Amazing Spider-Man #2 (May 63): Duel to the Death With the Vulture!

Creative Team: Stan Lee, script; Steve Ditko, art; John Duffy, lettering

Synopsis: A new menace is in town - the Vulture. And J. Jonah Jameson wants pictures of him for teh Daily Bugle and Now Magazine. Peter realises as Spider-Man he can get pictures of the Vulture no one else can. So he gets is Uncle Ben's old camera and suits up. Meanwhile, the Vulture decides he's going to steal the diamonds from a diamond exchange and goes about alerting the media and the police that he plans to do so. Spider-Man spots him making his rounds and follows, hoping for some pictures. The Vulture notices he's being followed and out maneuvers Spidey, swooping in from behind, and dumping him in a water tower. Spidey finds he's all out of webbing. And he can't stick to the slippery sides of the tower. So he uses his incredible leg strength to launch his way out. That night he creates a utility belt to store extra vials of webbing, a spotlight, and his camera. He also creates a device that he hopes will stop the Vulture from flying. The next day, in a supreme twist of irony, he sells his Vulture pictures to the man who hates his costumes persona. All Peter asks is Jameson never asks him how he does, or give him credit - he just wants money. The next day, the gang from Midtown High go to check out the diamond exchange in hopes of seeing the Vulture. Peter ducks out early and the kids think he's afraid. The exchange is heavily guarded with helicopters and police watching the skies. As the diamonds are transfered, the Vulture pops out of the sewers, grabs the diamonds, and flies back down. He finally emerges from a subway tunnel while Peter becomes Spider-Man and goes looking for him. He finds the Vulture and the two begin an airborn battle. Spidey uses his device to ground the Vulture. He's easy pickings for the police at that point. What Spider-Man's device did was create an anti-magnetic barrier, and since the Vulture was using magnetic force to fly, it cancelled out his abilities. Parker then sells the next batch of pictures to Jameson and makes enough money to pay rent for a year and buy some new kitchen appliances.

Yeah, but is it good? I like this one. The Vulture is finally a colorful, costumed villain worthy of Spider-Man. And there are many more to come. There's some pseudo-science nonsense about magnetic fields, but the concept of Spider-Man using his scientific know-how to defeat his enemies is what this hero is supposed to do. We also get a fairly logical reasoning behind Spider-Man creating his belt to hold extra web fluid cartridges - He ran out when he needed them. And this is the first part of the long standing duality of Jameson hating Spider-Man, but loving (although masking it) Peter Parker for getting pictures of Spider-Man. Jameson is one of the alltime great supporting characters in comics. At this point it seems as if they were really pushing the fact he's a magazine publisher rather than a newspaper publisher. He's both, but Now Magazine would eventually be quietly forgotten and the Daily Bugle becomes his main focus. Now notice the title of this story - Duel to the Death. That's a bit of an exageration as neither man is dead, nor was there any indication one wanted the other dead.

Significata: First appearance of the Vulture. Spider-Man creates a utility belt to hold extra web fluid. Peter Parker becomes a photographer and starts working freelance for the Daily Bugle (and Now Magazine).

The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!

Creative Team: Stan Lee, story; Steve Ditko, art; Art Simek, lettering

Synopsis: Peter's science teacher at Midtown High introduces him to Prof. Cobbwell, a renouned electronics expert. Cobbwell is looking for a student to help him over the weekend and Peter jumps at the chance. Cobbwell asks that Peter pick up a radio from a repair shop for him on the way. Peter goes to the Tinkerer Repair Shop to get the radio, which only costs a dime to repair. Even in 1963 that's not very much. Some srange radio emission trigger Peter's spider-sense. It turns out in the basement of the repair shop, the Tinkerer has aliens working for him (extra-terrestrials, not cheap Mexican labor). The aliens are putting spy devices in the repaired equipment. So Peter takes the radio back to Prof. Cobbwell and senses the same emissions coming from the radio. After a while, Prof. Cobbwell goes to teach a class. Peter checks the radio and finds the spy devices. He changes to Spider-Man and goes back to the shop to get to the bottom of this. He sneaks in and finds the Tinkerer and the aliens listening in on military leaders. Spider-Man is spotted by one of the aliens. He takes on all three of them, but is zapped by the Tinkerer. They put him in a plastic bubble and start to suck out the air so he'll suffocate. He shoots his web through one of the air holes and hits the control pannel, releasing him. As he fights the aliens again, the control pannel is damaged and starts a fire. The aliens bolt and Spidey grabs they Tinkerer, yanking his face off (a masl), but he gets away too. Spider-Man flees the building and gets back to the lab before Cobbwell returns. Cobbwell comes back and explains he saw a space ship take off. They laugh.

Yeah, but is it good? These backup stories rarely are. It's obvious Stan Lee still has his head in the weird sci-fi tales that were prevalent in comics before the return of the heroes. Aliens spying on Earth through an electronics repair shop? Why would the Pentagon send it's radios to a small New York store? Silly Stan, aliens are for Fantastic Four stories. And the Tinkerer is a villain who would never be seen again until a younger generation of writers one day said "Hey remember the Tinkerer?" and bring him back rarely and in unimortant roles.

Significata: First appearance of the Tinkerer.  ¶ 11:20 AM (2) comments

  Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Mar 63): Spider-Man

Creative Team: Stan Lee, script; Steve Ditko, art; Johnny Dee, lettering

Synopsis: Thanks to the death of his Uncle Ben, Peter Parker's Aunt May is having a hard time making ends meet. Peter contimplates becoming a costumed crook, but knows that's wrong and couldn't stand to break his aunt's heart if she found out. So he decides to go back on TV to make some money. All the kids at Midtown High are going, but figure Puny Parker is being a bookworm by not wanting to go. Spidey does the show, but doesn't want to reveal his identity, so he has his paycheck made out to Spider-Man, which he soon finds he can't cash. But not everyone is impressed with Spider-Man. Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson begins a campaign to make sure no one will hire Spidey ever again. Johan believes Spider-Man is a menace and people should look up to real heroes like his son, astronaught John Jameson. Peter soon finds he can't find work anywhere. And he even spots his Aunt May pawning her jewelry for rent money. Peter curses Jameson. The next day, John Jameson is being sent to orbit the Earth in a shuttle. Peter decides to check it out. But once the shuttle is in orbit, a guidance device comes loose and the shuttle becomes eratic. The ground team has a spare device, but no way to get it to the shuttle. Peter becomes Spider-Man and offers his services. He takes the device, comandeers a pilot and a plane, and has the pilot fly him to the shuttle, which is now back in the atmosphere, swirling about. Spidey webs aboard the shuttle, and gets drug along for a ride. Spider-Man fits the device in, and John Jameson is able to land the shuttle without problem. Despite Spidey saving the say and his son, Jameson continues his crusade against Spider-Man, accusing him of sabotaging the shuttle so he could save the day. Some people start buying into it. Even his own Aunt May.

Yeah, but is it good? The Daily Buggle isn't just a plot point to give Spider-Man an aura of mistrust among the public. It's an alagory for the total persuasion the media has over the public. In 1963, it was the power of print. Today it is the power of television. Stars are made, heroes destroyed, conspiracies uncovered and hidden at the will of those is charge of the media. The term "liberal media" is such a contradiction in terms. At least it is on a grand scale. Media is big business, and nothing about big business is liberal. Conservatives have always been the ones is charge of big business and the conservative political interests play to those power brokers. This is why for all the Michael Moores and John Stewarts, there are Ted Turners and Rupert Murdochs. One group plays to the already liberal crowd, the other controls and maintains the conservatives. Stan Lee may have been trying to say more that we realise. But that nonsense about the shuttle is pretty corny. But I guess that's to be expected from a story written before man fakes the moon landing. Once again, power of the media.

Significata: First J. Jonah Jameson and his crusade against Spider-Man. First John Jameson. The beginning of Peter Parker's financial troubles.

Spider-Man vs the Chameleon!

Creative Team: Stan Lee, script; Steve Ditko, art; John Duffi, lettering;

Guest Stars: Fantastic Four

Synopsis: Spider-Man decides he can make money by joining the Fantastic Four. He sneaks into their building, but sets off alarms. He overcomes their traps and has a friendly battle with the team until Mr. Fantastic finally puts a stop to it. When Spider-Man asks to join to make some money, they explain their group is non-profit. Spidey takes off. Elsewhere, the Chameleon is stealing missle defense plans to sell to the commies. He gets the first half, but the second will be more dangerous. He reads the paper about Spider-Man visiting the Fantastic Four and deduces he must be desperate for money. So the Chameleon sends him a message through special spider waves to have him show up at a certain place to make some money. The Chameleon steals the second set of plans disguised as Spider-Man. The police chase him to the roof and he gets away in a helicopter just as the real Spider-Man arrives. Spidey realises he's been had and chases after the copter. He apprehends the Chameleon and brings him back for the police, but the Chameleon gets away. Spider-Man and the police search for him in the building, but the power is cut off. Chameleon disguises himself as a cop and tries to slip by, but Spider-Man's spider-sense detects the Chameleon and he tackles him. The Chameleon claims Spider-Man is actually a disguised Chameleon and the police believe him. Spider-Man takes off, but the Chameleons's cop outfit was ripped in the scuffle, revealing his Spider-Man outfit underneath. The police arrest him while Spider-Man curses his powers, and the Fantastic Four wonder if he'll stay the straight and narrow path.

Yeah, but is it good? Ridiculous. Stan (or Steve, depending on who you believe REALLY wrote these stories) should have picked either a) a fight with the FF or b) a fight with the Chameleon. Not both. The story is way too rushed and too much happens in eight pages. And the ideas here are just stupid. How the Hell can the Chameleon deduce Spider-Man needs money by a visit to the FF? And he communicates to him using special spider-waves? What the Hell? Silly crap all around here.

Significata: First time Spider-Man meets the Fantastic Four and especially the Human Torch. First appearance of the Chameleon. First time Spider-Man uses his spider-sense.  ¶ 12:05 AM (0) comments

  Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug 62): Spider-Man!

Creative Team: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko

Synopsis: Meet Peter Parker, the most unpopular student at Midtown High. He lives with his loving Uncle Ben and Aunt May, is science wiz a school, and just doesn't have any luck with girls. They're more interested in Flash Thompson. One afternoon, Peter goes to an exhibit in radiation. During the course of the experiment, a small spider descends into a radioactive ray. In it's last living seconds, it falls on Peter and bites him. So that's how it happens. Peter becomes light headed and leave the experiment, walking into the street, a car nearly misses him, but Peter jumps into the air and onto a wall... and sticks! He discovers he can now climb walls and has super strength and agility. The first thing he does with his new powers? He goes to a pro wrestling show. He puts on some old sweats and a mesh mask and gets in the ring with Crusher Hogan (no relation). Hogan has an open challenge for anyone to last five minutes with him. Peter completely embarasses Hogan with his powers. A talent agent watches on and offers Peter a chance to showcase his talents on TV. That night, Peter creates some webshooters, a red & blue costume, and dons the name Spider-Man!

Spider-Man wows the crowds at the TV studio. Magazines, television, movies... they all make him offers. As he's leaving the studio, a crook runs by him while a cop asks him to stop the man. Spidey lets him go, feeling himself too important to bother with anyone else... except his aunt and uncle, whom he feels are the only ones who have ever cared for him. Over the next few days, Spider-Man continues to wow people the world over. But then one fateful night, he returns home to find cop cars. An officer explains to him that a burgler snuck into the house and shot his Uncle Ben. The cop tells Peter the burgler is hiding out at the old Acme warehouse. Peter takes off into the house and puts on his Spider-Man costume. He figures the burgler could hold off an army in the old warehouse. Spidey sneaks into the warehouse and apprehends the criminal. Only then does he realise that the burgler who shot his uncle is the same men he let run past him at the TV studio. Peter delivers the criminal to the police, but learned an important lesson that day - With great power comes great responsibility. And the world will never be the same.

Yeah, but is it good? So there it is. The first ever Spider-Man story. I doubt it needed to be retold as everyone knows it by now. It is truly a classic, and actually holds up surprisingly well compared to most Silver Age comics. I guess there's just something timeless about the old tale of poor decisions coming back to haunt us. What doesn't really hold up is the actual origin. A spider gets caught in a radioactive ray and bites someone. So he becomes like a spider? More like he'd get a massively infected wound and maybe cancer if any radiation was transfered. But it was the 60s. At this point in time, Marvel only had a few other super heroes. The Fantastic Four and the Hulk has their own titles (Hulk's would be cancelled soon enough), Ant Man had had his origin story told, but it was in the form of the typical monster of the months / weird science stories that made up the bulk of Marvel's line up, and Thor made his debut the same month as this issue. So Spider-Man came very early on in the super rebirth era of the 60s. Many people have wondered what the burgler was trying to steal from the Parker home. My guess is a rice recipe. Get it?

Significata: Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man. He becomes a TV sensation. He lets a burgler get away and said burgler later kills his uncle. First ever Spider-Man story. Comic sold for 12 cents. Final issue of Amazing Fantasy.  ¶ 11:20 PM (0) comments

  The End of the X-Men...

For now. I'll have more in August. If I do any comic reviews until then, it'll be stories of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Thwip.  ¶ 1:25 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #198 (Oct 85): Lifedeath: From the Heart of Darkness

Creative Team: produced by Chris Claremont and Barry Windsor-Smith; Tom Orzechowski, letters; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooted, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Nightcrawler (DNA), Wolverine (DNA), Colossus (DNA), Shadowcat (DNA), Rogue (DNA), Rachel Summers (DNA)

Guest Star: Storm

In New Mutants #32: The New Mutants follow Karma to Madripoor, but all are captured except Magik and Mirage; the girls teleport to Cairo, hoping to find Karma there; they hit the wrong century twice, then hit the mark; they reunite with Warlock, and team up with Storm.

Synopsis: A bleed Storm walks through a raging storm. She commands it to be gone, and it is. She believes her powers have returned and tries to fly, only to fall. She hallucinates of Forge telling her it's a miracle she's still alive. She embraces him out of love, then chases hima way out of hate. She falls again, this time coming face to face with a poisonous viper. She fights with it, unsure if she was bitten or not. She crawls into a cave to die and hallucinates of the X-Men who teamed with her over time. She blames them for taking her soul. Wolverine offers to end it all for her if she says the word. She contemplates, but decides against it. Xavier explains he allowed her to mature by taking her from Africa. She gets upset and the hallucinations disappear. She awakens, and realises she was not bitten. She starts to crawl from the cave, but the viper returns. This time she doesn't panic, and the viper does her no harm. Storm moves on to find a crashed bus with a sole, pregnant survivor. Storm walks with her, Shani, back to her village. Shani explains she left her village to see the city and while there met a nice man who doesn't really love her but is the father of her child. She's returning to her village to raise her baby there. The next morning, they reach the village. The first thing Storm notices are large machines. Shani explains that years ago they were taught how to turn the desert into arable farmland, but the desert reconsumed itself, leaving the village poor. Storm and Shani are welcomed by the elder, Mjnari. Storm finally collapses from her gunshot wound. Much later, she is woken by Mjnari, who has treated her would, and tells her Shani has gone into labor. Shani is having difficulty delivering and has asked form Storm. Storm uses her little medic training and helps Shani deliver the baby. But the baby isn't breathing when it comes out. Storm desperately performs CPR until the baby finally breathes. And the village rejoices. Mjnari leaves them to perform one last duty. He is striped of his robe and walks into the desert. Storm realises he's going off to die. She chases after him to find out why. He explains after the desert reconsumed their farmland, the village had become so poor it can only sustain a limited amout of life. For every birth, there must be a death. He explains to her the technology they used, the combining of two cultures, was not a bad thing, only their own immaturity and ignorance was bad. Storm finally comes to realise that her leaving home was not bad, nor was her returning good. Her home is the entire world. And she has rediscovered her purpose.

Yeah, but is it good? A sequel to last year's original Lifedeath and even more powerful. Where as the previous one was about Storm falling in love, then hate, with Forge, this is about Storm choosing life or death and rediscovering her purpose in life. There's also no action to break up the rest of the story. Some may like that as a change of pace, others may be put off by an all talk issue. I was fairly enthralled by the story. Like the yeay before, scripted by Claremont, but it feels very much like a Barry Windsor-Smith issue. Smith even did all of the art work including colors. Now that's a lot of work. Oh and if you read the New Mutants description for the month, that story takes places after this one.

Significata: Storm rediscovers her purpose in life.  ¶ 1:20 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #197 (Sep 85): To Save Arcade?!?

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr & San Green, artists; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Jim Shooter, editor in chief

Starting Line Up: Nightcrawler (DNA), Wolverine (DNA), Colossus, Shadowcat, Rogue (DNA), Rachel Summers (DNA)

Guest Star: Cyclops, Storm

In New Mutants#31: The New Mutants (and friends) battle the Gladiators, and confront the ringleader, who turns out to be Karma (missing in action since issue #6); Karma escapes; the New Mutants decide to find out the truth about Karma, no matter what the cost.

Synopsis: Aboard a Shi'Ar cruiser, Colossus and Shadowcat are chating when they are attacked by... Colossus? The attacking Colossus throws the other one out into space. Shadowcat turns into a Brood Queen so Colossus runs looking for help. He finds Zsaji, the woman he fell in love with during the Secret Wars and she turns into a skeleton. He runs and finds himself back home on the farm. He relives the tractor almost running over his sister and saves her, but this time she's a demon sorceress. The three women attack him. It was all a nightmare and Colossus wakes up. He finds himself in a strange room with Shadowcat. They are greeted by Arcade. In Alaska, Cyclops says goodbye to Madelyn as he's been summoned by Moira McTaggart to return to the mansion. Back with Arcade, Colossus, Shadowcat, and Arcade are having breakfast but are attacked by a smart missle. Colossus explodes it on his body and is unharmed. Arcade explains Dr. Doom is trying to kill him again and he needs their help. He threatens to have their loved ones killed if they don't. They reluctantly agree. Back in Manhattan, Nimrod (lethally) stops a robbery, and is hailed as a hero. Back in Murderworld, Arcade has created a WWII era New York. That is where Shadowcat and Colossus, along with a robot team of the rest of the X-Men, will fight Dr. Doom. A giant robot train and fighter plans arrive and attack them. More and more replacement X-Men robots arrive to help, but most of them get cut down by the robot train. Colossus destroys the train, but then they realise Dr. Doom is in the control booth with Arcade. Dr. Doom seemingly kills Shadowcat and sends Colossus into a rampage. But it was really just another robot and 'Cat uses her phasing powers to disrupt Doom's armor, rendering him motionless. Colossus feels silly for being duped by his own teammate, but Shadowcat wanted to know how he still felt about her. Arcade opens Doom's armor to reveal Miss Locke, his assistant, was inside. Apparently it's Arcade's birthday and he gave Miss Locke 24 hours to kill him in a sick, twisted game. Arcade drives the two X-Men home. Back in Africa, vultrues circle the fallen body of Storm, but she refuses and die and fights to live.

Yeah, but is it good? It's an odd one. It almost feels like Claremont was just killing time until issue 200 and didn't have enough quality stories to fill up the space until then. It's not a bad issue, though. It has its fun moments. It's just the definition of a "forgettable issue". In the course of the story, we do get to see how much Colossus still cares for Shadowcat. But as a teammate or more?

Significata: Colossus shows some remaining emotion for Shadowcat. Cyclops has been summoned back. Storm is not dead despite her gunshot wound.  ¶ 4:42 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #196 (Aug 85): What Was That?!!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr. & Dan Green, artists; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor in chief

Starting Line Up: Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Shadowcat, Rogue, Rachel Summers

Guest Star: Storm

In New Mutants #30: Shadowcat uses Illyana's Soulsword to return Illyana to normal, manifesting Magik's armor in the process; Dazzler and Shadowcat infiltrate the Gladiators; Rachel tries to communicate with the Beyonder; Dazzler and Shadowcat are captured by the Gladiators.

Synopsis: Are we all caught up on the Secret Wars II? Good. Xavier is teaching a lecture at Columbia University and picks up a stray thought plotting a murder of someone in the class. Xavier still can't use his powers to its full extent yet, so he can't scan and find out who is the murderer or the victim. In Africa, Storm is approached by a lion. The lion is shot. Before Storm can react, she is shot in the head as well. It was done by Andrea, sister of Andreas, whom Storm chased off the campground earlier. Back in New York, Xavier has assembled the X-Men, minus Nightcrawler, and Magneto to a coffee shop. Xavier wants them to split up and watch all the students in his class to prevent the murder. Most of the team is on edge by Magneto's presence. Wolverine reads a newspaper praising Nimrod as New York's newest superhero. Shadowcat asks Xavier why he didn't mentally scan his class and he covers by making up an excuse about being in an experiment in which he needs to take drugs to dull his powers. Rachel sees the Beyonder enter the coffee shop and order a sandwhich. She approaches him and tries to figure out what he is. He just disappears. At St. Anne's church, Nightcrawler goes to visit Father Bowen. The Beyonder is causing Nightcrawler a crisis of faith since the only being with such power can be God, but this is not the God he believes in. Later, in a Columbia University office, some people are rigging up some sort of bomb to kill a mutant. Rogue and Rachel are on patrol watching the students on the list, but find a mugging. They save the guy, but he was spray painting anti mutant (pro Nimrod) graffiti. Rachel gets mad, seeing her future timeline coming about regardless of the minor differences. The Beyonder watches her and is impressed by her power. Wolverine and Shadowcat discuss the obvious fact Xavier was lying about his powers and Magneto switching sides. 'Cat goes off to check on some more names on the list. The Beyonder follows her. She finds some guys she takes advanced classes with, waiting for something to happen. They deduce she must be a mutant since she attends Xavier's school and they know Xavier is a mutant. They mace and chloroform her, then plan to kill her. In Xavier's office, Xavier and Magneto are joined by Rachel. Rachel senses the presence of the Beyonder. She uses her powers to scan the room, but that sets off the psi-bomb that was intended for Xavier. Rachel's mind goes nuts and she reverts to her hound days. She flies off and finds Shadowcat being strangled. Rachel saves her. The leade of the group fires a gun at Rachel, but she turns the bullet back on him. It's stopped by Magneto. Magneto talks Rachel out of killing them, despite the fact they're mutant killers. She calms down and lets them go. She finally tells Magneto and Shadowcat of her past as a mutant hunting hound. The Beyonder watches on and is impressed by Rachel's power and confused by Magneto's change of attitude.

Yeah, but is it good? There's a lot of good stuff here. It's called a Secret Wars II cross-over issue, but the Beyonder barely has any attachment to the story. He could have been removed completely and nothing would have changed. The central point of the issue goes back to Nightcrawler's argument some time ago of why the X-Men protect the humans that hate them. Rachel was the one who convinced them their presence is important. Now even she's doubting their purpose is the face of the seemingly inevitable re-creation of her timeline. And it took Magneto of all people to reaffirm her of Xavier's vision. Magneto's reformation is really beginning to be stressed. This naturally brings up many doubts among the team members. Rachel is used to the Magneto of her time, who was a hero, taking over the X-Men after Xavier's death. Wolverine trusts Xavier's decision. But Shadowcat and Rogue arn't so sure. And I must say... It's damn good to see a character in a strange/wonderful/horrific universe like the Marvel universe finally ask "How does God fit in?" Beings of such power constantly show up and cause a contradiction for the essence of a Christian God. And Nightcrawler doesn't know how to react. My one complaint with this issue is Xavier comes off looking like a tool. It's obvious from the start he's the intended victim. Especially since someone from his class already tried to kill him.

Significata: Another attempt on Xavier's life. Some of the X-Men doubt Magneto's reformation. Rachel and the Beyonder are interested in each other's powers. The Beyonder causes Nightcrawler to have a crisis of faith. Rachel reveals her past to the team finally. Storm is shot in the head by the twins, Andrea and Andreas.  ¶ 8:45 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #195 (Jul 85): It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr & Dan Green, artists; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Nightcrawler (DNA), Wolverine, Colossus (DNA), Shadowcat, Rogue, Rachel Summers

Guest Stars: Power Pack

In New Mutants #29: Sunspot and Magma are kidnapped; Cannonball and Magik seek aid from Lila Cheney; Dazzler realizes they have been captured by the Gladiators, and gets access to their next bout; Dazzler's loyalties are tested; Magneto seeks the aid of the New Mutants.

Synopsis: The Power Pack kids are sleeping in the same bed as their parents. Everyone is awoken by a thunder storm. But the parents don't recognise their own kids. Once the kids no longer think they're kidding, they run to their room to find all their stuff gone. The kids freak out and run away. They ask their landlord for help, but he doesn't recognise them either. The parents and the landlord mistake them for dilusional runaways and call the police on them. The kids realise this must all be the doing of the Beautiful Dreamer of the Morlocks, whom they met in their own title, and go into the sewers to get to the bottom of it. Once they get down there, they are ambushed by some of the Morlocks. The youngest Power Pack kid, Energizer, is the only to escape, but not before Masque makes her ugly. She's found by the police looking for them. When an officer gets too close, she zaps him, but the rest get a hold of her and take her to the hospital. The next morning, Shadowcat sees a news report on the girl being found and recogises her despite being uglified. Wolverine and the girls on the team sneak her out of the hospital. Rachel scans her mind to find out what happened to the rest of the team. Wolverine elects Shadowcat as the leader of the group and they go into the Morlock tunnels to find the rest of Power Pack. They find the kids' bedrooms set up like they were in their home and the other Power Pack kids, uglified by Masque, calling Annalee mother. She tries to get Energizer to do the same, but she fights back. The Morlocks attack the X-Men. The battle rages on for a while, but Annalee and Power Pack disappear. Shadowcat goes after them. She makes Annalee feel guilty for essentially killing the Power Pack kids like her kids were. Masque isn't buying it and tries to finish uglifying them until Callisto steps in. She forces Masque to return them to normal. Annalee is willing to face a lethal consequences from Callisto, but Energizer makes friends with everyone and they all go home happy. The X-Men are summoned back to the mansion... by Magneto?

Yeah, but is it good? This story has two things going against it: character-less Morlocks (although many of them have names now) and the stupid mid 80s idea that was Power Pack. Marvel wanted to create a superhero comics aimed towards little kids, so they created a team of superhero little kids - the Power Pack. Their ages range from like 4 to 12 I think. Anyway, they are written to act like little kids with powers... except they never get selfish like true little kids are and irrationally destructive like little kids with super powers would be. The purpose of this issue seems to be showing the maturing of Shadowcat ever since she returned from Japan. She's now leading the team in Nightcrawler's place, who for some reason isn't present. And Magneto summoning the X-Men? It happened. It's a story going on over in New Mutants. Magneto is reforming his life and asking Xavier for help. How will the X-Men react to this? And what is he summoning them home for? It's the beginning of the sequel to biggest flop of the year before. It's time for Secret Wars II! This time, however, the heroes arn't being wisked away to another planet, so no disappearing stories are required. The heroes are free to interact with the crossover in their own titles and the Secret Wars II title at their own pace. All we need to know for next issue is Rachel meets the Beyond in Secret Wars II #1 and is amazed by his power. For a full explanation, look here: http://members.tripod.com/~MitchellBrown/xover/marvel_secretwars2.html

Significata: Shadowcat starts to mature and lead the team. Magneto summons the X-Men. The price of X-Men comics goes up to 65 cents.  ¶ 6:50 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #194 (Jun 85): Juggernaut's Back in Town!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr., penciler; Dan Green & Steve Leiahola, finishers; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Shadowcat, Rogue, Rachel Summers

Guest Star: Storm

In New Mutants #28: Empath arranges to kidnap Magma and Sunspot; Professor X and company mount an assault on Jemail Karami, David's third personality, only to learn that Jemail is the key that holds David together; David begins his recovery and meets his father.

Synopsis: The Juggernaut has been spotted and the city put on alert. The X-Men hear the news reports and relunctantly agree to go keep an eye on him in case he starts causing problems. In Africa, Storm prevents a European big game hunter named Andreas from molesting the owner of a campground. She fights off the entire hunting party and makes them leave. The owner recognises Storm and begings to worship her. Back in New York, the X-Men watch Juggernaut as he goes to a bank and is just a regular customer. They all feel it's pretty useless. Nimrod zeroes in on Juggernaut's location and confronts him. Juggernaut doesn't back down and they begin to fight. Nimrod also recognises the X-Men and attacks them as well. The battle is moved to an empty construction site to prevent innocent people from being hurt. The X-Men want to just watch the battle and not take sides, but Nimord attacks the team again, so they have no choice but to act. Nimrod trounces both the Juggernaut and the entire X-Men team. He drops tons of steel gurters on top of the male X-Men, but Rachel creates a telekinetic barrier to protect them, although they are still trapped. Shadowcat has Rogue absorb her powers. Rogue phases into the gurters and absorbs both Colossus and Nightcrawler's powers as well. She uses all the combined powers to fight Nimrod alone, and even breaks him into thousands of pieces, but Nimrod keeps reforming himself. Nimrod eventually gives up and teleports away. Juggernaut didn't want to fight with the X-Men in the first place, so he just leaves. In Moscow, KGB super agent Col. Vashin (the Soviet version of Nick Fury, complete with eye patch) wants to know more about the mysterious Nimrod, as well as why the US turned on the X-Men. He fears the US is forcing mutants to become their enemies and that will lead the world to armageddon.

Yeah, but is it good? It is, but it's built around two simple concepts : 1) The need to get Nimrod over as a major threat and 2) to answer the question that was asked since Rogue joined the X-Men "What is she absorbed all heir powers and become Mimic '85? So does its goals based on these concepts? Wll Nimrod is made to look pretty near unbeatable in his first battle issue. Sure the Juggernaut has been beaten before and his unstoppable moniker is a bit of a joke by now, but no one ever beats him easy. Nimrod did, and on top of the X-Men. As for Rogue taking everyone's powers, she only did three, and it wasn't all that exciting. Fun enough issue, though. The X-Men watching Juggernaut doing his banking, waiting for a fight is pretty funny.

Significata: Nimrod finally attacks the X-Men. Col. Vashin worries about American mutant relations. First appearance of Andreas and his sister. Storm returns to Africa and starts trouble with them.  ¶ 2:15 AM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #193 (May 85): Warhunt 2

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr. & Dan Green, artists; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Shadowcat, Rogue, Rachel Summers

Guest Stars: Storm, Banshee, Cannonball

In New Mutants #27: Professor X, Cypher, Mirage, Wolfsbane, Gabrielle, and Moira take an astral-plane tour of David's war-torn mind; the Prof learns that he is David's father; they meet Jack Wayne and Cyndi, two of David's personalities, who are at war with a third.

Synopsis: On Muir Island, Banshee is out for a jog and is attacked by the new Thunderbird, brother of the long dead X-Man Thunderbird and one of the Hellions. In the Morlock tunnels, Xavier wakes from his mugging and near death to find himself saved. Callisto had the Morlock prevent Xavier's death, then dressed him up in leather bondage gear. Callisto shows Xavier around. Sunder and some other Morlocks come to her with the bodies of Annalee's children, murdered in cold blood for being mutants. Callisto vows she will follow Storm's orders to live peacefully with humans, but they drew first blood and she will not back down from a race war. In the Colorado rockies, Thunderbird firds a remnant of the plane his brother died on. Two other Hellions, Empath and Roulette, find him. Thunderbird tells them to stay out his business and to let him handle the X-Men alone. T-Bird leaves, but they are joined by another Hellion, Firestar, who Empath is using his empathic powers to love him. Back at the mansion, the X-Men and Cannonball are having a Danger Room session. Colossus keeps getting outsmarted. The session is interrupted by the return of Xavier with Callisto. The team laughs at his attire. In the middle of the Atlantic ocean, Storm is on her ship taking her to Africa. She spots mountains in the distance and it striggers a ghostly hallucination of her mother. Back the the school, Xavier finds he has not fully recovered from his attack and can barely use his telepathic powers. He gets called to a team meeting. Thunderbird has sent them a message saying they have 24 hours to rescue Banshee or he'll kill him. Banshee is being held inside the Norad complex in Cheyenne Mountain. The team realises the moment they sneak inside, they'll be branded as criminals, but they feel they have no other choice. At the Norad base, Xavier needs Rachel's help to stay in contact with the X-Men. Nightcrawler teleports all the X-Men inside, except Xavier who stays behind in the Blackbird with Lockheed. Roulette finds the Blackbird. She attaches a device to short circuit all of its systems. Empath sneaks aboard and uses his power to make Lockheed so afraid he flies off. Empath then tries to use his power on Xavier, but Xavier fights back with what little he has. He does well until Roulette gasses him, knocking him out. Rachel senses Xavier's trouble, so Shadowcat runs back to check on him. Shadowcat finds him unconscious, but alone. Nightcrawler is already worried about his leadership. He asks Rachel to use her psi powers to locate Banshee. She starts flashing back to her hound days and freaks out, crumpling into a ball anc crying. Shadowcat and Wolverine combine their powers to slip through the complex and sniff out Banshee. Rogue is sent back to protect Xavier. Nightcrawler bitches to Colossus about his bad leadership. In the Norad War Room, Empath, Roulette, and Firestar are on a guided tour. Roulette uses her power to have the X-Men's cloacking fields fail, then Empath makes Norad officials react out of irrational fear. They order secbots to kill the X-Men. Wolverine and Shadowcat find Banshee, but are attacked by Thunderbird. Wolverine fights him with Cat frees Banshee. The room is filled with gas as a result of the X-Men being detected. Thunderbird gets away, but realises he doesn't want them to die, so he goes back to save them. Nightcrawler and Colossus are attacked by the secbots. Nightcrawler brings Rogue back to help, but Rachel is still having a panic attack. Colossus manages to trash the bots, but they are attacked by Firestar. She takes Colossus off on a flight, but he's saved by Rogue. Nightcrawler is capture by the bots and taken to the War Room. The general orders his death, but Empath uses his power to make Nightcrawler react in rage. Thunderbird shows up and is pissed at Empath for getting involved in his personal revenage plan. Shadowcat pulls Empath out of the room and Wolverine scares him into fainting. Everyone in the war room gets their heads back, but Nightcrawler is still in danger and escapes with Roulette. Wolverine and Shadowcat are found by more secbots. Rachel finally snaps out of her daze and applogizes. Rogue is upset Rachel won't confind in them. She wants to absorb Rachel's memories, but Nightrcrawler returns. He and Rachel go looking for Wolverine and Shadowcat. Back on the Blackbird, Thunderbird finally corners Xavier, the man he blames for his brother's dead. Thunderbird comes in for the kill, but Xavier explains his brother joined the X-Men and died of his own free will. Thunderbird can't bring himself to kill Xavier. Everyone leaves, taking T-Bird and Firestar with them, and returns to the mansion. Thunderbird and Firestar are offered a place with the X-Men, but they both decide to return to the Hellions where they feel they belong. Xavier lets them go. Elsewhere, Jaime Rodriguez defends mutants from his brother while Nimrod discovers he's in the wrong past, just as Rachel is. He decides to continue to defend humanity by killing the recently spotted Juggernaut and the X-Men.

Yeah, but is it good? Oh yeah. This is the kind of the story that's been needed after a lot of crap recently. Being a double sized issue, there was plenty of time to let the story unfold. A simple search and rescue mission turns into a disaster, and it's almost fun to watch the plan fall apart at every turn and poor Nightcrawler trying to salvage the whole thing. It all works out in the ends, but it wasn't pretty. Thunderbird had a good motivation, although his resources are a little suspect. How did he get into Norad so easily? But anyway... Banshee, who watched the orignal T-Bird die, is the chosen bait. Norad, the scene of the death, is the chosen battle ground. And Xavier, the one who "forced" T-Bird into the X-Men, is the chosen victim for revenge. But is the new Thunderbird evil? He couldn't let Shadowcat die since she wasn't on the team then. And he couldn't let Wolverine die since he wasn't really resposible. And he couldn't kill Xavier because... well... he saw the light. Sort of. Same goes for Firestar. She finds out Empath was just using her, but she can't bring herself to leave the Hellions either. Despite their understanding with the X-Men, they still don't see the Hellions, White Queen, or Inner Circle as evil. There's some great interaction early on between Xavier and Callisto, and Cal really drives home the point that a race war is brewing. And nothing can be funnier than Xavier in bondage gear. This issue marked the 100th appearance of the new X-Men (not couting guest appearances and annuals), so this would also mark my 100th review... plus annuals... plus some of the original X-Men... so I'm at like 130 or something. Anyway, damn good issue.

Signicata: Xavier's mental powers are severly weakened from his attack. Annalee's kids are killed. Nightcrawler doubts his ability to lead. The X-Men become wanted criminals for breaking into Norad. Thunderbird and Firestar come to terms with the X-Men, but remain with the Hellions. Nimrod reveals to be from Rachel's timeline and plans to kill the X-Men. Double sized issue soled for $1.25.
  ¶ 1:45 AM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #192 (Apr 85): Fun 'N' Games!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr. & Dan Green, artists; special thanks to Steve Leiahola; Glynis Wein, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Shadowcat, Rogue, Rachel

Guest Star: Magik

In New Mutants #26: Gabrielle Haller's autistic son begins exhibiting telepathic, telekinetic, and pyrotic powers; Prof. X and the New Mutants come to help; Wolfsbane encounters Rev. Craig again; Emma Frost gives Empath an ultimatum; Magneto and Aleytys begin a relationship.

In Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #6: Wolverine vs. Ogun

Synopsis: Nightcrawler, the newly appointed leader of the X-Men (since Storm lost her powers and is leaving), Colossus, and Rogue are having a training session outside at night. Nightcrawler manages to outsmart them both and dunk them in a lake. Nightcrawler then asks Rogue is she also gained Ms. Marvel's precognitive 7th sense. Rogue doesn't believe so, so Nightcrawler tries to get her to use it by teleport-tickling her. It works, and she clocks him. She appologizes, but he makes a joke about kissing her, which makes her really mad and she flies off. Nightcrawler realises that was a horrible thing to say since Rogue cannot kiss people without stealing their energy and memories. As he and Colossus go to appologize, something falls from the sky, causing a blinding flash of light. It makes a huge impact near the heroes. Meanwhile, Xavier and the rest of the team wait for Wolverine and Shadowcat's flight from Japan. Xavier scans people's thoughts on mutants for a class he's teaching at Columbia University. Magik tries to smuggle Lockheed into the airport. Rachel is off alone, also hearing the anti-mutant thoughts. She starts to have a flashback. In it, she's dressed as a hound and it being saved by the future Katherine Pryde. They sneak into the base containing Project Nimrod. Kate uses her codeword "Dark Phoenix", which causes Rachel to travel back through time. Rachel then realises it wasn't her, but Kate who sent her back through time. Rachel is snapped out of her flashback by Shadowcat (Kitty's new codename), who recognises Rachel from the Days of Future Past story. Back at the crash site, Nightcrawler and Colossus check out the crator and find a tree and a deer frozen as techno-organic beings. The two remember the story of how Warlock came to Earth - He was fleeing his father, Magus, who intended to kill him. They assume Magnus has reaches Earth. Rogue wakes up after being knocked out by the impact to find Magus standing over her. She at first mistake him for Warlock, revealing to Magus she knows him. He demands to be taken to his son. They battle. Nightcrawler and Colossus arrive to help. They heroes don't fare too well. Nightcrawler tries teleporting away with only a portion of Magus' living circuity body. It causes him enough pain that Rogue can get close enough to absorb some of his power. She temporarily becomes a techno-organic being. Magus isn't beaten, but impressed by their efforts, so he leaves them without further harm. The rest of the X-Men arrive, but Magus is already gone. Nightcrawler has doubts about his leadership because of this. A cop arrives, but Xavier mentally shields them and makes the cop forget about the distrubance. Once the X-Men leave, Magus takes the life of the cop as energy. Magus plans to continue his hunt for his son. Weeks later, Xavier is finishing his lecture at Columbia for the evening. He walks alone to his car, but is assaulted by anti-mutant students. He tries to mentally stop them, but there are too many and they severly beat him. They leave him in a puddle of blood and take off. A figure steps out of the shadows and pulls Xavier back in with him.

Yeah, but is it good? Certainly much better than that drizzling shit from the last two issues. Finally! A Nightcrawler story! Hey, not only that, but he's now team leader. That's twice Wolverine was passed up for the position, but that's the way he'd rather have it. One fight in and Nightcrawler is already doubting his abilities to lead. Which is natural and fits the character. I guess no one can ever live up to the Cyclops standards of leading. This feels like, and is, just a set up for an upcoming New Mutants story, so it's pretty forgettable stuff, but a fun enough fight. It's about damn time Wolverine and Kitty, now called Shadowcat (a codename that will be used) returned. Shawdowcat is more mature now, though, so the spunky role has to be passed on to the older Rogue or Rachel. Which is fine. You can't remain a child forever, especially when you're a veteran X-Men. Xavier begins his second teaching role, a real one, at Columbia, and already he gets into trouble with it. Damn drunken frat boys.

Significata: Nightcrawler appointed new team leader. Storm plans on leaving soon. Wolverine & Shadowcat return. Magus arrives on Earth.  ¶ 4:46 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #191 (Mar 85): Raiders of the Lost Temple

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr & Dan Green, artists; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor in chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (DNA), Colossus, Sprite (DNA), Rogue, Rachel

Guest Stars: Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, the New Mutants, Captain America, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Starfox, Wasp

In New Mutants #25: Professor X talk with Cloak and Dagger, then asks Magik to transport them all to Limbo; Magik and Rogue succeed in Cloak and Dagger's powers from Sunspot and Wolfsbane back to Cloak and Dagger; Cloak and Dagger renew their fight against injustice.

In Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #5: Kitty goes against Ogun. Takes the name Shadowcat

Synopsis: Kulan Gath now has Spider-Man chained up and tortured. He also has Dr. Strange and Selene and is making sure neither can cast any spells to harm him. Psyche and Sunder report that the rest of the rebels got away. Gath causes them some pain and tells them if the rebels arn't captured, next time it will be death. The rebels are headed towards Gath's fortress for an all out assault. They pass by a ruined library and are attacked by the librarian, Arilynn, who assumed they were the ones responsible for the it's destruction. The rebels are then attacked by Kulan Gath's forces consisting of the New Mutants, the Morlocks, and Vision & Scarlet Witch of the Avengers. Rogue (who is still made of steel for some reason), absorbs someone's energy, but turns flesh and his stabbed and killed from behind. Storm goes on a rampage and distracts all of Gath's forces while the rest of the rebels sneak away. Storm is rescued by Warlock, but they cannot understand each other (as Storm is speaking Gath's barbarian language). Captain America leads the rebels into the Morlock tunnels. Gath's forces are recuping after the battle. Cannonball and Wolfsbane are dead, but they took Starfox and Wasp prisoner. They are put under Gath's control and Wolfsbane is brought back to life. Warlock tries to find ways to communicate with Storm and in the process she starts to remember the real world. The rebels come up with a plan to assault Gath's fortress. Captain America and Colossus act as guards taking Rachel and Magma to Gath as prisoners. Rachel uses a Jedi mind trick to get them in the fortress, but they are attacked by Starfox and Wasp. Callisto, Nightcrawler, Magik, and Arilynn are using the Morlock tunnels to sneak into the fortress, but are attacked by the New Mutants/Morlocks. Magik releases Wolfsbane and Psyche from Gath's control. Callisto kills Sunders, only realising too late he could have been freed as well. In the fortress, Spider-Man is being crucified. The other rebel team, apparently winning their battle, are attacked by the evil Avengers. Vision punches through Colossus causing him to explode and the shrapnel mortally wounds Captain America. The rebels from the tunnels, apparenty winning their battle as well, arrive, but are turned to statues by Scarlet Witch. Spider-Man become so enraged by seeing all of this that with one last desperate attempt, he breaks free of his cross and goes for Gath, but is easily stopped and killed. Warlock finally gets through to Storm and they head for the fortress. Warlock turns Kulan Gath into a techno-organic being while Storm steals his amulet, effectively destroying Gath. But then Magma snatches the amulet away from Storm. She reveals herself to be Selene, the fake one disappearing. Selene plans on using the power of the amulet to keep up the fake reality and spread it over the world. Warlock merges his techno-organic self with Storm, who uses her new power to turn Selene into a techno-organic being as well. With the distraction, Dr. Strange is freed. He combines his power wit Magik's and rewinds time to moments before Gath was freed and calls upon some force to prevent it. Only the select few who survived the ordeal will have any memory of it. The rest, including the ones who died, will go back to the way they were a day before and have no memory of it, since it hasn't happened yet and never will now. The mugging and murder of Jaime Rodriguez, which caused Gath's release, is about to happen again when the change in the timeline occurs. A robotic being named Nimrod appears, kills the mugger, saves Rodriguez, and the amulet is lost in some sewer sludge. Nimrod realises there is a mutant menace going on and plans to exterminate them.

Yeah, but is it good? The parade of drizzling shit continues. Where to begin? How about Kulan Gath. Who is he? He was a D-level Conan the Barbarian villain that was later used in Marvel Team-Up story. It was more or less a gag issue as Kulan Gath and the spirit of Red Sonja somehow travel to our reality from theirs (Spidey's Mary Jane become Red Sonja) and Spider-Man teams up with his future wife to stop him. Odd, but forgettable issue. So Claremont and his hard on for sword & sorcery stories (which are fine, but have no place in X-Men) decides to bring him back. And we get a two part clusterfuck. Why was Rogue made of steel? What's the point of this random librarian? Why do we never get to see the end of any battles? What really made me mad was Spider-Man dying. I don't care if it's later reset like nothing happened, but who the fuck do you think you are killing Spider-Man? If you had a Spider-Man fan also reading X-Men and that fan sees Spidey being treated in such a useless, disposable manner, you just lost a reader. Captain America gets to be a team leader and fight through a mortal shrapnel wound, as Captain America should, but Spidey? Forget the fact he always fights against the odds. Just kill him off. It's also insulting that I had to read through two issues of this bullshit only to be told it never happened. This was even worse than Kevin Smith's Daredevil story. At least in that story, the build up to the "Mysterio ending" was entertaining. Well... there is one thing to come out of this story - Nimrod. And he's pretty cool, if unimportant in the long run. But I can think of a hundred different ways to introduce the character that doesn't involve wasting two issues of one of Marvel's greatest comics in history. I'm just glad Wolverine didn't have to get sucked into this shit. It'll be good to have him back soon.

Significata: Part 2 of the Worst X-Men Story ever. Dr. Strange causes rift in timeline bring Nimrod to the mainsteam line.  ¶ 4:38 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #190 (Feb 85): An Age Undreamed Of

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita Jr. & Dan Green, artists; Glynis Wein, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (DNA), Colossus, Sprite (DNA), Rogue, Rachel

Guest Stars: Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, the New Mutants, Captain America, Starfox, Wasp

In New Mutants #24: Cannonball and Mirage tell Professor X their news; Magneto apologizes to Aleytys; Sunspot and Wolfsbane seek aid from Father Bowen; Wolfsbane rescues Colossus; Magik tries to restore Sunspot and Wolfsbane through sorcery; Cloak and Dagger offer their aid.

In Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #4: Wolverine tries to cure Kitty. He also finds out that James Hudson is "dead" (Alpha Flight vol 1 #12), and Storm has lost her powers (Uncanny X-Men #185)

Synopsis: The island of Manhattan has become a strange, barbarian land. Valerie Cooper address a Washington, DC security council on what they know. The transformation has causes everything and everyone to transform into their equivalent of this mystical era (police to guards, guns to swords, cars to horse and buggies). No one inside the area has any knowledge of their real life and accept it all as reality. Anyone who enters also becomes this way. None have any desire to leave, but the few that do retain all knowledge of what has happened and are being detained by the government. The island is ruled by an evil wizard (guess whether or not I like this story) named Kulan Gath and the Morlocks (along with Colossus) have become his enforcers. The X-Men and the Avengers are also trapped on the island with some of the Avenger being part of Gath's enforcers, the others are part of a rebellion. Spider-Man is also there, but he has full knowledge of the real world for some reason. The meeting somehow turns into a debate on mutant rights. Aboard a ship near the island, Storm wakes up to find the Morlocks taking her captive. Sunder tries to brand her with a collar, but she struggles free, knocking the coals onto the deck of the ship. Storm and Callisto have a knife duel up on the mast. But soon the entire ship is on fire and everyone abandons. Storm and Callisto fall so far from the rest that they end up outside Kulan Gath's influence and revert to normal. Government agents take them in. Back on the island, Kulan Gath forces Xavier and Caliban to become a single being to find mutants for him. Gath gloats to a captive Dr. Strange that his plan to get revenge on Spider-Man then transform all of the Earth to his making. The New Mutants (minus Magik) are brought before Gath. Warlock, being a techno-organic alien, isn't affected by the Gath's spell either. As Gath forces the New Mutants to become his slaves, Warlock escapes. Selene is also unaffected and slinks around the scene. Elsewhere, some Morlocks are harassing Rachel and Magma. Selene saves them and, like last issue, puts them under her control. Back in the real world, Storm and Callisto are normal and being detained by the government. Selene sends a psi message to them asking for their help. If they return to the island, they will lose their memory of the real world, but Selene promises them they'll be unable to fall under Gath's spell. Neither trust Selene, but each wants to save her team. Storm picks the lock and explains her lost powers to Callisto. Callisto promises to kill who did it to her. They take the Morlock tunnels to get to the island. Meanwhile, Spider-Man is being chased by Colosus, New Mutants, and Morlocks. He heads into a tavern where Nightcrawler, Rogue (for some reason made of steel), Captain America, Starfox, Wasp, and Magik are. They come to his aid. In the sewers, Storm and Callisto cross over and are instantly attacked by... somethings. Back in the tavern, Magik cuts Colossus with her soulsword and frees him from Gath's control. Selene, from elsewhere, kills many of the Morlocks. The rest flee, taking Spider-Man with them. Selene's astral form appears with Rachel and Magma, but Selene's astral form is taken by Kulan Gath, leaving her two servants. Storm and Callisto arrive. Kulan Gath captures Selene, then sends his New Mutants/Morlocks out to find the rest of the rebels. The rebels are hiding in the Morlock tunnels and agree they will assault Gath's citidel.

Yeah, but is it good? This issue fucking sucks. Worst fucking X-Men story ever. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! This sucks so much I want to write Chris Claremont, twenty years after this was released, and tell him how much it fucking sucks. It doesn't make a lick of fucking sense. And it's not over yet! I almost though this story was a crossover from another series since the story starts in the middle and makes no sense. But no. This is it. I'll save the rest of my words of hatred for this story after the painful part two next issue. Fuck, this sucks.

Significata: Worst X-Men story ever!  ¶ 6:50 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #189 (Jan 85): Two Girls Out to Have Fun!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr., penciler; Steve Leiahola, guest inker; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief; the Uncanny X-Men, stars

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (DNA), Colossus, Sprite (DNA), Rogue, Rachel

Guest Star: Magma

In New Mutants #23: Selene and Emmanuel DaCosta join the Hellfire Club; Sunspot consumes Colossus; Aletys brings Magneto to his island; Mirage and Cannonball follow Wolfsbane into New York City, and realize that Wolfsbane and Sunspot have the powers of Cloak and Dagger.

In Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #3: Kitty fights Wolverine.

Synopsis: Rachel and Magma of the New Mutants, strangers to this time, are out sightseeing in NYC. Rachel has flashbacks of the NYC of the future. In her time, she was a "hound", drugged and trained to hunt other mutants to be killed. She is ashamed of what she was. Magma notices something wrong, but Rachel won't talk about it. So they go shopping. Elsewhere, the other X-Men (minus the still in Japan Kitty and Wolverine) are seeing Storm off as she's leaving for Africa on a cruise ship. Jaime Rodriguez, who found that amulet last issue, finds a couple of coworkers trying to break into his locker. The amulet was calling to their inner desires for power and wealth. Jaime realises the amulet is evil and plans on destroing it. At the Metropolitn Museum of Art, Magma is amazed by the Roman culture display, since it reminds her of home (Nova Roma in the Andes). Rachel suddenly catches a familiar psychic pattern and rushes out after it. Selene gets into a limo and drives away from them. Magma has a hate on for Selene because Selene, also from Nova Roma, killed her mother. Magma wants revenge. Selene's limo pulls into the Hellfire Club. Rachel and Magma follow her inside. They put on the employees' maid uniforms to avoid suspision, but one of the managers finds them and puts them to work. Meanwhile, Selene and her associate, Friedrich von Roehm, are having a meeting with Sebastian Shaw. Selene is applying for position of Black Queen of the Inner Circle. Shaw is less than impressed until Selene demonstrates her powers, which Shaw realises could have killed him. Selene promises Shaw a gift and disappears. Shaw fears he will have to reluctantly accept her. Upstairs, Rachel is serving some member and trying not to laugh. When she's alone and getting the gigles out, Selene sneaks up on her, but Rachel catches her and psi-blasts her. Whe she approaches Selene, she finds it's really Magma with an illusion over her. Selene then catches Rachel from behind and makes both her and Magma her slaves. Selene presents them to Shaw. Rachel manages to fight Selene's control over her mind, but still cannot use her body. She then enters Magma's mind. Magma tries to fight her, but Rachel wins, snapping Magma out of Selene's control. As Magma fights for control of her body, he powers begin to manifest. The distraction allows both girls to reclaim their bodies. They begin to fight with Selene, Magma going on a rampage, until the X-Men arrive to help. Nightcrawler telepors Selene away and knocks her uncoscious. Magma wants her revenge, but Xavier forbids it. Shaw didn't want this fight in the first place and lets the X-Men leave unharmed. Rachel uses her telekinetic powers to change her and Magma's clothes to something less conspicuous. They exit the building and see the whole area has suffered a bad earthquake because of Magma. That night, Jaime Rodrigues listens to an anti-mutant newsreport while he waits for a subway. He's stabbed and killed from behind and the mugger take his amulet. A strange fire explodes from the amulet.

Yeah, but is it good? It's ok in parts, but another Rachel issue. Seems like poor Nightcrawler doesn't get many issues for himself these days. Everything has been so Rachel, Storm, Rogue, and even Colossus these past few issues. And the co-star is even a New Mutant! Poor, poor Nightcrawler. The girls infiltrating the Hellfire club as maids only to get put to work is funny. The action in this one is a little too brief. And what the Hell happened to Selene? Nightcrawler uses a nerve pinch and Xavier assures everyone it will be a long time before she bother anyone again. Huh? Why? Was this a super month longer nerve pinch Nightcrawler used? I don't understand what was supposed to be implied. We gets some more depth into Rachel from her time. Having her as a mutant hunter against her will is very interesting and something that carried deep psychological affects. And Storm finally leaves the team... but does she suceed? And that amulet subplot finally comes to fruition. And trust me, and doesn't lead to anything good.

Significata: Rachel reveals she was a mutant hunting Hound in her time. She carries deep trauma from it. Storm tries to leave the team. Selene tries to become Black Queen of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle.  ¶ 6:20 PM (0) comments

  X-Men Annual #8 (1984): The Adventures of Lockheed the Space Dragon and His Pet Girl Kitty

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Steve Leiahola, artist; Jo Duffy, original idea; Glynis Wein, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite, Rogue, Rachel

Guest Stars: all the New Mutants

In New Mutants Annual #1: The New Mutants attend Lila Cheney's concert; Lila is attacked by an alien, and teleports her and Cannonball to her Dyson sphere; Lila, who is trying to steal Earth, is double-crossed; the New Mutants rescue them; Lila composes a love song for Cannonball.

Synopsis: I'll keep this one brief. The X-Men and the New Mutants are having a campout in the yard behind the mansion. Wolverine tells an ancient samurai story. Magik then tells a space opera tale starring Kitty and Lockheed and the other X-Men, with the villains being the White Queen and Sebastian Shaw. I won't go in to detail about it. During the course of the story, Magik creates an alagory of Storm having to cope with losing her powers and Kitty forgiving Colossus for breaking her heart. Storm decides to leave the X-Men for a while and return to Africa. Kitty finally has a talk with Colossus and forgives him.

Yeah, but is it good? I hope no one was expecting me to tell the fairytale in detail. I realise I gave a synopsis of Kitty's Fairytale from a few years before (this is essentially a sequel to that), but that story was good. This one not so much. Plus is was a Hell of a lot longer. I usually never comment on the art, but the art in this one is atrocious. I suspect they wanted a cartoony feel for a fairytale story. Could hot have the realworld bookends have been done by a better artist? Oh well. At least this junk is contained to the annuals and not put in the regular issues. Although next year would feature not only a real story, but one actually referenced in the regular issues for once. As for when this story takes place, my guess is right after Kitty and Wolverine return from Japan in a few months.

Significata: Storm decides to leave the X-Men. Kitty forgives Colossus. Double sized annual sold for $1.00.  ¶ 7:40 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #189 (Dec 84): Legacy of the Lost

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr. & Dan Green, artists; Glynis Wein, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (DNA), Colossus, Sprite (DNA), Rogue, Rachel

Guest Stars: Magik, Sunspot

In New Mutants #22: Sunspot starts acting funny while training with Colossus; Professor X and Moira study Warlock; Selene makes a connection with the Hellfire Club; Wolfsbane writes a fairy tale, in which her beloved is consumed by shadow, and she kills the one responsible.

In Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #2: Kitty is captured by Ogun and becomes a Ninja.

Synopsis: The shadowbeings come through a dimensional portal and attack Storm, Colossus, Rogue, and Forge. Forge gets away and goes looking for Naze. Naze is in the process of calling upon the Great Spirit for help. Some being responds and tells him his soul is now alien. Meanwhile, at the Dallas/Fort Worh airport, Nightcrawler teleports aboard a plane and teleports Amanda Sefton out. The X-Men need her magicks to help them fight the wraiths. They get there in time to save the team. Magik teleports in as well with her soulsword and helps the team. Amanda creates an energy web around the dimensional portal, but can't hold the shadows back much longer because a wraith is still around somewhere using a counterspell. Forge returns and has Nightcrawler teleport him to the roof. The wraith Storm left up there is still alive. Forge kills it and Amanda is able to close the portal. Magik finally explains her mutant and mystic powers to her brother. Forge finally finds Naze, and he's alive, but only barely. Storm checks on him too. She tells Forge she is leaving, but when he sees her again, he'll wish he hadn't. Somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle, Lee Forrester's boat finds a man in the water being attacked by a shark. They scare off the shark and Lee goes in after the man. She pulls him aboard. The man is Magneto, and thanks Lee, whom he recognises from some time ago, and thanks her. Back at the mansion, once everyone is together and settled down, Nightcrawler calls a meeting of the team. Storm doesn't want to attend since she no longer has powers, but Nightcrawler says he really needs her support. Rachel, Magik, and Sunspot listen in on the meeting, but Xavier comes out to tell them all to go to bed. Rachel stays, since she can mentally shield herself, and she's concerned about what's going on. Nightcrawler is questioning the purpose of the X-Men. He agrees the school is need to teach mutants to use their powers responsibly, but with the mutant affairs control act pending approval, and Storm being attacked by their own government, he feels their purpose no longer exists. Why protect a country that hates them? He mentions the maiming of Storm and Banshee, and the deaths of Thunderbird and Jean Grey. Rachel hears that Jean is dead and freaks out with such ferocity that Nightcrawler is in pain. Xavier tries to calm her down, but she explains Jean is her mom. She then goes on to make an empassioned speach about the usefullness of the X-Men as mutant superheroes. She tells how Nightcrawler, Amanda, Illyana, and Xavier die and her being captured and put in a concentration camp. She then recaps the mind switch in the Days of Future Past classic. She then explains she cam back physically to try and change the past, except she seems to be in the wrong past since so much is different. She then begs the team not to turn away from the dream since the fight is as important as the result. Storm quotes Spider-Man (with great power comes great responsibility) and Nightcrawler agrees to stay with the team. On a loading dock, Jaime Rodriguez drops a crate of fish, but inside finds a medallion that promises him great power.

Yeah, but is it good? I don't understand most of the magickal wraith crap, so the first half of the issue isn't my cup of tea. But the last half with Rachel making her plea and giving the X-Men purpose from a historical purpose is great stuff. Just imagine is there was a day MLK Jr doubted his struggle and you could be there to tell him the struggle, and even his death, is worth it. So now we know for sure - Rachel is the daughter of an alternate future Cyclops and Jean Grey. I guess it's obvious the roster is hurting a little with no Wolverien or Kitty since Magik and Amanda Sefton get recruited to help out. Magneto shows up for the first time in a while. His being stranded in the ocean is a result of Warlock accidentally destroying Astroid M over in New Mutants. Ugh... and that enchanted amulate is NOT going to lead anywhere good...

Significata: Rachel revealed as daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey. More of her timeline is revealed. Magneto is found by Lee Forrester. Colossus discovers Magik's powers. Nightcrawler doubts the X-Men's purpose, but is reminded.  ¶ 6:55 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #187 (Nov 84): Wraithkill!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romit, Jr. & Dan Green, artists; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (flashback only), Colossus, Sprite (DNA), Rogue, Rachel

In New Mutants #21: The New Mutant girls host a slumber party with their friends from Salem Center; Warlock destroys Asteroid M and lands near Xavier's school; after some chaos, the New Mutants bring in Doug to communicate with Warlock, and invite him to join the school.

In Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #1: Kitty goes to Japan to rescue her father but finds he is in some shady business deals with Japanese thugs.

Synopsis: Storm walks away from Forge's building as the Dire Wraiths attack it. They come in the form of FBI agents and take over the body of the security guard. Outside, Storm runs into a wraith. She gets away from it and flees back inside of Forge's building. The wraith follows her and attacks, but she's saved by a man with a shotgun - Naze, a shaman from Forge's old Cheyenne tribe. Naze convinces Storm to help him save Forge. She calls up to his penthouse, but is too late. The wraiths start pooring in through the windows. Storm and Naze take the elevator shaft up to the penthouse. Storm is attacked by a wraith and her leg attached to the elevator cable. She gets pulled upward at a deadly speed, but slips out and onto a ledge at the last second. Naze decides to take the stairs. Storm opens a door to the outside and there's suddenly an unexplained ice storm outside. She's attacked by a wraith, so escapes into the bitter cold outside. The wraith follows her. She fights it off and heads back inside, locking the wraith in the cold. It bangs on the door, but it's strength slowly fades into nothingness. Storm is unsure of how to feel about causing the wraiths dead. Suddenly, the mind of Storm, Forge, Naze, and a wraith become linked briefly and they all scream in pain. Forge's automated defenses are keeping the wraiths from getting to him. Storm finally gets to him, but acts extremely cold towards him. They fight off some more wraiths, but one creates an illusion to make Storm and a wraith exchange appereances. The wraith tries to talk Forge into killing Storm, but he's starting using his ancient mystic ways to see through the deceptions of the wraiths. Naze catches up with them. Colossus and Rogue burst onto the scene to help. A whole hoard of wraiths arrive and the heroes go into action. Naze ducks off to find Forge's sanctum sanctorium and begins a mystic enchantment. The heroes arn't faring well, so Forge creates holograms of ROM and Starshine and scares all the wraiths off. The heroes have just enough time to catch their breath and ask where Naze is before they are attacked by shadow wraiths.

Yeah, but is it good? Claremont has done a great job of turning Storm into a bitch, but I don't think that's what he's going for. Everything Forge says is refuted. Someone asks a question, Forge answers "I don't know", Storm quips "yeah right, liar". I hate snotty bitches like that. The story itself is pretty good, considering it's about sorceress aliens, not my favorite topic for X-Men comics. As far as the minds of Storm, Forge, Naze, and the wraith being combined... I have no idea what that's supposed to be about. Naze? a wraith? the Beyonder? no idea. But the mysterious snow storm is from a Thor storyline going on in his title. Actually, it was a few months before this, but so was the Dire Wraiths storyline in ROM, so I guess we're supposed to believe the X-Men comics (and by association, New Mutants) is a few months behind the rest of the Marvel Universe. The ending felt a little rushed. Maybe it would have worked better if instead of Forge chasing the wraiths away only be re-attacked, the heroes just go on the losing end of the fight. But I guess these are supposed to be different types of wraiths. I don't really understand everthing about them, nor do I care.

Significata: Forge is revealed to have the mystic abilities of a powerful shaman, but he denies his heritage. Storm is revealed to be a great shot, taught by Wolverine.  ¶ 6:20 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #186 (Oct 84): Lifedeath

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, script & story; Barry Windsor-Smith, story & pencils; Terry Austin, inker; Wein & Scheele, colorists; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (DNA), Colossus (DNA), Sprite (DNA), Rogue, Rachel (DNA)

In New Mutants #20: The New Mutants battle the Demon Bear; officer Tom Corsi and nurse Sharon Friedlander are transformed into Indians; Magik defeats the Demon Bear with her Soulsword; Psyche's parents return from the dead, having been freed from the Demon Bear's power.

Synopsis: Forge has been taking care of Storm since she lost her powers, but she seems to have lost her will to live. She won't respond to anything her tries. Forge watches a history of Storm with his holographic imaging room, including Storm losing her powers and Forge rescuing her. She enters the room and finally speaks to him. Back at the mansion, Xavier is using Cerebro to search for Storm, but cannot find her. Xavier searches for Rogue instead. Back in Dallas, Storm and Forge begin bonding and an attraction is developped. Storm sees a storm on the way and is frustrated by the fact she couldn't sense is earlier. Forge goes swimming and Storm joins him. That's when she realises he is missing a leg and a hand, and has a scared torso. He explains he understands what she's going though, losing her powers and how she will have to learn to go on as he did. In Mississippi, Valerie Cooper meets with one of her field agents. He tells her Rogue's trail has disappeared. He drives off and is attacked by a Dire Wraith. The wraith takes over his body as well as his memories. He leads two more to Cooper's hotel room. Before she can be posessed, Rogue shows up to save her. Not that she wants Cooper to live, but Rogue needs her alive. Rogue fights off the two wraiths while Cooper kills her posessed agent then flees. In the course of the battle, Rogue touches a wraith and absorbes its memories and hatred for humanity. Xavier senses Rogue's sudden change and tries to pinpoint her location. Val Cooper is still trying to get away in a car, but Rogue was in the back seat and touches her. She finds what she was looking for - Storm's location. And she discoveres Forge's connection to everything. She leaves the unconscious Cooper and goes to get the X-Men's help. In Dallas, Storm puts on a dress that blows Forge away. She's embarassed to puts on more casual clothes. The attraction between the two is growing. They talk about their pasts and heritages and flirt a lot. When she's the raging storm outside, she becomes afraid, feeling helpless in its might for the first time. Storm tells Forge about living her life being in control of her emotions out of fear of how it might affect the emotions and how she cast off that lifestyle to finally be free. Now she has nothing to be free from. Forge consols her, kisses her, and begins to tell her the effects might not be permanent, but the phone rings. He takes it in the other room. Storm picks up the phone to tell Xavier where she is (forgetting Forge is on the phone in the other room already?) and overhears his conversation with Gyrich. Gyrich wants to take Storm to a federal pen, but Forge believes he is best suited to keep her. She also finds out he created the gun that stole her powers. She is shocked and hurt. She tries to run, but Forge creates a hologram to confuse her. She finds the remote and tries to shut it off. Instead, she activates a hologram of the bomb raid that crippled Forge. Forge gets to her and tries to explain his side of the story. She doesn't listen and completely tears him down and strips him of all dignity. She leaves him a broken man.

Yeah, but is it good? Claremont pumps out another classic. To be fair, it's only partly Claremont. The artist, the legendary Barry Windsor Smith, played a big role in the creation of this story. The result is something great. There's enough action with Rogue and the wraiths to keep this from being a total talk issue, but the talk is great. The conversations between Storm and Forge are so natural and well done that, unlike X-Men Annual #5, Storm falling in love with someone is the span of one issue makes sense. And wow... Storm spends four pages verbally ripping apart Forge. It's almost cruel, since Forge hasn't been shown to be that bad of a guy, but he did create a weapon to basically allow his people to suffer a fate similar to his crippling. When you get close to loving someone, you're in an emotional state. It's easy for those emotions to take a 180 under the right stress. This government anti-mutant era makes for some great stories. It's too bad there some shit mixed in with it, as we will see soon enough.

Significata: Storm falls in love with Forge, discovers he made the weapon that stole her powers, and turns to hate. Double sized issue sold for $1.00.  ¶ 11:05 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #185 (Sep 84): Public Enemy!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr. & Dan Green, artists; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief, the Uncanny X-Men, stars

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler(DNA), Wolverine (DNA), Colossus(DNA), Sprite (DNA), Rogue, Rachel

Guest Star: Cyclops

In New Mutants #19: Psyche fights for her life in surgery; Warlock and Magus fly past the Starjammers, who realize they are heading for Earth; Magik starts to manifest armor; the Demon Bear attacks again, transporting the New Mutants and two prisoners to his own dimension.

Synopsis: In Washington, Gyrich is adressing a security council at the Pentagon about Rogue's wanted status by SHIELD. He goes over her known history. He then reveals he has acquired a prototype of Forge's super power neutralizer gun, which he plans to use on Rogue. Mystique as Raven Darkholme bursts in and demands to get the gun back. It's still untested and Forge does not want it used until then. Valerie Cooper agrees with Gyrich that they should use it. Mystique wants to protest, but the orders came from the White House. Back at the mansion, Storm alerts Xavier that Rogue has disappeared. Storm knows it's becaus Rogue's powers were driving her crazy. Xavier uses Cerebro to scan for her. Rachel goes through Xavier's phone book and finds Cyclops' number. She calls him, but can't bring herself to speak. When he hangs up, she cries and calls him "daddy". Back at the Pentagon, Mystique worries about Rogue's fast while Destiny tries to console her. A distruption in the timeline (Rachel) has caused Destiny's precognitive abilities to become ubstable, so she cannot foresee Rogue's fate. Gyrich, Cooper, and a troop of soliders prepare to take off and hunt down Rogue. Mystique contacts Forge and tells him Gyrich has a prototype of his gun and plans on using it. Forge is so upset he calls the president and threatens to stop arms production for the country. He then takes off to intercept Gyrich. On the banks of the mighty Mississippi, Rogue is swimming and having fun. Storm finds her. Rogue tells Storm part of her childhood, aborbing her boyfriend's powers by mistake, running away from home, being raised by Mystique. Storm realises all of Rogue's experience with her powers have been negative. Storm willingly lets Rogue touch her so she may experience life through Storm's eyes for a bit. Storm is knocked unconscious, but because there was no struggle, she is able to control the elements without trouble. Rogue is then shot in the back by Gyrich. The gun was on a low level, so Rogue loses her absorbing power, but keeps Storm's powers until it wears off. The troops try to attack her, so Rogue creates a hurricane to get rid of them. But that puts a riverboat into trouble. She goes to save them and find though her own powers have returned, Storm's have worn off and she can't get rid of the hurricane. Storm revives and comes to her aid. The try to flee. Gyrich raises the gun's level to full power and aims for Rogue. Forge arrives at the last minute to try and stop him, but is too late. Storm, however, pushes Rogue out of the way and takes the shot for her. It causes Storm's powers to explode then disappear. Both X-Men are knocked into the water. Forge goes in and saves Storm. He then berates Gyrich for using an untested weapon, possibly causing the X-Men to turn against the government. They are being watched by the Dire Wraiths of the current epic ROM storyline who see Forge has duplicated ROM's weapon which is the only thing that can hurt them. They decide Forge must be killed.

Yeah, but is it good? The intrigue deepens. Gyrich has easily become the most hated villain in the series in quite a while, and he's just a government official. And somehow Mystique, a terrorist, has become likeable. She's now trying not only protect her people and her foster daughter, but protect them for their own government. There's a really nice build to whereabouts of Rogue and who's going to get there first. Storm and Rogue finally come to an understanding with each other and bond a little. I put Rachel on the roster even though there was never an official moment she joins and she doesn't get a codename for a while. She just starts going into battle with the X-Men. And we get the big shocker that Cyclops is her father. With the red hair, we can probably guess who her mother is. And the huge Dire Wraith story arc from the ROM series crosses over here. The problem is that storyline was wrapped up months ago, but we're supposed to believe it's happening concurently with the stories in X-Men. I suppose that isn't a major problem since the upcoming stories in X-Men don't have a direct coralation with the main plot in ROM. I'm noticing that the X-Men stories as of late havn't featured the whole team together, but just one or two being focused on. It helps get a better understand of a perticular character, but sucks if it isn't your favorite one.

Significata: Storm loses her powers. The Dire Wraiths plan to kill Forge. The US government has a strike force out to capture, or kill, Rogue. Rachel reveals Cyclops is her father.  ¶ 4:20 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #184 (Aug 84): The Past... of Future Days

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr. & Dan Green, artists; Glynis Wein, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (DNA), Colossus, Sprite (DNA), Rogue

In New Mutants #18: Psyche knows that the Demon Bear that killed her parents is coming for her; Rachel, displaced from her own time, tries to contact Professor X; Warlock tries to flee from Magus, his father; the Demon Bear comes for Psyche and critically wounds her.

Synopsis: In Dallas, Texas, Mystique as Raven Darkholme and Dr. Valerine Cooper visit a reclusive inventor named Forge. His entire five floor penthouse inside a giant Star Trek-like holodeck. They arrive as Naze, a member of Forge's old tribe, leaves in anger. Forge, a dashing Native American with cybernetic prosthetics, welcomes the women and shows them his latest invention - a gun that neutralizes super powers. He got the designs by copying ROM's blaster used to destroy the Dire Wraiths (in a huge storyline going on in the ROM series). Forge's version is still untested and will not release a prototype until he knows for sure if the effects are permanent or even fatal. Forge uses his gun to register someone in the room is a mutant, frightening Mystique that her cover is blown, but then Forge reveals himself to be a mutant. Back in New York, Rachel, from the Days of Future Past timeline, is watching a news broadcast of the X-Men fighting in Japan, realising there are vast differences between this time and her time's past. As she walks on in the night, she is followed by Selene, who detects Rachel's powers. Selene doesn't wish to feed on Rachel, but instead make her an apprentice. Selene tries to use her dark influence on Rachel, but Rachel mindblasts her and runs. Rachel ducks into a nightclub for safety, but the bouncer tries to throw her out. The owner stops him, and feeling back for Rachel, takes her back to his place for a meal and a bed. Rachel takes a bath. When she comes out, she finds the bar owner dead, drained by Selene. Rachel uses her telepathic ability to fight Selene, but Selene makes the inanimate objects in the room come alive and attack. The fight causes a gas leak, which ignites, and the apartment goes up in flames. Selene starts to use her own mental powers to subdue Rachel until Xavier and the X-Men arrive. They were following two signatures that registered on Cerebro. The X-Men battle Selene, but she manages to get away. Storm then uses her power to put the fire out. The X-Men meet Rachel for the first time, but she's knows them, or least thought she did, from her timeline. Much confusion ensues.

Yeah, but is it good? An interesting debut for Rachel (Ok, not exactly. She was in the two-part Days of Future Past classic, but in the future, and she appeared in the last issue of New Mutants, but this is her full, current timeline debut). She does a lot of comparing of the X-Men as they are now compared to the X-Men as they should be. The way they should be (Storm didn't go punk, Rogue never joined the team, Illyana is still a child) would have probably remained had Sen. Kelly been assassinated way back when. So we know the world will turn out differently from Rachel's time. But for the better? And just who the heck is this Rachel anyway? I don't much care for Selene because her powers arn't very well defined. She drains life force, makes inanimate objects come alive, and has mental powers too. Gee... can she turn green when she gets mad and have an extra spider-sense? Too much. Kitty is obviously gone because of last issue, but Wolverine is gone for a while, too. They meet up in their own story arc. There was also a passing comment from Storm on how well Xavier does as a field leader now that he can join them. She starts to doubt her own talents as leader... again. Very little X-Men here. Mostly Rachel.

Significata: Rachel meets the X-Men from the mainstream timeline. Selene wants to make Rachel her apprentice. Storm questions her role as leader.  ¶ 1:25 AM (0) comments