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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 20, 2017 3:02:06 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #9 "Assault on Galactus!"Cover Date: January, 1985 Writer: Jim Shooter Artists: Mike Zech Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto & Galactus Villains: Dr. Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Klaw, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer), Titania & Volcana Official Plot:The battle-wounded Colossus exits the rustic building he is healing inside to see Galactus starting up his machine to devour the planet. He re-enters the building to tend to the unconscious Zsaji. He tells her he loves her and goes out to help stop Galactus. Meanwhile, the X-Men and Magneto try to attack Galactus. An energy ball appears and blocks them from continuing up the mountain. In the village, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel and Wasp watch the X-Men try to battle it when suddenly a large blast on the mountain makes them think the X-Men have been defeated. At Doombase, the remaining heroes try to return to the battle that is going on on the mountainside. They take a ship from the base and begin to travel to the battle. Hulk is distraught over his new "intelligence" of Bruce Banner's mind in his body. Ben Grimm suddenly regains his powers as the Thing. Iron Man ponders what Spider-Woman's true intentions are. Spider-Man meanwhile, is glad to have his webs back since he has donned the new "black costume". Mister Fantastic thinks of a reason as to why they are all there in the first place. They reach the mountain and are hit by Galactus' beams. They crash into Colossus, who braces their ship from impact. The heroes exit the ship and begin their fight to reach Galactus. As they get closer, Mister Fantastic realizes a meaning to this conflict and tells the heroes NOT to stop Galactus. He says the only way to stop Galactus is to let him win. In doing this the Beyonder will grant him his wish of freedom from his planet-consumption hunger. As they all agree to stop fighting, Reed suddenly vanishes along with Galactus and the construct Galactus built. Reed appears on Galactus' homeworld which is housed in his spaceship in space. There Galactus shows Reed a vision of his pregnant wife and their child, Franklin. Then Galactus tells Reed to listen to what he is about to tell him. Inside the containment unit in the Doombase, Doctor Doom determines that he needs to get to Galactus' homeworld and he breaks free of his cell. He ignores the pleas of the other villains who are still trapped and releases only one other, Klaw. On the mountainside, Colossus frees the trapped X-Men from beneath some rubble. They all journey into the village and Colossus realizes Zsaji is awake and runs not to him, but to Human Torch. While they are all discussing what to do, Mister Fantastic reappears in the village. He says Galactus told him that Reed was a "Champion of Life". This emboldens him not to fight Galactus. The Avengers decide otherwise. Galactus reappears on the mountain and turns on the machine again. The Avengers then head back toward the mountain. Doctor Doom watches the battle from inside the Doombase where he cuts up Klaw into tiny disc-shaped lenses. The battle continues and Mister Fantastic realizes he must stop Galactus to be able to see his son born. He tells the heroes to stop Galactus from leaving and they cannot. He flies off to his homeworld where he begins to devour it and create a huge energy field. Doom sees this as his opportunity to "steal" the energy of that homeworld by using the Klaw-discs as a siphon... Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: The Heroes Vs. Galactus: The Final (well, at least in this series) Battle. That's what you might as well call this issue, as other than some Good Guy soul searching in the early part of this issue, that's pretty much what we get for 75% of this one, which isn't a bad thing, as it definitely is a good lead up to the final threat. We get a bit of the Hulk realizing that he's losing his intelligence, Spider-Man hopping around, happy about his spiffy new costume, Spider-Woman walking around looking strange, and The Thing suddenly transforming back to his rocky form. Finally, the ship crash lands under where Galactus, who has just finished seemingly killing the X-Men, who had been trying to stop him, is. The rest of the heroes then pick up the assault, and they are eventually joined by the X-Men and Magneto, who are very much alive. In the middle of all this, Reed Richards (who had told the heroes that perhaps they should sacrifice themselves to Galactus, so, the Beyonder could relieve Galactus of his all consuming hunger, thereby saving countless worlds) is transported to Galactus' ship by the big guy himself, I'm assuming to tell Reed that while his purpose is to devour worlds, Reed's purpose is to try and stop him, and as he comes back, he changes his mind and joins the attack on Galactus' world eating machine. The heroes manage to destroy it, but it is all for naught, as Galactus never needed that machine, and instead just goes up to his ship and starts the devouring process anyways. However, just at that moment, Dr. Doom (who escaped the heroes with Klaw, and is using the sound being to siphon Galactus' power to himself) makes his move, and draws Galactus' power to him, setting up next issue's big battle between Doom and The Beyonder. This was a pretty good issue. There is some decent character development here within/between different characters, as I think Shooter knew he needed to get some of this in before the craziness of the next few issues kicks in (and there IS definitely some craziness). It's not Claremont level character development, but, hey, at least Shooter tries, so, I'll give him some points for that. This is also pretty much (well, last issue was) the end of the actual WAR between the two sides, as from here on in, Dr. Doom becomes the main (and pretty much only) threat, and the rest of the villains are kind of left to fend for themselves. That's okay, though, as Doom becomes more than enough of a threat for all of the heroes. We also get the cool moment of the X-Men/Magneto finally rejoining the heroes, as they all dogpile on Galactus, which is at least somewhat of a redemption for the team after being made to look like total chump asses to heroes way under their power level as a team. Once again, this is a good thing, as the heroes will need all the fire power they can get, as the next issue promises (and delivers) DOOM VS. THE BEYONDER(!!!), and only one walks away from this battle.....well, in a sense. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Once again, nothing worth bitching about. It's pretty much clear sailing from here to the end. GRADE: B
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 20, 2017 23:47:56 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #10 "Death to the Beyonder!"Cover Date: February, 1985 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Mike Zech Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto & Galactus Villains: Dr. Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Klaw, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer), Titania & Volcana Official Plot:With the heroes of Battleworld preventing Galactus from trying to consume the planet, Galactus has no choice but to consume his own worldship for sustenance. The heroes quickly shield their eyes from the blinding flash of light. However as they witness Galactus consuming the needed energy they suddenly spot it being diverted back to Doombase. Captain Marvel quickly travels there at he speed of light to see what happened and witnesses Doctor Doom bombarding himself with the energies which he is filtering through special lenses made out of Klaw's body. She reports this new development back to the others via Professor X's telepathic link. With the process finished, Doom is revitalized by the sheer power he has absorbed, but soon finds his perceptions have been enhanced beyond human comprehension. After acclimatizes himself, Doom suddenly senses Captain Marvel's presence in his midst. When Xavier's psi-link is suddenly cut off the heroes all rush to the nearest shuttle, which is held aloft by Magneto's powers. Along the way, Captain America makes a comment about Magneto living up to his "hype" this starts a heated exchange between the two about human mutant relations. When Cap says he is only standing by with Magneto due to the fact that the X-Men are vouching for him. That's when Wolverine pipes up and berates Captain America for not doing as much for mutants as he does ordinary humans. When Wolverine becomes too heated, the X-Men pull him back to prevent a fight from happening. While back at Doombase, Doom is debating on what to do about the Beyonder, as he has power beyond compare but is it enough to stop the Beyonder? Doom holds council with the severed head of Klaw and decides that he must tempt fate and face the Beyonder even if it means his death. Utilizing his new found power, Doom constructs a new suit of armor and departs for space. The heroes soon arrive and find not trace of Doom, and all their prisoners still locked in their cells. Spider-Woman finds Captain Marvel who has somehow been trapped in her light form. They also find the severed head of Klaw, and after a massive earthquake, the disembodied villain tells them that Doom is about to face off against the Beyonder himself. In deep space the Beyonder demands that Doom go back and no approach him, but Doom is more determined than ever to claim this ultimate prize. With the planet still shaking up Mister Fantastic suggests that they try and revive Galactus and locates him in space on their monitors. Before they can act another shockwave hits causing part of Doombase to collapse on some of the heroes. Amid the chaos, Colossus notices that Zsaji's village is in danger as well and wants to go out to her but knows that she cares only for the Human Torch. Colossus is shocked when the Torch is disinterested in helping her while trying to help Mister Fantastic from under the rubble. Insulted by this, Colossus is about to start a fight when suddenly the planet is rocked by another massive earthquake. While in space, Doctor Doom continues his attack on the Beyonder. While his foe continues doubling his power to match Doom's, the monarch of Latveria refuses to surrender. As a final effort, Doom beams an image of himself back to Earth and appears before the heroes. He asks those who wish to defeat the Beyonder to lend them their power offering them everything they could want and more, all they need do is take his hand. When Magneto reaches out to take it the Wasp, Hawkeye, and Iron Man attack him. Magneto is kept at bay long enough that Doom cannot maintain the image anymore and disappears. After he is gone, Hawkeye tries to chastise the X-Men for trusting Magneto, but Captain America orders him to stand down. Doctor Doom has been defeated, his ravaged body now lays on the surface of Battleworld. However soon he is enveloped in energy and his mind probed. Doom's life flashes before his eyes: his discovery that his later mother was a witch, how he became a famous defender of his people, the accident that ruined his face, his rise to power in Latveria and his endless quest to rescue the soul of his mother from the clutches of the demon Mephisto. Unwilling to die, Doom suddenly finds his body being recreated and his armor repaired by the energies swirling around him. This rebirth is causing more earthquakes that threaten to bring down Doombase around the heroes. Captain America calls and evacuation as well as orders their prisoners to be freed so they can escape themselves. The heroes regroup outside just as Doombase crumbles to the ground. Suddenly there is a blinding flash of light that appears above them and changes into a massive Doctor Doom. Doom announces that the Beyonder is dead, and shrinking back down to human size, Doom removes his mask and declares the Secret Wars over. Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: Now we get up to the main event fights of this whole series: Doom vs. The Beyonder, and for those who are big fans of Dr. Doom, this is definitely one of his greatest moments. I mean, let's put it like this, in this issue, Doom fights God (or a Godlike being) and WINS, although it's barely, as The Beyonder spends most of the fight tearing Doom apart, literally, but Doom's will was too strong to be snuffed out by even The Beyonder, and after an Battleworld shattering battle, Doom basically gains the powers of The Beyonder, and declares the Secret Wars to be over. Before that, Doom attempts to appeal to the heroes to help him in his battle, and Magneto almost accepts his offer until a few of the heroes jump him, which almost re-opens the rift that had just been healed between the X-Men and the rest of the heroes, but Captain America, of all people, stands up for Magneto, stating that Doom was exerting some sort of mental power on all of them, and Magneto probably got a larger dose, as he was the one out of all of them that Doom reckoned would potentially accept his offer. This is after a tense moment between Magneto, Wolverine, and Cap earlier, where Wolverine almost got into it with Cap over his seeming lack of helping mutants as much as he did regular humans (after Cap was needling Magneto). This would kind of carry over into the Post SECRET WARS continuity, as the rest of the heroes never accepted Magneto's change of heart like the X-Men would later on in their own book. Speaking of X-Men, we also get the official end of the Zsaji, Human Torch, Colossus love triangle, as when Reed is injured, and Colossus comes to Johnny Storm, concerned over Zsaji and her village, Torch responds with basically saying,"F**k that bitch! Reed's hurt!," which Colossus doesn't take very well (of course, he was probably turning cartwheels in his head, as this basically frees up Zsaji for him.....for what that's worth). All in all, this is probably the best issue in this entire run, especially if you're a Doctor Doom fan (Which I am, so, Thumbs Up). Heck, villain-wise, this is basically Doom's show from here on out (although, we do see bits showing the other villains trying to head home), and I will admit that Shooter does write a pretty damn good Doom. To make things better, Doom now has the powers of a God, and we'll see in the next couple issues what he ends up doing with that power, as we head towards our BIG CONCLUSION!!!! (and then I finally get back to MUCH better written comics with the continuation of my X-Men run.....YAY!!!! ) THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Nothing....this was a pretty damn good issue. I wouldn't quite give it an A, but I will say it's a...... GRADE: B++ (Or the closest you can get to an A- without being an A-)
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 21, 2017 0:56:28 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #11 "...And Dust to Dust!"Cover Date: March, 1985 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Mike Zech Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto & Galactus Villains: Dr. Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Klaw, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer), Titania & Volcana Official Plot:Doctor Doom has stolen the power of the Beyonder and appeared before the heroes gathered on Battleworld. Removing his mask, Doom reveals that his face has been completely healed. He then announces that with the Beyonder seemingly dead the Secret Wars are now over. From afar, Doom's former minions watch as Doom speaks with the heroes. Thinking Doom has betrayed them, the Molecule Man is furious and uses his powers to uproot the earth under the heroes and fling them across Battleworld. When Owen Reece angrily confronts Doom, Doom merely opens up his mind and removes the mental blocks that prevented him from being able to alter the molecules of living things. Struck by this revelation, Molecule Man suggests that they retreat and figure out their next move. Volcana suggests her apartment and so the Molecule Man creates a ship that will allow them to fly to the chunk of Denver that has been brought to Battleworld. Meanwhile the heroes regroup at Doombase to review their notes and decide what to do about the now god-like Doctor Doom. While they discuss this the villains have regrouped at Marsha's apartment. There they all agree that the Secret Wars are not worth it and want to go home even if it means forfeiting the prize. With that Molecule Man uses his powers to erect an air tight dome around Denver and pull it free from Battleworld and venture off into space. This is picked up by the heroes scanners and when Spider-Woman expresses concern for the friends and family she still has in Denver, Mister Fantastic regretfully tells her that there is nothing they can do. That evening Colossus cannot sleep because of his growing feelings for the alien woman Zsaji that he has fallen in love with. Unwilling to go forward with whatever plans until he sees her one more time, Colossus leaves in the might. As he goes a ball of energy arrives at Doombase and takes possession of the Hulk. The possessed Hulk is spotted by Spider-Woman who tries to stop him. When the Hulk's path is impeded the energy that is possessing him switches over to her and continues on into the lab. There she finds Captain Marvel -- still trapped in energy form -- as well as the severed head of Klaw. Before she can do anything there is a blinding flash of light that causes her to scream. When the other heroes arrive they find Klaw missing and Captain Marvel restored to normal. They also find a message from Doctor Doom telling them to meet him at the Tower of Doom at dusk the following day. When they wonder where the Tower of Doom is they look out the window and see a massive stone tower off in the distance. Doom has reformed Klaw and brought him to his side. Having grown tired, Doom orders Klaw to guard his tower while he sleeps. At the alien village Zsaji is awoken by the arrival of Colossus who has brought her flows and professes his love to her. Back at Doombase Nightcrawler and Wolverine are looking for Colossus for the big meeting. Wolverine points out that he is off with Zsaji and Nightcrawler laments about what this will to to Piotr's girlfriend Kitty Pryde back home. Wolverine points out that Colossus isn't really in love with Zsaji, he is just feeling the after effects of her healing powers. The heroes soon board a craft and fly out to Doom's tower to meet with him. Doom announces to them that there is no more need to fight as he intends to use his omnipotence for altruistic ends. In order to demonstrate this, he uses his power to resurrect Kang the Conqueror and return him to his own time. He also explains that he has summoned Nova, the herald of Galactus, to recover her master from space. He then offers to grand the heroes any wish they want in recompense for all the suffering he has caused them in the past. When they all begin discussing it, Captain America notices that Spider-Woman is acting strange and paying particular attention to Klaw. Cap eventually comes back and tells Doom they want nothing, as such Doom allows them to go freely but warns them against acting against him in the future as he will destroy them instantly. As the heroes exit, Captain America sends everyone else back so he can venture back inside and try to spy on Doom. He finds Doom spending time with Klaw, and once detected Doom invites the Captain in, sending Klaw away. Down one of the corridors, Klaw is ambushed by Spider-Woman and the energy that has been possessing her since the night before transfers to Klaw. Captain America hears that Doom has no interest in conquering the universe and when Klaw returns to inform him that Spider-Woman is knocked out in the hallway, Doom sends Cap away with her. Outside he finds the others still waiting and tells them they need to call a meeting. Elsewhere Colossus is trying to have a romantic interlude with Zsaji but is forced to come back due to the mental summons of Professor X. The heroes then meet back at Doombase where they discuss on if they should go up against a god-like Doctor Doom or leave him be, but they agree that to only go after their foe if the vote is unanimous. Everyone agrees that Doom cannot be left with such power unchecked with almost everyone voting yes. With the last vote boiling down to Colossus he tearfully asks Zsaji to forgive him and votes yes. The moment he does, the heroes are torn apart by a massive blast of energy that seemingly kills them all. Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: Dr. Doom has become a God, and The Secret Wars are Over! Of course, the fact that we still have two more issues to get through means that while the main "War" might be over, we're not done with the fighting quite yet. However, it doesn't happen in this issue, as we get the fall out from Doom suddenly becoming all powerful, and how the heroes (and villains) handle this new status quo. The villains (led by the Molecule Man) free themselves from the cells the heroes put them in after the events of #8, and after spotting Doom talking to the heroes, they instantly think Doom has betrayed them, and the Molecule Man tries to attack Doom, only to be helped by him, as Doom removes the restraints put on MM's power back in one of his early appearances. After this, MM decides to say "Screw this," and leaves with the villains to go back to Earth (and taking the piece of Denver the Beyonder brought there with him). Meanwhile, Doom offers the heroes a peace offering, and the chance to end the fighting by allowing Doom to carry on with his plans to free his mother's soul from Mephisto's grasp. The heroes consider this, and the next day, they actually meet with Doom to reiterate that he is no longer a threat (although, why Doom just didn't send them all back, as he definitely had the power to, is kind of a flaw in this, especially if his motives were indeed pure, or, shit, even if they weren't, as back on Earth, they wouldn't have been able to do shit to stop him regardless). Behind the scenes, before this meeting, we see a strange energy ball possess a sleeping (but strangely not nightmare having, as that whole deal had been forgotten throughout the entire SW storyline) Hulk, then Spider-Woman, and then finally Klaw. We'll reveal what that is all about in the next issue. Anyways, this all leads up to the heroes gathering in their own base, and discussing what to do about Doom, with Cap and Reed Richards deciding that despite what Doom claims, his having the powers of a God is not a good thing, and that they need to do something about it. However, just to be fair, they ask all of the heroes in a memorable scene, and all agree but Colossus, who doesn't want to jeopardize the happiness he has finally found with Zsaji. However, he finally admits that something must be done, and he agrees to fight Doom. However, being a God, Doom was listening/watching the entire exchange, and he sends a bolt of energy to destroy all of them. Damn! Talk about a shocking ass ending. Of course, being that the heroes are still around today, we know they all come back, but to see how that happens, we must tune in tomorrow for the SLAM BANG ENDING, and it is one. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Other then the stuff I mentioned above, and they are some pretty gaping plot holes, but at this point, we're just trying to get to the end of things, and I'm sure Shooter was feeling the same, so, I'm not going to pick on him any more than I already have. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 21, 2017 3:21:24 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #12 "...Nothing to Fear"Cover Date: April, 1985 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Mike Zech Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto & Galactus Villains: Dr. Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Klaw, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer), Titania & Volcana Official Plot:For daring to unite against the omnipotent power of Doctor Doom the heroes on Battleworld have been annihilated for their defiance. Seeing the smoldering wreckage of Doombase is Zsaji and her people who rush to the location to see what befell the champions who defended them against the evil beset upon them. From his new home at the Tower of Doom, Doctor Doom assures Klaw that he has slain the heroes and they will not stand in his way again, that his is certain. Meanwhile, millions of miles away, the villains who were brought to Battleworld are transporting the city of Denver back to Earth thanks to the enhanced powers of the Molecule Man. Curious as to what is happening on Battleworld, the Enchantress summons a water sprite from Marsha Rosenberg's bathtub and has it reveal what has happened on Battleworld since their departure. It reveals to her that the Beyonder has seemingly perished and Doctor Doom has stolen his power. The Enchantress hopes for a moment of vulnerability so she can strike at Doom before he can use his power against her. When the Lizard begins to freak out, the Enchantress uses the distraction to call out to Volcana in order to make her pay for helping her reach the Molecule Man earlier in the Secret Wars when he was injured and she wanted to be by his side. Taking Marsha to a nearby park, Amora intends to steal her life force in order to gain additional power. Meanwhile, the Molecule Man fights it out with Doctor Octopus who has come to doubt his ability to get them home. After Owne restrains Otto, the Lizard points out that Marsha is missing. They find her in the Enchantress' clutches and attack. When Amora tries to teleport back to Battleworld, the Lizard leaps at her and is transported there as well. When the Lizard slashes his face, the Enchantress absorbs his life force in order to return to Asgard. Meanwhile, Doctor Doom slumbers and while he does Klaw tries to get close to him but Doom quickly awakens. Klaw then begins instilling doubt in Doom's mind, telling him that he may not have killed the heroes as he thought. Doom plays into this and Klaw creates a hologram showing the healer Zsaji using her power to revive Colossus, dying in the process. Heartbroken, Colossus brings his fellow heroes back to Doombase and uses the medical devices there to revive the others. Doom denies this theory, even when Klaw suggests that he subconsciously did not want them to die. When Doom continues to deny this, suddenly he is proven wrong when Thor's hammer comes crashing through the wall. Doom's power flares out of control destroying a nearby planet. With the heroes about to besiege him, he listens to Klaw's suggestion of giving him a portion of his power to deal with the heroes. Klaw is given a fraction of Doom's stolen power and he goes out to face the heroes. Using this new power he creates monsters for them to fight as well as a rebuilt Ultron. The Thing slugs it out with one of the monsters when suddenly he starts to revert back to Ben Grimm, through sheer force of will he prevents his transformation, cementing the idea in his mind that Battleworld allows him to change back and forth. Elsewhere on the battle field, Ultron has some of the others on the ropes when suddenly he blows up. The reason why becomes apparent when the Wasp emerges from his ruined shell, having used her biostings to damage his vulnerable internal components. As the battle rages on, Captain America gets past the monsters and Klaw to confront Doctor Doom directly. Doom tries to atomize Captain America, but the hero suddenly reappears every time he tries to destroy him. This causes Doom's power to flare out of control, what Klaw -- or rather the being possessing him -- has planned all along. When Doom is finally in a weakened state, the Beyonder emerges from Klaw's body and reclaims his stolen power, restoring Doom back to his normal state and banishing both he and Klaw away. With the Secret Wars no officially over, the heroes regroup back at Doombase to try and figure out a way to get back home. There, Colossus has a funeral for Zsaji and weeps over her grave. Later, Spider-Man finds that the X-Men have created new costumes for themselves. When he sees the others doing so as well he finds it curious that they are not using the same machine where he got his new uniform. The Hulk's leg is broken and Mister Fantastic binds it in a metal brace. As the heroes rest after their victory they are surprised when Curt Connors -- having reverted back to human form from the Lizard -- arrives. When this happy reunion between Connors and Spider-Man is happening, Nightcrawler wishes that Kitty's dragon Lockheed would return. Almost as if on cue, Lockheed does return with another small dragon in tow. Mister Fantastic meets with the others and explains that residual energies from the Beyonder are what is causing the strange series of "wish fulfillment" that they have experienced recently. Hearing this, Captain America goes into a back room with his shattered shield and is happy to see that he is able to repair it through sheer force of will. Soon Mister Fantastic is able to cobble together a device that will allow him to teleport them all back home. First he sends back the Hulk, Magneto, Spider-Man, Curt Connors and Spider-Woman. Next are the X-Men after Professor X console Colossus over the loss of Zsaji, convincing him to come back with them so her sacrifice is not in vein. As Mister Fantastic prepares to teleport them away, the strange dragon that followed Lockheed flies into the teleportation beam, causing some strange feedback, leaving the rest to wonder what will happen to them when they return to Earth. Before the Avengers prepare to return home as well, the Thing arrives with She-Hulk, who is wearing a Fantastic Four costume. Ben explains to Reed and Johnny that he intends to stay on Battleworld for a while to enjoy the ability to change back and forth between human and Thing forms and has selected She-Hulk as his replacement on the team. After the Avengers teleport off, Ben insists that he is staying. Reed thinks briefly for a moment about telling Ben what he knows about his transformations and thinks against it, hoping he will discover the truth in time. Before going, Reed passes Ben the teleportation device so that Ben can use it whenever he is ready to return home. After Mister Fantastic, the Torch and She-Hulk are teleported away, Ben begins the first steps of his greatest adventure yet. Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: At the end of last issue, the penultimate issue of SECRET WARS, Doctor Doom (who had gained Godlike powers after defeating The Beyonder) hit the combined heroes side with a blast of energy, destroying all of them instantly. We begin this issue with the remains of what used to be the premier superheroes and super teams in the Marvel Universe, as the narration box reads off the list of the dead. We see various weapons left behind; Cap's shield, Thor's hammer, ect. We then join Doom and Klaw, who survey the carnage left behind. Doom seems like he feels regretful for having just done that, but that it had to be done, while Klaw plays devil's advocate, questioning/needling Doom about his Godlike powers, and whether or not he can handle such ability. This is because Klaw has been secretly possessed by The Beyonder (remember that mysterious ball of energy that jumped from The Hulk to Spider-Woman to Klaw last issue....huh? Huh?), and he/it is waiting for the exact moment for Doom to falter under that power, so, he can step in and regain all of his/its power back. Meanwhile, we cut over to the floating city of Denver, which is making its way back to its proper place on Earth, and the rest of the super villains, some of whom are growing quite agitated. The Enchantress summons a water elemental to tell her about what has happened on Battleworld since they left it, and after she does, Amora grows quite panicked, and presses Volcana for the price she promised The Enchantress in order to help her boyfriend, The Molecule Man (after he was practically gutted by Wolverine). MM and the Lizard (who had befriended Volcana) have a problem with this, and they attack The Enchantress, who in panic, teleports back to Battleworld, but accidentally brings The Lizard with her, who slashes her face. Amora takes The Lizard's life force, which is enough to teleport her back to Asgard, but with some major facial damage (which she must have been cured of soon afterwards, as she looked perfectly healed when I saw her next). Back on Battleworld, Klaw begins to intensify his needling of Doom, suggesting that Doom might have unconsciously (as being a God, anything he even thinks will happen, happens) revived the heroes, which Doom denies. Klaw continues, and Doom asks him to prove it, which Klaw does by creating kind of a mini movie, showing Zsaji discovering the bodies of the heroes, and going to the body of Colossus, who due to turning to his metal form, was the least damaged out of everyone. She uses all of her powers, reviving Colossus, but dying in the process. Colossus mourns her death, but quickly knows what to do, and using a machine, revives Mr. Fantastic, who is then able to revive the other heroes. Doom calls all of this false, but just at that moment, Thor's hammer smashes into Doom's base, and the last battle is on. Doom sends Ultron and Klaw, who creates a bunch of sound monsters to battle the heroes, while Doom tries to control his power, which is starting to overwhelm him. The last battle goes back and forth, although the heroes eventually gain the upper hand (but not without a few casualties, namely, the Hulk, who has his leg shattered by a blast from a wounded Ultron. It's this injury that probably causes the biggest jump in the loss of Bruce Banner's control over the Hulk), and eventually Captain America is able to break through and approaches Doom, who tries to kill Cap, but keeps reviving him, until Cap knocks Doom down, causing Doom to totally lose control. Of course, this is the moment The Beyonder was waiting for, and he takes back his power, and teleports Doom (and Klaw, who tries to help him) away, ending the battle....and the War. The rest of the issue is the fall out from that, as the heroes find that their reward for winning is kind of a wish fulfillment field over the planet, which allows Cap to repair his shattered shield, Lockheed to return (with a female dragon in tow....you naughty little dragon you : , and other such things. The heroes gather in small groups, and are teleported back to Earth, until we get down to the Fantastic Four, as The Thing shows up with She Hulk, who is in a FF outfit. Reed is confused, until The Thing states that he's staying on Battleworld, as he has the ability to change back and forth to Ben Grimm there, and not on Earth (which isn't exactly true, but Reed doesn't have the heart to tell him that, or why), and the Fantastic Three (Reed, Torch, and She Hulk) teleport back to Earth, Ben Grimm is left to basically say the quote used as part of the title.....and we're done. Now, I'll give you a brief little look at what happens to various heroes in the aftermath of this mini series. The Fantastic Four/The Thing.....The team is reformed with a new "strong person" in the guise of She Hulk, which kind of changes the feel of the team (and allows Byrne to draw She Hulk, which he does a great job at), which lasts a good 30 issues until The Thing returns to Earth, and later the team. However, it's a long road for the Thing, as he goes through various adventures on Battleworld, including killing what at the time he thinks is his human side. Finally, with no reason to stay, The Thing comes back to Earth to discover that The Human Torch is now dating his long time squeeze, Alicia Masters (who is really a Skrull posing as Alicia, but we reveal that later), and the Thing leaves the FF in a rage. Once again, though, he finds his way back, and She Hulk ends up going back to The Avengers eventually. The Avengers.....Speaking of.....the team comes back to Earth to find that The Vision (who had been hooked up to a Godlike computer unit to recover after having his body destroyed by Annihilus in the pages of FF) has been kind of taking charge of certain things. In fact, during this period, he decides to split the team, forming the West Coast Avengers. However, the main team eventually discover that The Vision has been taken over by a Titan Entity, who is slowly convincing Vision that taking over the world is the best way to save it, and the entity is separated from The Vision, but the WCA remains for a long time afterwards. The Hulk.....As we saw in the Hulk reviews I did a while ago, it's a quick decent into total savagery for the Hulk, who went into the event with Bruce Banner's persona in charge. He eventually becomes a mindless monster, and is exiled to an interdimensional Crossroads by Dr. Strange, and stays there for a year's worth of issues, before returning to Earth and more new changes at the hands of new writer/artist, John Byrne. Spider-Man.....Of course, as I mentioned in #8's review, Spidey goes back with the black costume, which is eventually revealed to be a symbiote, and Spidey gets rid of it, returning to his classic look. However, the costume finds a new host, Eddie Brock, and the threat known as VENOM is born. As for The X-Men and Magneto, we'll see that start to play out tomorrow. Lastly, as for The Beyonder, he/it ends up coming to Earth in the vastly inferior follow up, SECRET WARS II, as he/is is curious about what it is to be human. After quite a bit of fumbling and coming across various heroes and villains, he/it tries to live the human experience, but finds it to be a let down. The Beyonder realizes that he/it must TRULY become human to try and get the most out of human existence, but the heroes attack, knowing that to allow the Beyonder to do what he wants to do will destroy the universe (or something), and he/it is finally killed just as he/it has been reformed as a fetus. Of course, with Shooter writing, guess who delivers the kill shot. I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with follicle pan. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Eh, I guess the only thing I would say here is that it seems like Shooter forgot he had to bring the various status quos back to where they were in the various books a year previous, so, you see him kind of rushing all these plot details in this issue (like the Hulk thing, and the thing with Lockheed and the female dragon, which seemed to be the only reason Lockheed was even in this series to begin with). Ah well, it all worked out, I guess.....just very sloppy at times. Back to the X-Men tomorrow......YAY!!!! GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 21, 2017 23:02:24 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #181 "Tokyo Story"Cover Date: May, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Puff (the now giant dragon), The U.S Government Guest Stars: Lockheed, Sunfire, Cyclops, Madelyne Pryor, & Mariko Yashida Official Plot:This story follows the events of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #12... Professor X, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Storm and Lockheed are all teleported back to Earth following their ordeal on Battleworld with the Beyonder. Along with them was a small dragon companion that had befriended Lockheed. Upon their arrival, the dragon would grow to a massive size and fly off, while the X-Men would fall to the ground. Learning that they have been teleported to Japan, they also learn of Lockheed's friend becoming a massive creature. Learning that they have been gone for over a week, the Professor sends Rogue to America to check on the fate of Doug Ramsey and Kitty Pryde, as well as make sure that the New Mutants and Cyclops are okay while they deal with the threat of the dragon they brought back with them. As the dragon begins wrecking Tokyo, the Japanese mobilizes their military to deal with the threat. While reports are coming in Mariko Yoshida and her cousin Sunfire learn that the X-Men, and Wolverine, are in Japan as well to combat the creature. The X-Men catch up with the monster and as Storm keeps it occupied, the others rescue any civilians that get in the way of danger. Soon, Sunfire and the military arrive to deal with the monster. However, as they battle the creature the X-Men note that their weapons have little effect on them. Meanwhile, at the Beachcomber Hotel in Tahiti, Cyclops appears before a grief stricken Madelyne. She is upset that he vanished out of her arms and was missing for a whole week while on their honeymoon. However, despite this, Scott manages to calm her down and the newly weds make up. As the battle rages on in Japan, Storm unleashes her full fury on the creature. While down below, some wreckage lands on the Professor's legs making him panic about the potential of losing his ability to walk. He is rescued by Colossus, while Wolverine goes off looking for others. He comes across a dying woman and her daughter Amiko. The woman asks Wolverine to look after her, and Logan vows to keep care of the young orphaned girl. Meanwhile, Sunfire and Storm are knocked out by the dragon and as the creature is about to kill them, Lockheed confronts it. Blowing fire in it's face wounds the giant dragon emotionally and it flies away with Lockheed following behind, yelling at it. Suddenly, the creature suddenly kills itself in a massive energy burst. In the aftermath of the battle, the X-Men realize that the creature was attempting to build a nest for itself and Lockheed to live in together and that when Lockheed rejected the creature it committed suicide. While in Washington D.C., Senator Robert Kelly attempts to have legislation passed for his new Mutant Control Act supported by his colleagues. Meeting with Senator Phillip, Kelly pressures him to support the bill. Phillip refuses, believing that this is tantamount to legalizing slavery and vows to do everything in his power to prevent the bill from coming into law. He tells his colleague that he hopes that trying to motion this bill will not cause irreversible damage. Brodie's View: Yay! Back to the X-Men (and good writing), FINALLY!!! Doing the SECRET WARS reviews was kind of like going on vacation. Sure, you were looking forward to it, and sure, it was fun at times, even going off on Jim Shooter for some of his shitty/petty writing, but at the same time, towards the second half of it, you couldn't wait to get back home to your comfortable setting. Although, the X-Men can't say this, as instead of being transported back to New York, they instead end up in Tokyo (well, save for Cyclops and Magneto. Cyclops ends up being dropped back in Tahiti next to his wife, Madelyne Pryor, who is pissed that he got teleported away, but overjoyed to see him (Awwwww ) As for Magneto, well, we'll see him in a few issues, so, things will be explained on his end as well), and are quickly mobilized into action by a threat they ended up bringing with them, the cute little dragon Lockheed was shacking up with on Battleworld, who has now grown to be a giant dragon, and is destroying Tokyo. (BTW, there is a great scene with a group of Japanese kids who have a book that shows all the known monsters (Godzilla, Red Ronin, Hulk), and are excited to see a new monster that's not in their book) The X-Men team up with Sunfire to try and stop the giant dragon before it completely wrecks Tokyo trying to make a giant nest. See, like the rest of us, Puff the Giant Dragon took a liking to the little dragon, and wants to have little dragons with him (although it would kind of be impossible for the two dragons to have sex at this point, but things never really progress to that point, thankfully). Finally, Lockheed catches on to that point, rolls up on Puff and basically says (well, he doesn't actually say, as much as he shoots fire at her), "Get lost, Bitch!," which causes the dragon to vanish. Cute ending, but this whole thing definitely had its casualties (one we definitely see is Wolverine becoming a foster dad, as he saves a child from a collapsed building, but it unable to save her mother, who makes Logan vow to take care of her child.....he winds up letting people in Japan take care of the child, but he provides money for her), and we see the results of that carnage in yet another gathering of the U.S Government, as they discuss this latest catastrophe, and how mutants are to blame. This basically introduces the Mutant Control Act (Introduced by Senator Kelly, of course), and although some of the Senators vow to block the bill from being made into Law, it's still kind of a scary moment, as it means that the U.S Government is going to start doing what it takes to remove mutants that they consider to be threats, and we'll start seeing the build for that over the next few issues. Scary times ahead for our favorite mutants. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 22, 2017 0:47:09 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #182"Madness"Cover Date: June, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Hellfire Club Guest Stars: Nick Fury & Contessa Valentina de la Fontaine Official Plot:Rogue is flying back to the United States following the X-Men's return from Battleworld ahead of the others to check on the remaining X-Men that were left on Earth, and the New Mutants. Rogue arrives at the mansion and begins checking the answering machine. She finds a panicked call from Madelyne Pryor who was calling to tell the X-Men that her husband, Scott Summers had gone missing. Rogue knows that he was transported to Battleworld with him and presumes that he was returned to her when they were all returned home. The next message is from Colonel Rossi a SHIELD agent who is a colleague of Professor Xavier. Rossi has confirmed one of their suspicions, his call is cut off when someone gets the jump on him. Rogue would fly off to save him, missing an important message from Illyana Rasputin telling that the White Queen had kidnapped Kitty and Doug Ramsey and that she and the New Mutants were going to rescue her. Aboard the SHIELD helicarrier, Rossi is being roughly interrogated for answers to why he was caught looking up information about the Hellfire Club. One of these interrogators, a spy working of the Inner Circle, goes back to report to Sebastian Shaw and confirms his identity. Shaw orders him to eliminate Rossi before he is visited by a mental projection of the White Queen who informs him that she has the New Mutants under her thrall and asks if he would like to see Xavier's novice students. Meanwhile, Rogue manages to break aboard the SHIELD helicarrier by flicking a nickel into it's radar bay with her super strength. Breaking in, she then trashes some of the security systems closing off blast doors so that the SHIELD operatives do not have an easy time stopping her. She manages to get to Rossi just before the Inner Circle spy can assassinate him. When she tries to revive the heavily beaten Rossi, she begins talking in a different voice that and in a way that speaks of a long time friendship. Rossi, barely conscious recognizes the voice but cannot believe he is hearing it. Rogue then manages to escape the Helicarrier and smashes a number of fighter jets that are deployed to try and stop her. Rogue brings Rossi to a home that she believes as her parents summer home located in Cape Cod Massachusetts. Rogue prepares Rossi a meal and when he awakens to eat, he finds that as he questions Rogue she has the memories of Carol Danvers. Rossi then calls her on it, watching as she flips from personality to personality from trying to sort out her memories; this causes her to burst out of the house and tumble down onto the beach near the home. There she is haunted by more of Carol's memories of her childhood and adult life. She realizes that when she absorbed Carol Danver's powers she must have taken her memories as well as the emotions that go along with them. When Rossi goes down to check on her, she reveals to him what he did, a revaluation that angers and horrifies him. When she attempts to atone for it by telling him that she is Carol in all the ways that matter, he rejects her offer of love striking her and walking away -- telling her that he can't bring himself to kill her for what she's done. While back aboard the SHIELD helicarrier, Nick Fury questions the Hellfire Club spy, unaware that he is a double agent. The spy tells Fury that Rogue was responsible for the attack on the helicarrier earlier. With her identity confirmed, Fury puts out a call to all SHIELD agents to bring in Rogue and use deadly force if necessary. Brodie's View: This is basically a Rogue solo story, as it basically started last issue when Professor X sent Rogue off to the X-Mansion to find out what happened to Kitty Pryde and the others, while the others did battle with Puff the Giant Dragon in Tokyo. Rogue flies back to the Mansion, and finds it deserted. She plays the answering machine, hearing first a call from a panicked Madelyne Pryor, who is wondering where her husband went. However, more interesting is a call from a SHIELD agent named Colonel Rossi, who had been a colleague's of Xaiver's, and seeming to be in trouble. It turns out he is in trouble, as he is being interrogated aboard a SHIELD helicarrier by two agents who suspect Rossi of being a spy. We soon find out, however, that Rossi is innocent, as one of the agents interrogating him is a spy for the Hellfire Club (who we, but not Rogue, find out has Kitty Pryde, Doug Ramsey, and the New Mutants, who had gone to try and rescue Kitty, captive....don't worry, they get free), and upon going back to the interrogation room, kills the other SHIELD agent who was interrogating Rossi with him. This is all Rogue, who had rushed to Rossi's rescue, needed to see, as she attacks the Hellfire Spy, and rescues Rossi, taking him back to a safe house that only she and Rossi know about. Of course, the swerve is that Rogue doesn't know Rossi at all....it's Carol Danver's persona, hidden within Rogue, who took over and rescued Rossi. Once Rossi realizes this, he reacts with anger and hate at the woman who saved his life, but also destroyed the life of the woman he loved. Meanwhile, back aboard the Heli-carrier, Nick Fury is lied to by the Hellfire spy, and he thinks that Rogue is responsible for the other agent's death, and that she and Rossi are in cahoots with each other. Fury puts out a APB for Rogue, Wanted: Dead of Alive. This was definitely an interesting issue, as it showed what Rogue has been increasingly going through since stealing a chunk of Carol Danver's personality (along with her Ms. Marvel powers), as during her time with Rossi, she jumps back and forth from Carol to Rogue, even changing dialects from sentence to sentence. This issue definitely deepens the pathos for this character, as we can feel her sorrow at trying to change her ways and walk the Good Path, only to be constantly reminded of her greatest sin. The events of this issue, of course, will come back to haunt Rogue, and a lot sooner than she thinks, as she has just given the U.S Government, who were planning to go after mutants they deem to be "dangerous," all the ammunition they need to put those plans into action. Rogue and the other X-Men will soon find out what exactly that means. However, in the next issue, we have a bit of unfinished (but heartbreaking) business to attend to, as Kitty Pryde returns to the book only to have her heart totally broken. No crap....it's going to be sad. Bring your hankies. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 22, 2017 3:18:37 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #183"He'll Never Make Me Cry"Cover Date: July, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Juggernaut, Selene, Mystique Guest Stars: Illyana Rasputin, Lockheed, and Valerie Cooper Official Plot:Back from his ordeal on Battleworld and Japan, Colossus has come to bring the hard news to Kitty Pryde that while he was gone, he fell in love with another. The revelation crushes Kitty; however she hides the hurt from him until she returns to the room she shares with Illyana. Both Illyana and Lockheed try to comfort her when she breaks down into tears. Meanwhile, Storm checks on Rogue down in the Danger Room and saves her from a potentially lethal training session. When Storm attempts to understand what happened between her and Michael Rossi, Rogue only says that she is a monster, then she flees the room telling her to leave her alone. Upstairs, Colossus returns to the mansion and is confronted by Logan who tells Peter that the two of them are going to have a talk about Peter's break-up with Kitty and leave with Nightcrawler for a bar down in Manhattan. Upstairs, Kitty confides her feelings to Storm and tells her that she is taking some time to visit her parents and is not sure if she will be coming back. While in Dallas, Texas, Raven Darkholme and Valarie Cooper are en route to see the mutant inventor named Forge. They begin discussion of Senator Kelly's proposed Mutant control bill. As they discuss the arguments about mutant registration, Raven secretly muses over what Valarie would think if she knew one of the many mutants who she sees as a threat is the very person driving her to Forge. At a bar in Manhattan, Wolverine tries to get Colossus to realize that his "romance" with Zsaji on Battleworld was not a relationship, and the two come to odds over Peter's true feelings for Kitty. During the conversation, Logan picks up the Juggernaut's scent and realizes that their old foe is drinking at the bar. Not wishing for a fight to break out, Logan suggests that they leave. When Colossus decides to be difficult, the slightly drunk mutant stumbles and spills his drink on the Juggernaut. Spoiling for a fight after his defeat at the hands of Spider-Man, the Juggernaut picks a fight with Colossus. As the fight rages, they trash the bar, but ultimately the Juggernaut wins. When the fight is over, the Juggernaut asks Wolverine and Nightcrawler if they wish to fight. Logan says no, and the Juggernaut departs leaving money to pay for the damages. When they confront Colossus, he is angry with his friends for not helping. Logan points out that X-Men will help each other out for honor and sacrifice everything, like when Kitty was willing to marry Caliban so that the Morlocks would save his life. As he walks away Nightcrawler tells Wolverine he is unforgiving. However, Logan points out that Colossus needed to be taught a hard lesson about honor. As they walk away, they are unaware of a woman high on a rooftop who had managed to suck the life out of a man, leaving a burnt out husk. It is Selene, and she is glad to be walking the Earth once more after 2000 years. Brodie's View: At least the most brutal part of this issue, where Colossus admits to Kitty Pryde that he fell in love with someone while on Battleworld (Alien healer, Zsaji), and basically ends their relationship, happens within the first few pages of this issue, as nothing else in the issue comes close to having that kind of an impact (although, there is a LOT of great business that happens in this issue). This is Claremont at his absolute best, as we get both the actual conversation, which is very much like how a real conversation like that would go, and the inner torment the two characters are going through; Colossus for having to tell the truth, and Kitty, who is being torn apart by every word he says. This is a huge growing up moment for her, as it kind of signifies a rite of passage, and when she comes back to the team (she leaves for a time during this issue, and we find out in the WOLVERINE AND KITTY PRYDE mini series that happens while she (and Wolverine, who leaves after the events of this issue) is gone. I don't have that mini, so, I'll sum it up here: Kitty ends up in Japan, and is possessed by the spirit of one of Wolverine's old teachers turned enemy, Ogun, who turns her into an assassin, and she tries to kill Logan when he comes to Japan to try and find her. Kitty runs Wolverine through with a sword, which snaps her out of Ogun's control, and before the two of them face him again, Logan trains Kitty to be able to use the Ninja fighting skills Ogun has implanted in her, and they are able to defeat Ogun.) she is very much different than when she left. She ends up taking more of a proactive role in the X-Men, and a new costume and name, Shadowcat. In a way, this issue is kind of an end of an era, as Kitty leaving kind of provides a void in the team, and it kind of forces the team (and the book) to change, and when she comes back, the team has kind of changed to fit her new changes. We see hints of this in little things that will go on to mean more in the subsequent issues. We have the little scene with Valarie Cooper and a woman named Raven Darkholme (who is really Mystique in disguise), who are on their way to meet a mutant inventor named Forge, who becomes very important in the new status quo of things. I'll talk more about Forge in the next issue, when he makes his official debut, but I will say that he and the story surrounding him dominates a good portion of the next several issues (as well as stories down the line, culminating in THE FALL OF THE MUTANTS storyline). We also get the introduction (at least in the X-MEN book) of the life force draining witch, Selene, who we see trying to pick up The Juggernaut in a bar (we'll get back to this in a second), and at the very end, when we reveal that she's more than just a hot woman in a bar. She also becomes a big deal, villain-wise, for the new status quo of the book (after making her introduction in a just completed NEW MUTANTS story-line). Once again, I'll talk more about Selene in the next issue, as she becomes a major threat to the team. For now, I'll talk about the meat of this issue, which is basically the fall out from the beginning of the issue, as Wolverine has a major problem with how Colossus treated Kitty, and he and Nightcrawler take Pitor out to a bar to try and talk some sense into him. Of course, I would guess that Logan was hoping to beat some sense into the young Russian at some point, but while in the bar, he catches the scent of The Juggernaut, who is sitting at the bar in his civvies. When he tries to get the other two X-Men to leave, the drunken Pitor resists, and ends up knocking into Juggie, who, of course, doesn't take it lightly. Before you know it, Colossus and The Juggernaut are slugging it out in the bar, and they end up pretty much wrecking it, with Wolverine and Nightcrawler watching it as it happens (as Logan figures that Juggie will dish out the ass kicking Pitor needed to take, and Juggie doesn't disapoint). Juggernaut winds up beating Colossus, leaving the Russian dazed from the beating, and pissed that Wolverine and Nightcrawler didn't help him. However, Logan delivers the kick to the chops Pitor needed to hear by saying that they no more let him down than he let Kitty down for breaking her heart as he did. Oh Snap! This is a great issue, that is the X-Men at their best, and most definitely Claremont at his best, writing-wise, and like I said before, the end of an era, as we move on to new storylines and we see the return of a character we've seen before......but in the future. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 22, 2017 22:57:36 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #184"The Past of Future Days" Cover Date: August, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, & Rogue (Wolverine & Kitty Pryde---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Selene Guest Stars: Rachel Summers, Forge, Naze, Mystique, & Valerie Cooper Official Plot: Dallas, Texas: Valarie Cooper and Raven Darkholme of the Department of Super-Human Affairs have arrived at the high rise home of the mutant inventor Forge. They are initially taken aback by the holographic display capabilities of his dwelling. They arrive just as Forge's old shaman is leaving; Forge refused to see the signs of some coming mystical danger. When his apathy toward his tribe’s plight prompts Naze to leave, Forge gets right down to business to show Val and Raven his latest invention. From researching the weapons of ROM the Spaceknight, Forge has been able to create a weapon that can neutralize the abilities of a super-human. However, he stresses that the weapon is a prototype and he is unsure whether the effects are permanent or what psychological effect they will have on its target. When Forge shows off his next invention, a mutant detector, Raven becomes worried that Forge might out her as a mutant, compromising her position. However, Forge tells Val the only mutant it detects is himself, however his jest does nothing more but anger Raven. Meanwhile, in New York City, Rachel Summers has recently arrived from the future and stops at a display window of an electronics shop. As she watches news coverage of the X-Men's recent battle in Japan, she notes that Storm looks a lot different than she did in her future time. She compares that to the fact that when she went to the X-Mansion earlier, the Illyana Rasputin that answered the door was much older than she was supposed to be. When she catches a report about the upcoming Mutant Control Act, the electricity blinks out forcing Rachel to risk using her powers to power the television. However, the report is over and as Rachel walks out in the night, she begins to wonder if this is the past of her reality, or that of an alternate universe. Rachel is not alone in the streets however; the evil Selene has detected her massive powers and seeks to make Rachel her heir. After Rachel is nearly scared to death by a passing fire truck, Selene makes her move. However, Rachel manages to fight her off and flee into a nightclub. There she is bombarded by all the thoughts of the patrons and collapses on the floor. Just before the bouncer can kick her out, Nick Damiano, the club’s owner, decides that the girl is in serious trouble and takes her upstairs to his apartment. After deflecting Nick's questions, not being able to trust a human, Rachel agrees to take a bath while he prepares a meal for her. However, when Rachel comes out to check on Nick she is horrified to find that Selene has drained his life force away, leaving him a burned out husk. The two women begin to battle, and the energies set off Cerebro, prompting Professor X to send Colossus, Nightcrawler and Rogue to investigate the disturbance. As the X-Men fight through Selene’s defenses, Rogue gets close enough for hand-to-hand combat. Selene grabs Rogue's bare throat, but much to Rogue's surprise, she is the one who is having her power sapped. Rogue is saved by a mental attack by Professor X, which sends Selene fleeing. Charles orders the X-Men to save Rachel and leave the burning building and to let Selene go because she is too powerful. Storm arrives shortly thereafter and uses her powers to put out the fire. When Rachel comes around, she is shocked to see that the Professor can walk and that Storm looks radically different from her memories and photos. Realizing she traveled back in time to the wrong past, Rachel collapses to the group when she realizes that her world is doomed. Brodie's View: If last issue was the end of an era, with a few hints to what the new era was going to be, this issue starts to force that new era into being, with introductions of supporting characters that will mean a great deal to future stories (Forge, Naze), and the re-introduction of a character that will not only mean a great deal to future stories, but will become a part of the team eventually as well (Rachel Summers). However, before we get to the second, let's deal with the first characters we talked about. I'll be honest with you, I've never been a huge fan of Forge's, as while I get his importance in the scheme of things, and how important he is as a character, purpose-wise, to the X-Universe, he always struck me as Native American, Mutant Tony Stark, as his mutant power is basically the ability Tony has naturally, the ability to build/make things. And while, yes, there is more to the character than that (the whole inclusion of Naze, which leads to mystical abilities Forge also has, abilities that will play a big part in future stories, as will Naze), he just never wowed me as a character. However, I will respect his purpose for being there, and won't let my personal feelings influence my opinions on his place in the book too much. Anyways, he makes his first appearance here, as does his technologically advanced aerie, which kind of seems like The X-Men's Danger Room transformed into a house, as it relates to being technologically advanced, and constantly disguised by various holograms. Val Cooper and Mystique (aka Raven Darkholme, a common disguise and alias she uses) come knocking just as he's arguing with Naze, who warns him about turning his back on his mystical heritage, which Forge blows off, but will come into play later. However, it's technology Cooper and Darkholme are interested in, and we see that using a variation of ROM's weaponry (used in his ongoing war with the alien race, The Dire Wraths, who will also come into play in the pages of this book shortly), which the U.S Government hopes will be modified into weapons that will basically remove the abilities of mutants the government deem dangerous. Of course, this will also come into play soon, sooner than, I'm sure, the X-Men would like, but being that this will all play out more in the next few issues anyways, I'll leave it be for now. And that's because the main part of this issue doesn't concern Forge or the U.S Government (well, I guess it might a little, but not for now), it concerns the return of a character we briefly saw in the DAYS OF FUTURE PAST storyline, as she was the one (at least in the comic) who was responsible for sending the future version of Kitty Pryde into the past, and that is none other than the daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey from what's going to turn out to be an alternate future, Rachel Summers. As we first see her, she wanders the streets, coming across a television display that shows the X-Men in action against Puff the Giant Dragon from #181. We knows instantly that something is wrong, as people that she knew from the future never looked like that at any point of her past (Storm and Illyana, who she briefly met in the NEW MUTANTS book). However, soon, that is the least of her troubles, as she quickly realizes she is being stalked by someone, and that someone is revealed to be Selene, the life sucking witch from last issue. Selene follows Rachel into a club, where she has pity taken on her by a young man, who takes her back to his place to allow her to clean herself up and eat something. Of course, before this can lead to any romantic moments, Rachel finds the young man dead and mummified, and is instantly attacked by Selene, who seemingly wants to control/take over Rachel, and in her panic, Rachel calls out to Professor X, who quickly arrives in astral form (the X-Men follow, but they are quickly overwhelmed by Selene and her matter controlling powers), and is able to wound Selene by mentally blasting her. Selene retreats, and Rachel is left in the care of an X-Men that she doesn't recognize as being her own, and she realizes she made a mistake and ended up in the wrong past.....and she blacks out. Of course, this isn't the end of Rachel's story.....far from it, and she will eventually be accepted into the X-Men team and family, but it is interesting to see all the business that Claremont does here at setting all this up. He re-introduces her, gets us to care for her, and delivers her a nemesis in the form of Selene all in one issue. Not too f**king shabby, and that's on top of introducing Forge and his end of things in the same issue, which is quite extraordinary. I hate to always seem like I'm blowing Chris Claremont, but I can't help but compare it to today's comic, which doesn't accomplish near as much with more pages to work with. In addition, we have the artwork of John Romita Jr., which has improved leaps and bounds since his joining the book less than 10 issues ago. His work will get better and more unique as things progress, and story-wise, things will progress in a HUGE way for certain characters in next issue's review, and one of them will be quite changed by the events of that issue. Curious as to who (?).....tune in later to find out. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 23, 2017 0:38:51 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #185 "Public Enemy" Cover Date: September, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, & Rogue (Wolverine & Kitty Pryde---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Dire Wraths, Henry Gyrich Guest Stars: Rachel Summers, Forge, Mystique, Destiny, Cyclops, Madelyne Pryor, and Valerie Cooper Official Plot: Government agent Henry Gyrich is having a meeting at the Pentagon where he is reporting on the mutant known as Rogue. After explaining her powers, her previous criminal history and recent attack on SHIELD, he tells those gathered that he has been authorized to use the neutralizer weapon invented by Forge to stop her. When Raven Darkholm protests this move, wondering how Gyrich got a prototype when it hasn't been tested, she is shocked to hear that her co-worker Valerie Cooper supports this move and no amount of protests will stop the action from being carried out. At the X-Mansion, Storm interrupts Professor Xavier's session with Rachel Summers to inform him that Rogue has left. The Professor leaves Rachel alone while he and Storm go downstairs to try and track Rogue using Cerebro. Left to her own devices, Rachel decides to look around the Professor's office. Finding a phone book that lists her father Cyclops living in Alaska, she decides to call and speak to him. However, when she hears his voice and the voice of Madelyne Pryor in the background, Rachel cannot bring herself to utter a single word and eventually Cyclops hangs up. While back in Washington, Mystique returns to her room to find that Destiny is there waiting for her. Irene warns that Rogue is in trouble, however Mystique wonders if allowing Gyrich to neutralize her powers could be to the benefit of Rogue having a normal life. When she asks Irene what the future has in store for Rogue, Destiny cannot see into the immediate future as some temporal anomaly prevents her from doing so. As Gyrich approaches where they are tracking Rogue, Mystique contacts Forge and tells him that the government is using his prototype without testing it. Forge is furious and flies after them in his private jet, while placing in a call to the president. While in Caldecott Country, Mississippi, Rogue is spending time relaxing along the banks of the Mississippi River. She is found by Storm who confronts her with the truth about the phantom memories she's been living of Carol Danvers. When Rogue admits that she is struggling to find a way to control her powers and fears harming them, Storm convinces her to willingly absorb some of her power. Rogue is reluctant at first, but since Storm does is willingly offering up her powers, Rogue tries it out. The power absorption knocks Storm out, and Rogue is completely amazed by the abilities she has gained and how Storm sees the world. After finding that mastering Storm's powers would take some work, Rogue is attacked by Gyrich and his men. As Rogue attempts to avoid getting blasted by the neutralizer, her weather controlling ability spirals out of control and a massive storm is created, threatening a nearby boat. Storm, having revived, comes to Rogue’s aid to control the weather and pull the boat to calmer waters. Gyrich takes this as an opportunity to get a clear shot on Rogue, however Storm shoves her out of the way. Storm is struck by the weapon, causing her powers to flare out of control, destroying the ship and knocking Rogue far away, before being neutralized. Storm falls unconsciously to the water below where Forge, having arrived just in time to witness the event, dives in to her rescue. He is furious at Gyrich for using his untested prototype and the fact that he hit an innocent woman. He points out that Storm is a member of the X-Men and Gyrich's stupidity today may have turned the X-Men from champions of humanity to their enemies. Watching this from a mystical pool far away are the Dire Wraiths who have analyzed Forge's weapon and finds that it is similar to that which was used by ROM the Spaceknight. In order to guarantee their victory in taking over the Earth, the Wraiths have come to the decision that Forge must die. Brodie's View: Chickens come home to roost for Rogue in this issue, although, it's Storm that ends up paying the ultimate price...well, for her, at least. As stated in the review for #182, Rogue's actions in breaking into a SHIELD heli-carrier and rescuing Carol Danver's old lover, Cononel Rossi, gave the U.S Government, which had already been discussing the potential threat of mutants, all the ammunition they needed to take action against certain mutants, and by doing what she did, Rogue had moved to the top of the list. They (being led by Henry Gyrich) get ahold of the weapon Forge had been working on, or at least a prototype of it, and move in on Rogue, who has split from the X-Mansion, and went back to Mississippi to try and get her head together. Storm follows her to try and get to the bottom of what is bothering Rogue, and when the discussion turns to Rogue's powers, and her being afraid of harming people with them, Storm offers herself to Rogue willingly, so, Rogue could use her powers in a completely willing way. Rogue agrees, and briefly gains Storm's powers, and is amazed at how they work. However, she quickly loses control of Storm's power, and Rogue tries to save boaters on the Mississippi, who are threatened by the massive storm Rogue has unconsciously caused. Just at this moment, Gyrich and his G Men try to take their shot, and barely hit her. During this time, Storm comes to, and stops the storm Rogue accidentally created, and as Gyrich tries for a second shot at Rogue, Storm knocks her out of the way of the beam, and takes the shot, causing a massive explosion and for Storm, the loss of her powers. The issue (nearly) ends with Forge screaming at Gyrich that their stupidity had cost the wrong mutant, and could potentially turn the X-Men into the enemies the government feared they could become. There is a capper, however, as we see that this has all been watched mystically by the Dire Wraths, the vile alien race that Forge's gun had originally been created to fight. The Wraths decide that a weapon like that is too dangerous to be allowed to exist, and its inventor, Forge, must die. This is the main part of the story, and we'll see the fall out of this over the next few issues (and beyond for some), especially as it concerns the three mutants most affected by this development: Storm, Forge, and to a lesser extent, Rogue. The first two will be the main focus of the next few issues, with Rogue trying her damnedest to redeem/get payback for what happened, as she feels personally responsible. We will also see the Dire Wraths make their move, as the Wraths do end up playing a BIG role in several books during this period, leading to a big battle in the pages of the ROM comic. We won't be reviewing that, but I will say that the Wraths also pop up as threats in the pages of FANTASTIC FOUR and THE AVENGERS. Of course, with the exception of ROM, the Wraths make the most impact in the X-MEN book over the next few issues. One other thing worth mentioning about this issue is the brief moment with X-Mansion guest, Rachel Summers, who is still recovering from the events of last issue. She is having some training time with Professor X, but it left alone for a few moments, and thumbs through an address book, finding the number for her father, Scott Summers (AKA Cyclops). She tries to call him, and reaches him, but is unable to speak to him once she hears his voice. This definitely goes on for a while, even when the two meet officially, and it takes quite a while for the truth of who Rachel is to come out, and it takes a while longer for acceptance to be established between the two. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 23, 2017 2:07:30 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #186"Lifedeath" Cover Date: October, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Barry Windsor-Smith Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, & Rogue (Wolverine & Kitty Pryde---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Dire Wraths, Henry Gyrich Guest Stars: Forge & Valerie Cooper Official Plot: Continued from last issue... Storm has been taken to the Dallas, Texas home of mutant inventor Forge following an ordeal where her powers have been stripped from her by a weapon of Forge's own invention. Unaware of this fact, the former mutant has lost her will to live and has spent her time in Forge's company refusing to eat. Forge's attempts to help her fail and he becomes frustrated and acts as though he gives up on her. Watching a holographic display of the incident earlier when Henry Gyrich blasted her, Forge is surprised when Storm comes out of the guest room and tells him that he was kind, but should have let her drown. While at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, the Professor tries to track Storm through Cerebro after he detected her pain caused by the neutralizer device. However, he tells Nightcrawler that he cannot. Whatever caused the pain has severed their psychic rapport, but he insists that she is still alive somewhere. Storm, meanwhile, is spending time with Forge. She learns that Rogue has escaped government capture and comes to terms with the fact that she no longer has powers. She finds the holograms that make Forge's home seem to be suspended in mid air unnerving. Later when Forge is swimming in his pool, Storm decides to join him and they race across the pool. Storm gets to the other side first and is shocked to find that Forge is a cyborg, as his artificial hand and leg have been left by the side of the pool. When Forge comes out of the pool he shows her the scars down the side of his body and tells her that his injuries were a result of his missions during the Vietnam War. He explains to her that after the accident he too lost his will to live, but with time and healing he learned to move on with his life. In Caldecott County, Mississippi, Val Cooper and her colleague Philip are winding down after their mission. Their search for Rogue being a dead end after Storm's depowering caused their mutant detector to short out. When Phil goes to his car to drive home, he is attacked by a Dire Wraith who quickly kills him and takes his form. The Wraith disguised as Phil then leads its fellow Wraiths to Val's hotel room. Gaining access through Val's trust in Phil, the creatures attack her with the intent of replacing her with a Dire Wraith. Before they can, Rogue enters the room, having tracked down Cooper to sort out her problems with the government. Val learns from the Wraith disguised as Phil that they intend to take over the world. Rogue kills one of the Wraiths and Val is forced to shoot the alien posing as her dead colleague in the head. As Val flees, Rogue strikes the last Wraith with her bare fist absorbing some of its memories and she is instantly, violently disgusted by the vile alien thoughts she has absorbed. This is detected by the Professor in New York, who suffers a mild psychic backlash from trying to read the alien thoughts in Rogue's mind. As Val tries to flee the scene, Rogue, under the influence of Dire Wraith's thoughts, attempts to "replace" Val, however only succeeds in absorbing some of her memories with her mutant powers before she stops herself. She ends up absorbing all the plans that the Department of Mutant Affairs have been plotting and how their Neutralizer stripped Storm of her powers. Horrified, Rogue flees the scene vowing to make the government pay if Storm was badly hurt and leaves to reunite herself with her fellow X-Men. While back at Forge's home, Storm prepares to have a supper with Forge and decides to try on a dress he had delivered for her. When both become nervous over their emerging feelings, Storm changes into something more comfortable. As they are eating, Storm hears a thunderstorm outside and Forge turns on the buildings holographic projector to show her. She is upset by this and Forge turns it off. Storm then confides in him about her recent changes from a “weather goddess” to a darker and adventure seeking personality and how this recent change has affected her as well. The two share a kiss, finally letting their emotions come forward. Their supper is interrupted when the phone rings. When Forge answers it he tells Storm that it's business and leaves to take the call in another room. Storm decides to take this as a moment to call the X-Men on the other line and tell them that she is okay. She accidentally picks up the line that Forge is on and overhears Henry Gyrich telling Forge about how Rogue has been sighted. She overhears them talking about the Neutralizer and Storm learns that Forge was the one who invented it. Storm screams and tries to flee the building. Hearing her, Forge tries to follow after her to explain. Rushing through his home, the holographic projector switches to a simulation of the Vietnam conflict. Storm is disorientated and cannot find her way around and in a panic calls out to her goddess to help her. Just then a lightning bolt strikes the side of Forge's building blasting open a wall to the outside balcony. Storm rushes out there where Forge finally confronts her. He tries to explain to her that the Neutralizer was not meant to be used the way it was and that he was only doing his job. She refuses to believe him, and when he tells her that he too is a mutant, she is horrified that one of her own kind could create a device against mutants. She lashes out at him, rejecting his offers to help and cure her. She punches him in the face, knocking him down and tells him that he's sold out of his race and that he lives in his tower alone and unaware of how his indifference effects those around him. She leaves, telling him that while her feet may never leave the ground again, she will someday fly again. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View: Other than some brief cutaways involving Rogue, Val Cooper, and The Dire Wraths, this is mostly Storm and Forge's issue, and from the title to the wonderfully different art by Barry Windsor-Smith (who does other guest spot issues throughout this era), it's pretty clear that this issue is meant to be something special, and it doesn't disappoint. In the last issue, we saw Storm take a shot from a neutralizer (That was meant for Rogue, from a weapon designed by mutant designer, Forge), and since that moment, the former "weather witch" has been without her powers, and in Storm's case, without a reason to go on. Forge obviously felt terrible about the part he played in this, and lets her stay at his home/building thing he lives in. Long story short, feelings start to develop between the two, as Storm starts to learn about Forge's past, and realizes that perhaps she's feeling sorry for herself in a world where worse things has happened to people. Perhaps these feelings could have evolved into love (and perhaps they do), but Storm overhears Forge talking on the phone to Henry Gyrich (who was the one that accidentally shot Storm), and Forge reveals in a moment of anger that he was the one who designed the gun that took her powers. Storm tries to flee, but Forge tries to keep her there long enough to explain. However, Storm doesn't want to hear it, and basically calls him a pathetic sell out of his own kind, stating that she will regain her abilities without Forge's help. I'm sure readers at the time wondered just what Chris Claremont had against Storm, doing this to her, but looking back now, it's pretty clear what Claremont was doing. He was tearing Storm down in order to build her back up again. With her new tough attitude, it was pretty clear that her powers gave her kind of an unfair advantage, but taking that away from her for a while, it forced Storm to have to work harder, to fight for her position as the leader of the X-Men. Sure, she basically takes some time off from the team, but when she fully comes back, she faces the former leader of the team (Cyclops) in a duel, and due to her added strength and fighting ability, she is able to beat him fair and square and take the position she was given, but now had earned. And despite what I said about Forge a couple reviews ago, he does his fair share in this growth of Storm's character as well, as well as following the path to his own redemption for his sins. Pretty heady stuff, yes? It's not surprising, though, as the change in the era at this point of things clearly inspired Claremont to tackle more mature topics and character arcs in the X-MEN, rather than just the "Super Villain shows up, X-Men fight Super Villain, End" story structure which had dominated most superhero comics up to this point. Of course, this issue and the new directions taken would be a big hit with readers, and Claremont would respond by deepening the character development and mature content with this book and its characters, creating a very different feel for the mutant team that would take them to the top, as far as being a best selling book for Marvel goes. If there's any sense of the typical format in this book, it comes from the side events going on with The Dire Wraths (the alien race that I talked briefly about in last issue's review) preparing for their big move against Forge (as the neutralizer that took Storm's powers was spun off of weaponry used by the Wrath's greatest enemy/ies, ROM and his fellow Space Knights, and the Wraths knows that any attempt at planetary conquest could be quickly quelled by humanity being able to mass produce the Space Knight technology) by killing and taking the form (as the Wraths kind of operate like a combo of the Skrulls and the Brood, taking forms by sucking out the life essence of their pray, and replacing them) of one of Val Cooper's fellow agents, and then trying to do the same to her. Lucky (or unlucky, I guess) for Cooper, Rogue is also looking for her, wanting payback for what happened to Storm, but instead ends up protecting the government agent from the Wraths. This will all eventually draw the rest of the X-Men (well, the ones who aren't currently on leave) into the fight against the Wraths, but that won't happen until the second half of next issue, and before that happens, we will see Storm fight the Wraths in order to save the life (but only so she can eventually end it herself) of the man who helped take her from the sky, Forge. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 23, 2017 23:01:53 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #187 "Wrathkill!" Cover Date: November, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, & Rogue (Wolverine & Kitty Pryde---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Dire Wraths, Deathwings, Hellhounds, Shadowbeings Guest Stars: Forge, Naze Official Plot: Continued from last issue... Storm is walking away from Forge's home following the revelation that he invented the neutralizer weapon that stole her powers. As she flees, some Dire Wraiths who are seeking to destroy the weapon and its creator arrive at the huge tower and get past security by posing as FBI agents until one of their kind replicates the security guard. Hearing the racket, Storm turns and is attacked by a Dire Wraith that comes out of the huge downpour. Storm rushes back to Forge's office tower where she finds a gun among the scattered remains of the security guard and tries to use it to defend herself. Despite the shooting lessons that Wolverine previous had given her, it’s Forge's old friend Nazé who manages to kill the alien sorcerer with a shotgun. Nazé explains who he is and he and Storm attempt to contact Forge about the danger coming from above. This is too late because when Forge answers the phone, the Dire Wraiths enter his penthouse and use their mystical powers to create Deathwings to protect the building. Without power in the building, Storm and Nazé are forced to climb the elevator shaft where they are attacked by a Hellhound. It attacks Storm, but Nazé manages to shoot it dead. They are next attacked by another Wraith, whose mystical bolt breaks one of the elevator cables. As it madly springs upwards, Storm gets her foot caught on it and finds herself being pulled up to a potentially painful death. She manages to pull herself free and uses the cable to bring her up to the level where Forge lives, leaving Nazé to traverse the other floors alone. Storm exits onto the roof top patio to find that the Wraith's have cast a spell to turn the rain storm into a blizzard. Unable to resist the cold, Storm is forced back when she is attacked by another Hellhound and Wraith. As she locks them back outside, she is struck by a powerful mystical mental backlash caused, unknown to her, by Nazé being replaced by a Dire Wraith. This backlash is felt by Forge who has fled deeper into his home and activated the automated defenses. Storm catches up to Forge and the two face off against the Wraiths together. When one of the Wraiths attempt to trick Forge by casting an illusion spell to make it look like Storm, and Storm look like a Dire Wraith, Forge taps in his long neglected mystical talent to learn the truth and destroys the Wraith. They are reunited by "Nazé" who congratulates Forge for embracing his heritage once more. Just then, Rogue and Colossus smash through the roof and join up with Forge, Storm and the faux Nazé in mounting a counter attack on the Wraiths in Forge's home. As Storm, Colossus, and Rogue fight off the horde of Wraiths, Deathwings and Hellhounds, Forge rushes off to find some kind of distraction. Left to his own devices, the Wraith-Nazé goes to the Eagle's Nest inner sanctum and begins preparing a spell of evil intent. As the X-Men continue to fight against the Wraiths, Forge provides ample distraction by having his home's holographic simulator create virtual constructs of the Spaceknights ROM and Starshine, striking fear in the Wraiths. This allows the X-Men to easily wipe out the rest of the Dire Wraiths. However, before they can consider the battle over they are suddenly attacked by a manifestation of Shadowbeings that have been summoned by the Wraiths. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View: In the fallout of last issue's dramatic events, we quickly go full tilt into action/horror here, as the Dire Wraths (and the various creatures they magically create to aid them in the killing of Forge/Anyone else helping him) make their move in this issue, and Storm, Forge, Naze, and towards the end of the issue, Colossus and Rogue, end up fighting for their lives against all of these creatures. It starts as Storm is leaving Forge's home, after knocking the mutant inventor on his ass last issue (after finding out he had been the inventor of the gun that robbed her of her powers), and is attacked by one of the Wraths, and driven back into the building. She gets a hold of a gun (and we see a flashback of Wolverine teaching her to shoot), and tries to shoot the Wrath, but can't kill it. Finally, Naze makes his reappearance, and kills the Wrath with a shot gun. After an introduction, the two are attacked again, and Storm and Naze are separated. We don't see this exactly happen, but at some point, Naze is killed and taken over by one of the Wraths, while Storm makes her way to Forge. However, they are attacked by another Wrath, who uses magic to change appearances with Storm. However, this doesn't fool Forge, who shoots the Wrath dead. They are then joined by "Naze," and then Rogue and Colossus, and the group fight an influx of Wraths and some of the creatures they have summoned to aid them. "Naze" breaks off, and tries to cast an evil spell (Assumingly to aid the Wraths against the X-Men. It doesn't matter, as we'll see next issue, as there are greater evils out there than the Dire Wraths), while Forge creates a hologram of the Wraths most hated/feared enemy, ROM and Starshine (a fellow Space Knight), which allows the X-Men to defeat the rest of the Wraths. However, they are then attacked by one of the creatures the Wraths summoned, a glob of dark force type energy that threatens to consume them. Holy crap.....talk about non stop action here. There's so much action and story here that it ends up bleeding into the next issue, and can definitely be considered one of the major Non ROM battles against the Dire Wraths. Of course, there is a hidden price to this battle, but we won't see it (And Forge and the X-Men are oblivious to it happening until much later, and even then, they have no clue of what exactly went down and when) fully until next issue. It has to do with Naze (who was taken over by a Wrath in this issue, and then something worse in the next), and it will eventually lead to the events that make up the FALL OF THE MUTANTS event, at least as it relates to the X-Men. It's definitely interesting to see all the story threads that Claremont is laying down during this period, as in some cases, it's shit that we won't see the pay off to for years, and in some cases, like the Storm/Forge relationship, we never really see the full pay off, as their relationship has began and ended several times over the years. However, in the case of the Wraths, we get the finish in the next issue, and then overall in the pages of ROM, where they are wiped out once and for all by ROM, the Space Knights, and a collection of Earth's heroes. We also we see another revelation next issue, one that changes how the team see a certain person, and gives us a full glimpse at the misery that character suffers through. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 24, 2017 1:10:27 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #188"Legacy of the Lost" Cover Date: December, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, & Rogue (Wolverine & Kitty Pryde---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Dire Wraths, Naze/The Adversary Guest Stars: Forge, Rachel Summers, Amanda Sefton, Sunspot, Illyana Rasputin/Magik, Magneto, & Lee Forrester Official Plot: Continued from last issue... Following their supposed victory against the Dire Wraiths, the X-Men and Forge find themselves besieged by a manifestation of Shadowbeings that threaten to swallow them up. As they struggle to free themselves from being assimilated, Storm uses the gun that Forge gave her to shoot off his mechanical leg so he can get away and find some help. As Forge calls out to Nazé, he is unaware that his tribe's shaman has been replaced by a Dire Wraith who now is casting an evil spell in the inner sanctum of Forge's penthouse. The Wraith-Nazé calls for a mystical being to aid the Dire Wraiths and offers the entire Earth in exchange. This powerful neither being scans "Nazé's" body and learns the truth and mystically strikes him down dead, finding that killing this pretender suits his purposes better. Meanwhile, just above the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, Amanda Sefton is working her job as an airplane stewardess when suddenly Nightcrawler appears and teleports her away onto the Blackbird. He explains to her the X-Men's dilemma that the X-Men need her aid. They quickly teleport into Forge's Eagles Next and Amanda goes to work. With one mystical blast she frees the X-Men but fails to destroy the Shadowbeings. Rogue transforms into a Dire Wraith due to her mutant absorbing powers and battles with Colossus. Just then, Colossus's sister Magik appears and uses her Soul Sword to change Rogue back to normal while Amanda unleashes her full power to mystically snare the Shadowbeings so that Illyana can destroy them with her Soul Sword. However, they prove too powerful. Realizing that a Wraith must still be alive, Storm remembers the one she locked up on the roof. Forge and Nightcrawler teleport there and Forge finds and terminates the last Wraith, ending the threat of the Shadowbeings inside. With the X-Men recover from the battle, Forge goes looking for Nazé and finds what he believes to be his old friend’s unconscious body. Storm enters the room and tells him that the X-Men are leaving. Forge tries to stop her and she threatens to shoot him. She tells him that he should not worry, as they will meet again, however she tells him he might regret it, and she leaves. Meanwhile, out in deep sea near the Bermuda Triangle, Lee Forester's fish crew is at work when they spot a man in the water being attacked by sharks. Lee manages to fend the creatures off with a rifle and pull the man aboard the ship. Getting a better look at the man she saved, she is shocked to see that it is Magneto. The master of magnetism remembers her from their previous encounter and tells her that he is indebted to her. While at the X-Mansion, Storm and the other X-Men have returned to the mansion from Dallas. Storm is coming out of the pool after a swim and is met by Nightcrawler. Kurt comes to tell her that the Professor has called a meeting for the X-Men. Storm tells Kurt that since she is no longer a mutant she doesn't feel like she is part of the X-Men and declines to join. However Kurt manages to convince her to join. As the X-Men are having their meeting, outside Rachel, Illyana and Sunspot try to listen in to what's going on. The Professor detects their presence and tells his young students to go to bed. Rachel declines to accompany the younger students and decides to stay up a while longer. Inside the Professor's study, the X-Men vent their frustrations over the United States government being responsible for stripping Storm of her powers and discuss what they should do about the coming Mutant Control Act that is being pushed through Congress. Nightcrawler airs his frustrations about the current state of human and mutant affairs and points that anti-mutant sentiments were the reason Jean Grey died. Hearing this from outside, Rachel lashes out telepathically, not willing to believe that her mother had died years before she was born in the future. The Professor manages to calm her down and Rachel explains the story about her past, which may or may not be the X-Men's future. She explains how when she was a young girl, anti-mutant forces gunned down most of the students and blew up the mansion and that she witnessed Charles Xavier being shot herself. How as an adult she was locked in a concentration camp for mutants and how the X-Men tried to save their future while Kate Pryde was sent back in time to prevent their future from happening and how all the X-Men had died. This vision from the future shocks all of the X-Men and the Professor is the most visibly shaken of them all. Rachel explains that when the X-Men failed to stop the Sentinels in her time she attempted to travel back in time, but found herself in a past that she does not remember. She pleads to Nightcrawler not to give up their struggle and to continue to fight for human mutant peace. Nightcrawler takes this to heart and agrees to keep on fighting. At a New York shipping yard, a man named Jaime Rodriguez is hard at work hauling crates of fish when one crate accidentally falls to the ground and breaks open. Examining the spilled fish he notices that one of them has a strange golden amulet stuffed inside it. Removing it, Rodriquez marvels at how much money he could get selling it when the amulet suddenly speaks, telling him that if he dons the amulet he will have the power to rule the world. Brodie's View: There's a hell of a lot that happens in this issue; the ending of the storyline that's been going for the last three or so issues, a continuation of stuff from #184, the return of an X-related character that's been missing since SECRET WARS, and the hint of a storyline to come. As I've often said, Claremont gets more done in twenty pages than most of today's writers do in 20 issues. We get the whole end of the Dire Wrath battle, as The X-Men (well, Storm, Colossus, Rogue, and Forge) find themselves being attacked by Shadowbeings, who were summoned by the Wraths to aid them. Meanwhile, "Naze," who had been taken over by a Wrath midway through last issue, is in another room, trying to summon an evil force to help deliver Earth to the Wraths. He winds up getting more than he bargained for, as he summons an ancient Native American trickster spirit (Basically the monstrous/Native American version of Loki) called The Adversary, who takes Naze's form over from the Wrath, killing it, as he sees the possibilities of using the dead man's form. Of course, there is a lot more to this whole thing than we see here, but a lot of that won't play out for a while (Like....the 220's), so, we won't go too much into it now. Let's just say, we got the start of what will eventually become a major threat to both the X-Men/Forge, and all of reality. However, back to the X-Men/Forge vs. The Wraths, as we see Nightcrawler suddenly teleport himself on a plane that his main squeeze, Amanda Sefton, is working as a stewardess on, and teleports her to the battle, where she tries to attack the Beings with magic, but to little avail. Speaking of Magic, or Magik, Illlyana Rasputin suddenly teleports into the battle, and destroys the Shadow Being with her Soulsword. This is important, as it is the first time she's used her mystic abilities in front of her brother, Colossus, which he is seemingly Ok with. Of course, if he knew what happened every time she uses said abilities, he probably wouldn't be as cool with it, but, once again, that's all leading to future stories/story lines, so, I won't get too deep into it here. So, while the fall out from the main battle is happening, Forge goes to the roof of his home, finding one lone Wrath that is trying to use more magic against them, and kills it, using the same gun that took Storm's powers, in front of a horrified Nightcrawler. Of course, this probably leads to what happens during the last half of this issue, but, I'll get to that in a second. We then see a brief cutaway, where Lee Forrester (remember her?) and her crew finds what appears to be a body in the ocean, while fishing. Once they clear the seaweed off, it's revealed to be none other than Magneto, who is still alive, and grateful to Forrester, who he obviously recognizes from #148-150, for saving his life. Once again, this continues the Face Turn for Mags that has been building since #150, and when we see him in the pages of this book again, it'll be in a far different role than we've seen him be in the book previously. Okay, now we get to the fall out from that battle, as Storm and Forge part as somewhat enemies. They will obviously meet again, and even though she won't be as angry with him as she was during this issue, she'll still be trying to kill him, but it'll be for manufactured reasons. Once again, though, this is stuff that will be happening much later, so, I won't say any more right now. Anyways, we head back to the mansion, as the X-Men meet with Professor X, and Nightcrawler betrays his "fun, fuzzy elf" demeanor by going off about all that's been going on (The Government going after them, Storm losing her powers, ect.), while Rachel Summers is secretly eavesdropping on what is being said. At a certain point in the convo, Kurt mentions Jean Grey dying, which causes Rachel to freak out, and attack the team with psychic blasts, flipping out over the fact that Jean is dead in their reality, which she wasn't in hers, as she lived long enough to have Rachel with Cyclops. The X-Men calm her down, and this is the moment where she reveals who she really is, and the tragedy that she lived through in the DAYS OF FUTURE PAST future, which just levels the team, particularly Xaiver, who is devastated to know that his dream died in Rachel's future so completely. Finally, Rachel tells the team that Xaiver's dream is still worth fighting for, as it's the only thing that can prevent a horrible future like Rachel's, which brings the team back together (This is where Rachel officially joins the team as well). This is a very important moment in this particular era of the team, and we'll see even more about Rachel's past in the next 20 issues, as bits from her past come back to her (and to haunt her) during certain moments. Finally, we get a little glimpse into the near future, where a man named Jaime Rodriguez finds a mysterious amulet among a crate of fish. This won't mean anything for an issue or so, but once we see what that amulet holds, it'll lead to something pretty major....well, at the very least, a really kick ass two part storyline, but that won't happen until the end of next issue. The rest of next issue will deal with the return of a more recent enemy, and two X-girls out having fun. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 24, 2017 2:53:28 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #189"Two Girls Out to Have Fun" Cover Date: January, 1985 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Rachel Summers, & Rogue (Wolverine & Kitty Pryde---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Hellfire Club (Sebastian Shaw, Tessa, Friedrich von Roehm) , Selene (Joins The Hellfire Club as its Black Queen) Guest Stars: Magma, Magik, & Lockheed Official Plot: Rachel Summers and the New Mutant known as Magma take some time together to bond and see the sights that New York City has to offer. As they visit that Statue of Liberty, all Rachel can recall is the apocalyptic future she comes from where mutants are hunted down and where she spent a brief time as a "Hound", mutants forced to hunt other mutants by the repressive and anti-mutant government that runs her world. She recalls how one time she was brought out into the bay to track down mutants who were gunned down. When the memory makes her begin to cry, Amara asks her what's wrong and Rachel shrugs it off as being "something" in her eye. Meanwhile, aboard the sailing ship Norway, Storm is bidding farewell to her fellow X-Men as she takes a leave of absence to return to her native Africa to determine what to do with her life now that her powers have been taken away. As the group enjoys champagne, they all have a tearful good-bye, Storm tells Nightcrawler to send her love to Kitty. As Rachel and Amara continue their sight seeing, Miguel Rodriguez continues his daily labors, hauling fish on a dock. When he walks past the changing room, he spots some of his coworkers snooping in his locker. Miguel swats them away to see that the amulet he found earlier is still there. When it begins talking once more, offering him untold power, he rejects it, feeling that it is evil, and slams his locker door shut. As Rachel and Amara exit the New York Metropolitan Museum, Amara spots her old foe from Nova Roma, Selene. At first, she is upset when Rachel plucks the thought out of her mind, but she agrees to let her new found friend join her in tracking her down. The two track their mutual enemy to the gates of the Hellfire Club. The two sneak in and put on some maids outfits so that they can snoop around. As it turns out, Selene has come to the Hellfire Club to petition for membership as the new Black Queen. Sebastian Shaw is hardly impressed, and tells her that it is a position that must be earned. Selene gives him a show of her powers, animating the ground around him and almost crushing him. Deciding that she will prove to him her worth, even though Shaw realizes that she would likely seize control of the Hellfire Club from him, she teleports away to bring him a present. Left alone, Tessa asks Shaw if he will admit her into the club. Shaw tells her that, given the circumstances, he may have little choice in the matter. Upstairs, Rachel continues to pose as a maid when she is approached by who she thinks is Selene and lashes out with a psi-blast. It turns out to be an illusion and that she had really attacked Amara. She is then caught from behind by Selene, who uses her powers to enslave both Rachel and Amara and bring them to Sebastian Shaw. Upon doing so, Tessa silently remarks how Rachel has a striking resemblance to Jean Grey. Deep inside Rachel's mind, she struggles to free herself, not wishing to become someone's slave, and manages to break Selene's hold on her. Establishing a psi-link with Amara, she struggles with her to free her from Selene's control as well. Forcing her to use her powers in the psychic plane that has been created causes Amara to snap free from Selene's control. The two X-Men then battle Selene, however are easily over powered. Before things can escalate further, Colossus, Rogue and Nightcrawler arrive. Nightcrawler teleports Selene away, and the mental projection of Professor X appears and demands to know what's going on. When Amara insists on getting revenge on Selene, Xavier tells her to stand down. When Shaw tells the X-Men that he has no quarrel with them and that kidnapping Rachel and Amara was not his idea, the X-Men decide to depart without further incident. When Rachel asks if her psychic SOS helped the X-Men locate her, Xavier points her attention to the outside, where damage caused from Magma's powers were visibly evident. Elsewhere, Jamie Rodriguez waits for a subway train after his busy day at work, listening to the latest news broadcast regarding Dazzler's outting as a mutant and the continued debate over the Mutant Control Act that is working its way through Congress. As he listens, he doesn't notice a mugger sneak up being him and stab him with a knife from behind. As Jamie collapses to the ground, the thief grabs the amulet that has dropped out of his pockets. Upon doing so, it releases the forces trapped inside and begins engulfing the entire subway platform with Eldridge fire, the start of a terrible transformation. Brodie's View: This was a cool issue, as we really got to re-establish Selene as a major threat, and make her even more dangerous by having her join The Hellfire Club as its new Black Queen (Although, as usual, someone invited into the Club has instant designs on running it. You'd think Shaw would just have these people killed, powerful ally or not. I'd sure as hell not want someone in my Inner Circle that had designs on my spot, and the power to potentially take it). Plus, Claremont did a great job having the main characters of this story be Rachel Summers and Amara Aquilla (AKA The New Mutant, Magma), as both had a past with Selene (Yes, we've seen Rachel and Selene in #184, but Selene was first introduced during a New Mutants storyline, where the team discovered a hidden society that patterned itself after the Roman Empire. This is where they first found Amara, who was a daughter of the ruler of that society, and, secretly, a mutant with the power to transform into a lava-like state, and blast lava. Selene was revealed as the one who killed Amara's mother and took her place, so, yeah, the point is, both women definitely have an axe to grind with Selene), and they infiltrate the Hellfire Club to try and stop her. Of course, Selene is more powerful than she seems on the surface, and she quickly takes control of the two girls, offering them up as gifts to Shaw. However, Rachel winds up breaking Selene's control, and causes Magma to do the same, and they quickly start to f**k up The Hellfire Club's.....Club. The X-Men get involved, but once Selene has been defeated, Shaw basically states that they were not the ones who started this whole fight, and the team leaves with no further fighting. That sums up what happened in this issue....well, the main plot of it, but there is a bit more that happens in this issue that is worth noting. At the beginning of the issue, we see Rachel and Magma looking at the New York sky line, which sparks a memory of Rachel's, as she sees her New York in flames (eerily predicting 9/11 in ways). We end up seeing a little more of the horrible things that happened in her past, which, once again, deepens her character. We see Storm getting ready to take time off from the team (although, the thing that happens at the end of this issue kind of puts her departure off for a couple more issues, thus, why I won't move her to the "On Leave" section until #192), as with the loss of her powers, she needs time off to find herself (she doesn't feel like she should be part of the team at this point, as she's pretty much useless, power-wise. Of course, she'll find that there's more to being powerful than being able to create thunderstorms). Finally, we see the side plot of Jamie Rodriguez and the amulet he found at the end of last issue. It has a sense of evil to it, which draws his fellow co-workers to want to steal it, and Jamie himself has to resist its evil calling. Finally, however, the decision is taken out of his hands, as Jamie is killed by a mutant hating mugger, who winds up picking up the amulet, which unleashes the evil within. What does that mean? Heh, heh.....come back tomorrow and find out. It'll be worth the wait. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 25, 2017 1:38:35 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #190 "An Age Undreamed Of" Cover Date: February, 1985 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Rachel Summers, & Rogue (Wolverine & Kitty Pryde---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Kulan Gath, Selene Guest Stars: Henry Gyrich, Valerie Cooper, The Avengers (Captain America, The Wasp, Starfox, Vision, Scarlet Witch), The New Mutants, Callisto, Caliban, Sunder (From The Morlocks), Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man Official Plot: Continued from last issue... The military has come to New York in full force after a strange mystical barrier has erected itself around the island of Manhattan, transforming the teeming metropolis into a Hyborean realm of barbarians and magic. In Washington DC, there is an emergency meeting with National Security at the White House. There, Valerie Cooper briefs those gathered of the situation going on in New York. She explains that anyone who crosses the mystical barrier into the city is transformed into a barbarian from a bygone era with no memory of their previous life. However, those who stumble out of the area are restored to normal. Intelligence has gathered that an evil sorcerer named Kulan Gath is responsible for the spell. Attempts to contact the Avengers and the Fantastic Four have failed, however Val confirms that a number of the Avengers, X-Men and Spider-Man have been spotted active in the city. All of them, with the exception of Spider-Man, had been transformed. When the talk focuses on members of the X-Men, a bunch of anti-mutant rhetoric gets passed around until a commanding military officer speaks up about how this is exactly the sort of bigotry that America fought against when they battled the Nazi's during World War II. Val breaks up the debate and tells them that she hopes the super-human community trapped within the mystical barrier can resolve their problem. Within the barrier, Storm of the X-Men has been transformed into a warrior woman aboard a passenger ship. She is awoken when her sleeping quarters is broken into by the Morlocks, who now are enforcers for Kulan Gath. They arrest her because her existence displeases their master and they are about to brand her with a hot iron collar, but Storm manages to break free, knocking over the hot coals. As the other Morlocks attempt to avoid the flames, Storm climbs up to the mast head, but Callisto follows after her. Unarmed, Storm is defenseless when Callisto slashes her stomach open with a knife. This causes her to briefly remember her previous identity. With the boat burning up quickly, Storm grabs Callisto and swings out to the water. Being sure that Callisto takes the brunt of the impact, Storm swims away from the blaze and passes out of the mystical barrier. She and Callisto are restored back to normal and Storm retains all her memories. Swimming toward a military vessel, Storm wonders what Kulan Gath has done to her other friends. At that very moment, Kulan Gath is doing everything in his power to convert those who would stop him into his loyal slaves. To this end, he magically merges Professor X and Caliban into a single entity to better hunt his foes and has Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange, mystically warped so that he cannot utter a magic spell or cast any with his fingers, rending him harmless. With these threats neutralized, Gath orders prisoners to be brought to them. The most recent prisoners are members of the New Mutants. However, while he is capable of transforming Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, and Mirage into his loyal slaves, his spell has no effect on Warlock who manages to escape. When it is explained that Warlock does not come from Earth and is immune to the Master Spell, Kulan uses his magical might to force Caliban/Xavier to deal with the Technarc. Gath is unaware that he is being spied upon by Selene who also has not been affected by the spell and has decided to overthrow him. Selene teleports into the city where she kills a number of Kulan Gath's minions in an attempt to recruit Rachel Summers and Magma to her side. Meanwhile, on the Hudson River on the other side of the barrier, Storm and Callisto are aboard a military ship trying to figure out what to do, now that they are locked up. They are contacted by Selene telepathically through Rachel to warn them that Kulan Gath intends to not only make his Master Spell permanent, but also to make it encompass the entire Earth. She tells Storm and Callisto that while she cannot prevent another transformation when they cross the barrier, she can at least make them remember their mission. Agreeing to do something, Storm picks the lock to the room that they were locked in and they jump ship, heading toward the barrier. Back on the other side, Spider-Man, one of the only people unchanged by the Master Spell, flees for his life. Hunted by the New Mutants, Spider-Man ducks into a tavern and tries to fight them off. Inside are the transformed Avengers, Captain America, Starfox and Wasp, as well as the X-Men Nightcrawler and Rogue. The New Mutants succeed in capturing Spider-Man when Mirage notices young Illyana and recognizes her as a foe of her master. Before she can take Magik prisoner, the Avengers step in and a fight breaks out. Nightcrawler and Rogue decide to join the fight and help the Avengers. As the battle rages, Colossus and Sunder enter the fray, turning the battle in a massive free for all. Back on the other side, Storm and Callisto travel the Morlock Tunnels to the edge of the barrier. Without hesitation the two pass through, once more being transformed into warriors and are instantly ambushed. While above, the battle rages on until Magik begins using her magic. She realizes that her Soul Sword frees those from Kulan Gath's control when she strikes her brother Colossus with the sword. She is soon overwhelmed by attackers until Selene steps in and uses her powers to slay most of the warriors, forcing the New Mutants to retreat from the battle. With the fight over, Selene makes her presence known to the heroes and offers an alliance with them. She is attacked by an astral image of Kulan Gath who swallows her up, transporting her off to be his prisoner. He warns the gathered rebels to cease their quest to overthrow him, offering them pleasure beyond their wildest dreams and teleports away, warning them not to cross his path again. As Kulan Gath disappears, Storm and Callisto arrive and they and the others flee before the forces of Kulan Gath can storm the bar. When Gath learns that his enemies have fled, Selene mocks him. This causes her to be tortured. Gath then tells his minions that he wants all the rebels taken prisoner by sunrise and sends them back out into the city. Meanwhile in the Morlock tunnels, the gathered rebels camp out for the night and begin comparing notes. They all realize that Kulan Gath is their primary concern but worry that Selene's brand of evil is something to be dealt with when Kulan Gath is defeated. Deciding to work together, the heroes all call out "Avengers Assemble! Although most are gathered together in this rallied cry, standing off to the side are Rachel and Magma. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View: Hell yes. I love this two part story-line, as I love any storyline where the world is transformed into a past version (or magical) version of itself, and this story doesn't disappoint. In a way, we can blame Spider-Man for all of this (and he does suffer for it over the next couple of issues), as this is a follow up from a MARVEL TEAM UP story, where Spider-Man and Red Sonja (Yes, THAT Red Sonja) teamed up to defeat the main villain of this storyline, Kulan Gath, and imprisoned him in the amulet that Jamie Rodriguez found a couple of issues ago, and inadvertently released at the end of last issue. The result transforms New York City into a Conan-like version of itself, and all of the people (save for Spider-Man, who Gath wants particular pay back on) into versions of themselves that would match this world. Gath is also clever enough to instantly take out anyone that could stop him; Doctor Strange, Charles Xaiver (who is combined with Caliban to form the creature on the cover), and Selene are all instantly nullified by Gath, and he has his imperial guard (transformed members of The New Mutants (other than the techno creature, Warlock, who is able to flee before Gath can magically transform him) and Callisto and Sunder from the Morlocks (Callisto is eventually turned back to the good side, though, and joins up with Captain America's Avengers/X-Men hybrid team) going after Illyana Rasputin, who along with Spider-Man, is on the run from Gath. Eventually, this brings the before mentioned Avengers and X-Men, who are various warriors and rogues in this world, into the fray, and they vow to take down Gath, whatever the cost. Kind of a simplified version of the events of this issue, neglecting a LOT of crazy shit that happens, but I'm not going to try and recap all of it. I will say that while this issue is kind of a messed up version of a MARVEL TEAM UP story, it sets up for the next issue, which more resembles a messed up WHAT IF story, in the sense that we see a LOT of people die horribly at the hands/magic of Kulan Gath, who, sadly, was never used to quite this effect ever again. This is too bad, as he is a pretty nasty ass villain. I mean, his major play is kind of masterful, and given time, his spell would have enveloped the world, and transformed it into a Conan-like world as well. We do see a bit of reaction to this at the beginning, as the U.S Government are freaking out over this whole deal, and debating what to do about it (as anyone they try to send in to the portal instantly is transformed into warriors, with no memory of their lives before). Of course, this is adding fuel to their fire (which one General adamantly argues against, citing the similarities to what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust, which I'm sure Rachel Summers would gladly confirm to him was an apt comparison) that mutants need to be contained/taken care of, which is funny, as this is a entirely non mutant related event.....hell, as I said before, this is all Spider-Man's fault. I guess maybe this is the Web Head's pay back for whooping on the X-Men during SECRET WARS, and don't worry, as I said before, he certainly does suffer next issue. Hell, he suffers from the very first page, so, if you always harbored a hatred for the Web Slinger (which, I can't imagine how someone would.....f**king monsters!), tune in tomorrow to see him getting tortured to death. Oh yeah, and a bunch of other heroes die as well. It's a virtual bloodbath. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 25, 2017 1:48:28 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #191 "Raiders of the Lost Temple!" Cover Date: March, 1985 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Rachel Summers, & Rogue (Wolverine & Kitty Pryde---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Kulan Gath, Selene, NIMROD Guest Stars: The Avengers (Captain America, The Wasp, Starfox, Vision, Scarlet Witch), The New Mutants, Callisto, Caliban, Sunder (From The Morlocks), Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man Official Plot: Continued from last issue... With the island of Manhattan transformed into a hyborian era reality by Kulan Gath, the evil sorcerer who has Spider-Man strung up and tortured. He explains to the wall-crawler that he intends to use him as a sacrifice to make his Master Spell expand the entire globe and become irreversible in repayment for his previous humiliation at the hands of Spider-Man. When Spider-Man continues to joke despite his condition, Gath tortures him some more so that his screams echo across his castle. Kulan Gath then goes and checks on his other prisoners, and tortures Selene for daring to oppose him by mutating her beaten body so that she, like Dr. Strange, cannot cast or chant any magic spells. When Mirage and Sunder report back saying that they have been unable to find the rebels, he angrily turns them into stone until Caliban/Xavier also tells them that they also cannot detect their enemies. Restoring Sunder and Mirage to normal, Sunder suggests that the rebels must be hiding in the Morlock tunnels - the only place where magic cannot search for them. While in the ruins of what used to be the New York Public Library, the gathered Avengers and X-Men wander through the wreckage of Kulan Gath's most recent slaughter. They are attacked by a woman named Arilynn, the sole survivor of the massacre, who attacks them believing them to be the enemy as they include Callisto as one of their number. Before they can explain further, they are attacked by Kulan Gath's forces, led by the Scarlet Witch. As the battle rages, Rogue loses her invulnerable diamond form, leaving her vulnerable to attack and she is killed when she is stabbed in the back with an enemy sword. Furious to see her comrade die in battle, Storm enters the fray like a woman possessed. She is almost over powered when suddenly Warlock smashes through the wall and carries her away. Unfortunately for Warlock, he cannot communicate to Storm due to the Master Spell making them speak two different languages. The battle ends with with the rebels fleeing with Starfox and the Wasp captured by the enemy. They are taken to Kulan Gath, who uses his powers to transform them into powerful magical creatures to use against his enemies. Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the building, Warlock attempts to communicate with Storm with visual imagery showing her her previous self before the magical transformation. Storm cannot full understand what the creature is telling her, but the sight of the old world allows her to begin to see through the illusion cast by the Master Spell. Meanwhile, the rebels decide to try and sneak into Kulan Gath's palace. The next day, with Captain America and Colossus posing as soldiers, they pretend to be taking Magma and Rachel as prisoners to Kulan Gath. However, Gath is waiting for them and sends his New Mutant and Morlock subbordinates against them. As the battle rages on, Magik uses her Soul Sword to free her fellow New Mutants from Kulan Gath's control. In the heat of the battle, Callisto is forced to slit Sunder's throat but vows to him that his death will be avenged. Their fight spills into Kulan Gath's throne room where Spider-Man has been mystically crucified onto a cross for the final sacrifice that would finalize the Master Spell. As Kulan Gath watches on, the Vision then attempts to solidify himself in Colossus's body, causing both men to explode, seriously wounding Captain America. Nightcrawler, Callisto, Illyana and Arilynn attempt to storm Gath, but are then turned into stone by the Scarlet Witch. Having seen enough, Spider-Man uses the last of his strength to break free from his bonds despite the pain. Spider-Man attempts to attack Kulan Gath directly, but is mystically struck down. Watching from above, Storm and Warlock dive down to attack Kulan Gath, managing to remove the amulet from around his neck. However before Storm can destroy it, Magma manages to steal it away and use it to restore Selene to normal she then uses her power to strike down Warlock. However, before Selene can use the power of the amulet to her own ends, Storm allows the dying Warlock to infect her with the Transmode Virus. This causes Storm to regain her full memories and in turn infect Selene with the Transmode Virus. With Selene under he control, Storm forces her to use her magics to free Dr. Strange. Freed from his bondage, Dr. Strange deduces that the only way to undo the damage caused by Kulan Gath would be to prevent him from casting his Master Spell to begin with. As such, Strange combines his magic with Illyana's mutant teleporting power to alter history so that Kulan Gath never rose to power. Appearing in Dr. Strange's sanctum, the only ones who remember the battle are Strange, Magik, Professor X, Storm, Callisto, Caliban, Captain America, and Arilynn. He tells those gathered that they will be the only ones who will remember the battle. Because nobody knew how Kulan Gath gained his dominance, they all wonder how history might have been effected in order to prevent events from unfolding. At that moment, in the subway station where Jamie Rodriguez was supposed to be stabbed by a mugger, Nimrod, a mutant hunting super-sentinel from the future appears in the train station. Seeing a human being in jeopardy, Nimrod blasts the mugger, incinerating him. The blast also knocks Jamie off-balance, making the amulet fall out of his pocket and sink into the mud next to the subway tracks. Helping Jamie up, Nimrod scans the area and notes an anti-mutant epitaph spray painted on a Dazzler movie poster and realizes that mutants are considered a threat in this time and that it must carry out its prime directive to obliterate all mutants. Brodie's View: As promised, we enter our second part of this whole Kulan Gath storyline, with Spider-Man chained up and being tortured by Gath for playing his part in the wizard's defeat in the pages of MARVEL TEAM UP years ago. Gath also amuses himself by torturing Selene, who he captured at the end of last issue. He punishes two of the New Mutants for losing the rebel team of "Avengers" (Led by Captain America), by turning them to stone. However, they are saved from staying that way by the Calliban/Xaiver creature, who tells them where the rebels are, and Gath sends troops out to get them. Meanwhile, the rebels are surveying the site of one of Gath's massacres, when they are attacked by his forces. Rogue is caused to lose her powers and killed, and Starfox and The Wasp are captured (In the midst of this, Warlock snatches Storm before she can be killed as well). The heroes decide they need to try an all out attack on Gath before they are picked off slowly, so, they do, finding Spider-Man crucified, but still barely alive. They are attacked by Vision and the Scarlet With (leading other Gath forces), with the second turning some of the rebels to stone, while The Vision and Colossus fight. The Vision turns intangible, and as Colossus plants his fists inside him, he turns solid again and explodes, killing them both. Finally, Spider-Man can't take it anymore, and manages to break his cross while stating that Gath's power is in his amulet. Gath states that because of his spell, no one but Gath can understand Spidey's language, and kills the web slinger. However, hiding in the upper level of Gath's castle, Warlock understands what Spidey said, and he and Storm try to steal Gath's amulet, but Magma (who has secretly been under Selene's control) grabs it instead, and restoring Selene to her full power. Selene kills Gath and Warlock, and plans to continue with Gath's master spell, but before Warlock dies, he turns Storm into a techno organic being, and Storm does the same to Selene, which releases Dr. Strange. Strange is then able to use Illyana Rasputin to end Gath's spell by returning back to the moment before the amulet was released, and changing things so that doesn't happen. However, how that doesn't happen involves the arrival of NIMROD, the evolved sentinel from the future, who destroys the mugger that was about to stab Jamie Rodriguez. NIMROD sees a poster of Dazzler, and realizes that there are mutants here that he must destroy, and as we see in future issues, he certainly does try. Whoa! Am I right? There's a lot of death that happens in this issue, but luckily, the whole event is reversed before any of that happens, which I know some might consider a cop out, but for this type of story, I think it works just fine, and definitely makes for a shocking issue. Once again, Gath would make his return a few times, but would never be used to such a level as he was here, and Claremont definitely deserves some congrats for using a villain like that about as well as one could. Hell, the fact that he tortured, crucified, and killed Spider-Man (who helped saved the day in the end) alone would place him on that upper villain level, or really should have. It was kind of interesting that Warlock played a major part in the defeat of Gath/Selene as well, as the character had only appeared, at that point, in the pages of the New Mutants. Of course, maybe not so strange, as in the next issue, we'll see his father, Magus (the one Warlock fears most), make his first appearance in the X-Books. Storm also finally makes her departure (though she'll be back soon), and we (Finally) get the return of Wolverine and Kitty Pryde, who are making their return from their adventures in Japan. Of course, it'll be a very different Kitty that returns from the one that left, as she has definitely picked up some new fighting skills, a new costume, and a new code name.....Shadowcat. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 25, 2017 3:26:12 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #192"Fun N' Games" Cover Date: April, 1985 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers, & Rogue (Storm---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Magus Guest Stars: Magik, Lockheed, and Callisto Official Plot: Colossus, Nightcrawler and Rogue are engaging in an outdoor training session, which Nightcrawler succeeds in trouncing both by tricking them into landing in a nearby lake. When they take a break, Rogue tells Colossus to focus, however his mind is stuck on Kitty Pryde, who is finally returning from Japan with Wolverine and he is still upset over hurting her after revealing his romance with Zsaji during the Secret Wars. When Rogue tries to relate to him, with her guilt over what she did to Carol Danvers, Nightcrawler begins to wonder if Rogue also absorbed Carol's seventh sense and attempts to find out by ticking her by using his teleportation powers. She gets angry that he is touching her and she hits him a little too hard and saves him from being smashed against some rocks. When Nightcrawler cheekily asks for a kiss she drops him in the water and flies away. Nightcrawler realizes that Rogue is uncomfortable with any sort of intimacy thanks to her powers. Nightcrawler and Colossus decide to go and make amends with her and notice that she flew toward an abandoned mansion nearby. Before they can go their attention is turned to a bright glow from up in the sky, some strange thing has fallen out of the sky and crash landed near the old mansion. Meanwhile, at Kennedy Airport, Professor X, Storm, Illyana, Rachel and Lockheed wait for Wolverine and Kitty to return from Japan. As Rachel waits she picks up stray thoughts with her telepathic power and is depressed by how many anti-mutant thoughts are in the crowd around her. This causes her to recall back to her last moments in the future time she comes from. She and Kate Pryde were attempting to break into the Project Nimrod facility to destroy the newest mutant killing robot being developed by the humans. Trapped in a room that Kate could not phase out of and with Nimrod trailing on them, Kate would say the word "Dark Phoenix", causing Rachel to use her powers based on a post hypnotic suggestion and send herself back in time. Her recollection causes her to be faint and she is righted by the modern day Kitty Pride who has just got off the plane with Wolverine. Their reunion is warm, and Kitty suddenly recognizes Rachel for who she is. Explaining that when her future self briefly possessed her body her mind was briefly in the future. Meanwhile, back at the abandoned mansion, Colossus and Nightcrawler investigate the crash site of whatever landed nearby. To their surprise a number of the trees and a deer have been infected with the same Transmode Virus as that used by the New Mutant known as Warlock. Colossus recalls how Warlock explained that he fled his home world to escape his father and wonders if the worst has happened. Elsewhere in the ruins, Rogue, having been knocked out by the crash landing awakens to find that Warlock's father the Magus has arrived on Earth. When he attempts to assimilate Rogue, she fights him off, causing damage by ripping off one of his tendrils. Before Magus can counter attack Colossus and Nightcrawler arrive. When the Magnus attempts to attack Colossus, Nightcrawler grabs a portion of the Technarc and teleports away causing him serious damage. Rogue then flies in and attempts to use her absorption powers on Magus. This causes Rogue to absorb the Technarc physiology and the feed back knocks her away from the battle. Colossus and Nightcrawler rush to her aid as she fights off it's effects. This allows Magus to escape, projecting a holographic image warning the X-Men to turn over his son Warlock or the Earth will suffer. Later the other X-Men arrive to help try to track the Magus down, however their search turns up nothing. When a police officer arrives the Professor is forced to use his mental powers to alter the officers perceptions to protect their double identities and because they cannot find a trace of the Magus, they leave. When the officer gets back into his squad car he is shocked when he is assimilated by the Magus. Taking close measure of humanity, a race that he has heard previously defeated Galactus he decides never to under estimate them again. He then leaves the scene to try and locat his son. A few months later, Professor Xavier has begun giving lectures at Columbia University. Just as schools are closing for the Christmas break, Xavier begins to walk home. Along the way he thinks about human mutant relations when he pauses at an anti-mutant slogan spray painted on a wall. He is suddenly attacked by an anti-mutant mob. Attempting to defend himself with his mental powers fails and he is struck with a brick and beaten nearly to death. The mob flees and leaves him to die in the street. However, someone has witnessed the beating and has dragged Xavier away into a nearby alley. Brodie's View: I guess John Romita Jr. must have REALLY dug drawing Warlock (The techno-organic alien from the NEW MUTANTS) in the last few issues, as it's probably the best explanation why the main threat in this issue is the (finally) arrival of the evil father Warlock would often, in that book, mention with great terror, Magus, and why it happens here rather than in the pages of NEW MUTANTS, where it probably would have made more sense. Of course, maybe it was done to try and tie those two books together, as we would get a bunch of examples of this over the next 20 or so issues, including a kick ass duo of Annuals that we'll get to in a week or so. Anyways, we get Colossus, Rogue, and Nightcrawler having an impromptu training session, as Colossus tries to take his mind off of the return of Kitty Pryde (and Wolverine) from Japan, and what happened the last time they were together (y'know, when he broke her heart ) in #183. There is some character development between the two characters, before the three witness something fall from the sky, and crash land near where the old mansion used to be. They investigate, and find out it's Magus, who gives the three a major fight, before deciding to vanish until he/it can find his/its son, and.....well, I'm assuming either take him back to their planet or try and kill him, I can't remember what happens when Magus comes after Warlock in NM. Anyways, The Magus arriving isn't the important event/s that happens in this issue. It's a major deal for the New Mutants, but only kind of a minor one (despite the fight) for the X-Men. No, the main two events happen near the beginning and at the end of the issue. The first is, of course, the return of Kitty and Wolverine, and how the return of the first effects Rachel Summers, who remembers Kitty mainly from the future, as she is the one who was responsible for sending her back to this past in the first place (and she certainly pays for that, but not in a way some expect). However, the surprise is that Kitty recognizes Rachel as well, as part of her mind was aware during the mind swap between younger and older Kitty in the DAYS OF FUTURE PAST storyline. Of course, this will lead to the two becoming friends, and even closer ones later on in the pages of EXCALIBUR. The other major event happens at the very end of the issue, as Professor X (who has been teaching a class in his spare time) is walking home on the eve of Christmas break, when he is attacked by a group of anti mutant punks, who end up beating him half to death with a brick when he tries to use his powers to defend himself. We see someone finding the wounded Xaiver, and dragging him away. I will say that Xaiver recovers from this attack initially, but its long term effects are seen more and more as we approach the 200th issue, and what happens will definitely change the status quo for the book, both in the short and long term scheme of things. However, there is a few months that pass between the fight with the Magus and the Professor getting his ass beaten, and we'll spend the next few reviews taking side trips (An Annual and a two part Crossover) before we come back with #193, which is the "official" (counting GIANT SIZE as an issue, I guess) 100th issue of the "All New, All Different" X-Men, and the past from that period will come back to haunt the current team, in more ways than one. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 26, 2017 1:17:46 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men Annual #8 "The Adventures of Lockheed the Space Dragon and His Pet Girl Kitty" Cover Date: September, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Steve Leialoha Team: Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers, & Rogue (Storm---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: None, but there are fantasy versions of Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw Guest Stars: Magik, Lockheed, The New Mutants, Stevie Hunter, and Amanda Sefton Official Plot: The X-Men and New Mutants are gathered around a campfire telling stories. Wolverine finishes a story about a samurai. Then its Illyana's turn... Our fairy tale starts in space with Kitty's father's spaceship being cut to ribbons by hostile forces under the command of the White Queen and Black King, and Kitty is captured! Kitty discovers she can phase, and does so through her opponent's control panel. Suddenly, the ship is boarded by Nightcrawler, Wolverine, ... and Lockheed the Space Dragon! But the White Queen has Kitty's parents, and wants Kitty to join her. But Lockheed saves her, and he, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler take Kitty back to their ship (ship's persona courtesy of Illyana). Kitty becomes one of Lockheed's band and fights by their side, but the foes she wants to nail stay out of her reach. One day, they get invited to Xavier's jubilee, where she crushes on (and dances with) Colossus, hero of Xavier's round table. The White Queen attacks, captures Wolverine, 'destroys' Lockheed, and Kitty swears vengeance. But first, she's off to find the Star Rider (Storm). She convinces Ororo to pilot the ship through a black hole, and they make it. They beam down to a crystal planet, sensing Lockheed is there. But he's got a harem of other dragons... getting him to leave seems hopeless... and then the White Queen ambushes them. However, the matriarch (a much larger dragon), distracts them, and while the Queen's goons drop it, Kitty and her squad press the attack. They need to disable the Queen's ship, so Kitty holds on as Lockheed flies into orbit, and she phases them through the hull. She frees Wolverine, who deals with the Black King. Kitty returns, and defeats the White Queen on her own. A moral is to be had about affairs of the heart in its aftermath Brodie's View: This is an interesting little story in a few ways. The most obvious thing is that it's a throw back to #153's "Fairy Tale" story told by Kitty Pryde to Illyana Rasputin, with the roles reversed. Once again, the focus character (well, one of the main two) is Kitty, but in this one, there is kind of a love interest implied between her and Lockheed the Dragon (with Colossus as the short term competition), and takes more of a futuristic Star Wars approach to the story, rather than the pure fairy tale approach Kitty used. Still, it's a cute story, with a moral that Kitty should realize what she does have (Lockheed and the others that love her), rather than focusing on what isn't meant to be (the relationship with Colossus). Like the first story, it is interesting how the other X-Men (who help Kitty and Lockheed in their fight against The White Queen) are portrayed, particularly Storm, who is portrayed as a pilot who has lost the will to fly (which mirrors what happened to her in "real life" somewhat). I will say that the last interesting thing about this story is the timing of it, as it is dated from fall 1984, when Kitty and Wolverine were still in Japan, and yet there are things about the story that make it seem to take place both later (which characters are included in the story, and bringing up things that happened while the two characters were gone) and before (Kitty's hair and her still being completely heartbroken over the Colossus break up). However, on the Marvel Wiki I draw my info on, this is supposed to fall in the few months that pass in #192, so, technically, this story and the Crossover I'm going to do over the next few days takes place during #192. I will say that the only drawback with this Annual has to do with the art, as it really doesn't fit the story, and is probably why there are some continuity errors. Steve Leialoha is an all right artist, but his art style is just a bad fit for a story like this, IMO. However, I guess that's why Annuals exist, to allow one off stories to be done by one off artists, so, I guess in that sense, it worked. The art definitely picks up for the next few Annuals though, and it definitely picks up for our Crossover (that will actually lead into the next Annual for both the X-Men and the New Mutants) that I'll be reviewing over the next couple of days. It will involve the return of a more recent X-Artist, and the involvement of both a team that the X-Men has dealt with before (Alpha Flight), and an enemy that they've never really encountered before (Loki). GRADE: B
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 26, 2017 1:27:36 GMT -5
X-Men and Alpha Flight #1 "The Gift Part One" Cover Date: December, 1985 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith Team: Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers, & Rogue (Storm---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Loki Guest Stars: Alpha Flight (Heather Hudson, Aurora, Sasquatch, Shaman, Snowbird, Puck, and Talisman), Cyclops, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, Northstar, Magik, Cypher, and Lockheed Official Plot: Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor are transporting a group of American and Canadian scientists to the Arctic Circle, when their plane is struck down by an unknown source. While training in the Danger Room, Rachel Summers sees this happen in a psi-flash, and the X-Men deal with an out-of-control Danger Room scenario. She believes her father's attack to have something to do with Shaman of Alpha Flight, who at this very moment is dealing with the problems of some of his own teammates. Without warning, the goddess Snowbird appears before him, seriously wounded. Before Shaman can tend to Snowbird, Rachel Summers attacks him and his fellow teammates. The X-Men arrive and aid Alpha Flight while Xavier succeeds in calming Rachel down. Snowbird regains consciousness and reveals that Cyclops' plane was struck down at the same moment she was. The two teams of super-heroes decide to work together to find Cyclops and the missing scientists. Meanwhile the Norse god Loki meets with Those Who Sit Above in Shadow to discuss his current scheme of an offering to humankind, which they will not be able to refuse. Wolverine and Heather Hudson reminisce, as Rogue and Northstar have a heart to heart. Upon discovering a fantastic almost unearthly palace, the teams land and are soon greeted by Cyclops – who is now apparently cured of needing a protective visor to control his optic blast. A bewildered and curious group of heroes follow Cyclops into the citadel, where he introduces them to the scientists and his wife, all of whom have been changed and developed some fantastic power. Madelyne reveals she has the power to heal, and demonstrates it by curing Aurora, Sasquatch, Rogue and Puck of their problems. Shaman decides that Madelyne should use her powers on Snowbird, when he realizes that Snowbird never came with them from the plane. Concerned for her, Wolverine goes in search of his dear friend, accompanied by two of the scientists, but Logan fears that it may be too late. At a feast, the X-Men and Alpha Flight members all reveal their own personal feelings on the fantastic powers these humans have been granted and how they could literally heal the world with them. Also revealed at this banquet is that Madelyne is pregnant with a boy. Upon learning this, Rachel freaks out and runs away. Kitty and an annoyed Talisman follow her, while Loki keeps a watchful eye on Talisman. Meanwhile, the heroes are taken to the magical fountain where the humans gained their powers. Heather walks into the fountain and returns with the "power" to lead, as Shaman loses control of his medicine pouch, demons flow from it. Once the pouch and demons are taken away, Madelyne reports that her healing powers can not working on Shaman and that he is dying. Brodie's View: It's kind of interesting that both the Annual I discussed earlier and the Crossover I'm discussing now all take place during the events of #192, or between them, because the shipping dates for all of them are insane when you look at them. Like the Annual being shipped several months before the issue came out, this Crossover came out several months after it was supposed to have taken place. In fact, the follow up story to it was shipped out the very same month that this Crossover, the first part of the storyline, came out, which unless you, as a reader, knew that at the time, I'm sure it was pretty f**king confusing. Luckily, time and perspective allow us to review this in the proper order it was supposed to have taken place in, and this whole story was supposed to have taken place between the day Wolverine and Kitty return from Japan and Professor Xaiver getting beat down by the Anti Mutant group at the end of #192. Perhaps the reason for this was due to Paul Smith, who I would probably say had a real problem with keeping up with deadlines, which probably explains why his run on the main book only lasted 10 issues, and not even a straight run. This is too bad, as the guy does great art, and he definitely does some of his finest work in this Crossover, which is an important point in the history of both teams (The X-Men and Alpha Flight). Now, while I can't speak specifically for what it meant for Alpha Flight, as I've only read the early Byrne stuff, I can say what it meant for the X-Men, specifically as it relates to Cyclops, Madelyne Pryor, and Rachel Summers. This storyline is officially where Rachel meets her father, and the woman he married, which I'm sure wigged her out to see how much she resembled her mom, Jean Grey. Of course, this is also the mini series that revealed that Madelyne is pregnant with Scott's child, which we reveal that the child will be a boy. This freaks Rachel out even more, as it kind of officially means that when it comes to this reality, she never will exist. Of course, this is only the side story to what is the main one. Basically, Loki, to try and gain favor with the major powers of Asgard known as THOSE WHO SIT ABOVE IN SHADOW (which sounds like one of the many 70's Illuminati type groups pulling strings in various Marvel books, but is really a bunch of God-like Asgardian beings that Loki is appealing to) by granting humanity everlasting peace by basically granting them the powers of Asgardians. Cyclops, his wife, and a plane full of people who crash by this make believe city Loki creates for them, are the first to be granted these powers, and eventually the X-Men and Alpha Flight (who fight a bit first, after Rachel Summers mistakenly thinks Shaman is responsible for what happened to her Dad) investigate to find them, and some of the more disadvantaged members of both groups are cured of their various afflictions by this Godlike power (For example, Rogue can touch people, Wolverine, Sasquatch, and Aurora are no longer crazy, and Puck is grown back to being a normal sized person, among other things), but as we start to discover by the end of the first part, there is a price for this gift, and part of it has to do with what is happening to Alpha Flight's two magic related characters; Shaman (who is attacked by the creatures within his magic bag) and Snowbird, who starts to wither away and die. Of course, we won't see the full implications of this until the next part, but I will say that it shouldn't be surprising, as anyone knows that when dealing with someone like Loki, there's always a downside to anything he might offer, no matter how good it seems on the surface. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 26, 2017 2:59:02 GMT -5
X-Men and Alpha Flight #2"The Gift Part Two" Cover Date: January, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith Team: Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers, & Rogue (Storm---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Loki, The Ice Giants Guest Stars: Alpha Flight (Heather Hudson, Aurora, Sasquatch, Shaman, Snowbird, Puck, and Talisman), Cyclops, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, Northstar, and Lockheed Official Plot: Talisman explores the caverns beneath the citadel while searching for the X-Man Rachel Summers. Talisman finds Master Builder’s sketchbook, and when she is reunited with Kitty Pryde, the two find Rachel, but Rachel is too distraught and only after Kitty calms her, can they leave the Viking Village they discovered, though Earthshaker creates an avalanche, hoping to prevent the young girls from revealing their findings. While escaping, Talisman comes in contact with the Fire Fountain itself, and she actually cancels it out for a moment. Afterwards, Kitty finds Wolverine, who was supposed to be in search of the missing Snowbird. Kitty tells Logan what she and the other girls found and reveals their suspicions about what is going on. Wolverine resumes his search for Snowbird and when he finds her, he has to battle Beastmaster and Pathfinder, which results in the death of Pathfinder. Back in the citadel, Rogue and Northstar share a dance, Northstar doing so to prove the others wrong, while Heather and Xavier discuss the teams’ predicaments. Talisman meets with Sam Ross who reveals to her that the runestone she found is a dedication to Loki, which Loki (who has been keeping an eye on Talisman) sees. Back at the banquet, Wolverine returns with Snowbird and Beastmaster, whom he beat-up pretty bad, and when he reveals that the magics of the world are what feed the Fire Fountain and give people powers, though it kills anyone magical powers or a magical background. The X-Men and the Alpha Flight members take sides and only nine are all that can prevent the others and the meta-humans from making this New World a reality. While in battle, Talisman learns that when one is given a power, it takes away their ability to create, dream and imagine. When she recalls this to the others, Loki appears and the heroes are forced with a predicament -–to accept Loki’s gift and change the world, despite the few it will kill in the process. Talisman proves a deciding factor as she convinces Madelyne not to accept Loki’s gift. When Madelyne rejects the gift, she is forced to then accept it back when her dear friend Sam Ross is injured. Before the heroes are forced to make any more choices, the Elder Gods appear and give Loki a warning. He gives the heroes one last chance to accept his gift, before they reject him again. They are forced to then face their own demons and flaws again and they think about what could have been. Snowbird is healed and like Northstar, leaves on her own, while the remaining Alphans, the X-Men and humans leave, only after Cyclops goes in search of a missing Rachel, who decides not to tell Scott she is his daughter. Within the destruction of the Fire Fountain, a single rose blooms. Brodie's View: Well, in the second part of this little kick ass story, we finally find out what the price of Loki's gift is. It's the loss of magic and imagination, but in exchange, it's basically a gift of world peace by transforming everyone into Asgardian types. Of course, this ends up splitting the X-Men and Alpha Flight, as for some of them, it's not a deal worth making, as it would basically cause the death of any magic based person (Such as Shaman, Snowbird, Doctor Strange, Magik, ect.). However, for the other side, it's basically for the greater good, and worth losing a few people over. This causes a big fight between the two sides, which eventually brings Loki. However, after discovering the full price of Loki's gift, the people that got it deny it, which pisses Loki off, and he sends Ice Giants against them, causing the X-Men and Alpha Flight to have to work together to defeat them. Finally, Loki kind of ends up winning, as Madelyne Pryor agrees to take her power back in order to heal one of the plane passengers that had been hurt in the battle, but THOSE WHO SIT ABOVE IN SHADOW basically appear and tell Loki he can't force his gift on humanity if they don't want it, forcing Loki to pull it and vanish (Of course, as we'll find out later, not without a grudge being held by the Lord of Lies). We end with a bit of resolving (at least for now) between Rachel Summers and her kinda sorta father, Cyclops, who have somewhat of a father/daughter moment, convincing Rachel to not tell Scott who she is.....for now. This was such a great little story, and it leads to an equally great follow up several months (well, story wise, as I said in the last review, both X-MEN AND ALPHA FLIGHT and the follow up story in the NEW MUTANTS and X-MEN Annuals dropped in the same months) later. You can tell Claremont is a big STAR TREK fan, as the dilemma he presents our heroes with in this two parter is very much the same type of dilemma the original Star Trek crew kind of specialized in, and it's cool that he managed to include Alpha Flight in there as well as furthering story-lines in his own book. Plus, having Loki be the villain was an interesting twist, as the whole Asgardian thing had never really touched the same story area as our beloved mutants, so, very interesting little path Claremont decided to blaze down with this whole deal (Which can be read in the X-MEN: ASGARDIAN WARS trade paperback). However, it's back to the regular continuity with the next review, as we celebrate the "100th Issue" of the All New, All Different X-Men by forcing the current team to revisit one of their earliest mission, and one of their greatest failures as a team. The past comes back to try and bite the X-Men in the ass in #193, and we are introduced to two characters that end up playing a greater role in the Marvel/X Universe (and end up both becoming X-Men eventually). Curious as to who I'm talking about? Tune in later this week for the answers. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 26, 2017 3:01:51 GMT -5
Okay, I hate to break this run up, but I am going to be moving to a new place tomorrow, which means I am going to be without internet for a few days. Once I am back online, we will be back and running with more reviews. For now, read back through the past several pages (for those new to this whole thing), and see how we got to this point. And as always, comments and questions are welcome. See you in a few days.
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