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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 5, 2017 0:48:56 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #202"X-Men... I've Gone To Kill -- The Beyonder!" Cover Date: February, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Beyonder, Sentinel: Omega Class Guest Stars: None Official Plot: When Rogue enters the room of Rachel Summers she is greeted by a psychic image of Phoenix telling the X-Men that she has decided to use her expanded powers to destroy the Beyonder because he is a threat to all existence. When the image fades away, Rogue rushes off to alert Storm who tells her to gather the rest of the X-Men and have them report to her loft. Soon Magneto, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Wolverine are gathered in her room and Storm appraises them of the situation. After some discussion the X-Men decide to try and stop Rachel to avoid any sort of negative backlash from the near omnipotent being. Heading to the lower levels of the Mansion, Magneto uses Cerebro to try and get a lock on Rachel but finds it difficult. Wolverine goads Magneto on the fact that Cerebro worked just fine until Magneto had messed with the Earth' magnetic field some time ago. Magneto stands up for himself, prompting Shadow Cat to worry about Wolverine pushing Magneto too far as the Master of Magnetism would likely take Logan up on any challenge. Magneto finally pinpoints Rachel's location: San Francisco and the X-Men begin to mobilize. Phoenix meanwhile manages to pinpoint the location of the Beyonder, who is pondering what to do with all existence on Alcatraz island. She attacks him head on at full power causing a massive Phoenix bird shaped explosion that causes no actual damage. The Beyond, unaffected by this attack remembers meeting Rachel previously. The Beyonder tells her that he did not want her to cause any damage and knows what she thinks of him and tries to convince her that she is wrong. She refuses to believe him and continues to attack him. The Beyonder tries to explain that nobody can see his perspective because individuals see only a part of existence while he sees the whole and struggles to understand what drives people. When Rachel suggests that if the Beyonder doesn't like living a self-aware life he should kill himself, he tells her that all she knows is death. He decides to teach her lesson by transporting her to a vision of the future which she comes from. He explains that her rage and grief consumes her. He then shows her the death of everyone she loved: Franklin, Storm, Colossus, Storm and Wolverine at the hands of the Omega Sentinels, and Kate Pryde at the hands of Nimrod. This causes Rachel to collapse as she once more struggles with the fact that this reality is not her own, this is a world where Rachel Summers could never be born. The Beyonder then offers her an option, granting her sufficient power to kill him, he gives her a choice -- the chance to kill him unopposed, or save her fellow X-Men. When she notices Storm flying the Blackbird nearby and it begins to have engine problems, Rachel passes on the chance to eliminate the Beyonder to save her friend. She learns that the X-Men have been transported to San Francisco and have been scattered all over the city. As she goes to help Storm, she is attacked by an Omega Sentinel that has been plucked out of her time by the Beyonder. She blasts the Sentinel with a mind bolt and briefly considers going back to kill the Beyonder (who has resumed his thoughts) but cannot abandon her friends. Storm orders her to maintain a psi-link with all the X-Men so she can direct them while she deals with the Omega Sentinel that is still after her. When the mutant-killing robot latches onto the Blackbird, Storm flies it up into the air as quickly as possible hoping to knock it loose. She succeeds after breaking the Earth's atmosphere and the Sentinel begins to fall to Earth, burning up upon re-entry. Before Storm can turn the plane around it's systems begin to fail, threatening to send her to the same doom as her attacker. While in the city, more Omega Sentinels have appeared and are attacking the rest of the X-Men. When Magneto is caught up in the coils of one robot, Rogue attempts to save him and is blasted for her trouble. With her costume in tatters she lands in a panicked crowd and her skin-to-skin contact begins to absorb peoples stray thoughts which overwhelm her. Wolverine attacks the Sentinel but is knocked aside. Before the Sentinel can blast him, Phoenix arrives and saves him from the blast. Then using the extra power granted to her by the Beyonder she super-charges his healing factor and brings him over to free Magneto. Still weak from the attack, Magneto can only create a magnetic vortex that creates a whirl wind that freeze the super-strong Sentinel in it's tracks, allowing Rogue to smash it to bits. As the vortex continues it also allows Storm to safely land the Blackbird, but also causes enough cold to blanket San Francisco with snow. Elsewhere in the city, Colossus and Shadow Cat are alone against another Sentinel. They manage to cripple it when Colossus rips out a lamp post and with Kitty's phasing power manages to impale the Sentinel with it. Phoenix arrives and uses her enhanced abilities to reconnect a live wire into the lamp post overloading the Sentinel with the entire city's power supply, overloading it. After the threat has ended and Phoenix has used the last of the power the Beyonder had given her to repair the damage done to the city she confronts the Beyonder again. When the Beyonder explains that he did what he did to expunge her of the guilt of witnessing her friends die in her own time and realize her full potential, she lashes out at him telling him that the only reason todays events happened were because he created the threat to begin with. That such realizations cannot just be given, they must be earned. She then flies off telling him that while he may mean well, all he manages to do is cause harm. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View: From the last two issue's departures of X-Mainstays like Professor Xaiver and Cyclops, we now turn our attention to the ongoing SECRET WARS II, and this issue and the next are the last two crossovers from that limited series, or at least the last two we'll be directly discussing. In this, the first part of what I'll call the "Phoenix vs. The Beyonder" 2 parter, we see Rachel announcing to Rogue that she's off to kill the Beyonder, as she feels he's too dangerous to be allowed to exist (of course, the same claim could be laid at her feet as well, and the next issue will kind of deal with that somewhat). She takes off for San Francisco (where The Beyonder currently is), while Rogue assembles the rest of the team, letting them know what has happened, and, of course, the team (save for Nightcrawler, but we'll see what happens with him in #204) goes off after her. Rachel confronts The Beyonder, announcing she's there to kill him, and he gives her a choice. He gives her enough power to kill him, but then also pulls the advanced Sentinels from her future into the present, and sends them after the X-Men, who suddenly find themselves in San Fran, offering the choice to either kill him, or use her added power to save her friends from the robots that kill them in her future. Rachel, of course, decides to save her friends, and after a hell of a fight, she aids them enough to defeat the robots, and then uses the rest of her added power to repair the damage the battle has caused. Once this is done, she confronts The Beyonder, who tells her that he only did what he did to show her the full potential she has, which Rachel replies by saying that while he says that he's trying to help, all he ends up causing is harm. To explain the transition of The Beyonder a bit more (y'know, from #196 to here to next issue, as he seems to change personalities from issue to issue), I must talk a bit about SECRET WARS II (Wahhhh! Do I have to?!? F**K!!!). The Beyonder, after witnessing the actions of various heroes and villains in the first SECRET WARS, comes to Earth to learn what it is to be human. He starts out being kind of a blank slate, learning the very basics of being human. He eventually comes to learn the basics of what it is to be human, becoming successful, trying to be a hero, trying to be a villain (which he's kind of in transition between the latter two in this issue), and then finally to either truly become human or destroy the universe....or both, or neither. Who knows? Jim Shooter's not that great of a writer, if I haven't mentioned that enough. Anyways, after trying to do the villain thing in the following SWII issue, he encounters the New Mutants, and kills all of them, erasing them from everyone's memories (this happens in their own book, but we'll be feeding that into next issue's review, as due to Kitty and Illyana's bond, she is the only one that remembers the New Mutants, and knows what The Beyonder did). All of this is going to set Rachel off again, who thinks that she wussed out in this issue, where she should have just stuck with her original idea.....Killing the Beyonder, and she gets to try again next issue, even if it means destroying the entire universe to do it. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 5, 2017 1:04:32 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #203"Crossroads" Cover Date: March, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Beyonder Guest Stars: Jessica Drew, The Starjammers (With Charles Xaiver), Uatu the Watcher Official Plot: Being in San Francisco again becomes a painful reminder to Rogue of what happened the last time she was in the area: Namely, she had absorbed the memories and powers of Ms. Marvel, crippling her super-hero career on Earth. As she stands on the Golden Gate Bridge, the site of the battle, Rogue realizes the reprocussions of what she had done that day: She now struggles to balance her own memories wit that of Carol Danvers, and it is almost like there are two women living inside her head. Tearfully she realizes that no matter how much good she will never be able to make up for what she did those months ago. She returns to the home of detective Jessica Drew, formally Spider-Woman and an ally of the X-Men who has been putting the team up since their arrival in San Francisco. When she arrives she finds Kitty meditating outside, Kitty reveals that half of Magik's armor and her Soul Sword has been transferred over to her. Rogue, surprisingly does not remember Illyana at all and claims that Colossus had never had a sister to begin with. Kitty explains that the Beyonder had not only killed Illyana and the New Mutants, but wiped them out of existence and the only reason she can remember is due to the mystic link between her and Illyana. Phoenix appears to Kitty, who cannot fathom how to stop someone as powerful as the Beyonder. She offers both Rogue and Shadow Cat a solution: destroying the entire universe to end the Beyonder once and for all. She rationalizes that in doing so whatever will come into existence after them will never have to worry about the Beyonder meddling in their lives. She goes on to explain that she needs the life forces of her friends to power this mission. Shadow Cat and Rogue (both her and her Carol Danvers persona) agree to give up their life forces willingly and die. Overhearing this, Jessica Drew confronts Rachel and offers her life force as well. Rachel enters Drew's home and finds that most of the X-Men are sleeping, and assumes that Colossus, Wolverine and Magneto would follow her and absorbs their life forces without waking them. When she enters Storm's room, she finds the X-Men's leader awake and waiting for her. She tells Rachel that she is wrong and begs her to stop. Rachel, steadfast in her mission refuses to stop this insane plan and takes Storm's life force without her permission, believing that the ends justify her means. Surging with power, Rachel abandons her humanity and flies off into the stars. Witnessing the Phoenix leave the Earth troubles the Watcher who believes that history might repeat itself with Rachel Summers as it did with Jean Grey. In space, Rachel comes across the crippled Starjammer and establishes a link with Professor X. Learning what she intends to do, the Professor begs her to stop as well however Rachel will not listen and absorbs the life force of Xavier and the entire crew of the Starjammer. She then travels to the world where the M'Kraan Crystal is kept, and easily defeats it's defender Jahf. Entering the crystal she is confronted by the souls of those who's life forces she took. She reveals to them that she intends to unleash the Neutron Universe being contained within the crystal in order to wipe out all existence and create a universe devoid of the Beyonder. Storm attempts to appeal to her one more time, but Rachel refuses to give in. However, when she connects with the M'Kraan Crystal she is linked with every living being in existence and realizes all the lives that would be snuffed out of existence. Torn between doing what she thinks is right, and her inability to commit universal genocide, Rachel gives up, returning to Earth and restoring everyone to life. Back on Earth, Rachel is convinced that her mission was a failure, however Storm points out that not being able of slaying every living being in the universe is not a failure. The X-Men all confide in her that they couldn't bring themselves to do the same thing. Not even Magneto who once told Charles Xavier that he would be willing to go back in time to kill Hitler, or even so far as killing his grandparents to prevent the atrocities he committed during World War II. Now seeing this willingness to prevent a greater evil at the expense of innocent lives on such a massive scale has shaken his surety on if he could or not. Then the Beyonder appears before them and expresses his disappointment in the X-Men. He explains that he was hoping that Rachel would destroy the whole universe so that they can go out with a bang, telling them that he intends to destroy the universe anyway. He offers the X-Men the chance to battle him again, even though it would be futile to stop him from destroying everything. The X-Men refuse to fight and question the Beyonder how he could possibly destroy all existence. He tells them because he feels that all existence is confusing and wrong. Kitty then lashes out at the Beyonder chastising him for wanting to snuff out human life because he finds it inconvenient and not considering how his actions effect others. When the Beyonder retorts that humanity rejected being one with the universe, the X-Men try to explain that people do not want such power handed to them on a silver platter but to earn it their own way. Phoenix then steps forward and tells the Beyonder that he is the embodiment of death, and that she, from now on, will be a defender of life and will not allow him to cause harm to the human race while she is alive. She then points out that she realizes that the Beyonder was attempting to use her to destroy the universe with a portion of his power. When the Beyonder admits to this he asks for her to give the power back. Rachel is more than happy to oblige, however she also gives him the amassed experience she had when she linked with the universe through the M'Kraan Crystal. The Beyonder, overwhelmed by the the existence of every living creature on the planet buckles over in pain and finally understands what it means to exist. With this the X-Men point out that every living creature struggles to make the best of their lives due to the threat of their ultimate mortality that they would eventually die. This gives the Beyonder much to ponder over, and he decides to leave the X-Men to think about it. As he teleports away, he warns the X-Men that their days may be numbered, and not to squander them. With the Beyonder gone, Colossus asks his teammates if they made a difference, to which Storm that they did, no matter what happened the tried their best to make a difference. Brodie's View: "Crossroads" is a very apt title for this issue, as in many ways, it sets in motion yet another factor that splits the X-Men team as they were in #200 apart, especially where it concerns one Rachel Summers. It starts out so justified.....well, relatively. Rogue comes back from reflecting on what she did to Ms. Marvel in AVENGERS ANNUAL #10, to find Kitty sitting with Illyana's Soulsword and part of the armor Illyana wears when she uses her Magik powers. This is because The Beyonder wiped out all of the New Mutants (Including Illyana) in the last issue of that book, and because of the bond she and Illyana shares, Kitty is the only one who remembers they even existed. Rachel overhears this, and states that The Beyonder is going to end up erasing the universe like he did the New Mutants, and only she has the power to do what must be done; destroy the universe before The Beyonder can, and recreate it so he never existed. Sounds like a risky plan, but Kitty, Rogue, and Jessica Drew (the former Spider-Woman, who has allowed the X-Men to crash in her San Fran pad for a while) offer their life forces to aid in this, which Rachel takes. Where she messes up is going on a life force taking party, taking those of the X-Men without asking, and in the case of Storm, Xaiver, and The Starjammers, forcefully. She then goes to the M'Kraan Crystal, and tries to basically cause the crystal to do what her kinda sorta mother, Jean Grey (or in Retcon land, the Phoenix, who had taken Jean's form), prevented from happening, the destruction of the universe. However, by trying to do this, she connects with every life force in the universe, and by doing that, realizes that she can't go through with her plan. She comes back to be confronted by The X-Men, and then The Beyonder, who calls her a failure for wussing out doing the one thing he was setting her up to do, destroy the universe to try and stop him (even though he is planning to do that anyways). Kitty then gets up in his face (Lol at Claremont having Kitty be the one that is willing to get up in the faces of Godlike beings like Loki and The Beyonder, and tell them they're being asses), and basically calls him a piece of crap for what he's done. Rebuffed, The Beyonder tries to take back the power he gave to Rachel last issue, only to also reach the realization she did by connecting to every life in the universe. Shaken, he departs, unsure of what to do now, and the X-Men realize that if this wasn't a win, it was about as close as they were ever going to get to one, as it relates to taking on an entity like The Beyonder. Of course, the X-Men do end up joining with all of the other heroes of Earth, and together they fight The Beyonder before he can potentially destroy the universe by trying to make himself human (which....not really sure how one would have resulted in the other, but....Shooter). The Beyonder ends up being "killed" by Shooter love child, The Molecule Man, and that pretty much ends SECRET WARS II with a whimper. The New Mutants end up being resurrected and used as time buyers for The Beyonder before he snuffs it, and after a bit of time, they shake off the brainwashing he implanted within them, and are their normal selves again. However, the big thing that happens in this issue is Rachel taking the life forces of certain X-Men without asking them, and trying to go on a crazy quest to destroy the universe without at least discussing it with the whole team. This kind of pisses certain members of the team off, and creates some kind of a crazy bond with Wolverine that will lead to dangerous (at least for Rachel) consequences in #207-209. In some ways, this issue marks the beginning of the end of her run with the team, although it'll take a few more issues for that to fully play out, and through that, the end of this version of the team as well (as, let's face it, with what happens in #210-213, they could have certainly used Rachel's power there. It might have made things go in a far different direction). Barring all that, I will say that this was more of an enjoyable issue than the last one, as the last half of the issue has the team doing what they do best (at least under Chris Claremont), discussing their emotions and feelings like real people would in that kind of a "pause before the last stand" moment. It's not something that a lot of writers would have paid any attention to (Jim Shooter certainly wouldn't have bothered), and it's what separates this run from most other runs in this period. Raw emotion. Anyways, that's pretty much it for SECRET WARS II in this book, although, we'll see a bit of fall out from it for the next few issues, including next issue, in particular, as we find out what the hell has been going on with Nightcrawler (who opted to stay behind in New York last issue) during all this. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 5, 2017 3:51:32 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #204"What Happened to Nightcrawler?" Cover Date: April, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: June Brigman Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: Arcade, Ms. Locke, Mister Chambers Guest Stars: Amanda Sefton Official Plot: Nightcrawler has spent all night brooding in the rain on the balcony of his girlfriend Amanda Sefton. When he realizes it's morning when Amanda wakes up he teleports into the bathroom and cleans himself off. When he begins his day by having a drink, Amanda tells him that the X-Men called and that they are okay, but asks him what's wrong. He explains that since he had his pan-dimensional adventure the previous year, his life of adventure and swashbuckling and the carefree adventures with the X-Men have changed. When Amanda asks why, Nightcrawler tells her that she wouldn't understand and teleports back out onto the balcony again. She goes out there and begs him to open up to her. He explains that ever since he encountered the Beyonder, a god-like being that has rattled his faith down to the bone, he is unsure of who he is because what gave him meaning has been proving that it doesn't exist and therefore he does not know who he is anymore either. He angrily asks her if she can actually help him with that. He explains to her that when the X-Men went off to fight the Beyonder in San Francisco he was asked to stay behind and he was relieved. His past encounters with the Beyonder has made him wonder what is real anymore. He openly wonders if Amanda used some spell to make him love her. Insulted by this, Amanda grabs her bags and storms off for her job with the airline. Nightcrawler realizes too late that it was the wrong thing to say, but the opportunity to take it back has passed. All he can do is howl like some animal. Hearing this from below, Amanda briefly considers going back up to him, but does not want to be rejected again and catches a cab to Kennedy airport. As they drive away, the Hack makes a joke about the rain, pointing out that a jogger near by is nuts to be out exercising in this weather. The jogger in question continues on her jog, unaware that a very familiar, very sinister garbage truck has began to follow her. Up on Amanda's balcony, Nightcrawler hears what he believes is the familiar noise of one of Arcade's rigged garbage trucks makes when it captures a mark and decides to investigate. Teleporting out to Central Park he sees a garbage truck being driven by Arcade's aid Mr. Chambers and decides to go to the rescue of whatever poor soul managed end up on Arcade's hit list. Following the truck to an abandoned amusement park, Nightcrawler finds an access to Aracde's Murderworld through a fake trash can and breaks his way into the facility. Meanwhile, Aracde's latest victim was the jogger who was out earlier in the evening. After being taunted by Arcade, she is launched through his usual battery of Murderworld traps: The gigantic electrified pin-ball machine, and simulated scenes using a combination of robots and holograms. The joggers fitness enables her to avoid the robots disguised as British fox hunters and giant sharks. Before she can get bitten by the mechanical shark, Nightcrawler teleports in and saves her. Taking her to safety, she finds that she thinks that he is one of Arcade's tricks and when he tries to convince her otherwise she doesn't believe him. He realizes the irony of the fact that she is saying almost the exact words that he said to Amanda earlier in the evening. He asks her to trust him, and without any other choice the young woman decides to follow along. Arcade, having detected Nightcrawler's presence in his Murderworld finds this new development amusing and hopes that it can make things more interesting. He chases after the two, holographically projecting his head onto one of his robot bodies and chasing them in a dune buggy with an army of robots. Finding their own vehicle, Nightcrawler and the woman attempt to escape. Nightcrawler manages to get the advantage thanks to his superior driving skills. But when Arcade sends simulation World War I fighter planes after them, he is forced to leave the girl to teleport into the air and deal with them. Using his flying skills he manages to shoot out the other planes and cause them to crash on the cars chasing them. The woman's car runs out of fuel in a China town simulation and she is enticed into a "sanctuary" by Miss Locke, however this is a trap and she is surrounded by more robots with knives. Nightcrawler comes to her rescue her and swears to Arcade the they will get out of Murderworld alive. When Arcade balks as this, he is surprised when what appears to be the X-Men smash their way into his control room and destroy the controls allowing Nightcrawler and his companion to escape. Arcade realizes too late that these are not X-Men at all, but some of the robot duplicates of his own creation and realizes that Nightcrawler must have programmed them to attack when he first broke into his facility. This turn of events gives Arcade a good laugh and he decides to let the X-Man and his companion go free. When Nightcrawler brings the girl home, he detects someone in her apartment and crashes in. These men shock both her and Nightcrawler when they reveal that they are members of the Ruritanian government, and that this young woman, Judith Rassendyll is the last of the Elfsburgs and as such has been named queen of that country. Brodie's View: Once again, the title of this issue is pretty spot on, as in this issue, we find out what did happen to Nightcrawler while the X-Men were in San Francisco battling The Beyonder, and in a way, The Beyonder still ends up being somewhat of a presence in this issue as well. It's the reason that Nightcrawler declined joining the team in going to fight this Godlike entity, as, being that Kurt is a devout Catholic, the experience of dealing with a very real Godlike being, and realizing how insignificant he (and his heroics/belief) is/are in the face of a being like The Beyonder has shaken him to the core. It basically causes him to turn his back on everything and everyone he loves, and slowly dissolve into a puddle of self pity and depression. He needs the adventure that follows in this issue (which, despite the danger, is a beatable threat (Arcade and his Murderworld employees)), and it allows him to be the swashbuckling, laugh in the face of danger, fuzzy elf we all know and love, and I would say Arcade and his gang were the perfect choice for the villains in this issue, as Arcade and his Hall of Mirrors/Funhouse inspired Murderworld are the perfect escapist threat for characters with deeper traumas to deal with to have to fight (Look on how well it helped out Kitty and Colossus in #197). For while Arcade and his funhouse of death are serious threats, they are, as said before, very beatable, as we've seen him/it be beaten by every hero we've seen tested by him/it. Plus, it allows Nightcrawler to get back in the mental state that he was before the darkness of the 80's really started to descend on him, which really benefits the future of the character, as Post MUTANT MASSACRE, he ends up in a much lighter world (and book), and having him be the fun loving swashbuckler again definitely fits the whole feel of that world/book more than it fits the future of where the X-Men book is going. As stated in the last few reviews, this is really kind of the end of an era for this version of the X-Men, but it's kind of spread out over a year's worth of issues, which allows Claremont the ability of building a future for certain characters once this change has happened. I think in the case of Nightcrawler, Chris knew the future direction the book was going in wasn't going to be one fit for characters like Kurt and Kitty Pryde, and that hard characters like Wolverine and Storm were going to become more hard as the stakes got more serious. In the next issue, we're going to see future dangers show up for Wolverine, and that character being pushed to a limit we haven't seen him pushed to as of yet. In that issue, things gets dark and bloody, and we see what the future of the X-Men is going to be, versus the light and frothy fun issue this ended up being. We then get the lead up to the end of the X-Men we've grown to love and care for, and the birth of a new team from the ashes of that. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 5, 2017 23:37:46 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #205 "Wounded Wolf" Cover Date: May, 1986 Writer(s): Chris Claremont & Barry Windsor-Smith Artist: Barry Windsor-Smith Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: Lady Deathstrike, Cole, Macon, Reese, and Spiral Guest Stars: Katie Power (From Power Pack) Official Plot: Lady Deathstrike pays Spiral for turning her and three former Hellfire Club guards into cyborgs at her Body Shop. They want to kill Wolverine, who greviously injured them, and then have the process reversed. While Lady Deathstrike wishes to remove Wolverine's Adamantium bones as she believes that the process was stolen from her father. The four cyborgs track down and attack Wolverine during a snowstorm during the busy Christmas shopping season. In their initial attack on the crowded streets they cause a panic separating young Katie Power from her baby sitter Miss Randolph. As the youngest member of the Power Pack attempts to find her baby sitter she instead finds the seriously wounded Wolverine. Wolverine in a near feral state frightens the girl and when the police arrive he scares her further by picking her up and running away with the police firing after him into the swirling snow storm. When Wolverine trips and falls in the snow he drops young Katie who changes into her costume and incinerates a garbage pale to generate enough power to -- well, she's not sure what she will do when Wolverine gets up, because she knows he's a hero but she doesn't know why he is acting so strangely. When she gets a closer look she realizes that Wolverine has been seriously injured and makes the connection that the men who caused the shooting were after him. Noticing the cyborgs lights searching for Wolverine, Katie helps Logan to his feet and tries to lead him to safety. When she spots an on-duty taxi cab she manages to get it to stop and gets Logan in the back. She explains to her driver that her "uncle" has been beat up and he agrees to try and take them to a hospital. However, the cyborgs manage to find Wolverine, with Lady Deathstrike incapacitating the cab. Wolverine tosses both Katie and the cab driver out of the vehicle as Cole fires at it causing it to explode. Katie his afraid that Wolverine has been killed when suddenly the feral mutant pops out of the flames alive and relatively well. Wolverine then grabs the girl and flees again, but the two stumble into a construction yard. With Wolverine's mind partially restored he struggles to remember who Katie is and can only speak in Japanese. Katie realizes that Wolverine is cold and gives him her winter jacket. As Wolverine begins to shake off the drugs that he has been hit with, he explains to her that his healing factor is helping heal his body and his mind and now remembers her as one of the Power children. When the cyborgs track them down again, Wolverine gets them both to cover and tells Katie to stay behind and cover her eyes because what he is about to do won't be pretty. When she wants to help, he tells her to stay hidden and that she did her part keeping him away from his enemies long enough to heal. He then leaves her to attack the cyborgs that have come to kill him. Logan quickly dispatches Cole, Macon and Reece with relative ease leaving him in a one-on-one duel with Lady Deathstrike. As the two battle it out, Wolverine gains the upper hand and easily trounces Lady Deathstrike. Stripping away her armor and seeing how fully she had gone with the cybernetic implants shocks Wolverine. He points out that she has no humanity left, as what was done with him was forced upon him while she willingly allowed herself to be turned into an abomination for something as petty as some misplaced desire of revenge. When the defeated Lady Deathstrike begs him to kill her out of mercy, Wolverine refuses and walks away. Checking on Katie, he finds that she is fine and when she asks if Wolverine had killed the cyborgs. Wolverine doesn't mince words, but tells her that the part of his life where he would have killed for such an attack are behind him but there is still a part of him that's as wild as ever. He asks her if she's still scared, and Katie admits that she still is a little. Wolverine tells her that it's okay and walks her away to reunite her with her family. Katie tells Wolverine that he has a friend in her, and Wolverine tells her likewise and they walk off into the winter storm together. Brodie's View: We go from a focus issue on Nightcrawler to one based on the X-character who, by this point, was clearly becoming the most popular member of the team (if he wasn't already), Wolverine, and establishing some long term villains both for him and the X-Men in the Post MUTANT MASSACRE era. This would be Lady Deathstrike, and the three former Hellfire Club guards that Wolverine tore into in #133, who are transformed by Spiral (who we've seen as an ally of Mystique's Freedom Force group, and who we'll see in the next issue, although, her true boss has yet to be revealed, at least in the pages of Uncanny. This will change soon.) into cyborgs, hell bent on the mission of getting revenge on/killing the person they all deem responsible for their respective conditions....well, if I gotta tell ya. Anyways, at some point after the events of #203, Logan heads back to New York, and is set upon one winter night by this group, who wound him to the point that he is regressed into almost being an animal (which stylistically and story-wise kind of sets up the story Windsor-Smith would later do for Marvel Comics Presents, Weapon X, which would tell the story of how Logan gained his adamantium skeleton), which is where this story begins, as he ends up running across Katie Power (who he met in #195, although, he barely would remember this upon meeting her in this issue), who ends up becoming unwillingly (and then willingly, as she tries to save the obviously severely wounded X-Man from the people hunting him down). Finally, she buys him enough time to regain his memory, and then he proceeds to mess them up one by one, until he gets to Deathstrike, who he rips apart, but denies her an honorable death, telling her she has to earn that. ( Dayyymmmnnn!!!) The issue ends with he and Katie forming kind of a bond of friendship, or at least kinship, which, unfortunately, is never really followed up on, as the two characters take very different paths after this (well, their paths do somewhat converge again soon, but not in ways one would expect). This was a really great issue, and probably the most action packed Claremont/Windsor-Smith collaboration we've seen so far, as the previous issues where the two have teamed have been more drama centered than action centered. Not so in this issue, as the fact that it is taking place in the middle of a snow storm allows Windsor-Smith a chance to take some interesting risks with the visual style of his artwork. As previously stated, this is not the last time we'll see Lady Deathstrike or the three former Hellfire Club guys (Cole, Macon, and Reese), as they end up forming the core of what will eventually become a group of cyborg killers known as The Reavers, which will come to be led by another familiar cybernetic face, Donald Pierce, who is also a former Hellfire Club member (Last seen being messed up by the X-Men in the DARK PHOENIX SAGA). Once again, all are united by their hatred of Wolverine and the X-Men, and they become quite the thorns in the side of the post MUTANT MASSACRE team. For now, we have a bit more to finish up with the current team, and we'll see some loose ends getting wrapped up in the next issue, and some new threads began, ones that will have a lot of long term repercussions, even though it'll take a couple of years to really know how much and how far those repercussions go. GRADE: A
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,455
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Mar 6, 2017 0:10:30 GMT -5
See now that is a beautifully drawn issue,BWS sadly was too slow to do a monthly title. But crappy JR jr was fast enough. Bah!
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 6, 2017 0:50:44 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #206"Freedom is a Four Letter Word!" Cover Date: June, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: Freedom Force (The Blob, Spiral, Avalanche, Pyro, and Spider-Woman II) Guest Stars: Jessica Drew, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, & Amanda Sefton Official Plot: The X-Men are continuing their clean-up effort of the San Francisco area following their battle with The Beyonder and the Omega Sentinels. As Storm patrols the streets she comes across a mugging in the China Town area. When she steps in to stop it, she easily beats up the muggers and takes them down before the police arrive. In the aftermath of the fight, Storm meets officer Bree Morrel, who tells Storm that she doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks about mutants or the X-Men and tells her that mutants have proved their worth to the people of San Fransisco in her books. When Storm returns to the home of Jessica Drew, the temporary lodging of the X-Men while they're staying in San Fransisco, she finds that Kitty Pryde has dressed up punk so that she can go on a date with David Ishima to see the latest Lila Cheney show. While Ishima promises to behave, Kitty's excitement for the date makes Storm worry. As Storm settles in, Rogue checks the mail and finds a postcard from Scott and Madelyne. When she tells them that Madelyne has asked them all to come up and visit in Alaska, Rachel throws a fit tossing dishes with her telekenetic powers. She is still struggling with being in a past where her mother is dead and her father is married to another women, and when Rogue tries to calm her down and convince her to confide in Cyclops the truth behind her origins, Rachel cannot bring herself to do it. While aboard a TWA Flight heading to London, Amanda Sefton worries over her boyfriend Nightcrawler. It's been a week since their argument and she hasn't been able to contact him and she wonders if their relationship is over. Back in San Francisco, Kitty and David don't make their date as they are ambushed by members of the Freedom Force right outside of Jessica Drew's home. As the other X-Men rush outside to meet their government sanctioned foes they are caught up in the psi-webbing of their newest member the new Spider-Woman. The X-Men break free, but Phoenix is seemingly struck down by Spiral and then Pyro causes a massive blaze with his flame throwers. When he challenges Storm to fight him (unaware that she lost her powers), Storm is surprised when the heat from the flames has turned the fog surrounding the area into a freak monsoon. Storm decides to bluff him into thinking she still has her powers. She gets an assist from Rachel, who has been playing possum, who uses her telekinetic powers to lift Storm off the ground and into the air. Blob joins the fight, and holds Rogue off while Spiral figures out that Rachel is behind Storm's "flight" and knocks her out with another blast. With Storm falling to the ground, Kitty uses her phasing powers to save her from a fatal fall. Meanwhile, Colossus attempts to put out Pyro's flames by breaking a fire hydrant, but the water stream is blocked by the Blob and he is swallowed up by the ground thanks to Avalanche. Colossus manages to break free, catching Blob off guard long enough for Rogue to throw him into San Fransisco Bay. When Jessica Drew notices the newest member of the Freedom Force had usurped her former costumed identity she confronts her. However, the new Spider-Woman warns Jessica that unless she stands down, as a federal agent, she can have her arrested along with the X-Men. Rogue attempts to absorb Spiral's powers, and while she gains two extra pairs of arms, she is taken control of by Spiral. When Linday McCabe attempts to rescue her cat from the roof of the house she shares with Jessica, she almost falls from the roof, prompting Kitty to break away from the fight and save her. This brings the fight to an end as the Freedom Force manages to incapacitate all of the X-Men with an assist from the Spiral controlled Rogue. However, before the Freedom Force can arrest the X-Men, Lieutenant Morrel shows up and orders the Freedom Force to stand down. She points out to the group that they are out of their jurisdiction, and because the X-Men have been considered civic heroes in the city, and the Freedom Force are consisted of mostly wanted criminals she tells them that unless they can provide a warrant and proof that they have been pardoned by the government, they have no jurisdiction to take the X-Men prisoner. Conceding, the Blob warns her that the X-Men better not be in San Francisco when they come back and Spiral teleports them away. In the aftermath of the battle, Storm agrees with Morrel to leave before the Freedom Force comes back. Inside Jessica's house the X-Men say their goodbyes. Rachel, realizing that she could have been killed or arrested tonight decides that she is going to finally tell Cyclops who she really is so that she can finally put her past to rest. While at the San Francisco Memorial Hospital, an unidentified female patient is brough through the emergency room, having suffered multiple gunshot wounds. With no identification on her she is listed as a Jane Doe. This woman is none other than Scott's wife Madelyne Pryor. While in New York, Nightcrawler says goodbye to the newly appointed queen of Ruruitania. The encounter with the woman having renewed his faith in adventure. Brodie's View: This is the end of the X-Men's (well, most of them) time in San Francisco (where they went to fight the Beyonder back in #202), and on the surface of things, this is merely just a little battle with a section of Mystique's Freedom Force group (the former Evil Brotherhood of Mutants, now working for the U.S Government) that basically ends as a stalemate (although, it is kind of interesting that the ranks of that group now include the second Spider-Woman, who was introduced during SECRET WARS, especially since the person the X-Men were crashing with was Jessica Drew, who was the original Spider-Woman, now powerless and working as a P.I). However, a few little things end up happening that end up impacting the future, as well as being basically the end of certain story threads that won't be picked up until some time later. The biggest of those is Rachel's frustration over her inability to tell Cyclops who she is, allowing some kind of closure between them. The events of this issue convince Rachel that she should call Cyclops and tell him she's kinda sorta his daughter, but sadly, she won't get the chance of doing that until much later, as Rachel starts to take a different path next issue (which was, in reality, caused by what she did in #203). We also get to see Nightcrawler at the end of his adventure (that mostly took place in #204, but evidently he was having too much fun with the gal he rescued (who ends up being the Queen of a small foreign country) to let either the X-Men, or his long time girlfriend, Amanda Sefton, who we also see in a brief cutaway scene, know where he was and what he's been doing. Sadly, Kurt is going to have a rough period ahead, so, the fence mending between he and Amanda is not going to happen until MUCH, much later. The last "minor" thing that happens is something we're shocked by, but at the time seems like something pretty minor in the overall scheme of things, but as we'll find out later, it's a pretty major event that had just happened (The most important thing to happen in this issue, IMO), and that is the revelation that someone has tried to murder the wife of Scott Summers, Madelyne Pryor, who shows up as a Jane Doe in the hospital in the very same city the X-Men leave at the end of this issue. First, it's sad, as reader of X-Factor at the time would know that her husband was too busy chasing after his first love, Jean Grey, to be there to protect his wife from what happened (although, he does sulk in self pity about his dickishness for ditching his wife and kid like that, but by the time he actually goes back to say something, they both are gone. The whereabouts of little Nathan won't be known until later, and Madelyne won't show up for a little while as well). Even worse, there is a reason behind what happened to Madelyne, and it kind of links to what happened to the Morlock Annalee's children, and further than that, THE MUTANT MASSACRE, which is quickly approaching. Even though all of this catch the X-Men by surprise, as they were too busy with their own problems to notice all of these things happening behind the scenes, the readers, I'm sure, saw these things as pieces of a larger mystery to be solved over time. A major part of that mystery would fall into place during the MUTANT MASSACRE, and in the period afterwards. The final piece will fall into place during INFERNO, and lay the place for a villain that becomes one of the X-Men's greatest over time, even though he would rarely take them on directly, preferring to make his plays in the shadows, the events of #194-THE MUTANT MASSACRE being a perfect example of this. However, we'll talk more about this when we get to #210-213. For now, we've got to deal with Rachel Summers, who has to deal with the fall out of the actions she undertook in #203, and the fall out proves to be downright fatal, as we enter the last little arc before things change with the team FOREVER. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 6, 2017 2:07:51 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #207"Ghosts" Cover Date: July, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Hellfire Club: Selene & Friedrich von Roehm Guest Stars: Callisto and various Morlocks Official Plot: Rachel is in the ruins of New York City being attacked by Wolverine who seems to be out to kill her. As she flees from him she comes across a reflective surface and is shocked to see that her Phoenix costume has been replaced with her own Hound costume that she was forced to wear when the government of her future forced her to hunt for other mutants. Running across a poster listing the fate of many of the X-Men, Rachel recounts the nightmare world she came from and how she escaped to the past to try and find a happier life after the people of her future time destroyed everything. She now wonders if the whole thing was just a dream when Wolverine catches her and lands a fatal blow. Rachel wakes up screaming and realizes it was all a dream and that she is safe in a temporary bed in the Morlock tunnels. When she looks in the mirror she sees that her telekinetic masking of her Hound scars has dropped and she lashes out, smashing the mirror with her mind. This brings Shadowcat and Colossus rushing into Rachel's room to see if she's okay. When they determine that it was an accident, Kitty warns Rachel to have more control over her powers in the future. Left alone, Rachel realizes that Kitty is right and attempts to use her abilities to fix the broken mirror but find that she can't. Elsewhere in the Morlock tunnels, Wolverine, still recovering from recent injuries wakes up and wonders why Rachel has been pulling him into her dreams. When he attempts to get out of bed he collapses on the floor and passes out. Rogue and Nightcrawler rush in to check on him and he sends Rogue to seek out Storm and Callisto so that they and see if the Healer can help Wolverine. After reporting to Storm, Rogue comes across Rachel and commends her for her Morlock-esque attire. When Rachel attempts to talk to Storm, she gets the cold shoulder. When she calls her on it, Rogue points out that the X-Men are still cross with her for taking their life forces to battle the Beyonder, some without their permission. That night when Rachel is asleep again, she finds that she has pulled Wolverine into her dreams once more, this one about Japan. Wolverine, furious with her for stealing his life force while he slept explains that this linked the two of them together. Wolverine tracks her down and she begs him not to strike, reminding him that they are friends. Wolverine tells her that friends do not betray each others trust and strikes. Rachel wakes up in an alley, and begins to walk the streets noting how complacent people are and how ignorant they are to the fact of just how many times the X-Men have saved their lives. She fells asleep again and has another dream where she is once more in her Hound costume. This time she tears it off and when she is attacked by Wolverine she strikes him with what she thinks is a lethal psi-blast. She is woken up on the subway by a police officer. After she explains to him that she isn't on drugs and can look after herself, he offers to help her find a place to crash for the night and she flees instead. She comes out of the subway on Spring Street, where the ruins of the home owned by Nicholas Damiano was destroyed. The first night that she met the X-Men. She recalls how Damiano was killed by Selene, then vying to become the new Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. Try as she might however, Rachel cannot remember the name of the man. Remembering how the woman so callously killed a man who was just trying to help her out, Rachel decides to go and settle the score. While back down in the Morlock tunnels, the other X-Men realize that both Wolverine and Rachel are missing and head to the surface to look for them. Later, at Monarch Towers, Phoenix pays a visit to Friedrich von Roehm, the aid to Selene and uses her mental powers to take control of him. She forces him to bring her to the Hellfire Club where she appropriates a maid costume so that she can get into Selene's chambers. There she unleashes her full power on the woman, demanding that she pay penance for the man who she slew. Although Rachel can easily over power the new Black Queen, she is shocked when Selene actually can remember Damiano's name and points out to Rachel that the man must have meant less to her as she cannot. Before she can execute Selene she is interrupted by Wolverine who has managed to walk right into the Hellfire Club and confront her. Wolverine tells her that he has come to take her home, however she refuses to go without killing Selene. Wolverine points out that what Rachel is about to do is murder, and being part of the X-Men, that is against the rules. He points out that while they have both killed in their lives, the fact that they are X-Men means that they have to stand for something better. When Rachel refuses to stand down she tells Logan that the only thing that will stop her from slaying Selene would be if Wolverine where to kill her. As they debate, Logan gets close enough and the last sound Rachel hears is the trademark SNIKT of Wolverine extracting his claws. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View: The beginning of the end....continues here, at least as it relates to one Rachel Summers, who is having nightmares that feature a murderous Wolverine coming after her. She is slowly being driven to the point of irrationality by these dreams, and none of the other X-Men (They all are hanging in the Morlock tunnels, as Wolverine is recovering from the injuries suffered in #205) give her fears any attention, as many of them are still pissed at her for taking their life forces, some without asking, in #203. In fact, this is why she's having nightmares about Wolverine, as her taking his life force caused some sort of bond between the two (or is it, considering who we find waiting for her in #209, it's not out of the realm of possibility that this has all been set up, including the X-Men's reactions to Rachel's worries), and we see that Logan, too, is aware of the sudden connection between them. This eventually leads to Rachel leaving the Morlock tunnels, and happening across Selene, who, being that she's now their Black Queen, is entering the Hellfire Club with her man servant, Friedrich von Roehm. Rachel sneaks into the Club, and for once, gets the drop on Selene, attacking her with her increased power, quickly rendering her helpless. Rachel is about to deliver the killing blow, when she is confronted by Wolverine, who won't allow her to kill an unarmed opponent (This is a wonderful example of Wolverine acting as the conscience of the team, which increasingly becomes his role throughout Claremont's run) . Anger builds between the two, and it leads to Wolverine fatally wounding Rachel at the very end of the issue, making her issue long fears come true. We don't see him actually cut her, but the last panel being nothing but a SNIKT sound effect, and the fall out that happens in the next issue, kind of tells the tale. This is, in effect, the end of Rachel Summers/Phoenix II's run on the team, at least during the Claremont run. She would make a return during Claremont's 2nd return to the main X-Books in 2005, but with a very different identity, even adopting the Grey last name in honor of her kinda sorta mom, Jean Grey, who had recently.....died again. Anyways, I'll keep her in the group roll call until #210, as something happens at the end of #209 that takes her off the board for a while, and when she returns, it'll be in a very different group (although with some familiar faces), and a much lighter tone (both with the book and Rachel herself, who grows up quite a bit between #207-209 and when we see her next). For the next couple of issues, though, she is the walking wounded; being hunted by The Hellfire Club for what she did to their Queen, which will bring them in conflict with the X-Men, who are also looking for Rachel. Of course, this will bring a third party into the fray, one that will force the two enemies to have to team up against him/it. . As for Rachel, let's say after #209, she becomes a "Star" of sorts, but then again, the rest of the team will soon go through a similar experience, setting up a new regular enemy for the group. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 6, 2017 21:36:34 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #208"Retribution" Cover Date: August, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: Nimrod, The Hellfire Club: Sebastian Shaw, Tessa, Harry Leland, Selene & Friedrich von Roehm Guest Stars: Callisto and various Morlocks (Sunder, Calliban, Ect.) Official Plot: Continued from last issue... Wolverine has returned to the Morlock tunnels to explain to her fellow X-Men that he was forced to use lethal action against Phoenix to stop her from slaying Selene, the new Back Queen of the Hellfire Club. Both Shadowcat and Nightcrawler are mortified by learning that Wolverine did this, and an argument about what right he had to do so break out. It's eventually stifled by Storm who understands why Wolverine chose to do what he did, but does not condone it. She reminds the team that Rachel is still out there somewhere hurt and they need to get her help fast. The X-Men enlist the aid of the Morlocks in order to begin searching for their missing friends. Meanwhile, in Central Park, Selene has become withered and aged due to depleted energy and comes across a mugger attacking his intended victim. She uses her powers to drain the life out of the mugger, then in turn does the same thing to the woman she had saved in order to restore her youthful vitality. Returning to the Hellfire Club, she has a meeting with the Inner Circle and reports to Sebastian Shaw of the Phoenix's attack on her. She convinces the Hellfire Club to rally together and hunt down Phoenix and destroy her before she can recover and attack the Inner Circle anew. While elsewhere in the city, Nimrod is scanning the area by uplinking to a satellite dish. He picks up Phoenix and registers her as an omega class mutant and is about to go to attack her when he is briefly interrupted by Thomas Rodriguez the son of his friend Jamie. Nimrod changes into his human disguise when the boy asks him to check over his homework. Nimrod tells him that he can't because he has business downtown and is left alone. Nimrod reverts to his robot form and flies off to intercept Rachel with the intention of eliminating her. While in Central Park, Rachel is still alive, in blinding agony her mind is flooded with stray thoughts of the millions of New Yorkers all around her. She has managed to survive having her lung and heart pierced by Wolverine's Adamantium claws by using her telekinetic powers to keep everything together, but she needs medical attention fast because if she slips for a single moment she will die. As she wanders through the park she comes across the remains of Selene's last victims. Furious she she psi-links with Wolverine and shows him what his mercy toward Seline has cost: the lives of two innocent victims. She uses her powers to throw Wolverine onto subway tracks in the path of an oncoming train. Wolverine is saved from being killed thanks to the split second timing of Shadowcat who uses her phasing powers to save him. Pulling him up into Central Park, the X-Men realize that they should have not turned Rachel away earlier and this could have all been avoided, but are more determined to go looking for her. Leaving Wolverine behind in Nightcrawler's care to heal, Storm leads the X-Men and Morlocks with Caliban using his tracking abilities to try and find Rachel. Caliban tells Storm that he has found her, but there are others out hunting her down as well. Caliban couldn't be more right, as both Nimrod and the Hellfire Club are out searching for her. As Selene unleashes her minion Von Roehm to hunt her down, Nimrod's scanning systems detects the presence of all the mutants in the area and prepares to deal with them with extreme prejudice. Von Roehm finds Rachel first, but before the feral mutant can attack her Rogue slams into him. When he claws her he causes her to absorb his powers and she becomes possessed with his personality. Before she can attack Rachel, she takes Rogue down with a psi-blast. However before Phoenix can get away the Hellfire Club is upon her and Seline manages to encase her in animated Earth. The other X-Men arrive and a full on fight breaks out. During the fight, Henry Leland uses his gravitational powers to increase Colossus's mass and cause him to fall through the ground. When Rogue attempts to save him, her ripped gloves causes her to absorb his powers instead. Fearing she might rip Colossus's arms right out of their sockets she instead smashes through the ground to dig him out. Sebastian Shaw orders Storm and the X-Men to surrender in order to save their friend's life. As she is considering this, Rachel manages to crawl away, deciding that the best course of action would be to remove herself from the location so that the X-Men and the Hellfire Club have anything to fight over. As she is fleeing she is spotted by some of the Hellfire Club's mercenaries who chase after her. However, before anything else can happen Nimrod appears, telling the gathered mutants that the use of their powers are a capital offense, punishable by death. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View: We see the fallout from what happened at the end of last issue in this issue (Wolverine snikt-ing Rachel Summers, in order to stop her from killing Selene, the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club), as Wolverine goes back to the X-Men and explains what happened, and why he had to do what he did. This doesn't sit right with some of the team, but Storm smartly tells the others to stow their anger at least long enough to find Rachel before she perishes from the wounds given to her by Wolverine. However, the X-Men aren't the only one hunting down Rachel, who is staggering around, trying with all her telepathic might to keep herself from bleeding to death. There is also the Hellfire Club, who are assembled by Selene, who convinces them that Rachel's attack on her (which was really more retribution for Rachel did to her and the man that tried to help her in #184) was an attack on the Hellfire Club itself, which the Inner Circle, with a few reservations, accepts and springs into action to find and bring the young Phoenix to justice...Their Justice. Speaking of justice, there is another player that is hunting Rachel; the sentinel who was transplanted from her own apocalyptic future, NIMROD, who sees her as a mutant on a danger level equal to him/it, and therefore, one that needs to be exterminated. This all culminates in Central Park, as the Hellfire Club finds the wounded Phoenix first, but are quickly jumped by the X-Men (who had the help of Calliban and Callisto to find Rachel), and the battle breaks out between the two groups, as Rachel weakly crawls away. Before things can get too far into battle, the two groups are surprised by NIMROD, who shows up out of the blue, stating that all of the mutants there are defying (his/its) law by using their powers, and that is punishable by DEATH! This is, of course, leading to a big three way dance between three very formidable forces. Of course, the threat of NIMROD is going to make even long time enemies have to put their animosities aside to deal with this very dangerous (and increasingly unbeatable) threat. Then there is the fate of Rachel Summers, which, as I said in the last review, will be revealed (well, somewhat) in the next issue, as it's pretty clear that like a few future characters that will be taken off the table by Claremont, Rachel Summers, as powerful as she currently is, needed to be taken off the board to ground the team even more, as some of the threats they will be facing in the near future are not of that world beater level of threats (well, at least until the FALL OF THE MUTANTS era), but they are definitely ones that would be taken out pretty quickly by someone who could pull what Rachel was doing in #202-203. Like the earlier Phoenix, she almost had to be taken out of the equation because she had gotten to be too powerful of a character, and was forcing the writers to have to build up constant world beater threats for them to fight (ala The Avengers or Justice League). This is the storyline that would basically accomplish this, but don't weep for Rachel, as next issue would not be the last time she'd be seen in the X-Universe. Of course, it'll be the last time she'll be living on American shores for a while. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 7, 2017 0:53:04 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #209"Salvation" Cover Date: September, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: Nimrod, Spiral, The Hellfire Club: Sebastian Shaw, Tessa, Harry Leland, Selene & Friedrich von Roehm Guest Stars: Callisto and various Morlocks (Sunder, Calliban, Ect.) Official Plot: Continued from last issue... A confrontation between the X-Men and the Hellfire Club in Central Park over Rachel Summers has been interrupted by the arrival of Nimrod who has come to terminate all the mutants as per it's programming. As both teams prepare to deal with Nimrod, Phoenix -- mortally wounded by Wolverine -- detects Nimrod's presence and in a near delirious state due to blood loss flees the scene. As the robot decides to shift it's priority to Phoenix, Rogue smashes out of the ground disorientating Leland. With Leland's powers no longer keeping Colossus trapped underground, Storm sends Shadow Cat to collect him. When some Hellfire Club mercenaries try to shoot Storm from behind, Callisto dives in the way, pushing her out of harms way. Just then, Nightcrawler and Wolverine teleport onto the scene and frighten them off. As Kitty continues to search for Colossus, Rogue clashes with Sebastian Shaw. Finding him becoming too powerful to fight on her own, she throws him toward Nimrod. Nimrod uses a repulsor attack to send Shaw flying into orbit. Seeing this as a means to take over the Hellfire Club herself, Seline thanks Nimrod for the assist and then seeks to destroy the robot with her powers, however Nimrod manages to neutralize the attack. With it's initial threats neutralized, Nimrod begins to compute the next course of action. Storm sends Rogue to go and locate Rachel and then suggests to Leland that since neither of them can fight Nimrod alone, they should team up. Before Leland can answer, Von Roehm attacks Storm, only to be knocked by Wolverine. When Friedrich attempts to counter attack he is incinerated by Nimrod in a single blast. Rogue counter attacks, hoping the fact that she still has Colossus's powers to protect her. However, as Kitty finds Peter buried under ground the powers revert back to him, making Rogue an easier target to Nimrod and is blasted out of the sky. Elsewhere, Rachel continues her struggle to use her powers to keep herself alive. She hears music coming from a nearby Delacorte and decides to investigate. Using her powers to open the gate, and she finds her transported to a giant building. There she is greeting by a woman who introduces the place as the Body Shoppe. The strange woman welcomes her in with open arms and offers to use the Body Shoppe's magics to heal her and remake her in the image that she has always wanted. Confused and feeling that everyone is just using her for one end of the other, but tired of fleeing, Rachel wearily follows after the woman. While back in the battle raging in Central Park, while Leland uses his powers to root Nimrod in one spot, Nightcrawler attempts a trick that he used on Nimrod in their previous encounter by teleporting off one of his limbs. However, Nimrod has produced a counter measure to this sort of attack and scrambles Nightcrawlers attempt to teleport away, causing to scream in agony before he teleported away to points unknown. At the same time within the Body Shoppe, the woman who has greeted Rachel shows her that by dancing in this realm Rachel can be reformed in anyway she wishes to remake herself in any image she could possible want. Meanwhile, Leland continues to use his powers when he is suddenly stricken with a heart attack. Although Nimrod is freed from Leland's power, Colossus bursts through the ground and grabs his foot. Kitty phases through Peter and through Nimrod catching the robot off guard. With Kitty's phasing powers shorting out Nimrod, Colossus gains the upper hand and begins smashing the robot around the park, smashing it into seeming in-operation. Seline then uses her powers to cause the electrical and telecommunications wires under Central Park to come up and coil around the damaged robot while the two teams of mutants determine what to do with the robot next. With Leland struggling with his heart attack, Tessa asks him to use his powers one last time and use them to negate the repulsor beam used against Sebastian. This causes Shaw to come falling back down to the Earth and slam into Nimrod's inert body. This impact is with sufficient force that it not only creates a massive crater in the park, but smashes Nimrod into rubble. With Colossus carrying the unconscious Shaw away, Wolverine attempts to finish off Nimrod with his claws. Before he can destroy the mutant hunter once and for all, it teleports away much to Logan's frustration. With the battle over and the authorities on their way, Tessa offers the X-Men sanctuary at the Hellfire Club so that both groups can effectively escape. As they flee into the night, within the Body Shoppe, Rachel is shown an image of the X-Men. Deciding that her time with them is done, she enters into the spotlight to be remade again and begin a new chapter in her life. As she enters the portal, she is unaware that he owner of the Body Shoppe is none other than her foe Spiral, who hopes to manipulate Rachel and the power of the Phoenix for her own twisted ends. Brodie's View: It's all out war between The X-Men, The Hellfire Club, and the future sentinel, NIMROD, and not everyone walks away from this one. Meanwhile, the reason they are fighting, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, crawls away from the battle, barely keeping the wounds given to her by Wolverine in #207 together enough to keep her from bleeding to death. However, we'll get back to her in a second, as she takes a very interesting path by the end of this issue. The main fight starts out as a three way fight between the three forces, NIMROD taking out a lot of each team's heavy hitters instantly (He/It incinerates Von Roehm, sends Sebastian Shaw into orbit, and counter attacks Nightcrawler trying to teleport his/its arm off (which was the beginning of the robot's defeat in their last fight in #194) by basically causing the elf to reverse teleport, which ends up messing Kurt up quite a bit long term), and forces the remains of both teams to have to work together to stop the robot. This ends up being the end of Harry Leland, who ends up redeeming his uselessness somewhat by using his mass increasing power to bring Shaw back to Earth with enough force to hit NIMROD like a missile (all while dying from a heart attack), but it allows the two forces to send NIMROD packing once more, but knowing that the next time they face him/it, he/it won't be felled by such an action again (as the robot learns and improves after each defeat, making him/it infinitely more dangerous). This all has long term ramifications, as the X-Men and the Hellfire Club kind of become loose allies after this, realizing that the upping of threats both mutant and non is the impetuous for change, and looking at each other in a new light. Of course, Hellfire never really truly changes it's roots, and all this alliance really does, long term, is to force one character, who has been trying to walk a better path, to slowly slide back towards being neutral/evil again, but that's in the long term. In the short term, we'll see the two groups try to work together against certain threats, at least in a sharing certain resources sense. Of course, while this is all going on, Rachel is drawn away from the battle by the sound of music, and a huge building that has suddenly materialized into another part of Central Park. She investigates to see a kindly woman, who promises to be able to allow Rachel to strip off the sins of her past, and become whoever she wants to be. Wounded and delirious, Rachel responds to the strange woman's sales pitch, and joins with her, vanishing off of our plane of existence. We see at the end that the woman was really Spiral, and we suddenly realize that while what she was offering Rachel will come true in a sense, the price of that will be more than the young Phoenix realizes (and we'll see the full implications of that a couple of reviews from now, as we finally get to see Spiral's REAL boss, and we are introduced to a character that both are hunting for, and who will end up being the first new member of the team that will come together Post MUTANT MASSACRE). Speaking of which, in the next review, we get the fall out of what happened in this issue for the team, and the set up for what is to follow. It's kind of a calm before the storm issue (although, we definitely see the storm clouds gathering), as things change drastically after that. The next issue is the true "end of an era," as the team will be totally different 10 issues from that point. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 7, 2017 2:31:51 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #210"The Morning After" Cover Date: October, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Marauders (Scalphunter, Malice, Arclight, Harpoon, Scrambler, & Vertigo) The Hellfire Club: (Sebastian Shaw, Tessa, Emma Frost, & Selene) Guest Stars: Magik, Lockheed, Dazzler, & X-Factor (Cyclops, Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Beast, Iceman, & Angel) Official Plot: Los Angeles, California... Richard Salmons -- a mercenary in the hire of the Hellfire Club -- has been fleeing from mysterious attackers along with his lover, a Morlock named Tommy. As they run through a train yard Richard is struck by a super-charged harpoon and is fatally wounded. As he dies, he tells Tommy to grab his gun and run as it is her only chance to survive. Tommy complies, wondering why she is being hunted down and is fearful of her attackers because she does not want to die. When Tommy flees without the weapon, Richard reaches for it when his attackers catch up to him. He warns them that his employers will pay these assassins back in kind, to which their leader welcomes them to try before shooting him in the head. Hearing this, Tommy rushes for a moving train and uses her powers to slip inside a rail car hoping that she has escaped her attackers. These Marauders however know where she is hiding but decide to leave her live a while longer as she will take them to where their mission needs to bring them. Their leader hopes their member Malice is having as much fun with her assignment in San Francisco. In San Francisco, Alison Blaire -- the mutant known as Dazzler -- taken up a job as a back-up singer for Lila Cheney's band since her outing as a mutant had ruined her solo music career. After their latest gig, she turns down an offer from her band mates to go out and party and decides instead to rest on their tour bus instead. Alone in the bathroom, Dazzler thinks about how much she hates being the back-up singer for a band and having to hide her mutant nature, and disguise herself by dying her hair black. Her thoughts are interrupted when suddenly, Malice, one of the Marauders appears to her in the mirror as an image of Alison's "true" self. She attacks Alison, however she seemingly fends off her attacker with her light powers. Not sure if the attack really happened or not, Dazzler tries to convince herself to keep her head on straight and heads off to bed, unaware that she is now wearing a choker around her neck. While in Manhattan, Rogue continues the search for Rachel Summers who had gone missing during the X-Men's recent battle with Nimrod and the Hellfire Club in New York City. Along her search she flies past the X-Factor compound and wreckage caused by a recent super-powered battle and wonders what he organization is all about. She decides to continue her search and has to put it off to save some window washers who's scaffolding breaks loose. After getting them safely to the ground one of them attempts to kiss Rogue. She politely declines it and flies off remembering that she has no control over her powers. Looking at her reflection in nearby office windows she realizes that her costume is in tatters and decides to go out and purchase a new outfit. She stops at Bloomingdales to get a new outfit and some make-up done. As she is being made over by a cosmetics sales person a crowd who saw her save the window washers gathers. One of them, an anti-mutant bigot, calls her out as a mutant and threatens to call X-Factor on her. She is puzzled, and before the man can do anything else one of the window washers she saves gets in the middle and defends her. In the commotion, Rogue flies away from the scene and as she heads back toward the X-Mansion. Along the way she spies an advertisement for X-Factor on the side of the bus and is troubled to see that they are commercial mutant hunters. At the Mansion, Colossus is forced to wear his original X-Men costume since all of his most recent ones have been wrecked. He pays a visit to his sister the New Mutant known as Magik. She is looking at his sketches and marvels at his artistic abilities. Coming across as sketch of Kitty, Illyana tells her brother that Pryde is worried about the fate of their missing teammates Phoenix and Nightcrawler and the two agree to go down and see what they can do to try and find their missing friends. They find Kitty in Xavier's former study where she has just succeeded in revamping Cerebro to allow any of the X-Men to use it to track mutants. When they discuss what happened to Rachel, Kitty expresses her displeasure with the fact that Rachel fled the battle with Nimrod when all of them could have died in the conflict. Just then, Cerebro begins to detect one of their missing comrades. Back in Manhattan, Magneto arrives in an alleyway and uses his magnetic powers to change his costume into street clothes. As he walks through the streets he witnesses the gathered emergency and police crews that are still in the area following the X-Men's battle in Central Park. As he is walking toward the front doors of the Hellfire Club's building, he sees the members of X-Factor and is shocked to see that they comprise of the original X-Men, making him wonder if they have betrayed Xavier's ideals. X-Factor sees Magneto entering the Hellfire Club building as well but decide that there are too many innocent bystanders around to act. Inside the building, Magneto meets with the Lords Cardinal of the Hellfire Club. After discussing the current actions the Hellfire Club has taken against both the X-Men and the New Mutants. Shaw decides that in light of the current wave of anti-mutant sentiment in the United States that the two groups should consider a truce and work together for the self preservation of mutants. To this end, Shaw offers Magneto a seat within the Inner Circle. Magneto decides that he will consider the offer. While in a derelict warehouse off the Hudson River, Nightcrawler is being chased by an angry mob who is attacking him due to his appearance. Having tracked Kurt with Cerebro, Illyana, Kitty and Peter teleport to the location to look for him. Confronting the mob, they learn that he unintentionally scared some young children, hence creating the mob that has been chasing him and that they are concerned that Nightcrawler is as dangerous as a pair of radioactive mutants that attacked X-Factor recently. Kitty scolds them and points out to the angry mob that mutants are living beings like them and should be treated humanely. Despite being outnumbered, Kitty manages to talk the mob down and convince them to leave Nightcrawler alone. With the danger averted, Kitty asks Kurt why he didn't just teleport away from the mob. He explains to her that he tried, and for whatever reason he has seemed to have lost his ability to teleport. While at the Delacorte Theatre, Wolverine and Storm have tracked Rachel's sent to this location. Wolverine explains that her scent just stops. Wolverine confides in Storm and asks her if he made the right decision wounding Rachel when she attempted to slay the Black Queen. Storm tells him that it shouldn't have come to that and in the dark days ahead the X-Men must begin fighting like a team again. She asks Wolverine to pledge to follow her leadership, that they cannot afford this situation repeating itself. Wolverine swears to her that he will until the end. While in the subway tunnels below Manhattan, the Morlock named Tommy arrives in the Morlock tunnels after travelling across America. She thinks that she has safely escaped her attackers in LA, but is shocked when she is struck down by an energy harpoon. She is confronted by the Marauders who tell her that they are the best at what they do and that they have been hired to eliminate her, but that it's nothing personal. Their leader pulls out a gun and then shoots her in the head. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View: Man! A whole lot of stuff happens here, even though there's no "Big Battle" or conflict that happens within the pages of this particular issue. In one sense, this is kind of a quiet issue, where we see various members of the X-Men dealing with the events of the last few issues, and one case where Kitty, Illyana, and Pitor have to save Nightcrawler (who has been MIA since trying to take out NIMROD via teleporting his arm off, only for the robot to reverse it on him) from an angry anti-mutant mob (which is cool, as it kind of brings things full circle for Kurt, who was first seen wayyyyy back in GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1 being chased by a similar mob). This is a great moment for these characters (and we'll see over the next few issues why Claremont felt he had to give these characters THAT type of moment, as it would be the last one of this type for them for a long time, at least in the pages of this book), particularly Kitty, who, as Chris had used her several times as "the voice of truth," saying things to people who might potentially be a danger to her, but not caring and saying it anyways. This is no exception, and Kitty winds up backing the mob now by confronting them with their own ugliness and prejudices. We also find out that Nightcrawler has been quite injured from his failed attempt to teleport, which will be quite important as we go into next issue. We also see Magneto being summoned to the HQ of the Hellfire Club, who offers Mags the spot in the Inner Circle recently vacated by the late Harry Leland, under the guise of forming a truce between Hellfire and the X-Men due to the escalation of the dangerous threats against mutant-kind. Magneto states that he will consider the offer, but he does end up joining, which sends him on a far different path than he would have been on, had he not taken Sebastian Shaw up on his offer.....a far darker path. In fact, we can kind of consider this issue the beginning of Magneto's move back to the neutral side of things, which will eventually lead to his becoming a full fledged bad guy again at the end of Claremont's run (something dictated by Marvel itself, as being that Magneto was known as one of the X-Men's top bad guys, any shades of grey created for that character could no longer exist). However, before Magneto enters the Hellfire Club, he spots the new team on the block, X-Factor (who were in their "mutant hunter" X-Terminator outfits....long story), who he, of course, recognizes as being the original X-Men (and the first time we see Cyclops since his losing to Storm in #201). The paths of X-Factor and the X-Men do come close to crossing a few times down the road, but they won't actually come head to head until INFERNO, so, while I'll talk about the team in short at times, I'm not going to go too into depth on them right now. I will say that we're coming up to one of the points where the paths of the two teams almost, but not quite, cross paths, and it is the very first X-Crossover: THE MUTANT MASSACRE, which this issue is basically the first part of, and we see the precursor to the main events of this crossover in the very beginning and very end of this issue, as we are introduced to a gang of mutant assassins known as The Marauders, who kill one of the Morlocks and the Hellfire Club guard who was trying to protect her. Of course, this Morlock girl, in trying to get away, leads the killers to the place they needed to be in the first place, The Morlock Tunnel, which is about to set in motion of series of events that will change the X-Universe forever, and will most certainly alter the X-Men from what we see on the cover of this issue (memorably drawn by John Romita Jr., who will be gone after next issue). I'm not going to cover the entire crossover (However, I will give brief statements on anything important that happens in the crossover issues), as just tackling the X-Men specific issues is going to be work enough. I will say that the title of this crossover will definitely live up to the hype, and, as I said before, the team as we know it will be no more by the end of it. Hold onto your diapers, folks. Things are about to get BLOODY. (However, the next review will be a brief fun interlude before that happens) GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 7, 2017 22:04:48 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men Annual #10"Performance" Cover Date: January, 1987 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Arthur Adams Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: Mojo, Spiral, Major Domo Guest Stars: Longshot, The New Mutants (Mirage, Cannonball, Karma, Magik, Magma, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Cypher, Warlock), Betsy Braddock (Psylocke), & Lockheed Official Plot: This issue takes place before Mutant Massacre The X-Men are playing a unique style of tag in the Danger Room, trying to get one of them to 'touch' the master of magnetism, Magneto, but they fail. Cypher, Betsy, and Sunspot are watching from the control room. This necessarily means that Mojo is also watching. Mojo decides he needs to increase ratings, so he sends in Longshot and a blast of ectoplasmic goop directly into their danger room session. Longshot is unconscious, clearly not human (he has two heartbeats, and three fingers on each hand), and is taken to the medical lab. The goop disappears before it can be analyzed. The X-Men go to bed. In the morning it quickly becomes apparent to the New Mutants (but not the X-Men themselves) that the X-Men are getting younger. The female X-Men mostly fall in love with Longshot, while Warlock and Cypher do some investigating in the Danger Room. Betsy figures out who the bad guy is, and Magneto and the X-Men leave to find him, getting younger and more childish all the time, knocking out the New Mutants when they try to stop them. (Warlock and Cypher also figure out who's responsible on their own). The X-Men drive the X-Mansion's Rolls Royce to Central Park, and when they hop out the older X-Men are about the size of 6-year-olds, while Kitty is not much more than a baby. Magneto helps them escape New York police, and they run off through the park. Storm heads off on her own, and the rest follow her to a building, where she's already picked the lock before they got there. Then they find Mojo, and are all too eager to listen to him. Back at the Mansion, Lockheed wakes Dani up, just in time to answer the door. It's the police, reporting that the car is in Central Park. Later after all the New Mutants are up, they resolve to go after the X-Men. Dani gives them all their graduation costumes, and Illyana tries to teleport them to Central Park... except they end up on-stage in a theater thanks to Spiral. There, the rapidly aging X-Men attack the New Mutants. Battle occurs, with the audience captive thanks to Spiral's magic, and the X-Men are winning! But, starting with Rogue, whose use of her power reveals that something is wrong when her thoughts and others' memories of her don't match, the X-Men are slowly released from Mojo's control. The X-Men and New Mutants turn their attacks on Mojo, doing some damage, but he teleports away before he can be seriously injured. They do capture Spiral, however, who undoes many of the effects of the battle. And Mojo, off in the Wildways, smiles as the approval rating of his X-Men show goes through the roof. Brodie's View: I must say, first off, that this Annual takes place in kind of a strange time frame for the team. I say this because it was actually released AFTER the MUTANT MASSACRE had taken place, but it definitely feels like it takes place some time during the events of #210, which is why I did this review after that issue and before #211. However, it is strange, especially where it concerns Longshot (who I'll get to in a second), who seems to join the team at the end of this issue, and yet doesn't seem to really pop up in the regular issues until after the MM had taken place, which is important, as three characters who were pretty much out of commission by the time we hit #214, are pretty seemingly well and in full force in this issue (particularly, and I'm sorry if I'm spoiling anything, but Nightcrawler, who should have been still pretty messed up after the events of #209, saying this issue's events took place during #210, which is really the only time it could have taken place). At least Betsy Braddock's, who later will be known as Psylocke, presence here makes sense, as she had been hanging around the X-Mansion since the events of the most recent NEW MUTANTS Annual, and will be seen in #211 and throughout the MM, while, as I said, we won't be seeing Longshot again until #214. Speaking of Longshot, in this issue we are introduced not only to him, but his full cast of villains, who had previously only been seen in the LONGSHOT mini series that had taken place earlier in the year. We had already been introduced to Spiral, who had recently become quite the thorn in the side of the team, but now we get to meet her boss, Mojo, who is a giant yellow blob looking being who sits on top of mechanical legs, and runs the top entertainment providing company in his world. This company produces successful shows and movies, which Longshot was one of the major stars of, but on Mojo's world, his stars were his possessions, and when Longshot decided to run away, Mojo spared no expense in trying to get him back, which is why he sent Spiral to our world after him. In this Annual, Mojo tries to not only get Longshot back, but also the X-Men, by transforming them all into babies, which forces the New Mutants to have to "graduate" into being X-Men to save them, which is a pretty cool story, made cooler by the fantastic Art Adams art. I will say despite my feelings for Longshot, which I'll get to in the next paragraph, I must admit to enjoying his villains, particularly Mojo, who allows Claremont to kind of make fun of the "Anything for Ratings" television network execs (or closer to his own experiences, the "Anything for Sales" comic book execs, who will gladly pimp their creations out however they can in order to raise those sales figures......oh how far we've come ), as Mojo will take this whole X-Babies thing (which ends up getting good ratings on his world) as far as he can take it, which means that we'll be seeing various cute versions of X-Men in our future. Finally, let's get to Longshot, who makes his first actual appearance in the main X-Book (other than a one off joke in last year's NEW MUTANTS Annual, which was also drawn by Adams), and seems to join the team at the end of this story (although, that wouldn't be made official, as I said earlier, until after the events of the MUTANT MASSACRE, which we'll delve into tomorrow). I will say that I never really got into the character, as he's pretty one note. I mean, when you can sum up a character with 3 statements, (1. He's on the run from Mojo, and a stranger to our world. 2. He bounces around and throws razor blade thingees. and 3. He's really lucky, which we'll get beaten over the head with over and over throughout his run on the team) there's really not much to work with long term with him. I can see why Claremont added him to the team (knowing he wanted to shake things up with the roster, he needed new people, and perhaps thought he could persuade Adams to be the regular artist if he threw HIS creation on the team), but I will say he is one of the major reasons people look down on this approaching period as being a crappy one (It's not, but it is definitely not up to the standard we've enjoyed since Byrne or Paul Smith joined the book). I'll try not to constantly crack on the character, as he does have his (small) moments, but I will say that he's definitely not one of my favorites. Barring all that, this was a fun Annual with a cool story, and, hey, the little kid/baby versions of the X-Men are pretty friggin' cute. Enjoy it, folks, because in the next review.....things get BAD. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 8, 2017 0:51:06 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #211 "Massacre" Cover Date: November, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr.& Bret Blevins Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Marauders (Scalphunter, Arclight, Riptide, Harpoon, Scrambler, & Vertigo) Guest Stars: Magik, Mirage, Lockheed, & Betsy Braddock (Psylocke), Sharon Friedlander, & The Morlocks (Callisto, Sunder, Annalee, Cybelle, Piper, and a crapton of others, most of them die in this issue) Official Plot: The Marauders have come to the Morlock Tunnels on behalf of their employer to eliminate the Morlocks. Finding their first batch of victims, Scalphunter attacks first with his specially-made gun, blasting some of the Morlocks away. When one superhumanly strong Morlock attempts to counter attack, his powers are nullified by Scrambler, who leaves him vulnerable to Riptide, and Scalphunter. The Marauders soon storm their way into the Alley, where they unleash a full-scale assault on the unprepared Morlocks. After a number of Morlocks are slain, Callisto orders the others to flee the scene. In order to cover their tracks, she has the Piper use his flute to summon the rats, alligators, and bats that populate the sewer to block their attackers. Meanwhile at the X-Mansion, Wolverine goes out to the small barn on the property to offer aid to Colossus and Rogue, who are baling hay. When they decline and tell him he needs to let his body heal, Wolverine angrily cuts Colossus's pitchfork in two and storms off. When Wolverine storms off, Colossus notes that it's taking longer than usual for him to heal from his injuries. Inside the mansion, Kitty is caught raiding the fridge by Magneto. When Kitty explains that she's cramming to catch up with her classes, Magneto allows her to continue, and she brings her bounty up to Illyana to share. Back outside, Nightcrawler attempts to surprise Wolverine by teleporting, but finds that while he has regained the ability, it is painful for him to accomplish. The two are about to step out for a drink when suddenly one of the Morlocks digs out of the ground. On the brink of death, the mole-like Morlock tells the two X-Men that they are the Morlocks' only chance at survival before he expires. The Morlock is brought into the mansion, where his body is examined by Storm, Magneto and newcomer Betsy Braddock. They learn that someone is trying to wipe out the Morlocks. When Storm decides to take the X-Men down into the Morlock tunnels to investigate, Magneto offers to join them. Storm refuses, telling him he has a responsibility to the New Mutants, and that he should remain behind just in case the X-Men are targeted next. The X-Men are teleported into the sewers by Colossus's sister Magik and as they travel through the sewers they come across a mound of bodies, some alive, some injured, including Callisto, who is only slightly wounded. The complete disregard of life shown sends the X-Men reeling, and so they are open to an attack by the Marauder known as Vertigo and ambushed by Riptide. As Colossus and Rogue shield the others, Nightcrawler uses his powers to get the drop on the two Marauders. Taking out Vertigo with multiple teleportations leaves Kurt weakened and open for attack by Riptide, who knocks him out and flees the scene with his unconscious comrade. Storm orders Illyana to teleport Nightcrawler and the wounded Morlocks back to the Mansion, and tells her to stay put. Storm, the rest of the X-Men and Callisto then move forward, determined to stop the Morlocks from causing any more deaths before it's too late. This is a faint hope, as the Marauder known as Scalphunter has tracked down Annalee. He tells her that he was the one who killed her children, before he shoots her and a few of the young Morlocks. The gunshots lead Colossus and Shadowcat to Scalphunter's location. When the two X-Men attempt to attack Scalphunter, his teammate Arclight knocks Colossus clear down the tunnel and caves it in, separating him and Kitty. When Scalphunter attempts to shoot Kitty at point-blank range, she is saved by her phasing powers. Shadowcat warns the Marauders that she could use her phasing powers to maim them horribly, but decides her teammate is more important, and flees through the rubble to check on Colossus. As the other X-Men and Callisto travel through the tunnels, Wolverine pushes Storm down before she can be struck by what appears to be one of Cyclops's optic blasts. Before they can go investigate, Colossus smashes through the wall next to them and Kitty hands over Annalee, who bravely shielded the younger Morlocks with her body. Her dying words to Callisto are that she was shot by the man responsible for killing her children. Before the X-Men can do anything more, they are attacked by Scrambler, Riptide and Harpoon. While Wolverine and Harpoon both seriously injure each other, Scrambler attempts to scramble Storm's mutant powers. As Storm has none at the time, he leaves himself open for attack by both she and Callisto, who severely beat him. The fight is scattered when Riptide unleashes another flurry of his throwing stars at the X-Men and their allies. While Colossus is attacked by Harpoon, Scrambler attempts to use his powers on Rogue. However, their similar abilities cause feedback that causes both to be knocked out. Open to an attack by Harpoon, Rogue is saved when Shadowcat steps in the way and is struck by the harpoon. By this point, Colossus, having lost his temper over the Marauders' lack of care for other living beings snaps Riptide's neck. He then turns his attention to Harpoon, but finds that he and Scrambler have fled the scene. In the aftermath of the battle, the X-Men are horrified to find that Harpoon's attack on Kitty has injured her to the extent that she cannot unphase herself, making Rogue blame herself for the injury. Storm orders the X-Men to help bring the wounded Morlocks back to the X-Mansion. When Wolverine asks what they should do next, Storm coldly tells him that they only really need one prisoner - the rest of the Marauders can be handled as they see fit. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View: What You Missed: X-Factor #9.....The team battles Mystique's Freedom Force group, but are called away when they start receiving visions of something horrible happening in the Morlock tunnels. They go to investigate, and Mystique, starting to put together than the X-Terminators (the "mutant exterminator" group X-Factor is posing as) and X-Factor (Under the guise of getting rid of certain mutants, the team, the Original X-Men, secretly save those mutants, while appearing to "exterminate" them) are one in the same, and leaks the news to the press, thereby signalling the beginning of the end of X-Factor's charade that's been going on since the first issue. Yes, that's right. Rather than doing full reviews on the other issues in this, the first X-Crossover, I will just kind of sum up what happens in those other issues briefly before turning my attention to the issues I'm actually doing full reviews of, as there is more than enough to say about them, and this issue is certainly no exception. This is it, Folks. The end of the team that has pretty much been since Paul Smith was on the book, and subtracting Rogue, since Byrne was still the book's artist, and a few of them go out in some pretty nasty ways (not killed, but definitely severely wounded during their encounter with the Marauders, who make their first full appearance here). Of course, they can count themselves as being the lucky ones, as The Marauders certainly make the title of this Crossover, THE MUTANT MASSACRE, live up to its own hype, as they pretty much slaughter 95% of the Morlock tunnels' inhabitants during this whole story (It was later retconned to say that the Marauders were led into the tunnels by Gambit, who was doing it as a favor to Mr. Sinister, who has always had a strange connection to the Cajun X-Man, but those looking for appearances of him in this crossover will be wasting their time, as he hasn't even actually been thought of as a character at this point.....gotta love retconning) by order of Mr. Sinister, who gets mentioned during this storyline, but not actually seen for several issues. Anyways, the X-Men go to investigate, and get attacked by a few of the Marauders, with one of them severely injuring Nightcrawler, who was already in rough shape still after the battle with NIMROD (#209), and Kitty Pryde, who ends up taking a psionically powered harpoon to the back while in her phased state (trying to protect Rogue, who lost her powers temporarily after touching a mutant that removes mutant powers), and ends up as basically a living ghost. This prompts Colossus to kind of snap, and taking an injuring attack of his own (that we won't know the full extent of until #212), manages to reach the Marauder known as Riptide, and snaps his neck! Definitely not the Colossus we've seen up until now, who was sworn to never take a life unless absolutely necessary (of course, it's definitely debatable that it was necessary, as it at least temporarily stopped that particular slaughter enough for the team to take their wounded and retreat back to the mansion). At the end of the issue, Storm basically states that they only need one of the Marauders alive for questioning, and the rest of their lives are forfeit. (Double , but not surprising given the changes Storm has went through since the Paul Smith era) Jeez, there's so much that ends up happening this issue, that it would be easy to forget some things. We, however, do see the full extent of the conspiracy of murder and violence that has been simmering behind the scenes since #195 at least. In fact, Annalee gets to find out fully who killed her children before the events of that issue, before being killed herself (in one of the more raw ass moments of this issue), and we'll later see that it was indeed the Marauders that critically wounded Madelyne Pryor, as they go back to try and finish the job later on. Point is, this group of mutant assassins definitely end up changing the game in more ways than one over these next few issues. As previously stated, they end up shattering the X-Men as we've come to know and care about, prompting the eventual creation of a new team, a much harder team that isn't quite as easy pickings for the group of killers, as we'll see down the road. This, of course, leads to my second point, that they force the characters in this book to become much more hard core characters, as many of them see that they kind of have to handle problems like this like Wolverine would.....look at Colossus. As I said in earlier reviews, it was kind of necessary that Kurt and Kitty were taken out of the picture, as while they had kind of hardened themselves in the face of the more brutal threats the team was facing, I don't think Claremont wanted them to get quite as hardened as he knew the team was going to become. However, he would create a much more light hearted environment for those characters down the line; a team that would become known as EXCALIBUR. Finally, The Marauders being introduced into things ends up opening the X-Universe up to new and greater threats; one that we've seen before in other books, but had never been strictly an X-Villain up until now (Sabretooth, who we'll see over the next couple of issues, as he will be established as a nemesis for Wolverine), and one who, as I said earlier, operates purely behind the scenes in this story, but we'll see him take on a more hand's on approach in later stories, and that is (Mister) Sinister, who will go on to be one of the team's greatest reoccurring villains in the Post Claremont era. A scientist, who was given the power of immortality by Apocalypse (who is also working behind the scenes during this whole ordeal, but in a different, self serving kind of way, and purely in the pages of X-FACTOR), and is basically obsessed with the blood lines of certain mutants, and creating various clones of mutants to do his bidding. I do believe the Morlocks were part of his experiments, and the whole reason this whole MASSACRE happens is that Sinister has grown tired of them, and basically just wanted them wiped off the board to cover his tracks (which is also the motive behind what happened to Madelyne Pryor, but we won't hear the full story of that until INFERNO), to which a group of paid killers like The Marauders are only too happy to oblige him. In the next review, we'll see the fallout from what happened in this issue, and Wolverine vs. Sabretooth: Round One. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 8, 2017 2:47:35 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #212"The Last Run" Cover Date: December, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Rick Leonardi Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Marauders (Sabretooth)/Mister Sinister (1st mentioned, behind the scenes) Guest Stars: Betsy Braddock (Psylocke), The Morlocks (Callisto, Healer....many dead ones), Sharon Friedlander, Tom Corsi, & Moria MacTaggert Official Plot: This story is continued from Power Pack #27... Wolverine continues to stalk through the Morlock tunnels looking for survivors following his encounter with the Power Pack and battle against Sabretooth. As Wolverine searches through the tunnels, he finds nothing but dead bodies. When he senses rats coming to feed on the corpses of the dead, he scares them off, even though he knows that it's a futile gesture and that they will be back when he leaves. He is then contacted telepathically by Psylocke, the new telepath living at the X-Men's mansion. She asks Wolverine for a status report, and reminds him that he is to bring back at least one hostage. Wolverine tells her things look bleak, but he will follow orders and eliminate the rest of the Marauders after he has captured a hostage. He breaks off contact telling her that he has work to do. Psylocke is a little annoyed by Wolverine's condescending attitude, but shakes it off and turns her thoughts toward the survivors of the massacre. Down below in the mansion's medical center, Moira MacTaggert, Sharon Friedlander and Magneto try in vain to save another critically wounded Morlock, but the Morlock dies in the process. Each death ways heavily on both Callisto and Storm. When Callisto confides to Storm that other than the X-Men, nobody would care about what happened to the Morlocks, Storm in turn believes that the same is true about the X-Men. She looks over her injured teammates, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, the latter of whom is stuck in her phasing state and is rapidly becoming a living ghost. When she listens to Colossus talk about killing the Marauder named Riptide for injuring Nightcrawler, Storm considers how far the X-Men have fallen. The idea that such a noble group would resort to killing causes Storm to break down and rush out of the room in tears. She runs out across the Xavier property until she reaches the lake and dives in and swims away in order to let loose her feelings. Colossus tries to go after Storm, but when he runs into Psylocke he passes out from his injuries. Meanwhile, below in the entrance to the Morlock Tunnels, Rogue and Tom Corsi stand guard at the tunnel ready for any Marauders who might make their way up to the Mansion. Rogue is called away when she is psychically contacted by Psylocke, who is pinned under Colossus and needs help. Rogue helps her by lifting the inert Colossus up off of her, and then is sent off to the lake to go looking for Storm. Down below in the sewers, Wolverine continues to track the scents of the Marauders and look out for survivors. As he travels, he picks up the scents of the original X-Men, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel and -- Jean Grey -- somthing that Wolverine cannot believe. Before he can consider the idea further, he is attacked from behind. While back at the Mansion, Magneto and Moira MacTaggert examine Colossus's inert body. After considering that the damage done to his armored form, caused by Riptide, is the cause of the injury Magneto uses his powers in an attempt to heal the damage. However, although Magneto manages to restore Colossus to consciousness, the Russian mutant is still paralyzed, a condition that stumps the others. Back in the sewers, Wolverine turns to see that his attacker is Sabretooth looking for a rematch. In the feral mutant's hands is the Morlock's Healer. Seeing that the healer is still alive, and could be a help in healing the others back at the Mansion, Wolverine goads Sabretooth into dropping his victim and starting the next round of their fight. Meanwhile, Rogue cannot find Storm, and so Callisto tells her to go back to the Mansion while she continues to search. Rogue hands her Storm's vest and tells her to give it back if she finds her. Callisto finds Storm on another property near the Xavier estate, where she has stolen a dress from a clothesline. When Callisto attempts to make Storm return to her responsibility, the X-Men's leader flees into the woods again. However Callisto catches up to her, and forces her to fight. Meanwhile, down in the sewers, Wolverine and Sabretooth continue to clash. However, while Sabretooth is only interested in slaying Wolverine, Logan is only interested in saving the Healer. Managing to get close enough to the man he is trying to save, Wolverine collapses part of the tunnel, putting a barrier between him and Sabretooth. Picking up the healer, he rushes off with him in his hands to take him back to the others. Back on the surface, Callisto manages to convince Storm to stop thinking of herself and take up the responsibility she took up when she took over leadership of both the X-Men and the Morlocks. Wolverine returns to the X-Mansion, and he gets Rogue and Tom Corsi to help carry the Healer out of the tunnels. They manage to get clear just before some powerful force of lightning surges through the Morlock tunnels, scouring them clean. As Rogue looks at the state of the tunnel, she tells the others that if there was anything left alive in them before, they are now probably dead. This story is continued next issue... What You Missed: X-Factor #10.....The team is drawn into the Morlock Tunnel, and try to save who they can, even while their personal/professional lives are falling apart, due to Mystique "outing" them to the press. Apocalypse makes a brief appearance, snatching Plague up before the Morlocks could kill her, as he plans on making her one of his Four Horsemen. Finally, Angel offers to serve as a distraction, as the others try to escape with what Morlocks they can (including Calliban and Leech). The Marauders catch him, and crucify him to one of the tunnel walls by his wings (This will set in motion the series of events that will transform Angel into Archangel). New Mutants #46.......We get to see the direct aftermath of the events of UXM #211, as the team return with the wounded and dying/dead Morlocks and X-Men. We see the fallout, and how it affects the teens, who try to investigate on their own, but are attacked by The Magus (remember him from UXM #192 ?). The New Mutants teleport to Limbo to escape, but Magus vows to find and kill them. Thor #373......After most of an issue of unrelated stuff (at least pertaining to the main Crossover), Thor is drawn into the Tunnels, and discovers Angel crucified. As he goes to pull him down, Thor hears the Marauders approaching, and prepares for battle. Power Pack #27......The kids are drawn into the Tunnels, after seeing a vision of Leech and Calliban needing help. They end up seeing some of the slaughter, and are attacked by Sabretooth. Luckily, Wolverine arrives and save them, making them promise to leave the Tunnels. We also see X-Factor dropping off some of the wounded Morlocks they were able to save (at their HQ), and Scott and Jean go back into the tunnel for Angel and Artie (a mutant that befriended Leech). They run into Power Pack, who are fighting some of the Marauders, and together they save who they can, and Cyclops reveals to the children that this act was committed by the Marauders (as the children thought it was X-Factor, who were being made out to be monsters in the press). Power Pack then leaves the sewers. Brodie's View:Holy Crap, right?!? Talk about a lot of stuff going on, and this whole thing involving the characters that it did. I mean, some made sense....like X-Factor or The New Mutants. Heck, Power Pack even made sense, as they had befriended some of the Morlocks after the events of #195, but Thor? All I can think is because of the fact that Walt Simonson was an artist on both Thor and X-Factor at the time, and his wife, Louise, was writing both X-Factor and Power Pack. Anyways, we deal with the direct fall out (continuing what happened in NEW MUTANTS #46) of what happened in #211, as Storm and the others try to do what they can for the dead and dying Morlocks (and trying to get care for Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde, both of whom were severely wounded in that issue). To make matters worse, Colossus suddenly drops over from his injuries, and despite the efforts of Magneto, who uses his control of metal to try and repair the damage done to Colossus' metal form, Pitor finds that he is paralyzed (That being said, I'm going to keep Kurt, Kitty, and Pitor in the team listings until this crossover is finished, although, let's face it, their time on the team is effectively finished. Pitor will be back by the FALL OF THE MUTANTS Crossover, Kitty and Kurt won't be back until waaaaayyyyyy later.....like a dozen years). This causes Storm to wig out, and she tries to leave her responsibilities as leader of the team, before Callisto finds her, and literally beats some sense into her. She lets Storm know that as the leader of both the X-Men and the Morlocks, it IS her responsibility to deal with what has happened, whether she likes it or not. This is a pretty big moment, as it pretty much confirms what we have long suspected, that Callisto has grown to respect Storm immensely, as she basically acts as her conscience here, giving her the tough love she needed to get back on that horse. However, this is all just the side stuff. The main fight, the one the cover promises, happens in the Morlock Tunnels, as Wolverine, while looking for any Morlocks left alive, is attacked by an old foe, Sabretooth, and the battle commences. What makes it worse is that Sabretooth gets his claws on the Morlock Healer, who is somehow still alive (although wounded). Logan realizes he's going to have to curtail his desire to go full bore on Sabretooth for the moment, as getting the Healer back to the X-mansion alive will mean a lot more than just satisfying his blood lust, so, he winds up causing a cave in, separating the two, and he returns back to the Mansion with the Healer, who might be able to save some lives. This is also a big moment for Logan, as it shows that he's a lot more than simply the bloodthirsty beserker many have portrayed the character as being. Besides, he'll get his chance for a rematch in the next issue (and plenty of times beyond that, throughout the years), as Sabretooth would hence forth becoming much more of a straight up X-Villain, and a nemesis for Wolverine specifically, after this Crossover. We also get our first mention of Mister Sinister, who, as I said in the last review, plays a huge role in not only the events of the next few years, but will become a huge thorn in the team's side for many years to come. In our next review, we will, as previously stated, see Wolverine vs. Sabretooth Round Two, and the beginning of the build for what will end up becoming the "All New, Somewhat Different" X-Men that will run for the next 30-40 issues. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 8, 2017 18:55:31 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #213"Psylocke" Cover Date: January, 1987 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Alan Davis Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Marauders: (Sabretooth/Malice) Guest Stars: Betsy Braddock (Psylocke), The Morlocks: (Callisto, various wounded or dead), Lockheed, Dazzler, Sharon Friedlander, & Moria MacTaggert Official Plot: Continued from last issue.... Following the evacuation of all the surviving Morlocks from their tunnels, Elizabeth Braddock -- the newest addition to Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters -- uses Cerebro to try and make herself useful following the Marauders' massacre of the Morlocks. Reaching out with her telepathy, she asks Rogue, who is on patrol around the mansion's grounds, if she needs any help. Rogue has nothing to report and says she's fine if not bored. Elizabeth reaches out with her mind down to the lower levels of the mansion, where she checks on all those in the makeshift infirmary. First she checks on the wounded Nightcrawler and Colossus before going to check on Shadowcat, who despite being at risk of phasing out of existence seems to be taking it okay. This saddens Betsy greatly. Scanning around the mansion, Betsy looks around the wing of the school designated to the New Mutants. She comes across a picture of the youngest students at Xavier's, and thinks about how their member Doug Ramsey, alias Cypher loves her. She recalls how he risked his life to save her from the Mojoverse and wonders how she feels about him. Meanwhile, down in what remains of the Morlocks' tunnels, Callisto, Storm, Wolverine and Magneto examine the area. Some force of lightning has wiped out every dead body out of the sewers as well as eliminated any trace of the Marauders or the missing New Mutants. When Storm realizes it was lightning that wiped out everything in the sewers, Callisto is angry and both wonder if somehow Storm's seemingly lost mutant powers were responsible. Whatever the case may be, they cannot pick up the trail of either the Marauders or the New Mutants. The latter gets Magneto upset, as the younger students are his responsibility. Elizabeth contacts them telepathically and offers to use her powers to scan the planet for traces of either group. Storm tells Betsy to focus on Mansion security instead. When Wolverine asks Storm why she doesn't utilize Betsy's talents, Storm tells him that they cannot afford making any mistakes with unknown quantities. Psylocke continues to scan the Mansion perimeter until she detects someone on the property. When she tries to scan their mind, she is overpowered by their psi-shields, as she forgets her telepathic power is being boosed by Cerebro at the time. The intruder turns out to be Sabretooth, who easily overpowers Rogue and breaks into the mansion. At the Mansion, Sabretooth attacks Betsy, who temporarily sends him reeling with one of her "psycho-blasts", but not before Sabretooth has savaged her arm with his claws. Betsy dares him to follow her as she heads further into the mansion, leading him away from the infirmary and the patients inside. After Sabretooth follows Betsy up onto the mansion's roof, the two two of them crash through the roof of Storm's attic, where Betsy tries to fend him off with Storm's knife. Their one-on-one battle is interrupted by the arrival of Storm, Callisto, Wolverine and Magneto. As Wolverine and Sabretooth duke it out once more, their fight takes them outside of the mansion. Before Magneto can use some improvised bonds to subdue Sabretooth, Psylocke explains the psi-shields that protect Sabretooth and suggests they allow her to try and probe his mind while he's distracted by his fight against Wolverine. This works, allowing Betsy to probe Sabretooth's mind and learn who the secret leader of the Marauders is. When she tells Wolverine this, the two combatants have made it near the lake that is at the edge of the mansion. With the other X-Men coming to help Wolverine take Sabretooth in, the feral mutant dives into the lake, with Wolverine following after him. Sabretooth however manages to escape, and Psylocke says he cannot be detected. In the aftermath of the battle, it's decided that Callisto and the injured Morlocks and X-Men are all to be transported to Muir Island, where they will continue to be under the care of Moira MacTaggert. Wolverine then suggests to Storm that Psylocke had proven herself to be a capable member of the X-Men. Storm agrees and when they ask Betsy to join their team she gratefully accepts and is welcomed as their newest member. What You Missed: Thor #374.....Thor (with the wounded Angel assisting) battles various Morlocks, including the brute known as Blockbuster, who breaks Thor's arm (Hela has decided to mess with Thor by making his bones breakable), before Thor finally finishes the huge Marauder off by cracking Mjolnir upside his head. Thor is finally met by Cyclops and Jean, and he gives them Angel. He then cleanses the tunnel of the dead by kind of giving them all a Viking Funeral, by incinerating them with lightning. X-Factor #11.....In the aftermath of their meeting with Thor, Cyclops and Jean leave the Tunnels with the wounded Angel, reuniting with the rest of the team. They all have to deal with a group of rebellious (and murderous) group of Morlocks that they rescued. Finally, after all of that is settled, they find out from the doctor that Warren/Angel with live, but his wings must be amputated. Brodie's View:It all comes down to this, the last chapter of the MUTANT MASSACRE Crossover, but while we get Wolverine vs. Sabretooth Part 2, this last part deals more with the strict aftermath of the slaughter, and the beginnings of the building of the new team, as the main character of this issue is Betsy Braddock AKA Psylocke, who joins the team officially at the end of the issue. This is after her basically going through a rite of passage, as she is pursued through the X-Mansion, horror movie style, by Sabretooth, who looks to gut the British beauty. However, she holds her own, and buys time enough for the rest of the team to get there, and the battle between Sabretooth and Wolverine is once again on. She then proves how valuable her power is by gaining as much information as she can about the Marauders and Mister Sinister, as the two clawed mutants are battling. Before that, we get a bit of an update on the wounded X-Men, Nightcrawler and Colossus, who are basically in comatose states, and Kitty Pryde, who is conscious, but in a ghost-like form, and is slowly losing what coherence she has. As I said before, we'll see Colossus later, after this new team has fully come together, but Kitty and Kurt won't return to the team until LONG after Claremont has left the book. However, we will get to see Kitty's story come to a resolution, not in the main X-Book, but rather in a Crossover with the Fantastic Four that we'll get into after #219. Back to the main story, this whole deal has definitely changed the status quo for much of the mutant universe. X-Factor would lose one of their members during this (he would come back, but not in the form he was in before hand), and their whole X-Terminator/X-Factor ruse would basically be killed stone cold dead in the aftermath of this. The New Mutants would start to spend less and less time at the X-Mansion, which would be just as well anyways, as both the X-Men and Magneto (their supposed headmaster) would also begin to spend less and less time at the Mansion as well, as it is no longer considered a safe haven in the aftermath of this whole deal. As for the X-Men, they would basically change entirely as a team from this point on, which some liked and some didn't. Of course, I think a reason that a lot of people didn't like the period to come is that the heart and soul of the team was basically removed from the equation (Kitty/Kurt), and the replacements just didn't have that same connect-ability with readers, as very few people came to genuinely care about Longshot, Dazzler, and Psylocke the way they did Kitty or Kurt. That's not saying they were terrible characters (well, maybe Longshot), but it was kind of hard to connect to a whiny former pop star or an wannabe action junkie that's upset that she lives in the shadow of her more heroic brother (and to add to that, Havok later joins the team, which adds another character who is upset that he has to live in the shadow of....well, you get the point). You still had Wolverine, Rogue, and Storm (and later Colossus, who rejoins the team), but there was really no one for any of these characters to deeply care about, as they would spend all their time kind of dealing with threats as they come, as well as trying to train such varied personalities to work together as somewhat of a team. However, it would definitely be something new and different from what we've had since GIANT SIZE X-MEN, and it really starts to begin in the next issue. GRADE: A-
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,455
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Mar 8, 2017 22:44:45 GMT -5
I miss Alan Davis on X-men. Such a great artist and made up for how just bad JR JR's art was.Lots of the stuff people rag on Liefeld for JRjr had the same issues at the time. Bad anatomy,too many lines on faces,etc. JR jr could at least draw feet.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 8, 2017 23:50:25 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #214"With Malice Towards All" Cover Date: February, 1987 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Barry Windsor-Smith Team: Storm, Wolverine, Psylocke & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Marauders: (Malice) Guest Stars: Dazzler, Callisto, Lila Cheney (and her band) Official Plot: As Lila Cheney and her band perform another sold out performance, Dazzler -- working in secret as her keyboard player after being outed as a mutant -- struggles to keep the Marauder Malice from keeping her under control. Unfortunately, despite her struggles, Dazzler is influenced into using her powers on stage and stealing the show. After the show, Lila confronts Dazzler and warns her against using her powers during a performance again because not only will she be fired, she might blow her cover by revealing that she's really Dazzler. Alison wonders if Lila is perhaps jealous of her superior musical skills, and warns Lila to enjoy her fame while it lasts as she intends to take her spot at the top of the charts. Later, at Professor Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, Storm, Rogue, and Psylocke are working at repairing Cerebro following the damage done to it by Sabretooth. Although Psylocke is hard on herself, Storm and Rogue try to convince her that it was an early mistake and she'll be better prepared next time. When Betsy asks if they will be ready should the Marauders attack the school again, Storm doesn't believe so. With that Rogue departs to get some fresh air. When Storm asks Betsy where Wolverine and Callisto are, Psylocke tells her that they are in a training session. When attempting a psi-link to contact Wolverine, Betsy is shocked to see that Wolverine and Callisto are really fighting. When she suggests doing something, Storm tells her that there is no danger. Their session ends with Callisto just barely managing a kill shot, and she tells Logan that she intends to go looking for the Marauders and avenge those they killed to pay the debt to the survivors. Later after cleaning up, Logan checks on the status of Cerebro and when he notices Betsy is on edge tries to spook her with his claws. He gets a full on telepathic jolt for his trouble. When Betsy scolds him, he tells her that he was only checking to see that she hadn't lost her edge after battling Sabretooth. When Betsy convinces him that she can handle herself the phone rings. Answering it, Logan learns that it is Lila who has come to report about Dazzler's recent troubles. Wolverine, Storm, Rogue and Psylocke all travel down to Dallas and the following night they find Dazzler performing at a private club. They notice that everyone in the club is on edge and could possibly explode at any moment. While the X-Men agree that Dazzler is an adult who can take care of herself, they believe that they should warn her about the Marauders and the possibility that they are targeting those associated with the X-Men. To their surprise, Dazzler notices them and attacks, finally glad that they decided to show up. A battle erupts between the four X-Men and Dazzler, unaware that she has been possessed by the Marauder known as Malice. When they manage to over power Dazzler and restrain her, Malice leaves her body and takes possession of Wolverine. Not realizing what's going on, the X-Men are taken off guard as the Malice possessed Wolverine attempts to murder Dazzler. However she knocks him out with a laser blasts fired from her eyes. While outside, the battle has attracted the attention of the police SWAT team to the location. With the owner telling the officer in charge that the Dazzler is in his club wrecking the place, the officer wonders if the story is true, or if it's the product of the drugs that he is clearly high from. Back inside, Rogue is possessed by Malice next who quickly departs to the outside to greet the authorities outside. Still not realizing what's going on, Storm wonders if Dazzler's "madness" is infectious. Betsy scans Dazzler's mind and realizes the truth, that Rogue and the others were possessed by the Marauder known as Malice. The team quickly comes up with a solution to defeating Malice: Unable to effect Malice in Rogue's mind, which is psi-resistant, Psylocke believes that she can defeat Malice if she possesses someone who she has a psi-link with. Although Dazzler offers herself up, Psylocke instead decides to use Storm as bait. Storm accepts, and Wolverine tells her not to worry, that if Psylock's plan fails, he'll finish Malice one way or the other. Outside the Malice possessed Rogue makes short work of the SWAT team outside, and tells the media that she is with the X-Men. Before she can damage the groups reputation further, Dazzler attacks, prompting Psylocke to attack her with a powerful psi-bolt. This attack causes Malice to flee Rogue's body, and take possession of Storm as planned. However, Malice finds that Storm is not as easy to possess as the others. Through force of will, she manages to pull off the choker that is Malice when she possesses others. Telling the villain that her defeat comes at attempting to take control of others dark natures, an aspect of herself that Storm had long ago come to accept. In the aftermath of the battle, Malice seemingly dissipates. With the battle over, the X-Men and Dazzler sneak out of the private club and witness the police efforts outside. Dazzler asks Storm why the Marauders would go after her. Storm suggests that her powers and association as a friend of the X-Men likely made her a target. Dazzler feels horrible due to the fact that her possession led to the X-Men being discredited and blamed for the damage caused, Storm assures her the X-Men will endure. Storm invites Dazzler to join the X-Men for her own protection, which she accepts. Suddenly, Logan lashes out and attempts to kill Storm, thinking that she is still possessed by Malice. When the others pull Logan off of her, he finds that he was mistaken but could have sworn that he got a whif of Malices scent. Psylocke puts her teammates at ease telling them that she does not detect Malice's presence in any of them, however the group is still uneasy with the experience. Wolverine suggests that if they cannot trust each other the X-Men should split up, but Storm refuses to give up without a fight. High above them, Malice, having possessed the leader of the SWAT team watches over the group. She muses how Storm's words are brave, finding Wolverine's words truer. Reveling in the fact that her influence has breached the trust the X-Men once had in themselves and that it may be the key to their eventual destruction. Brodie's View:With this issue, we're officially into the second half of Chris Claremont's run (officially, we hit that mark 25 or so issues ago, but I'm factoring in various crossovers we'll be dealing with over the second half of this run), and we're going into a new era of the book; one that will feature very different teams than what we've seen since GIANT SIZE, although, some of the characters from that era will stick around (Storm, Wolverine, and Colossus, who will return around the time of the FALL OF THE MUTANTS crossover). But for the most part, we're going to see an all new team. We officially started that last issue (well, if you want be technical about it, we started it in the last Annual, as we would first see Psylocke and Longshot, both of whom did or will join the team in the following issues, make their first appearances in the main X-Book), as Psylocke would officially join the team. In this issue, we meet the next new X-Man in the form of former disco/pop star, Dazzler. Now, she did make a few appearances from #210 on, as the story we deal with in this issue was set up in those little side vignettes, but this story is mostly dealing with Allison, who after her pop career kind of imploded (after she was "outed" as a mutant), took a job in fellow (still "in the closet") mutant, Lila Cheney's band, and everything was going well until she began seeing evil visions of herself in mirrors, wearing a strange collar around her neck. As we find out in this issue, this was more than just Dazzler seeing visions, as she was being slowly possessed by another one of the Marauders, Malice, who seems to be a mutant body jumper, playing off of the negative feelings the person he/she possesses caries, allowing the entity to completely take them over. In Dazzler's case, it was the hurt feelings from one minute being a pop sensation and on top of the world, and the next being a backup player in another pop star's band. She takes over, and begins to try and steal the spotlight from Cheney, bringing the other X-Men (which, at this point, are pretty much Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, and Psylocke) into the fray. After fighting Dazzler, Malice jumps into Wolverine (who tries to kill Dazzler), and then into Rogue, who goes out into the streets and starts destroying shit, making the X-Men, who are already pretty much on the run from the Marauders at this point, look worse in the eyes of the few people that might be able to aid them, the public. Finally, Malice jumps into Storm, whose will is too strong for Malice, and the body jumper is defeated (however, not destroyed, as we see at the end of the issue that Malice just jumped into another random person), but we will see Malice in the service of the Mr. Sinister far sooner than we might think, which sets up our final "New" X-Man, but that won't be for a few issues. Speaking of Sinister, the rest of this issue kind of deals with the fallout from The Mutant Massacre, as we see Callisto and Wolverine dueling near the beginning of the story. As one of the few survivors of the Morlocks, Callisto wants to keep her fighting edge, as she vows vengeance against of the assassins that murdered her people. Unfortunately, it's a vengeance that she'll never really get, as she'll follow a far different path than one would expect from the character, but the new X-Men will eventually give back some lumps and losses from what happened over the previous 3 issues (and the various crossover issues that I briefly mentioned). However, once again, that won't be for a few issues, as the next few issues is going to deal with building up this new team, and strengthening the bonds and abilities of the X-Men that were left standing in the wake of the MUTANT MASSACRE. Plus, we get to see a few great stand in artists (Barry Windsor-Smith will return in a couple issues, and Alan Davis will return for the next issue) before we get a new regular artist in the form of Marc Silvestri (who will later go on to create the Top Cow imprint for IMAGE), who will stick around as the regular artist until the Jim Lee era. For those who have been reading these since the beginning (all 2-3 of you), I say stick around, we're entering into a very interesting time for the book; one some people loved, one some hated, but it's definitely a far different one than we've seen previously. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 9, 2017 0:56:43 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #215 "Old Soldiers" Cover Date: March, 1987 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Alan Davis Team: Storm, Wolverine, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Marauders: (Scalphunter & Archlight), Crimson Commando, Super Sabre, & Stonewall Guest Stars: Callisto, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde (as a ghost like figure), Nightcrawler, & Colossus (The last two in a coma) Official Plot: Madelyne Summers remembers flying a Boeing of 387 passengers into San Francisco International Airport. It is on fire and crashes. Only she walks out of the flames. She then finds herself in an ambulance and her paramedics are Arclight and Scalphunter, Marauders, who chase her and then shoot her. It is shown to have been a dream, although with some realistic moments. At the X-Mansion, the team is recovering from the recent Marauders attack. Colossus, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler are loaded into the Blackbird to fly them and some of Callisto's Morlocks to Muir Island where their recovery can be monitored. Storm decides to split the team up so they are not all attacked by Marauders if they strike again. Rogue flies the team to Muir Island while Storm stays behind. As the Blackbird flies off, Storm finds Wolverine in the mansion's woods. Storm asks Wolverine to come with her to upstate New York as backup. Meanwhile, in a San Francisco hospital, Madelyne Summers is recovering from real gunshot wounds she has sustained. The doctors talk as if she should not have survived the night but has somehow pulled through. They also do not know the name of this "Jane Doe". As they walk out Madelyne suddenly wakes up and then remembers her name to be Madelyne Pryor and she announces this to the doctors. Storm and Wolverine go to the burning home of Sara Grey, Jean Grey's sister. They find the home to still be burning and try to find the reason as to the assault. Wolverine determines it was done with dynamite and gasoline. Storm searches the burning rubble and thinks of all those she holds dear and must warn, like Forge. She wonders why her thoughts go to him since he recently "stole" her powers from her with his machines. Wolverine then picks up on a scent. He says Sara got out before the fire but there is another one who was not so fortunate. He suddenly stands up and screams, "No!". He has picked up on the scent of Jean Grey, who he thought to be dead. He goes berserk and strikes out at Storm and runs off into the forest leaving Storm unconscious. In the Blackbird, Shadowcat, who now cannot "unphase" herself, sneaks out of her life-cell and wanders the jet. She is seen by Rogue and told to get back since she should not be wandering the ship in her condition. Before going back she sees Longshot sleeping and kisses him. He awakens and says he "saw" her future when she touched him and it was jumbled and was a void that hungered for her. He asks Rogue if this could mean death for her and she says, "Could be". Storm wakes up in a dungeon and is chained to the wall. She picks the locks and sees another in the cell. She leaves her and goes upstairs to find she is in a hunting lodge filled with trophies and medals. She notices three shadows walking toward the lodge. She jumps upstairs and is then caught by her captors. They are talking of a hunt they have just come from and since she broke the rules, they will punish her. She tries to escape but finds they are mutants as well. They are Crimson Commando, Stonewall, and Super Sabre. They fight and Super Sabre then runs behind her and flicks his fingers quick enough to cause a micro-sonic boom that knocks her unconscious. She awakens outside the front of the lodge. Her captors have gathered together her and her cellmate, Priscilla Morrison, a human with a very dark past. They have decided to make them a part of their hunt. They say that they go after people who cannot be captured or prosecuted for crimes they commit and then use them in a hunt as a game for them. This way they rid the world of the criminal while still hunting for sport. Their last hunt was of Priscilla's boyfriend, Tommy. As for Storm, they say that they found her with Sara Grey's possessions on her and at the scene of a crime of arson. She says she is not a criminal but knows they will not free her and she takes off her sweater and she and Priscilla run into the forest. They have till sunset before the hunt begins. The two run through the forest and Storm realizes that Wolverine is nowhere in sight and she must watch after Priscilla as the hunters begin their hunt. This story continued next issue... Brodie's View:Even though this issue is mostly a Storm story, re-affirming her toughness and ability to lead in the light of the massive screw up for the X-Men that the MUTANT MASSACRE was, so much so that Storm almost walked away from it all before Callisto made her see the wrongness of that action, a lot of little, but important, things also happen in this issue. The first of which is seeing the status of the three X-Men who fell at the hands of the Marauders, as Rogue, Psylocke, and new joinees Dazzler and Longshot, transport those three (Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, and Colossus) to Muir Island, where they can better be taken care of by long time X-Ally, Moria MacTaggert. Kurt and Pitor are both in comas, while Kitty is conscious, but in a permanently phased state, losing coherence by the second, eventually doomed to fade away completely ( ). All three will eventually recover from their injuries, but with the exception of Colossus, will not return to the team any time soon. We also see, as previously stated, Dazzler and Longshot kind of officially joining the team in this issue, as they really don't have anywhere else to go, which is kind of the status quo for this new team. We'll see one more "new" member joining by #219, and his reasoning will be similar to the other new X-Men. Speaking of that person, and I know I'm basically giving away who it is here, but his brother's wife also makes her reappearance in this issue, as we finally get to officially see that, yes, it was members of the Marauders (Scalphunter and Archlight, to be more specific) that led to Madelyne Pryor-Summers ending up with critical gunshot wounds in that San Francisco hospital back in #206. We see her wake up in this issue, and her involvement in the book will only increase as we head towards the next Crossover, the FALL OF THE MUTANTS, but that won't take place for about ten to twelve issues, so, we won't go too in depth into all of that right now. No, we'll talk about the main part of the story, which begins with Storm and Wolverine investigating the destruction of the family home of former X-Man, Jean Grey, and Wolverine picking up Jean's scent, still very much fresh, and freaking out, backhanding Storm, and running off into the woods (as none of the team know that Jean is alive again, and part of X-Factor, which is made up of the Original X-Men, which the main X team also don't know). When Storm awakens, she is in the hunting lodge of three older super humans, who have become vigilantes/bounty hunters of a sort. They capture criminals that they feel have escaped justice, and hunt them in a very "Most Dangerous Game" style of scenario. Storm ends up on the run, and worse, protecting the trio's true quarry, a dangerously unpredictable junkie named Priscilla. In the next issue, we'll see that hunt fully play out, and see whether Storm is tough enough to fend off three older, but still very dangerous superhumans: The Callisto-like Crimson Commando, the speedster, Super Sabre, and the massive Stonewall. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 9, 2017 2:56:11 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #216"Crucible" Cover Date: April, 1987 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Jackson Guice Team: Storm, Wolverine, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: Priscilla (the Junkie), Crimson Commando, Super Sabre, & Stonewall Guest Stars: Callisto & Moria MacTaggert Official Plot: Continued from last issue... Wolverine's senses have been shaken when he picked up the scent of Jean Grey at the ruins of her sister Sarah's home and is now running through the woods clinging to what is left of his humanity. That night he comes into the path of a young couple driving through the mountains and is struck by the car. Slashing it with his claws, Logan runs into the wilderness leaving the couple to wonder what they hit, and stranding them until they can make repairs to their vehicle. As Wolverine continues to run through the woods he struggles to maintain his humanity and in his frustration lets out a howl of utter anguish. This is heard by Storm, who many miles away, is still fleeing from the old World War II heroes Crimson Commando, Super Saber, and Stonewall. Running for her life along with young drug dealer Priscilla Morrison. Storm has set up a trap for Super Saber with a spool of fishing line she managed to find. Setting a snare across the dirt road, the two hide out in the bush to wait for the super-fast hero to run by so that Storm can decapitate him as he passes. However, after she shows the trap to Priscilla, Storm notes the young girls remorselessness and realizes that what she is doing is more along the line of Wolverine's tactics than her own and wonders if she can bring herself to go that far and slay another human being for her own survival. When dawn comes, Storm is about to pull the line up as Super Saber runs past their trap, but she loses her nerve and decides against hit. When Priscilla attempts to protest, Storm stifles her until Super Saber is out of the way. When the young girl demands to know why Storm didn't kill, Storm tells her that it's not necessary and tells the young girl that she will see her through safe and heads them toward a nearby mountain top. Three days ago on Muir Island, Moira Mactaggart is rudely awoken by the arrival of the other X-Men, sent to Muir with their injured comrades by Storm and Wolverine. Fearing the Marauders might be waiting to ambush them, Psylocke psi-probes the island and learns that the island is safe, however some of the Morlocks they brought here have died since and one of them barely hangs onto life and is unlikely to survive the day. When they land, Moira is furious and demands to know what is going on. The X-Men explain that they were sent to Muir and they are upset and confused about what to do without their leaders, as they guide and teach them yet as Storm and Logan are alone, and nobody knows where they went they fear that they cannot be helped if they hit trouble. Back in the States, Crimson Commando and Stonewall continue their hunt of Storm and Priscilla and come across her trap. When they marvel at the ingenuity, they wonder why Storm did not kill Super Saber when she had the chance. When Stonewall suggests they should just let Storm go, the Commando reminds him that if the authorities arrest them they cannot continue their mission to wipe out the criminal scum that are above the law. When Saber is running back while Storm's trap is still up, the Commando has Stonewall stop him before he accidentally decapitates himself and the Commando sends the shaken Saber up to the top of the mountain to try and find the two women. Not finding them and making it to the top of the mountain, Saber believes that he beat Storm to the top but is surprised when she ambushes him. Priscilla, wanting vengeance and no longer wanting Storm's protection tries to kill them both by pushing a large rock on the two of them causing an avalanche. Storm pulls Saber down part of the mountain hoping to get some clearance, however Saber cannot get enough traction to get them away at super-speed and both are buried under a pile of boulders. While on the roadside, the young couple repair their vehicle as Wolverine watches and tries to make sense of the situation. Suddenly Priscilla rushes out of the bush and manages to pull the woman's gun out from her and shoot them both in cold blood. All Wolverine can do is watch in shock as the young girl hops into the vehicle and drives away. The senseless slaughter of the young couple snaps Logan out of his state and he wonders what possessed him to stand by and let them be killed. While not far away, Crimson Commando and Stonewall come across the rubble of the battle and finds no sign of Super Saber or Storm, only Saber's aviation goggles and Storm's vest. While not to far from there, Priscilla's escape vehicle has run into a muck hole and the young girl is now in a panic. As she tries to remain alert and ready to shoot anyone who comes her way she is attacked from behind by someone who knocks her out. When Stonewall arrives shortly after he heads toward the girl when he is suddenly ambushed by Storm who knocks him into what she thinks is normal water. However, when Stonewall pleads for help, telling her it's quicksand, Storm just barely manages to pull the man out of the muck, saving his life. By this time Priscilla has recovered and attempts to bash their heads in with a rock when she is struck by a dagger thrown by the Commando, killing her. Before the Crimson Commando can slay Storm, Wolverine arrives and deflects a tossed dagger. Storm also recovers and dodges another one tossed by the Commando. Storm challenges the Commando to a one-on-one duel, which she easily wins. Pinning him to the ground, she gives him an ultimatum: surrender to the authorities and confess his crimes or be killed. Realizing that Storm means it, the Commando agrees to surrender to the authorities. Surprised by Storm's show, the Commando tells her that he is impressed and that she is one of them, but she corrects him telling him that she is better. The next day, Storm and Logan watch the media circus that has formed at the state police dispatch following the three heroes surrender to the authorities. Storm and Wolverine talk about Storm's sudden willingness to kill the Commando if required. Storm tells Logan that while the X-Men should still strive to make a world where humans and mutants live in peace, they cannot afford to be passive anymore and allowing their enemies to strike first. In this new world where they are hunted like outlaws the X-Men are going to have to be willing to strike out at their enemies first, and if needed -- kill. Coming to this realization, Storm wonders if her assertion the previous night that she was better than the Crimson Commando will have any merit anymore once she crosses that line. Brodie's View:Besides a bit of business with the rest of the X-Men arriving on Muir Island with their dead, dying, and wounded, the rest of this issue concerns mostly Storm and Wolverine, and even more specifically, Storm, who is being hunted (along with murderous Junkie, Priscilla) by three older Super Humans that act as kind of a mix between vigilantes and hunters. Basically, this (and last) issue is reaffirming Storm as the no nonsense/tough leader that the X-Men kind of need during this period, but also creating conflict within Storm, as she realizes that she might have to kill to survive, and despite kind of teetering on that line at times during the Post #170 period, she had never fully crossed the line of taking lives. At the end of the issue, she kind of comes to the realization that the team might have to cross that line to survive this new tougher world. In comparison, we also see Wolverine, who has totally wigged out and reverted to the animalistic state he was in in #205, struggling to regain his humanity. He finally does, and comes back to save Storm from one of the "hunters" who has the drop on her. However, Storm, for the most part, has the situation under control, despite being betrayed pretty quickly by Priscilla, who fully proves she's worthy of the fate that awaits her from the hunters. However, that isn't the point to Storm, and she winds up defeating the three men, with the leader of the group even admitting she's a lot like them, which she responds in a great line, that, no, she's better. (Damnnnn!!! ) However, she wonders to herself how long she's going to be able to have that superior higher ground over the hunters, as I previously stated, she realizes that the team might have to become as ruthless as Wolverine to certain enemies in the future. Now, that doesn't ever really fully happen, but the team does indeed become harder and more proactive against threats in the future. However, later would come a team that would kind of live up to Storm's fears about what the team would have to become, and that would be X-Force, but that's all a few years to come. Back to the X-Men, though, in the next issue we kind of focus more on the four X-Men we didn't really see much of in the last couple of issues (Rogue, Psylocke, Dazzler, and Longshot), and their adventures on Muir Island against a threat we haven't seen since #194, and one that in an interesting twist ends up being a HUGE fan of one of the people he's fighting. That story ends up taking up the next couple of issues, and winds up setting up, in a side story, a couple of future storylines, including the joining of our last "new" X-Man. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 9, 2017 22:39:52 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #217 "Folly's Gambit" Cover Date: May, 1987 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Jackson Guice Team: Storm, Wolverine, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Juggernaut Guest Stars: Callisto, Sean Cassidy, & Moria MacTaggert Official Plot: Muir Island: The X-Men are in the middle of a training exercise to hone their powers. Although they are required to keep a low profile, Dazzler blatantly ignores this letting loose with her light powers. This attracts the attention of a nearby ship that is passing by. The captain of the ship tells his crew to ignore it, as strange things happen on Muir Island all the time. However, one of the crew -- a man named Wullis -- is interested in the goings on that are happening on the island as he is secretly an argent of Dr. Doom. The goal of the training session is for the other X-Men to capture Psylocke. While they try their best, the telepath manages to knock out Rogue, and take control of Dazzler and use her to try and take out Longshot. However, Longshot's luck plays out for him as he manages to snare up both Dazzler and Psylocke long enough for Rogue to recover and grab Psylocke and make her surrender. Their session is called off by former X-Man Sean Cassidy, who tells the X-Men to return to the facility for breakfast and a report on how well they did. As they sit down for breakfast, the X-Men learn that Wolverine and Storm had a strap in upstate New York but are okay and will call for them when needed. This upsets them as they should be a team, however Sean reminds them that Storm and Logan sent them to Muir to seek training from him in the meantime. As Sean points out the flaws of their strategy, the X-Men learn that in this business they have to stop relying entirely on their individual powers and focus on working as a team. Rogue takes it the hardest, knowing that she screwed up however they all accept his advice. Elsewhere on the compound, Moira reports to Callisto about the status of the Morlocks who are still healing following their encounter with the Marauders. She reports that there were no deaths in the night, but there are still a number that are on the critical list. Callisto tells them it's better that they should die as their spirits are dead. Moira worries about how Logan and Storm are enduring and wonders how the X-Men will cope if their leaders cannot pull it together. Callisto offers a fatal response: they won't. Later as the X-Men are training alongside Callisto, Callisto begins poking at Dazzler. Calling her on her looks and telling her that she won't get by on those alone. This leads to a brief scuffle which Dazzler manages to fight off Callisto. Angered by Dazzler storms out with Callisto warning her that running will serve her nothing, she should learn to fight or die. Dazzler walks to the shore of the island, trying to come to terms with the life she has walked into since joining with the X-Men. She is upset because she knows that she is not a fighter, she's been a musician all her life and misses the life it used to bring. She hates her situation an decides to run away, hopping onto a motorboat she begins to ride out to the mainland. Along the way, she is met by Rogue who thought to bring her a jacket, telling her it's her choice if she decides to stay on with the X-Men or not before departing. Later, Dazzler happens upon a Scottish pub called Black Ned's. Inside she is taken away by the sites and that atmosphere of the small place as it reminds her of the early days of her career. Partaking in song and dance, Dazzler has a good night and at the end of the evening she is about to depart when she spots Cain Marko speeding by in a car. Recognizing him as the X-Men's old foe the Juggernaut, Dazzler wonders what he is up to and, taking a motorcycle, speeds off after him. The Juggernaut realizes that he's being followed and stops, changing into his costume to see who is foolish enough to do so. Dazzler doesn't stop fast enough and ends up slamming into the side of Cain's car. Furious, Cain tosses her bike away, and is about to attack when he realizes who she is. Juggernaut admits that he is a big fan of her music and promises to make up damaging her bike once he's finished his current job. Dazzler attacks him instead leading to a battle between the two. Despite the Juggernaut's superior strength, the crook doesn't wish to harm her too badly. Dazzler however, wishing to prove herself, unleashes her full power on him until she finally collapses. The Juggernaut is impressed by her show of power, but remarks how it's futile to try and stop him as he is unstoppable. However, before Juggernaut can act, Dazzler collapses suddenly. Inspecting her body, the Juggernaut is horrified when he believes that Dazzler is dead. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View:Much like the last two issue's have been Storm's, this issue mostly belongs to Dazzler, who, I guess Chris Claremont felt needed the rub to build up her character a bit more, and through her, the other new(ish) X-Men, who have yet to really gel as a team. We see them training on Muir Island, under the guidance of Sean Cassidy (the former Banshee), Moria MacTaggert (who is helping the wounded from the MUTANT MASSACRE), and Callisto (who has been hanging there in the aftermath of that event), and their lack of team work is evident. This kind of goes back to the post GIANT SIZE issues, as, like then, we're dealing with a group of (mostly) experienced mutants that had no experience in working as a team, and like that period, the hopes of this period is that the readers will enjoy the journey as these groups of individuals merge into a cohesive unit. Unfortunately, this team really doesn't have a lot of the luxuries that the "All New, All Different" team had, specifically the teacher-like guidance of Charles Xaiver or the leadership ability of Cyclops. There's Storm and Wolverine, but they've kind of been off doing their own thing in the wake of the events of the MM. They'll be back, but there really won't be a whole lot of time for the team to be able to train as a team, as circumstances force them to kind of learn on the job, and by the time they really do, their time is done as a team. However, none of that changes this story, where we see the frustrations of some of these new X-Men, who feel that they kind of deserve better than being trained by people who aren't even members of the X-Men team, and in Dazzler's case, her own lack of self confidence forces her to kind of act out, alienating both her fellow teammates and her substitute trainers. Midway through the issue, she decides to potentially quit the team, and runs off to a Scottish bar, where she runs smack into old X-Men foe, the Juggernaut, who normally would go straight into his "Juggie Smash Mode," but in a great swerve of a moment, he ends up marking out, as he's a HUGE Dazzler fan. However, Dazzler tries to act the hero (you'd think she would just play along until the rest of the group get there, and then take him on then, but then again, Dazzler has always been kind of a ditsy character, and I say that as a fan), but ends up exhausting herself trying to stop the Unstoppable, and collapses. Thinking she's dead, Juggie freaks out, and we find out in the next issue, he kind of makeshift buries her alive (Awwwwww.....nice of him, wasn't it? ). However, in the next issue, we'll see the other three X-Men try to take on Juggie, and then with Dazzler, it'll make the match up we really should have seen in this issue. However, the ending of this fight won't quite go the way the 4 mutants were expecting. One other note about this issue, as we see early on that the training of the 4 X-Men was being observed by a boat crew off in the distance. One of that crew is secretly an agent of Doctor Doom, which will lead into a story that will take place shortly, but not in the pages of the main X-Men book (However, I will be reviewing it.....it's pretty....Fantastic, after all----Double ) GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 10, 2017 2:30:38 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #218 "Charge of the Light Brigade" Cover Date: June, 1987 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Marc Silvestri Team: Storm, Wolverine, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: The Juggernaut, The Brood (behind the scenes) Guest Stars: Havok, Polaris Official Plot: This story is continued from last issue... In the Rio Diablo mountains in New Mexico, Alex Summers and his lover Lorna Dane are heading back to their home with groceries before the first big storm of the winter. Along the way they are forced off the road by a VW van and tumble down the side of a cliff. Before they can get free, a tumbling rock threatens their lives forcing Alex to use his plasma powers to blast it to dust. Recovering from the crash and picking up their supplies, Lorna uses her magnetic powers to pull up their jeep so they can make it back to town to resupply and see the doctor, and drive off. While in Scottland, Dazzler awakens to find herself buried alive after her battle with the Juggernaut. Recalling how she pushed her powers to the limit causing herself to pass out, she realizes the Juggernaut must have thought she was dead and burried her. Picking up faint sounds from outside, she absorbs the sound energy to increase her strength and is contacted by Psylocke who is searching for her telepathically. Dazzler uses the last of her light power to make a signal flare to bring her comrades to her and dig her out. Dug out by Psylocke, Rogue and Longshot she explains what happened. When Alison begins being hard on herself for failing at stopping the Juggernaut and saying she isn't cracked out to be a hero, Rogue finds it a crock telling Dazzler that when they fought in the past she was more than a match. The group agrees to work as a team going forward and soon hear over the radio that the Juggernaut is on a rampage through the town of Edinburgh. Scanning the town with her psi-powers, Psylocke gives Rogue an idea of Juggernauts location and she goes ahead of the others and lays into him first. She strikes him as hard as she can, but finds that it has no effectand the Juggernaut easily knocks her miles away. Psylocke, having caught up tries to ram a vehicle into him, but fails to stop him. When he grabs for her, Betsy is able to stun him with a psi-blast even that is so strong that Cain feels it through his psi-shielded helmet. Before he can strike Betsy for this attack, Longshot strikes his helmet with a number of his daggers. When the Juggernaut attempts to strike Longshot, he manages to evade all the blows until the Juggernaut gets fed up and drops a building on him and leaves. Worried about Longshot's fate, the three female X-Men begin to dig him out and find that his luck powers kicked in and prevented him from any serious harm. Rogue catches up to the Juggernaut, kissing him to absorb some of his powers, and while he is weakened pulls him up into the air and rips off his helmet. She then tosses him onto some nearby railroad tracks and then flies down to him pummeling him so hard they create a crater in the ground. When Longshot points out that a train is coming, Rogue grabs him and goes to stop the train, leaving Dazzler and Psylocke to deal with Juggernaut, who has now regains his full strength. Rogue tosses Longshot inside the train hoping his luck powers will prevent anyone from getting hurt and then tries to stop it from driving over the ruined track. While down in the crater, Dazzler uses her light powers to blast off the skull-cap that protects the Juggernaut from psi-attacks leaving him easy prey for Psylocke who fells him in one psi-blast. As the Juggernaught is felled, the two X-Men look up to find that Rogue has succeeded in stopping the speeding train in the nick of time. With the Juggernaut defeated, he is handed over to the authorities while the X-Men repair the damage to the train tracks. In order to protect their identities Dazzler and Psylocke insure that nobody remembers their faces and all photographs and videos are scrambled. They soon learn that while they were battling the Juggernaut, his partner Black Tom managed to loot the Bank of Scotland. Realizing the Juggernaut was a ruse to keep the authorities busy Rogue curses themselves for falling for such an amateur trick. Psylock however tells her teammates that they should learn from this victory as the succeeded in working as a team. While back in New Mexico, Alex recalls that some campers that stopped by their home the previous week were driving a VW van like the one that almost ran them off the road. Deciding to check out their camp, they arrive and see that all the tents had been torn apart. Also seeing that something crashed nearby recently, the uncover it with blasts of their mutant powers. What the find area bunch of slaughtered campers as well as one of the Brood's Starsark crafts. Alex, remembering what he learned about the Brood from being at Xavier's school realizes the threat they pose, especially if one of them was a Broodqueen, telling Lorna if that is the case, the Earth is doomed. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View:In the second half of this whole "New X-Men vs. The Juggernaut" story (Drawn by future X-Regular artist, Marc Silvestri, making his debut here), we see the character focus being split between all four of the group we're dealing with, versus last issue's more specific focus on Dazzler. However, we do get to see Dazzler, who awakens from fainting at the end of last issue, and finds herself buried alive at the hands of Juggie, who freaked out over seemingly killing his musical idol, and buried her in a small makeshift grave on the side of one of Scotland's rolling hills. However, with the use of her own powers (and Psylocke's psychic support), she is able to free herself, and the 4 end up taking on Juggie, and eventually defeating him by using teamwork to remove his helmet, leaving him vulnerable to Psylocke's psychic attack. However, their celebration is short lived, as they soon discover that the whole deal was a ruse. Juggernaut was merely the diversion, as the real crime was committed by Juggie's ally, Black Tom, who robbed a bank in a nearby town. However, they soon realize that the whole point of this deal, and really the whole point of this story-line period, was showing these four very different characters (two of which being former enemies----Rogue and Dazzler) managing to work together as somewhat of a cohesive unit, and Juggie was actually the perfect villain for them to have to fight, as he's a huge threat, but one that isn't connected to anything major. We'll next see Juggie in one of the early issues of EXCALIBUR, being transferred from the Scottish prison he's been biding his time in since the end of this issue. The other story in this issue concerns two former X-Men: Havok (the brother of Cyclops) and Polaris (his girlfriend, and, as we'll later see, the kindasorta daughter of Magneto, although that would be revealed wayyyy later, and isn't important at all here), who are out on a drive, when they are almost run off the road by a VW van that is seemingly being driven by a madman. The two mutants quickly are able to recover their jeep, however, and they soon see what the "madman" was driving away from; the corpse of one of the Acanti, surrounded by dead bodies. The Acanti, of course, were the whale-like aliens that were enslaved by the Aliens-like race known as The Brood, and we get the hint here of their future involvement (but that won't be for a while), and, more importantly for the near future, the re-introduction of these two characters, both of whom will play major roles in the events to come. Without giving anything away, I'll say this.....one of them becomes the last of the "New X-Men" until Colossus rejoins at the beginning of the FALL OF THE MUTANTS story-line. The other....joins a different team, and we'll see all of that take place in the next review. GRADE: B+
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