Kevin's Random Thoughts

Saturday, September 04, 2004

X-Men #97 (Feb 76): My Brother, My Enemy!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Dave Cockrum, artist; Sam Grainger, inker; Annette Kaye, letterer; Don Warfield, colorist; Marv Wolfman, editor

Starting Line Up: Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Colossus

Guest Star: Marvel Girl

Synopsis: Xavier is having a nightmare he's had many times before. In it, two giant starfleets are having a raging battle in space. A lone, bug shaped space ship fleese the battle. Inside, a helmeted creature reaches out for Xavier. He wakes up screaming. As Xavier has breakfast, Moria encourages him to tell the X-Men about his nightmares. In Rio Diablo, Havok sets off to do some field study while Polaris cleans up their small house in the middle of the desert. She is attacked by a shadowy figure she recognises. Her scream alerts Havok, who returns to the house. Everything seems to be fine, then Polaris attacks him. At Kennedy Airport, Cylops, Storm, and Jean Grey are seeing off Xavier as he is leaving on a vacation. Nightcrawler, using an image inducer to make him looking human (and like Clark Gable), and Colossus go skirt chasing. Havok and Polaris show up in costume. They attack the X-Men and a battle begins. The X-Men try to reason with two to find out why they are attacking them, but to no avail. The one behind the attack turns out to be Eric the Red (Cyclops' one time identity), and he joins the battle. The battle between Cyclops and Havok is a stalemate (mutant powers don't work on relatives), but Storms defeats Polaris. Banshee and Wolverine show up to help the team. Eric, seeing a battle he can't win, takes Havok and Polaris and flees. Cyclops threatens them to stop or he'll blast them, but he can't bring himself to blast his own brother. Wolervine freaks out at Cyclops, so Cyclops decks him. Wolverine is about to retaliate when Storm stops him. The whole time the X-Men are being watched by Stephen Lang, who in turn is being watched by someone else.

Yeah, but is it good? Yes! Finally! The Claremont greatness begins. Aside from well written action and motivation for the characters' actions, Claremont begins to layer the current and several future storylines so it all comes together somehow, even if the reader has no idea where it's going... yet. But the payoff is always there. The advantage to one man writting the same title for seventeen years is no one can change or drop ideas he started. Four issues in and he's set up stories that will take issue upon issue to resolve. And when they're being resolved, other stories and being further or created. Why is Eric the Red using Havok and Polaris to kill the X-Men? What does Stephen Lang and his rebel Project Armageddon have in store for them? Who is watching Lang and why? You'll see!

Significata: Xavier's nightmares begin. Eric the Red makes his first appearance and posses Havok and Polaris. And he tries to kill the X-Men for the first time. Jean starts spending more time with the X-Men again, more importantly her love, Cyclops. Banshee and Moira start spending time together, furthring their relationship. Nightcrawler starts using his image inducer. We also get to see his girl crazy personality for the first time, as well as Colossus shy side around members of the opposite sex. Wolverine begins his questioning of Cyclops' leadership... and gets decked for it. But is stopped from retaliating by Storm, showing he's not totally psychotic and is somewhat reasonable. Lang continues to watch the X-Men. An even more powerful being debuts, watching him.
¶ 1:30 AM

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