Kevin's Random Thoughts

Saturday, September 04, 2004

X-Men #98 (Apr 76): Merry Christmas, X-Men...

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Dave Cockrum, artist; Sam Grainer, inker; Joe Rossen, letterer; Janice Cohen, colorist; Marv Wolfman, editor

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

Guest Star: Marvel Girl

Synopsis: The X-Men are enjoying Christmas time on 5th Ave. Nightcrawler and Colossus take of a girl named Amanda and her friend. Banshee goes off with Moria to show her the sights of NYC. Cyclops and Jean go off to have dinner when they are attacked by two Sentinels. The second one thinks it kills Cyclops then kidnaps Jean. Banshee and Wolverine see the whole thing and take off after the Sentinal. Storm sees Cyclops hanging off the edge of the roof and flies to his aid. They are attacked by another Sentinel. This Sentinel was not programmed with information on the new X-Men and is easily destroyed by Storm. Cyclops then realises Xavier might be in trouble as well. On a boat in the Bahamas, Xavier is peacefully fishing with his friend, Dr. Peter Corbeau, director of the UN's Starcore space station. The small boat is then attacked by a Sentinel. Xavier mind blasts it, but then his mind is filled with the vision from his nightmare. A second Sentinel appears, destroys the boat, kidnaps Xavier, and leaves Corbeau floating in the middle of the coean. As the Sentinel leaves, it mentions being worried about solar flares. In a hidden base, Stephen Lang holds Xavier, Jean, Banshee, and Wolverine captive (the latter two apparently captures while trying to rescue Jean). He reveals he wishes to kill the X-Men to prevent them from stopping his Sentinels so he can destroy all mutants. When he slaps Jean, Wolverine snaps and breaks free. He destroys the Sentinel and chases away the guards. He frees the other captives, except Xavier, who is unconcious. The others demand they free Xavier, but Wolverine argues they can't carry an unconcious cripple and fight their way out a the same time. They are attacked by Sentinels, and start to fight their way out. Banshee sonice blasts his way through the walls of the base to free the X-Men, but is stopped in his tracks once he breaches the outter wall... Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Cyclops is using Cerebro to scan the planet for the missing X-Men, but comes up with nothing. The intruder alert goes off, but it turns out to be Corbeau. Cyclops tells Corbeau Xavier and the other X-Men seem to have vanished off the face of the Earth. It then dawns on Corbeau why the Sentinel as so worried about solar flares. The Sentinels base, and the missing X-Men, arn't on Earth at all.

Yeah, but is it good? Lots of good stuff here. There isn't enough motivation in Lang's actions, though. He hates mutants, but it's not clear why. His genocidal nazi attitude makes him easy to hate, though. It's great seeing the Sentinels back in action again. They make great villains (because they arn't 'villains', they're just programmed that way). The part on 5th Ave is really fun. It helps to further show the X-Men's personalities and their relationships. This is only the beginning of one of the X-Men's most memorable story arcs.

Significata: The Sentinels return. Stephen Lang's Project Armageddon is partially revealed. First appearance (at least in X-Men) of Dr. Peter Corbeau. First appearance of a girl named Amanda Nightcrawler is interested in. Banshee and Moira are clearly in some sort of relationship at this point. Wolverine shows some affection for Jean, going berzerk when Lang hits her. He also shows he is willing to sacrafice and team member, the leader even, to save the rest of the team. And Xavier's strange visions continue...
¶ 2:05 AM

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