Kevin's Random Thoughts

Friday, September 03, 2004

X-Men #94 (Aug 75): The Doomsmith Scenario

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Len Wein, Plotter-Editor; Dave Cockrum, artist; Bob McLeod, inker; Phil Rachelson, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer

Stating Line Up: Cyclops, Angel, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Havok, Polaris, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Sunfire, Colossus, Thunderbird

Synopsis: The X-Men are gathered for a meeting. Right off the bat Sunfire quits the team to return to Japan, his oath to help fulfilled. Banshee considers leaving based on the age difference between him and the rest of the team (nobody knows the story of Wolverine yet ;) ). Xavier uses reverse psychology to convince him to stay. Angel announced the original X-Men (himself, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Havok, and Polaris) are leaving the team, feeling they've grown up and need to live their own lives. It's emotional for Xavier, but Wolverine is less than sensitive. A fight nearly breaks out with Iceman, but is broken up by Cyclops. Cyclops decides to stay sine his optic beams will never allow him to live a regular life. Once the original X-Men leave, Cyclops introduces the new team to the Danger Room. During training, Thunderbird makes a mistake and is injured. Cyclops rides him for being careless and they nearly battle it out. Thunderbird gets down on himself.

At Valhalla Mountain in the Rockies, a package arrives for a NORAD guard. It's a keypad with one button. The guard presses it and a portal opens. A group of humanoid animals come through and attack the guards. Count Nefaria soon follows them. Nefaria triggers gas through the entire NORAD complex to eliminate all the remaining guards and officials. Back at the mansion, Cyclops is brooding over the argument with Thunderbird. Nightcrawler tries to talk to him about it, but Xavier summons them to the briefing room. Beast, former X-Man now Avenger, shows a video of Nafaria making demands of every country on Earth or he will launch nuclear missles on each of them. Beast advises the Avengers cannot help, so he asks the X-Men to. Cyclops tries to leave Thunderbird behind, but Xavier over rides it. The X-Men arrive and are given government access. Nefaria spots them and is overjoyed he will get a chance to destroy former enemies. He launches missles at them and the jet is destroyed. The X-Men escape in their backup jet (?) but it is zapped by a disruptor beam that causes that jet to vanish, and the X-Men fall to their deaths.

Yeah, but is it good? Not overly. The story was less crammed, but wasn't all the interesting. Nefaria is a lame C-level villain and his Ani-Men arn't that exciting. The jet sequence at the end is pretty lame, too. Even though Chirs Claremont starts writting here, it's a Len Wein story. So not the greatest. It'll start soon enough, though. Cyclops delimas over staying with the X-Men and being so hard on Thunderbird are well written, though, and Nightcrawler giving advice works. It's a trait that will define this character.

Significata: Rebirth of the regular X-Men series after months of cancellation. The very first Chris Claremont issue. Seventeen years worth would follow. Wolverine shows his psycho side and freaks everyone out. More would follow. Cyclops has two dilemas. More will follow. Nightcrawlers lends advice. More would follow. Thunderbird disappoints himself. Angel, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Havok, Polaris, and Sunfire quit the team.
¶ 1:55 AM

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