (script), Tom Raney (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Brian Haberlin (colors), Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: Beast returns to America, explaining to the X-Men that everyone’s genetic structure will soon warp like the Mutates. The X-Men travel to the High Evolutionary’s satellite, while Magneto and Polaris continue to fight human soldiers in Genosha. Mr. Sinister sends the High Evolutionary’s New Men to attack the X-Men. The team soon realizes that their powers have returned while they’re inside the sphere of influence. Wolverine trashes a control panel, which frees the High Evolutionary. He reverses the devolution wave, as Sinister escapes in the X-Men’s craft. On Earth, Mystique escapes from prison while Polaris uses an image inducer to disguise herself as Magneto and drive away the human soldiers.

Gimmicks: This issue comes polybagged with a sketchbook promoting the “X-Men Revolution” revamp. The cover price raises a dollar to $2.99, making this another example of Marvel actually charging extra for an advertisement.

Review: Alan Davis’ run comes to a quiet end, as the status quo is predictably restored and everything is left in place for Chris Claremont’s return. The plot moves along at a steady pace, but the entire issue is burdened by the cumbersome script. Terry Kavanagh delivers one of his weakest issues, blanketing every page with superfluous narrative captions and never-ending dialogue exchanges. A sharp script can save an otherwise dull story, but all Kavanagh seems able to do is have the characters recite plot points and then laboriously complain about losing their powers (“Losing my empathy with the elements…my very personal connection to the world through its weather -- again -- has been like the loss of my senses…”). This storyline was essentially filler already, so the last thing it needed was such a dull script. Despite his occasionally odd-looking faces, Tom Raney does provide solid artwork for the issue, which helps to alleviate the boredom.

UXM #379 & X-MEN #99 – April 2000

Uncanny X-Men #379

What Dreams May Come…

Credits: Alan Davis (plot), Chris Claremont (script, uncredited), Tom Raney (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Brian Haberlin (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Professor Xavier leaves the X-Men to train the Skrull mutants in space. In Washington DC, Mystique disguises herself as a federal agent to steal files from the NSA. Iceman and Beast sneak into Genosha, where Beast plans to research the Legacy Virus. Nearby, Polaris begins to question her decision to aid Magneto. At the X-Men’s mansion, a hologram of the High Evolutionary appears. He tells the team that mutant powers are too much of a threat to the planet, and that he will remove the mutant genome and make humanity whole. Suddenly, mutants across the globe lose their powers.

Continuity Note: Shadowcat describes herself as “barely sixteen” in this issue, which caused a firestorm online. Most fans seemed pretty adamant that she was at least eighteen.

Review: This is the start of Davis’ final arc, which sounds like more of an event than the Apocalypse storyline on paper, but really only lasts three issues. The majority of this issue is spent on having characters react to Cyclops’ death, which wasn’t that convincing when it happened the first time, and just reads like an editorial blunder in hindsight. Most of the character bits, such as Phoenix telling X-Man to finally live up to his name and the X-Men’s baseball game, aren’t bad, but the pacing of the issue is odd. The first half of the story consists of conversation scenes and a few montages of what various mutants are up to, and then High Evolutionary appears out of nowhere and declares that everyone’s powers are going away. The High Evolutionary isn’t given a villainous motivation; he just thinks mutants are too dangerous to have around, which at least keeps him broadly in character. Professor Xavier leaves the team, yet again, and Shadowcat isn’t happy about it. This seems like a more realistic reaction than having everyone just solemnly accept that Xavier needs to help the little green men in space. This is really just filler before Claremont’s official return, but the majority of the issue works pretty well.

X-Men #99

Oh, the Humanity!

Credits: Alan Davis (plot), Terry Kavanagh (script), Brett Booth (penciler), Sal Regla (inker), Hi-Fi Design (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Magneto and Polaris rescue Beast and Iceman from the human Genoshans that are targeting former mutants. Beast soon realizes that the genetically altered Mutates did not lose their powers, but were instead stalled in mid-transformation. Meanwhile, Colossus tries to console Nightcrawler, who misses his powers. Rogue disguises herself as Mystique’s lawyer and visits her in prison. Storm and Marrow work at a children’s camp. Jubilee discovers Wolverine is sick, unable to deal with adamantium poisoning. Dani Moonstar has a psychic vision of Cable, leading her to believe that her powers still exist. Inside the High Evolutionary’s satellite, his assistant Dr. Essex freezes the circuits in his armor. Essex reveals himself as Mr. Sinister, who plans on manipulating all DNA on Earth for his experiments.

Continuity Notes: A very extensive narrative sequence on the first page explains that the High Evolutionary removed the X-gene by manipulating the electro-magnetic field that surrounds human DNA. It’s revealed that one of his mentors as a young man was Dr. Essex, who he doesn’t know is Mr. Sinister.

The number of mutants listed on Earth is listed in the “hundreds”, which surprised me until I remembered that it was Grant Morrison who expressly increased the mutant population. I know that Marvel greatly reduced the number of mutants in the Marvel Universe a few years ago (originally claiming that only 198 still exist, but it seems like they’ve backtracked). The move has widely been viewed as a mistake, to put it mildly. I wonder if the “Decimation” idea would’ve worked if Marvel simply tried to revert to the pre-Morrison status quo, instead of overstating their case.

The Neo appear for the first time in a one-page cameo. One of their children (who resembles a mermaid) drowned when the High Evolutionary’s devolution wave hit the Earth. Of course, they’re declaring revenge. This is a setup for Chris Claremont’s first storyline, which is the source of his second run’s horrid reputation. I seem to recall his post-Neo stories were fine, but the unwieldy first arc was such a mess it was used to justify removing him from the titles.

Review: I have no idea why Marvel limited this idea to such a small storyline. This is an event that actually should impact the entire X-line, opens doors for numerous story possibilities, and actually needs to last a few issues in order to sell its importance. If any storyline deserved its own crossover name and special trade dress, it would be this one. Instead, it runs through two issues of UXM, one X-Men issue, and apparently one issue each of X-Force and Wolverine. (I'm basing this on one footnote during Wolverine's scene and X-Force's description in the Bullpen Bulletins' Checklist section. I remember fans asking if any of the mutants in the Avengers would be affected by this, and Kurt Busiek responded that no one at Marvel even told him about the event.) There’s no name for the storyline and nothing on the covers to indicate any connection between the titles. I can see why Marvel was saving its hype machine for the upcoming revamping of the entire line, but why waste this story idea as filler?

This issue takes place weeks after the UXM chapter. Most of the X-Men have now moved on to normal lives, so we get a montage of things like Rogue riding the subway and Storm and Marrow working at a summer camp. Nightcrawler’s having a hard time adjusting to having five fingers and losing his tail, which throws off his balance. Colossus is now an up-and-coming painter and doesn’t seem to miss his old life at all. There’s a lot of potential here (well, Storm and Marrow at the summer camp probably wouldn’t be a winner under any circumstances), but the story doesn’t go into any real detail. We’re given glimpses of a few possible storylines, but the lack of depth makes it hard to care too much. The book is also thick with unnecessary captions and dialogue. Many fans at the time pegged this as another Claremont ghost-job, and it’s possible that at least a few pages are his, but most of this script reads like Kavanagh’s recent issues. At one point Rogue works the phrase “high-price legal teams” into her dialogue twice in one panel. Not to emphasize a point or for comedic effect, but apparently because the scripter couldn’t be bothered to think up a different phrase. The guest art comes from Brett Booth, who was doing X-Men Unlimited at the time. He does a very obvious Art Adams imitation, which seems to mirror the weaker elements of Adams’ early work. Most of the characters are too lanky, his faces are too narrow, and there are pointless scratchy lines everywhere.

UXM #377 & X-MEN #97 – February 2000

Uncanny X-Men #377
 
The End of the World As We Know It – Part One

Credits: Alan Davis (plot), Terry Kavanagh (script), Tom Raney (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Brian Haberlin (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: The X-Men meet Xavier and Magneto in Egypt, outside of Apocalypse’s headquarters. They’re attacked by Skrulls and Living Monolith cultists. The Skrulls use their shapeshifting powers to distract the members of the Twelve and teleport them away. Apocalypse uses technology to pull Bishop out of the future, where he’s soon abducted by Deathbird. The Twelve are all assembled inside Apocalypse’s chamber, where he’ll use their combined powers to reshape reality. Meanwhile, Wolverine and the remaining X-Men receive word that Xavier’s files are being hacked.

Continuity Notes: Caliban is now serving as the Horseman Pestilence. I’m assuming he’s brainwashed like Deathbird. (Caliban was being used during Rob Liefeld’s brief stint on Cable, which I’ve never read).

A Skrull asks Apocalypse why he didn’t have Deathbird bring him Bishop when she delivered the Living Monolith earlier. Apocalypse doesn’t give much of a reason (apparently, he wanted him charged with temporal energy, but the script isn’t clear), but he says that he had him “bio-tagged” before he went into the future so that he could be called back at any time. The real reason is that Bishop had to be free for his solo series (which sent him to the far future), which was reaching its eighth issue at this point.

The team of X-Men from the end of X-Men #96 rescued Wolverine in his solo series. The story about files being hacked has nothing to do with Apocalypse. It’s a setup for their appearance in the X-51, Machine Man series, which I guess really needed a boost.

Review: The opening chapters of the crossover worked pretty well, but this one is a disappointment. There is some novelty to seeing the X-Men fight Skrulls and Monolith cultists (who dress like King Tut’s henchmen from the old Batman TV show), but that’s really it. The dialogue is stiff as a board, and Raney’s art doesn’t bring a lot of excitement to the action scenes. The story establishes that Phoenix is able to telepathically locate the Skrulls, and Beast has developed a gas that forces them to revert to their natural state, yet it’s filled with scene after scene of heroes being tricked by Skrulls. Not only do none of the detection methods work when they’re needed, but apparently Magneto is dumb enough to believe that Astra has suddenly emerged in the desert, and Polaris is so dense she falls for a Skrull imposter of Havok.

The tacked-on final page is a bigger mess. Moira claims that someone’s hacked into the Xavier Protocols, and Wolverine (after conveniently reminding everyone that they’re Xavier’s files on how to defeat the X-Men) comments that he thought Xavier erased them. Moira replies, “He did. But whoever’s on the other end…is dredging through the garbage even as we speak.” What does that mean? The characters also comment that they should be in Egypt helping the rest of the team, but they go on the “detour” anyway. Oh, well. At least their guest shot in X-51 enabled the book to find a new audience and survive on its own for several years, right?


X-Men #97

The End of the World As We Know It – Part Two

Credits: Alan Davis (plot, pencils), Terry Kavanagh (script), Mark Farmer (inker), Steve Oliff (colors), Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: Fiz asks another Skrull mutant, Zcann, to use his telepathy to expose the truth about Apocalypse to their fellow Skrulls. The Skrulls turn against the cultists, allowing the X-Men to enter Apocalypse’s chambers. Inside, Apocalypse is preparing to overtake X-Man’s body, which will enable him to wield the energy of the Twelve. Magneto’s powers burn out, interrupting the energy flow. Living Monolith breaks free and goes on a rampage. Bishop absorbs the energy fueling the Monolith and both disappear. Meanwhile, Mikhail Rasputin aides the X-Men by teleporting away with War, Pestilence, and Famine. Cable damages the energy field surrounding Apocalypse, enabling Phoenix to attack. Her blast reveals that inside Apocalypse’s shell is a frail body. Before he can overtake X-Man, Cyclops jumps in the way. Apocalypse merges with Cyclops’ body and is rejuvenated.

Continuity Notes: Deathbird is now going by “War”, which I don’t think was made clear in the previous issues. Phoenix recognizes Famine as Ahab, which is presumably another clue that he’s supposed to be Rory Campbell (he spoke with a British accent last issue). I don’t know if this was ever confirmed, though (or what the point of choosing him as a Horseman in the first place was supposed to be).

Apocalypse was shown as a body snatcher back in the Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix miniseries, which was set in the future. I think this was the first time he was shown stealing bodies in the current continuity. He wants X-Man’s body because it’s already capable of wielding so much power. X-Man claims at the end that Cyclops’ body will work just as well for Apocalypse since they’re genetically related.

Review: This isn’t particularly good, but seeing Alan Davis draw such a wide range of characters at least makes it fun to look at. Steve Oliff’s colors are also great, making this a very pretty comic. Davis has a huge cast to work with, which unfortunately leads to some quick exits (Mikhail Rasputin, War, Pestilence, and Famine are all dispatched in one page) and a rushed ending that doesn’t convey the emotion the creators seemed to be going for. If this story was always supposed to be about Cyclops accepting his role as an X-Man and making the ultimate sacrifice, the previous chapters did very little to set up the idea. The plot also spends a lot of time on Apocalypse bragging about his brilliant plan and how great all of the disparate energy he’s collecting is going to be. With all of the goodwill in the world, I don’t see how Apocalypse putting various mutants in bubbles and draining energy from them is that interesting of a plan. The characters were already where they needed to be in the last issue, so it’s odd that so much time is wasted with Apocalypse recapping the last chapter and barely doing anything. For the most part, I like the way Davis brought the various elements together to get to this point, but it’s not much of a climax.

UXM #374 & X-MEN #94 – November 1999

Uncanny X-Men #374

Beauty & the Beast Part Two – You Can’t Go Home Again

Credits: Alan Davis (plot), Jay Faerber (script), Tom Raney (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Liquid! (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Mikhail explains that he can combine his reality warping power with Colossus’ memories of Illyana and recreate her. When Colossus doubts his plan, Mikhail attacks him. Meanwhile, Marrow realizes that Callisto is actually a phantom image, and that she’s in the strange dimension she was transported to as a child. Phantom images reenact her childhood battles with her fellow Morlocks, as she hoped to prove herself to Mikhail. She finds Colossus and helps fight Mikhail. When Mikhail pushes his powers too far, it’s revealed his body has been inhabited by an inter-dimensional symbiote. Colossus encourages him to fight against it, and Mikhail manages to teleport back to Earth with Colossus and Marrow. Elsewhere, Deathbird is double-crossed by her employer.

Continuity Notes: Deathbird boasts that she has fulfilled her duty and returned the Living Monolith to his followers. Instead of receiving payment, she’s knocked unconscious. When Deathbird falls to the ground, she’s surrounded by the feet of Apocalypse and a few Skrulls. This is actually going somewhere.

Why exactly Marrow is seeing images of the past is unclear to me, and I guess it just has to be chalked up to the odd nature of this dimension. The flashbacks portray Callisto as opposed to Mikhail’s rule, but previous stories had her as Mikhail’s queen in this world.

Commercial Break: Marvel’s anti-pot “Fast Lane” insert begins running this month. It’s a Spider-Man vs. Mysterio comic that features Zane Whelan, an actor who promotes smoking pot, and a few impressionable Daily Bugle interns. Marvel was apparently paid to run these inserts as a part of a government program (some people were outraged that Marvel didn’t label the story as government funded, but I assumed it was from the beginning). It seemed like these things ran forever. Internet fans, of course, complained loudly, so much so Tom Brevoort ended up screaming at people to shut up about it on Usenet.

Review: The Colossus/Marrow two-parter concludes, with Mikhail Rasputin in place for his role in “The Twelve” storyline. Mikhail really had no personality traits outside of “he’s crazy”, and this issue manages to dismiss his one defining element by revealing that he was driven mad by a symbiote during his previous appearances. The revelation feels like it’s been tacked on at the last second, but I don’t have a problem with the idea in theory. Too many villain motivations during the Lee/Portacio/Lobdell era came down to “the bad guy’s crazy”, so it’s not as if Mikhail is losing a unique personality trait. With his sanity restored, this at least opens the door for future creators to take him in new directions. I don’t recall anyone actually doing anything with the character after Davis left the books, but the option’s there.

Another goal of the story seems to be redeeming Marrow. I think this is the third story that’s tried to pull the idea off since she joined. Davis has her confront the literal ghosts of her past, as her flashback revives her original, ugly design. As Marrow watches her younger self fight viciously to win Mikhail’s approval, she realizes how twisted her childhood was and finally confronts Mikhail. It’s competently handled, but Marvel’s still ignoring the things that should really make her feel guilty. Mikhail is also trying to redeem himself for inadvertently killing the people in the first alternate dimension he visited, as revealed in his early appearances. He thinks that using his powers to create life will absolve him of his past mistakes, which is at least a human motivation for the character. Colossus is able to give Mikhail one of his “soul of a poet” speeches, explaining the difference between interpreting life through art and actual life. Jay Faerber (who scripted this as a fill-in while working on Generation X) is able to convey the ideas more naturally than Terry Kavanagh often does, so it works pretty well.

X-Men #94

Hidden Lives Part 2 – Pandora’s Box

Credits: Alan Davis (plot & pencils), Terry Kavanagh (script), Mark Farmer (inker), Marie Javins (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Rogue convinces Sunfire she isn’t Mystique, as Shadowcat discovers a diary Destiny left for her in Mystique’s apartment. Sunfire explains that a metamorph killed four Yakiba agents in Japan, and the evidence points towards Mystique. Rogue shows Sunfire a magazine that proves Mystique was disguised as model Ronnie Lake in Switzerland when the murders occurred. Sunfire senses that they’re being watched and traces the electronic signal to a nearby warehouse. Rogue and Sunfire investigate and discover imposters of Mastermind and Mesmero. During the fight, Mesmero destroys the warehouse. The next morning, Nightcrawler says goodbye to Polaris, unaware that someone is spying on her. After Rogue says goodbye to Mystique, Shadowcat shows her the diary.

Continuity Notes: Mesmero tells Mastermind that “the boy” must not be hurt. Before the explosion, Sunfire says he felt a forcefield pushing him out of the warehouse. It’s soon revealed that Mastermind and Mesmero were Skrull imposters working for Apocalypse, who wants Sunfire as one of the Twelve. They’re responsible for the murders in Japan, and “positioned” Mystique to take the blame in order to cover their tracks.

This is the first reference to Destiny’s Diaries. It’s revealed that, before her death, Destiny wrote various cryptic clues describing her visions of the future. The entries in this issue have vague references to the Twelve, Xavier being betrayed, and Apocalypse’s new Death. The X-Men’s search for the rest of the diaries was the original premise for the unfortunately titled X-Treme X-Men series.

Miscellaneous Note: The Statement of Ownership lists average sales for the year at 200,070 copies with the most recent selling 178,799.

Review: I think this run of issues shows just how strong a writer Alan Davis is. He constructs a straightforward story that reunites Rogue with Mystique, gives Rogue some action sequences, introduces Sunfire, who will play a role in the next storyline, and offers hints about the behind-the-scenes villain’s identity. He mingles character work and plot extremely well, all while setting up the pieces for the next “big event” storyline. Those stories often just read like a mess, but it’s obvious that Davis has a plan and he’s working towards specific goals. He also manages to tie in Polaris’ mourning of Havok with a hint towards the next storyline, as she casually mentions the Living Monolith while talking about Havok’s past. Plus, we have the introduction of Destiny’s Diaries, which is a strong concept on its own that also manages to set up the next few issues. It’s too bad Marvel was infected with “event” mania during this era, and Apocalypse wasn’t allowed to just show up as the villain for a couple of issues. Shoehorning the revelation of the Twelve into the story, and dragging in a few ancillary titles, just pulled everything down.

Test to Destruction

Credits: John Byrne (writer, penciler, & letterer), Tom Palmer (inker), Greg Wright (colors)

Summary: Years in the past, the original X-Men investigate a ship they’ve confiscated from the Sentinels. Suddenly, the team is attacked by Blob, Toad, Juggernaut, and Magneto. After an intense fight, Cyclops figures out that the villains are actually mental projections created by Professor Xavier. Xavier calls off the impromptu training sequence, leaving the X-Men to wonder why he’s behaving oddly.

Continuity Notes: This story takes place right after UXM #66, following the revelation that Professor Xavier faked his death in order to prepare for an alien invasion. Xavier is now acting cold and snappish with the X-Men, for unknown reasons.

Review: Since Uncanny X-Men #94 is considered a classic issue (the beginning of Claremont’s run, and the first appearance of the “all-new” X-Men in their regular series), someone decided to make X-Men #94 a “double-sized spectacular” and throw in a preview of John Byrne’s new series, X-Men: The Hidden Years. Byrne’s return to the X-Men was supposed to be something of a big deal, but he maintains to this day that Marvel (perhaps intentionally) botched the marketing of it. When Joe Quesada replaced Bob Harras a year later, this was one of the first titles cancelled. The series was intended to show the adventures of the X-Men during the era the series was in reprints, and Tom Palmer was even brought back to ink it. I liked the premise and tried to give the book a shot, but couldn’t make it past the sixth issue. This preview has all of the elements that drove me away from the book; retro dialogue, slanted, oddly designed panels, and ugly lettering. Opening the book with a “what’s wrong with Xavier?” story that’s virtually identical to the one currently going on in the main titles, and was just used a few years earlier during “Onslaught”, didn’t exactly reel me in, either.

UNCANNY X-MEN #293 – October 1992

The Last Morlocks Story

Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Rurik Tyler (breakdowns), Tom Raney (pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), Lois Buhalis (letters), Kevin Tinsley (colors)

Summary

The X-Men discover Mikhail in one of the Morlock tunnels. He has declared himself the new leader of the Morlocks, and is plotting a mass suicide. Callisto fights Xavier in another tunnel, before Mikhail teleports them away to join him. Meanwhile, Jean finds Archangel alone and tells him that he has always been responsible for the actions of his wings. They rejoin the X-Men, but Mikhail overrides Jean’s telekinetic abilities and forces the team to leave the tunnels. After opening up the floodgates, Mikhail, Callisto, and the Morlocks apparently drown.

Commercial Break

There’s an ad for the Super Nintendo Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV - Turtles in Time game. I played this game for hours and never got sick of it. It’s the main reason why I begged my parents for a Super Nintendo that year. Licensed video games have a reputation for outright sucking, but I don’t remember any of the Turtle games from this era being bad. There’s also an ad for Battletoads, a fun game for the NES that came out during the height of Turtle-Mania.

Creative Differences

On page 8, a word balloon obviously not lettered by Buhalis has Callisto comment that Xavier is so weak that his “much vaunted psionic defenses” didn’t warn him of her presence. This line was apparently added to cover up the fact that Callisto probably shouldn’t be able to sneak up on the world’s strongest telepath.

Continuity Notes

Oh, man…where to start? On page eleven, Archangel says that the Reavers nailed him to a wall and robbed him of his wings. It was actually the Marauders, something I don’t think Archangel would’ve forgotten.

The letters page prints a letter from a fan commenting on Archangel’s new look (the hair and pale blue skin). As originally established, Archangel’s entire costume and skin were one and the same (he even referred to himself as bald during the Inferno crossover). Years later, Portacio began drawing Archangel with pale blue skin all over his entire body, and a head full of blonde hair. The dark blue and purple areas suddenly became his costume, not his skin. I don’t know if this was ever addressed during Portacio’s run on X-Factor, but it’s always struck me as a jarring transition. The editor’s response is that Archangel kept this a secret because he didn’t want to upset his friends (huh?).

On page nineteen, the infamous “Archangel could always control his wings” retcon is introduced. Up until a few issues before this, it had always been explicitly stated that Archangel was not in control of his wings.

The group suicide of Mikhail and the Morlocks would play a role in many upcoming stories, including the origin story of future X-Man Marrow.

Marvel continues to imply that Storm and Bishop are heading for a relationship in the letters page. This idea was thankfully forgotten pretty quickly. Even as a kid, I thought it was odd that these two characters would apparently be forming a romantic relationship based solely on their race.

Review

This is the comic that almost killed the enthusiasm I had for the x-titles as a twelve year old. I hated everything about this comic, and probably would’ve dropped this title altogether if I wasn’t lured in by next issue’s crossover. I think my main reason for hating it at the time was its disregard for the continuity I had already been following. Reading it now as an adult, I just find more of its flaws.

First of all, there’s no clear focus on anything in this storyline. The first chapter focused heavily on Storm and her connection to the Morlocks. After the first issue, Storm practically disappears for the rest of the story. The spotlight then jumps to Xavier, a character with virtually no connection to Callisto and the Morlocks. Apparently, the idea is to parallel Callisto losing her attractive looks with Xavier losing his ability to walk again. Just typing that out emphasizes how absurd this idea is.

Callisto, the character who started the chain of events, can’t maintain a consistent motivation. In the first two chapters, she wants revenge on the Morlocks for trying to kill her. Now, she wants to kill Xavier, apparently to prove that she’s the true leader of the Morlocks. What? Aside from contradicting the first two chapters of this story, this doesn’t make any sense in the first place. Mikhail’s attempt to use the Morlocks to regain his lost followers at least makes a little more sense, but the characterization of the Morlocks themselves doesn’t work. Are they supposed to be crazy or not? They were supposedly driven mad by they psychic kid from last issue. Now that Xavier has cured him, why are they still acting nuts? And not one Morlock objects to the whole “group suicide” idea?

I didn’t pick up on a lot of the shaky plotting of this storyline as a kid, but I certainly noticed the retcon involving Archangel’s wings. It ranks down there with Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn’s love children in terms of poorly thought-out retcons that don’t make sense. Having Jean reveal this, and say that she knew it all along, makes it stink even worse (it also reminds me of Mary Jane telling Peter that she knew about Gwen’s affair all along, too). I hadn’t read a lot of the original X-Factor issues at this point, but almost every one I had read focused on Warren’s out of control wings hurting innocent people (I could be wrong, but I think his wings might’ve actually killed some characters). Now we’re supposed to believe that Jean knew that he could stop this all along, but never told him? This is ridiculous.

This retcon was apparently done to remove a lot of Archangel’s angst and lighten the character up. I don’t have a problem with the goal, but the execution is terrible. Why would learning this cheer him up? Wouldn’t the knowledge that he had hurt so many innocent people, and try to kill his friends, just drive him further into depression? Not in the world of Uncanny X-Men, apparently. The next issue opens with a cheerful Warren going out on a date with his girlfriend.