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Post by Malibu Albino on Feb 26, 2017 15:52:59 GMT -5
I'm really loving these reviews, I can't believe I've never heard of this X-Men and Alpha Flight mini, I'm gonna have to check it out!
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 27, 2017 12:36:05 GMT -5
I'm really loving these reviews, I can't believe I've never heard of this X-Men and Alpha Flight mini, I'm gonna have to check it out! Yeah, it is a really good story, and sets up the NEW MUTANTS/X-MEN Annuals where the two teams travel to Asgard perfectly, as one can see why Loki would choose the f**k with the X-Teams after reading the X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT story (I'm assuming he had a separate revenge for Alpha Flight in their own book, but I'm unsure of that, as I never read past the early Byrne stuff on that book). As I said in the review, you can find the whole story in the X-MEN: ASGARDIAN WARS trade.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 28, 2017 22:22:53 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #193"Warhunt 2" Cover Date: May, 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: The Hellions (Empath, Roulette, Thunderbird, & Firestar), Nimrod, SecBots Guest Stars: The Morlocks, The New Mutants (Cypher, Mirage, & Cannonball), Sean Cassidy, Storm, and Lockheed Official Plot: Muir Island: Retired X-Man Sean Cassidy is out for his regular jog that he's been going on since he lost the use of his mutant powers. On this night however, Thunderbird has come to the island and knocks him out. Thunderbird blames Sean for the death of his brother John, the original Thunderbird and knocks the former Banshee out. Meanwhile, in the United States, Charles Xavier wakes up to find himself in the private quarters of Callisto following a beating at the hands of an anti-mutant mob. Xavier has difficulty remembering the events leading up to his attack and has no recollection of his attackers. He is disturbed by the change of clothing that Callisto has provided for him, but is grateful that her minion the Healer was able to save his life even though he was on the brink of death. Xavier is surprised at the sheer size of the Alley where the Morlocks call home and learns that it stretches all over Manhattan and even reaches as far as his own school. When discussing the leadership of the Morlocks, Callisto explains that while Storm has no powers she maintains leadership of the Morlocks and Callisto cannot challenge her until her powers return. Xavier tries to convince Callisto to bring the Morlocks out from hiding; however the conversation is cut short when Sunder arrives with the dead children of the Morlock known as Annalee. Furious, Callisto points out that this is why the Morlocks do not live on the surface, and warns that if the humans want a race war then the Morlocks are willing to give them one. Later, in the Rocky Mountains near the NORAD missile command center, Thunderbird is going over the remaining wreckage where his brother died many months earlier and vows to make Xavier pay for sending his brother to his death. He is joined by his fellow Hellions, Empath and Roulette. Thunderbird is upset that they have come as he wishes to deal with the X-Men by himself. However, they are not without reinforcements as Empath has brought along the newest Hellion, Angelica Jones, known as Firestar, whom he has been keeping enthralled with his empathic abilities much to Roulette's chagrin. At the X-Mansion, the X-Men and the New Mutants are in a training session. After playing a game of tag, they recreate a simulation of the New Mutants recent episode on the Dyson Sphere owned by Lila Cheney. Their training session ends when Professor Xavier returns with Callisto. Seeing Xavier in the tattered clothing of a Morlock gives the X-Men and the junior New Mutants a good laugh, especially Cannonball who was given grief from the Professor for purposely dressing in a similar fashion. While on a cruise ship in the mid-Atlantic, Storm is well on her way back to her native Africa so that she can sort out where to go next in her life now that she is without her mutant abilities. She is visited by an apparent vision of her mother and wonders if she really saw it or not and if she is following her destiny. Back at the Xavier estate, the Professor tries to relax in the bath after his ordeal, and finds that even after being healed by the Morlocks healer, he is still very sore after his beating. He is called down to the War Room of the mansion where the X-Men are receiving a video call from Thunderbird who tells them that he has taken Banshee prisoner and he intends to kill him in 24 hours in revenge. He explains to them that he has hidden Sean somewhere in Cheyenne Mountain and for the X-Men to try and find them. The X-Men quickly mobilize and Xavier attempts to establish a psychic rapport, he finds that he has difficulty and gets Rachel to form one for them. When Shadowcat uses her phasing powers to get herself inside the NORAD facility, it allows Nightcrawler the telepathic "view" needed to teleport in there without hurting himself. Nightcrawler then smuggles Colossus, Rogue, Rachel and Wolverine into the facility, however it wears him out. He goes one more time to report back to the Professor. Returning back to his friends, the Professor is left alone to monitor things with the Blackbird's portable Cerebro unit. Discovered by the Hellions, the Professor is caught off guard when Roulette tosses one of her discs into the cock pit causing electrical damage that causes feedback into Xavier's brain. In enters Empath who uses his powers to send Lockheed fleeing in terror and then he matches his empathic power against Xavier's telepathy. When Empath bites off more than he can chew, Roulette knocks Xavier out with knock out has. This is immediately detected by Rachel who tells the others. Shadowcat goes back to the Blackbird and finds that the Professor knocked out and the equipment trashed. When Nightcrawler asks Rachel to use her telepathic powers to track Sean down, she cannot bring herself to do it as it brings back horrifying memories as her time as a hound and collapses into a ball. Instead, Shadowcat uses her phasing powers so that she and Wolverine can search the facility to try and find Sean. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler teleports Rogue out of the facility to look after the Professor while he, Colossus and Rachel try to move on. In the War Room of NORAD, Empath has used his powers to gain access and he, Firestar and Roulette have grown bored with the lack of action. Empath uses his powers to tip security off to the X-Men's presence and has them send out their SecBots to neutralize all intruders. While Empath brags to Firestar, Roulette walks off to try to do something herself to make the White Queen proud of her. Wolverine and Shadowcat manage to find Sean chained to one of the shock absorbers that protects the secret facility. There Wolverine is attacked by Thunderbird, who is at first no match for Wolverine's superior fighting skills. However, Thunderbird has prepared for this and the room begins pumping with gas. Shadowcat quickly gets Sean to safety, however when she goes back to help Wolverine the gas knocks her out and she falls through to floor in her solid state knocking her out. With Wolverine distracted over Kitty's well being, Thunderbird takes advantage of the situation by landing a powerful punch. Leaving the room before the gas can affect him; Thunderbird is shocked to see Wolverine go back for Shadowcat when he expected him to abandon his comrade like he believed was done with his brother John. Thunderbird realizes that he cannot leave the two X-Men behind to die in such a dishonorable way and drags them out of the room to safety. Placing gas masks on their faces, Thunderbird rushes off hoping to get revenge against Xavier. Elsewhere in the complex, the SecBots find Colossus, Rachel and Nightcrawler, prompting Nightcrawler to bring Rogue back to join the fight. As Nightcrawler, Colossus and Rogue fight off the robots, Rachel is still in an emotional breakdown, unable to break out of her fetal position to fight back. As they are distracted, Firestar smashes through the room, pulling Colossus outside with her. The SecBots capture Nightcrawler and down Rogue. The two mutants are about to be executed when Nightcrawler teleports free and knocks out the commanding officers who have arrived on the scene. With Colossus high in the air and succumbing to Firestar's microwave powers, Rogue comes to his rescue as the girl struggles with the waning effects of Empath's powers. Rogue knocks the girl out with ease and carries her and Colossus back down to the ground. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler is fighting off those under Empath's thrall when Thunderbird appears and gives Empath trouble for interfering in his revenge plot. Shadowcat sneaks in and pulls Empath through the floor and he passes out when Wolverine threatens him with his claws. This causes everyone to snap out of it and attack Nightcrawler whom they shoot at with extreme prejudice as he is trying to capture Roulette. He manages to avoid injury by slipping into a heating duct. Meanwhile, Thunderbird continues to make his way out of the facility to get back at Professor X and manages to avoid getting caught by Shadowcat. Before Kitty and Wolverine can go after him, they are found by guards and another SecBot. While elsewhere, Rogue and Colossus attempt to convince Rachel to fight with them, but she cannot bring herself to use her powers. Rogue, getting sick of Rachel's weakness in a dangerous situation tells her to touch her bare hands so that she can absorb Rachel's telepathic powers and use them instead. Nightcrawler arrives and convinces Rachel to use her powers to locate Wolverine and Shadowcat so he can teleport to their location. Rogue then leaves with the unconscious Firestar to bring her back to the Professor. Professor X, meanwhile, has revived from being knocked out to find Thunderbird standing over him. The Native American warrior accuses Xavier for being responsible for his brother’s death. However, Xavier explains that his brother’s death was an accident and that he was telepathically linked with his brother at the time of his death. Unwilling to believe Xavier, Thunderbird raises his knife to stab Xavier to death but falters and gives up, finding that he cannot bring himself to kill a man that he is not entirely sure was responsible for his brother’s death. With the battle over, the X-Men take the Hellions back to their headquarters where they learn from their news that the X-Men were being blamed for the "attack" on NORAD. Rogue surprises Kitty by finding Lockheed and bringing him back, and Thunderbird decides to go back to his teammates in the Massachusetts Academy, duty bound to stay by his comrade’s side. Xavier asks what Angelica wants to do; Angelica explains that she too must return to the White Queen. Xavier departs and wishes the two young mutants the very best. While later at the Rodriguez house hold in New York City, the Rodriguez family is preparing dinner for their new tenant, a "man" named Nimrod, in reality a super powerful Sentinel from the future sent back in time. Using the computer belonging to Jamie's son, Nimrod accesses Federal defense and law enforcement databases. Overhearing a news broadcast about the Juggernaut being sighted and that the X-Men are now wanted felons, Nimrod decides to make the destruction of both threats its primary objective. Brodie's View: Happy 100th Issue, All New, All Different X-Men. Hope you survive......uh, never mind. Actually, this was the supposed 100th issue (not counting Annuals and various other crossovers, but assumingly counting GIANT SIZED X-MEN as an issue), and being that Krakoa is still space debris somewhere, Chris Claremont decided to focus this story on the New X-Men's 2nd adventure, and the moment of one of their greatest failures (The Death of Thunderbird), and wrap this story around that. You see, Thunderbird had a brother, and he would blame the X-Men and Charles Xaiver specifically for his death. He would join The Hellfire Club's Hellions, and wait for his moment to exact revenge on the people he felt were responsible for his brother's death (spurned on, I'm sure, by The White Queen, who also had no love loss for Xaiver and his students). Finally, Thunderbird 2 (James Proudstar) attacks and kidnaps Sean Cassidy (The former Banshee), and with the help of a few of the other Hellions (Empath, Roulette, and Firestar, who we'll get to in a second), takes over the NORAD missile command center (the site Count Nefaria and his Ani-Men tried to take over in UXM #94-95, and the place where the original Thunderbird died), and basically lures the X-Men to the site in order to orchestrate a one on one meeting with Xaiver, and to kill him. He actually does get his way, as the team is too distracted by both the other Hellions and the NORAD crew, who are manipulated into thinking the X-Men are breaking into NORAD (which, is kind of true, but they're there to stop the real bad guys.....however, the NORAD people have no way of knowing that). However, upon talking to Xaiver, James finds he can't go through with it, and ends the Hellion's mission with nothing other than the X-Men's reputation being truly harmed (At least in the eyes of the U.S Government, who had already been looking at the team with distrustful eyes. This had grown worse when Rogue joined their ranks). As for James Proudstar, he would eventually leave the Hellions, and walk a better path; first joining up with X-Force, and then eventually becoming an X-Man himself, taking the name Warpath. Speaking of people who would eventually become X-Men, this issue is also the Marvel introduction of Firestar, who had previously only existed in the SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS cartoon, which she was created specifically for. Like James Proudstar, Firestar would not stay long in the Hellions (In fact, she has a limited series of her own around this time, which shows her time in the Hellions with more detail, as well as the moment she decides to leave the group and strike out on her own), and is basically only involved in villainy in this issue due to being mentally manipulated by Empath. After leaving the Hellions, she joins up with a group of rag tag heroes known as The New Warriors, which would include the man she would fall in love with, Marvel Boy/Justice. The two would later join the Avengers, and have a pretty decent stint there during Kurt Busick's kick ass run. Later, she would become a full fledged X-Man (and yes, someone would eventually have her, Ice Man, and Spider-Man team up), which kind of brings things full circle. In addition to all of that, and the main events of the story (but no less important), we have the follow up to Charles Xaiver getting attacked at the end of the last issue. He awakens to find himself being tended to by the Morlocks, who have kind of fully transitioned into being allies of the team (Which Callisto states is because she is waiting for Storm to regain her powers, so, she can face Storm in another duel, and win her position back, but I have a feeling that's only a half truth, and Callisto has grown to respect both Storm and the X-Men). He goes back to the Mansion dressed in Morlock attire (this makes him look like he came from an S&M club, which gets giggles from the New Mutants), and is seemingly okay, but we see in his private moments that he is pretty far from okay. This would increase as we start to head towards #200, and a result of his worsening condition is a huge change to the status quo of the team. Last, but certainly not least, we check in on the robot NIMROD, who has disguised himself to (somewhat) look like a normal human, and is living with the man that he saved at the end of #191, Jamie Rodriquez (and his family). However, we see that he has detected that The Juggernaut has returned to New York City, and he is bound and determined to do his duty and eliminate the "Unstoppable" hulk of a man. In the next review, he will certainly try, and he will also try to eliminate the X-Men when they are forced to come to Juggie's aid. GRADE: B+
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,381
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Feb 28, 2017 23:00:01 GMT -5
I'm really loving these reviews, I can't believe I've never heard of this X-Men and Alpha Flight mini, I'm gonna have to check it out! Yeah, it is a really good story, and sets up the NEW MUTANTS/X-MEN Annuals where the two teams travel to Asgard perfectly, as one can see why Loki would choose the f**k with the X-Teams after reading the X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT story (I'm assuming he had a separate revenge for Alpha Flight in their own book, but I'm unsure of that, as I never read past the early Byrne stuff on that book). As I said in the review, you can find the whole story in the X-MEN: ASGARDIAN WARS trade. Way past the Byrne run of Alpha Flight,Loki gets his revenge on the team.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,381
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Feb 28, 2017 23:03:02 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #193"Warhunt 2" Cover Date: May, 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: The Hellions (Empath, Roulette, Thunderbird, & Firestar), Nimrod, SecBots Guest Stars: The Morlocks, The New Mutants (Cypher, Mirage, & Cannonball), Sean Cassidy, Storm, and Lockheed Official Plot: Muir Island: Retired X-Man Sean Cassidy is out for his regular jog that he's been going on since he lost the use of his mutant powers. On this night however, Thunderbird has come to the island and knocks him out. Thunderbird blames Sean for the death of his brother John, the original Thunderbird and knocks the former Banshee out. Meanwhile, in the United States, Charles Xavier wakes up to find himself in the private quarters of Callisto following a beating at the hands of an anti-mutant mob. Xavier has difficulty remembering the events leading up to his attack and has no recollection of his attackers. He is disturbed by the change of clothing that Callisto has provided for him, but is grateful that her minion the Healer was able to save his life even though he was on the brink of death. Xavier is surprised at the sheer size of the Alley where the Morlocks call home and learns that it stretches all over Manhattan and even reaches as far as his own school. When discussing the leadership of the Morlocks, Callisto explains that while Storm has no powers she maintains leadership of the Morlocks and Callisto cannot challenge her until her powers return. Xavier tries to convince Callisto to bring the Morlocks out from hiding; however the conversation is cut short when Sunder arrives with the dead children of the Morlock known as Annalee. Furious, Callisto points out that this is why the Morlocks do not live on the surface, and warns that if the humans want a race war then the Morlocks are willing to give them one. Later, in the Rocky Mountains near the NORAD missile command center, Thunderbird is going over the remaining wreckage where his brother died many months earlier and vows to make Xavier pay for sending his brother to his death. He is joined by his fellow Hellions, Empath and Roulette. Thunderbird is upset that they have come as he wishes to deal with the X-Men by himself. However, they are not without reinforcements as Empath has brought along the newest Hellion, Angelica Jones, known as Firestar, whom he has been keeping enthralled with his empathic abilities much to Roulette's chagrin. At the X-Mansion, the X-Men and the New Mutants are in a training session. After playing a game of tag, they recreate a simulation of the New Mutants recent episode on the Dyson Sphere owned by Lila Cheney. Their training session ends when Professor Xavier returns with Callisto. Seeing Xavier in the tattered clothing of a Morlock gives the X-Men and the junior New Mutants a good laugh, especially Cannonball who was given grief from the Professor for purposely dressing in a similar fashion. While on a cruise ship in the mid-Atlantic, Storm is well on her way back to her native Africa so that she can sort out where to go next in her life now that she is without her mutant abilities. She is visited by an apparent vision of her mother and wonders if she really saw it or not and if she is following her destiny. Back at the Xavier estate, the Professor tries to relax in the bath after his ordeal, and finds that even after being healed by the Morlocks healer, he is still very sore after his beating. He is called down to the War Room of the mansion where the X-Men are receiving a video call from Thunderbird who tells them that he has taken Banshee prisoner and he intends to kill him in 24 hours in revenge. He explains to them that he has hidden Sean somewhere in Cheyenne Mountain and for the X-Men to try and find them. The X-Men quickly mobilize and Xavier attempts to establish a psychic rapport, he finds that he has difficulty and gets Rachel to form one for them. When Shadowcat uses her phasing powers to get herself inside the NORAD facility, it allows Nightcrawler the telepathic "view" needed to teleport in there without hurting himself. Nightcrawler then smuggles Colossus, Rogue, Rachel and Wolverine into the facility, however it wears him out. He goes one more time to report back to the Professor. Returning back to his friends, the Professor is left alone to monitor things with the Blackbird's portable Cerebro unit. Discovered by the Hellions, the Professor is caught off guard when Roulette tosses one of her discs into the cock pit causing electrical damage that causes feedback into Xavier's brain. In enters Empath who uses his powers to send Lockheed fleeing in terror and then he matches his empathic power against Xavier's telepathy. When Empath bites off more than he can chew, Roulette knocks Xavier out with knock out has. This is immediately detected by Rachel who tells the others. Shadowcat goes back to the Blackbird and finds that the Professor knocked out and the equipment trashed. When Nightcrawler asks Rachel to use her telepathic powers to track Sean down, she cannot bring herself to do it as it brings back horrifying memories as her time as a hound and collapses into a ball. Instead, Shadowcat uses her phasing powers so that she and Wolverine can search the facility to try and find Sean. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler teleports Rogue out of the facility to look after the Professor while he, Colossus and Rachel try to move on. In the War Room of NORAD, Empath has used his powers to gain access and he, Firestar and Roulette have grown bored with the lack of action. Empath uses his powers to tip security off to the X-Men's presence and has them send out their SecBots to neutralize all intruders. While Empath brags to Firestar, Roulette walks off to try to do something herself to make the White Queen proud of her. Wolverine and Shadowcat manage to find Sean chained to one of the shock absorbers that protects the secret facility. There Wolverine is attacked by Thunderbird, who is at first no match for Wolverine's superior fighting skills. However, Thunderbird has prepared for this and the room begins pumping with gas. Shadowcat quickly gets Sean to safety, however when she goes back to help Wolverine the gas knocks her out and she falls through to floor in her solid state knocking her out. With Wolverine distracted over Kitty's well being, Thunderbird takes advantage of the situation by landing a powerful punch. Leaving the room before the gas can affect him; Thunderbird is shocked to see Wolverine go back for Shadowcat when he expected him to abandon his comrade like he believed was done with his brother John. Thunderbird realizes that he cannot leave the two X-Men behind to die in such a dishonorable way and drags them out of the room to safety. Placing gas masks on their faces, Thunderbird rushes off hoping to get revenge against Xavier. Elsewhere in the complex, the SecBots find Colossus, Rachel and Nightcrawler, prompting Nightcrawler to bring Rogue back to join the fight. As Nightcrawler, Colossus and Rogue fight off the robots, Rachel is still in an emotional breakdown, unable to break out of her fetal position to fight back. As they are distracted, Firestar smashes through the room, pulling Colossus outside with her. The SecBots capture Nightcrawler and down Rogue. The two mutants are about to be executed when Nightcrawler teleports free and knocks out the commanding officers who have arrived on the scene. With Colossus high in the air and succumbing to Firestar's microwave powers, Rogue comes to his rescue as the girl struggles with the waning effects of Empath's powers. Rogue knocks the girl out with ease and carries her and Colossus back down to the ground. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler is fighting off those under Empath's thrall when Thunderbird appears and gives Empath trouble for interfering in his revenge plot. Shadowcat sneaks in and pulls Empath through the floor and he passes out when Wolverine threatens him with his claws. This causes everyone to snap out of it and attack Nightcrawler whom they shoot at with extreme prejudice as he is trying to capture Roulette. He manages to avoid injury by slipping into a heating duct. Meanwhile, Thunderbird continues to make his way out of the facility to get back at Professor X and manages to avoid getting caught by Shadowcat. Before Kitty and Wolverine can go after him, they are found by guards and another SecBot. While elsewhere, Rogue and Colossus attempt to convince Rachel to fight with them, but she cannot bring herself to use her powers. Rogue, getting sick of Rachel's weakness in a dangerous situation tells her to touch her bare hands so that she can absorb Rachel's telepathic powers and use them instead. Nightcrawler arrives and convinces Rachel to use her powers to locate Wolverine and Shadowcat so he can teleport to their location. Rogue then leaves with the unconscious Firestar to bring her back to the Professor. Professor X, meanwhile, has revived from being knocked out to find Thunderbird standing over him. The Native American warrior accuses Xavier for being responsible for his brother’s death. However, Xavier explains that his brother’s death was an accident and that he was telepathically linked with his brother at the time of his death. Unwilling to believe Xavier, Thunderbird raises his knife to stab Xavier to death but falters and gives up, finding that he cannot bring himself to kill a man that he is not entirely sure was responsible for his brother’s death. With the battle over, the X-Men take the Hellions back to their headquarters where they learn from their news that the X-Men were being blamed for the "attack" on NORAD. Rogue surprises Kitty by finding Lockheed and bringing him back, and Thunderbird decides to go back to his teammates in the Massachusetts Academy, duty bound to stay by his comrade’s side. Xavier asks what Angelica wants to do; Angelica explains that she too must return to the White Queen. Xavier departs and wishes the two young mutants the very best. While later at the Rodriguez house hold in New York City, the Rodriguez family is preparing dinner for their new tenant, a "man" named Nimrod, in reality a super powerful Sentinel from the future sent back in time. Using the computer belonging to Jamie's son, Nimrod accesses Federal defense and law enforcement databases. Overhearing a news broadcast about the Juggernaut being sighted and that the X-Men are now wanted felons, Nimrod decides to make the destruction of both threats its primary objective. Brodie's View: Happy 100th Issue, All New, All Different X-Men. Hope you survive......uh, never mind. Actually, this was the supposed 100th issue (not counting Annuals and various other crossovers, but assumingly counting GIANT SIZED X-MEN as an issue), and being that Krakoa is still space debris somewhere, Chris Claremont decided to focus this story on the New X-Men's 2nd adventure, and the moment of one of their greatest failures (The Death of Thunderbird), and wrap this story around that. You see, Thunderbird had a brother, and he would blame the X-Men and Charles Xaiver specifically for his death. He would join The Hellfire Club's Hellions, and wait for his moment to exact revenge on the people he felt were responsible for his brother's death (spurned on, I'm sure, by The White Queen, who also had no love loss for Xaiver and his students). Finally, Thunderbird 2 (James Proudstar) attacks and kidnaps Sean Cassidy (The former Banshee), and with the help of a few of the other Hellions (Empath, Roulette, and Firestar, who we'll get to in a second), takes over the NORAD missile command center (the site Count Nefaria and his Ani-Men tried to take over in UXM #94-95, and the place where the original Thunderbird died), and basically lures the X-Men to the site in order to orchestrate a one on one meeting with Xaiver, and to kill him. He actually does get his way, as the team is too distracted by both the other Hellions and the NORAD crew, who are manipulated into thinking the X-Men are breaking into NORAD (which, is kind of true, but they're there to stop the real bad guys.....however, the NORAD people have no way of knowing that). However, upon talking to Xaiver, James finds he can't go through with it, and ends the Hellion's mission with nothing other than the X-Men's reputation being truly harmed (At least in the eyes of the U.S Government, who had already been looking at the team with distrustful eyes. This had grown worse when Rogue joined their ranks). As for James Proudstar, he would eventually leave the Hellions, and walk a better path; first joining up with X-Force, and then eventually becoming an X-Man himself, taking the name Warpath. Speaking of people who would eventually become X-Men, this issue is also the Marvel introduction of Firestar, who had previously only existed in the SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS cartoon, which she was created specifically for. Like James Proudstar, Firestar would not stay long in the Hellions (In fact, she has a limited series of her own around this time, which shows her time in the Hellions with more detail, as well as the moment she decides to leave the group and strike out on her own), and is basically only involved in villainy in this issue due to being mentally manipulated by Empath. After leaving the Hellions, she joins up with a group of rag tag heroes known as The New Warriors, which would include the man she would fall in love with, Marvel Boy/Justice. The two would later join the Avengers, and have a pretty decent stint there during Kurt Busick's kick ass run. Later, she would become a full fledged X-Man (and yes, someone would eventually have her, Ice Man, and Spider-Man team up), which kind of brings things full circle. In addition to all of that, and the main events of the story (but no less important), we have the follow up to Charles Xaiver getting attacked at the end of the last issue. He awakens to find himself being tended to by the Morlocks, who have kind of fully transitioned into being allies of the team (Which Callisto states is because she is waiting for Storm to regain her powers, so, she can face Storm in another duel, and win her position back, but I have a feeling that's only a half truth, and Callisto has grown to respect both Storm and the X-Men). He goes back to the Mansion dressed in Morlock attire (this makes him look like he came from an S&M club, which gets giggles from the New Mutants), and is seemingly okay, but we see in his private moments that he is pretty far from okay. This would increase as we start to head towards #200, and a result of his worsening condition is a huge change to the status quo of the team. Last, but certainly not least, we check in on the robot NIMROD, who has disguised himself to (somewhat) look like a normal human, and is living with the man that he saved at the end of #191, Jamie Rodriquez (and his family). However, we see that he has detected that The Juggernaut has returned to New York City, and he is bound and determined to do his duty and eliminate the "Unstoppable" hulk of a man. In the next review, he will certainly try, and he will also try to eliminate the X-Men when they are forced to come to Juggie's aid. GRADE: B+ For years I was buying Uncanny either at the drug store or if I missed it there grabbing it at the comic shop. #193 was the first issue I got in thru Marvel's mail subscription service. I lost that copy decades ago,but recently dug a decent shape copy of it out of my local comic shop's dollar bin.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 1, 2017 2:00:57 GMT -5
Yeah, it is a really good story, and sets up the NEW MUTANTS/X-MEN Annuals where the two teams travel to Asgard perfectly, as one can see why Loki would choose the f**k with the X-Teams after reading the X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT story (I'm assuming he had a separate revenge for Alpha Flight in their own book, but I'm unsure of that, as I never read past the early Byrne stuff on that book). As I said in the review, you can find the whole story in the X-MEN: ASGARDIAN WARS trade. Way past the Byrne run of Alpha Flight,Loki gets his revenge on the team. Cool....I'm assuming during Mantlo's run on AF?
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 1, 2017 2:09:20 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #194"Juggernaut's Back in Town" Cover Date: June, 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: Juggernaut, Nimrod, Fenris (Andrea and Andreas Strucker) Guest Stars: Storm, Agent Alexei Vazhin, and Magik Official Plot: New York City is in a state of panic with news that the Juggernaut is back in town. When the news reaches Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters early in the morning, the X-Men are less than receptive of the news. Nightcrawler cowers, while Kitty fries her clock radio to sleep in. Colossus, awake and aching from the X-Men's previous battle at Cheyenne Mountain, hears the news and is ready for action as he wants to prove that he is better than the Juggernaut in battle since their last clash. Rachel is awake in her room mourning the loss of everyone special in the future she comes from and feels even more alone in this reality because her mother Jean Grey is dead and her father is married to another woman. When Wolverine enters the mansion from his morning jog, he rouses Nightcrawler and suggests that they deal with the Juggernaut before he causes any serious damage. Nightcrawler reluctantly and begrudgingly agrees. Meanwhile, Storm has arrived in her native Kenya after a long journey. She stops at a local diner and comes across Andre von Strucker trying to force the woman working the bar to have sex with him. When Storm attempts to intervene, a fight breaks out and Storm easily defeats Andre, his twin sister Andreas and their hired men and orders them to go at gun point. After they leave, the woman working the bar realizes that it is Ororo, and begins to bow at her feet thanking her "weather goddess" for her return. Storm accepts this wearily, knowing that she was never a goddess but a mutant, but is now stripped of her powers. Back in New York, the X-Men are staking out the First United National Bank where the Juggernaut has been spotted. Kitty and Rachel scope things out inside and find that the Juggernaut is actually conducting a legitimate business transaction. They report back to Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Rogue who are standing watch outside. The X-Men are not the only ones seeking out the Juggernaut. Nimrod has arrived to eliminate the villain as per its programming. It smashes into the bank and its scanners immediately pick up Juggernaut, Rachel and Kitty and attacks. Its initial blast strips away the Juggernaut's street clothes, while Rachel shields herself and Kitty with a telekinetic shield. As the Juggernaut and Nimrod duke it out in the bank, Rachel and Kitty help the people in the bank escape and try to keep a panic down. When conventional weapons fail against the Juggernaut, Nimrod blasts him out of the bank and sends him smashing through a construction site nearby. As the two continue to fight there, the X-Men join the battle, and Wolverine orders the X-Men to take down Nimrod as he attacked their own. Wolverine does a fastball special and is easily repulsed by Nimrod. As the battle rages, Nimrod knocks off the Juggernaut's initial helmet and bombards him with an ultra-high frequency sonic blast. When Kitty tries to phase through Nimrod, she too is repulsed. With most of the X-Men down but Rogue, she purportedly touches Kitty to absorb some of her powers. Realizing that Nimrod might not be able to handle someone who has all the X-Men's powers, she also absorbs Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler’s powers and tries to attack Nimrod head on. Sure enough, she is able to keep the robot off guard and attacks it with enough power and ferocity that she smashes the robot to bits. However, much to her surprise, Nimrod rebuilds itself and teleports away as it expended too much energy. With the battle over, Rogue allows the Juggernaut to leave peacefully. The X-Men realize too late that a news crew filmed the whole battle and the public will only see that the wanted X-Men helped a criminal like the Juggernaut and allowed him to escape. While at Dzerzhinsky Plaza in Moscow, news of the X-Men's clash with Nimrod reaches Russian agent Alexi Vazhin. Vazhin realizes that the arrival of yet another super-human in America would tip the power scale between the two countries and that balance must be maintained between the two super-powers or these two nations could end up in a war that will bring about Armageddon. Brodie's View: The Juggernaut is indeed back in town, and NIMROD is waiting for him. Since appearing at the end of #191, the future sentinel has been waiting for a villain/mutant to pop up to take out (of course, living in Marvel's New York, one would think he/it would have his/its choice of targets, but....whatever), and with the "Unstoppable" one appearing back in NYC for the first time since his big bar fight (well, at least in this book) with Colossus back in #183, NIMROD seeks him out and tries to take him out. Fortunately for Juggie, the X-Men (who have no idea about NIMROD, but they find out very quickly in this issue) were also looking for him, as they were expecting the big guy to cause some trouble, but they end up having to save his life from the robot, who is pretty close to finding a way to take Juggie out when the X-Men attack it/him. The team quickly finds themselves in hot water, as NIMROD not only is a self repairing unit, he/it also has somewhat of a human intelligence inside of it/him. In other words, NIMROD learns from any mistakes he/it makes, and never allows him/itself to be defeated the same way twice. Hell the only reason the X-Men are able to defeat NIMROD this time is that Rogue winds up taking the powers of the others (who were all waylaid quickly by the robot), and using their powers in conjunction to severely injure the robot enough that it/he must teleport away, as the battle and the cost of self-repairing cost NIMROD too much power. However, the team can figure out that the next time they see NIMROD, he/is will be even more dangerous than he/it was in this fight. Plus, the whole scuffle cost the X-Men even more, as a news crew was filming the battle, and it made it look like the X-Men were in cahoots with the criminal Juggernaut (who they allow to leave). We see that the battle even resonates across the pond, as Russian Agent Alexi Vazhin (making one of his first, but not only appearance, as Claremont will use him again) watches the battle, and worries that things might be building towards a World War III in a superhuman sense between the two countries. This is interesting, because we've seen the response to the growing population of super humans/mutants from the U.S perspective, and it was cool to see that other countries' reactions to what has been happening is very similar. The other major news from this issue relates to Storm, who has journeyed back to Africa to find herself, after the loss of her powers. In a bar, she encounters an arrogant white man, who she is forced to shut down. She will pay for that, however, as the man isn't your normal garden variety racist dickhead. His name is Andreas Strucker, and he and his sister, Andrea, are a pair of superhuman twins known as Fenris, and the children of Baron Von Strucker to boot. Needless to say, these two will soon become a thorn in the side of not only Storm, but the rest of the X-Men as well, including the man who will soon become an ally to the team, and that the twins will have a particular grudge with (See #161), Magneto. However, we'll get to that in a couple of issues. In the next issue, we'll have a crossover with a team of young superheroes, and the return of our favorite sewer dwelling group of mutants; The Morlocks, and a story thread that will have long term repercussions for both the Morlocks and the X-Men, even though neither the readers or anyone else in the book would have no idea of just how much at the time. GRADE: B+
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,381
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Mar 1, 2017 2:15:01 GMT -5
Way past the Byrne run of Alpha Flight,Loki gets his revenge on the team. Cool....I'm assuming during Mantlo's run on AF? I think so. All I really remember is Loki convincing Aurora and Northstar that they are both Elves and have to return to Elfland or die. Might have even been around the time Jim Lee was drawing AF.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 1, 2017 2:50:20 GMT -5
Cool....I'm assuming during Mantlo's run on AF? I think so. All I really remember is Loki convincing Aurora and Northstar that they are both Elves and have to return to Elfland or die. Might have even been around the time Jim Lee was drawing AF. I did a bit of digging, and can say that this happened in ALPHA FLIGHT #50, but was revealed to be BS later. Mantlo wrote it, but it was right before Jim Lee came in as the regular artist.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 1, 2017 2:55:46 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #195"It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...!" Cover Date: July, 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: The Morlocks (Save for Callisto, Sunder, and Leech) Guest Stars: Power Pack (Katie, Alex, Jack, and Julie Power), Callisto, Sunder, Leech Official Plot: It is a dark and stormy night and the Power children are spending the evening sharing their parents bed. The children are suddenly awoken by a sudden crash of thunder, frighting the young Power children. To the children's shock and dismay, their parents do not remember who they are. When the children realize their parents are serious, they try to convince them that they are their children by taking their parents to their bedrooms. However, they find that all races of their childhood presence in the Power home -- even down to their favorite dishes have been removed from the house. Realizing something is amiss, the Power Pack makes a quick exit, which worries their father even though he can't remember who they are. Going down to the basement they attempt to see if their landlord Mr. Oritz remembers them, to their dismay he does not. When he suggests they go inside while he calls the police the four children flee the scene. Running into the rain and ducking into an alley to avoid being taken in by the police, the Power children switch to their Power Pack costumes and decide to investigate things further. When inspecting their uniforms, Julie realizes that their internal radios must have shorted out after she washed their costume during their last encounter with the Morlocks. This makes Alex realize that since the Morlock named Beautiful Dreamer has the power to alter peoples minds that the Morlocks might be responsible for their current predicament. Going into the sewers, the Power Pack are overwhelmed by the Morlock who attempt to subdue them. Katherine manages to break free and escape, but not before Masque manages to alter her frace. Running through a subway tunnel, she runs into a security guard who attempts to help her but she blasts him away. However, she does manage to be captured. Eventually when the story hits the television news, Kitty Pryde picks up the story on her television and recognizes Energizer as a member of the Power Pack even though her facial features have been altered. Kitty gathers Wolverine, Rachel and Rogue to go to Bellevue Hospital where Shadowcat smuggles Katie out of her room and has her explain to the X-Men what happened. When Katie is scared of Wolverine, Rachel manages to cheer her up and convince her to probe her mind telepathically and they learn their answer. The X-Men agree to help Katie try and save her siblings and restore her parents back to normal. Searching the Morlock tunnels, Katie is shocked to find that all their furniture and toys have been moved into the Morlock's quarters. They are spotted by Annalee who has brainwashed the other Power children to act like her loyal children. When she demands that Katie join her, she refuses prompting the Morlocks to attack. Even the enthralled Power children enter the fight. As the battle progresses, Leech attempts to nullify Rogue's powers and both cancel each other out, knocking out Leech and leaving Rogue powerless against an army of Morlocks. However, despite this, Rogue is able to beat them with her superior fighting skill. In the course of the fight, Katie is dragged away from the X-Men and Wolverine and Shadowcat follow after her. Coming across an army of Morlocks, Wolverine sends Shadowcat ahead to find the children while he deals with them. Shadowcat finds Katie and the other power children just as Katie is once more refusing Annalee's attempt to be their surrogate mother. Over hearing this, Kitty asks Annalee if this is how she wishes to honor the memory of her murdered children. When Masque attempts to make things worse, Callisto enters the room and puts a stop to it. Once everything is sorted out and the Power children are returned to normal, Annalee attempts to challenge Callisto to a rite of combat, because death would be better than living without her children. However, Katie manages to convince Annalee that there is plenty to live for and promises that she and her siblings will come back and visit her regularly. With everything sorted out, Rachel tells Kitty that they are being summoned back to the X-Mansion: By Magneto. This story is continued in Secret Wars II #1... Brodie's View: Lol.....first off, I'll say that despite the cover, Wolverine doesn't gut a bunch of children in this issue. Far from it, in fact. The children, BTW, are the superhero team known as Power Pack; four children who were given different powers by aliens. The series was created and written by Louise Simonson, who was a friend of Claremont's (In fact, she would take over writing on the NEW MUTANTS after he was done, as well as X-FACTOR for a decent portion of the original team's run), so, he decided to give her book a free plug by featuring the characters from it in his. In this story, the Power children wake up with their parents, and their parents can't remember who they were, or even having children. The children quickly flee, and figure out that one of the Morlocks has the ability to alter people's memories. They try to investigate, but are captured by a gang or Morlocks, save for Katie Power, the youngest of the group, who manages to escape, even though she has her face altered by Masque before that happens. She is found and arrested by the cops, and it's on television that Kitty Pryde spots her, and recognizing her powers, alerts the X-Men (well, Wolverine, Rachel, and Rogue), and they sneak Katie out of the police station, and go into the sewers to rescue the rest of the Power children. Needless to say, they are swarmed by the Morlocks (who are operating without the say so of Callisto), but are able to fight them off decently. They finally find out that one of the Morlocks, a grand motherly looking lady named Annalee, has had her children murdered (more on that in a second), and the Morlocks decided to replace her children with the Power children (who had encountered the Morlocks before in their own book). Finally, Callisto shows up, and puts a stop to the other Morlock's actions, and Annalee is willing to duel Callisto for what she did, as she doesn't want to live anymore without her children. However, Katie convinces Annalee that her life is still worth living, and promises to visit her as often as she can, giving us a happy ending....well, other that the revelation made by Rachel that they are being summoned back to the Mansion.....By Magneto. Of course, that whole deal continues in SECRET WARS II (Aka The Cash In) #1, which I won't be reviewing (but I will be reviewing a few of the crossovers as they occur in this book, including next issue), but there are a couple of interesting things to note about this issue before all is said and done. First, is obviously the featuring of Katie Power, who will end up returning several issues from now in a solo story with Wolverine (who she admits to being frightened of in this issue, and that plays into their relationship in that issue). We'll also see the Power Pack appear in certain issues of the MUTANT MASSACRE crossover, which plays into our second major thing in this issue. As I said before, it is revealed that Annalee's children have been murdered. Well, we find out who her murderers are 15 issues from now, which juuuusssstttt happens to fall during the MUTANT MASSACRE as well. Coincidence? Not a chance. However, we'll let that little tid bit lay for now. Next issue, we find out that someone wants to finish the job they started on Professor Xaiver in #192, and it's not Magneto. Oh yeah....and The Beyonder shows up for a bit. GRADE: B+
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,381
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Mar 1, 2017 11:26:34 GMT -5
While I love the year or so of issues leading up to Uncanny 200 I do not like Romita Jr on the art. But then I have never been a big fan of his art.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 1, 2017 22:25:02 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #196"What Was That?!!" Cover Date: August, 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: Fenris Guest Stars: Magneto, Storm, Lee Forrester, & The Beyonder Official Plot: This story takes place after the events of Secret Wars II #1 Professor Xavier is once more resuming his lectures at Columbia University when he overhears one of the students who beat him months earlier suggest to his friends that hey should kill Xavier as he can identify them. Unfortunately, due to his injuries the Professor cannot, and due to the limitations on his mental powers and the amount of minds in the room he is unable to pinpoint who is plotting to murder him and decides to get the X-Men involved to try and prevent the attack. Meanwhile, in the African Serengeti, Storm is enjoying the wilderness when she is approached by a lion. Seeing this as a sign she is horrified when the creature is shot dead. When she rushes to it she is grazed by a bullet. This is a shot fired by Andreas von Strucker, who is paying Ororo back for beating her and her brother up earlier and they decide to leave her for dead in the wilderness. Back in New York City, Professor X meets with his fellow X-Men and Magneto at a deli where he explains the plot against him by the students who beat him earlier. As they begin planning, Rachel becomes distracted when she notices a strange man suddenly entering the deli and asking strange questions about "manners" and satisfying his curiosity about food. Rachel approaches the man and realizes that it's the Beyonder. But when Kitty goes up to see who she is talking to and Rachel tries to point him out the Beyonder has vanished just as mysteriously as he entered, leaving both wondering what the Beyonder wanted. Nightcrawler is paying a visit to his priest father Bowen at St. Anne's church. He explains his encounter with the Beyonder, a being that has shaken his faith in God. Breaking down into tears before the troubled priest, Nightcrawler admits that he has lost. That night at Columbia University, the students plotting to kill Xavier plants a special device on Xavier's desk that will kill him the moment he sits down at it. While nearby, the X-Men stake out the area looking for clues. As Rogue carries Rachel over the campus she talks about how she can trust Magneto to work with the X-Men considering that in her reality, Magneto was a trusted ally of the surviving X-Men. The conversation ends when Rachel picks up trouble in an alley and the two help stop a mugging. However, it proves to be a bitter victory as the man they saved was jumped while writing an anti-mutant epitaph on the wall. Angry that this sort of anti-mutant sentiment is being allowed, Rachel angrily psi-blasts the wall and vows never to let her apocalyptic future to happen again. As she and Rogue walk away, neither are aware that they were being watched by the Beyonder who has found Rachel's actions very interesting and decide to observe her farther. Elsewhere, Kitty and Wolverine go over reports back from the others when Kitty's curiosity in Wolverine's cigar makes her yank it out of his mouth and give it a puff. She finds the smoke incredibly harsh and proceeds to have a coughing fit. Wolverine finds this amusing and tells he that the only reason he can handle the cigars without any irritation is because of his mutant healing factor. They then begin talking about if they should be able to trust Magneto, to which Logan suggests that Magneto deserves a chance at redemption. Kitty then decides to check out their next list of suspects and uses her phasing powers to gain access to a dormitory, unaware that the Beyonder is secretly watching her. She enters a physics lab where she comes across her classmate Roger and some other students working on something in secret. She decides to butt in and start asking questions. Roger knowing that Kitty attends Xavier's school asks her if she is a Mutie. When she retorts by asking him if he's a n*****, he becomes angry and she points out that calling a mutant a Mutie is no different or any less hurtful. When she decides to leave she is maced and chloroformed and Roger decides that she has to die as well. Her attempts to contact Rachel or the Professor telepathically but it's too late. While the other X-Men are waiting for Kitty, Rachel accompanies Xavier and Magneto back to Charles' office. She is expressing her concerns over the Beyonder when she detects his presence when they enter the office. Using her psi-powers to try and get them to see him to, Rachel inadvertently activates the weapon left behind by the students, a psi scrambler device that bombards her mind and threatens to overload it. The resulting blast sends Charles and Magnus flying out of the building. While the other X-Men rescue them, Wolverine goes up to check on Rachel. Rachel, so furious about being attacked in such a horrible way manifests her hound costume and facial tattoos and races off to find the men responsible. She crashes in on Roger as he is attempting to choke Kitty to death. She knocks all the students aside and when Roger attempts to shoot her with a gun, she uses her telekinetic powers to turn the bullet back. It almost strikes Roger if not for Magneto's timely arrival. He argues with her that this is not the way to deal with those whose ignorance and hate lead them to treat mutants as they do. He explains that the way of violence has done nothing for him over the years. Rachel counter argues that in the future she came from humans made her into a slave-hound and killed all those she loved. When she expresses that they need to pay for the pain and the suffering they have caused, Magneto decides to let her make up her mind. Telling her that she should slaughter them as mercilessly and callously as they would her. Rachel finds that she cannot take a human life and spares Roger, telling Magneto that she may never be able to forgive him for this and suggests that they leave. As they walk away, Kitty thanks Rachel for her help. In the aftermath of the battle, the Beyond finds the whole tableau that happened before him strange and confusing. Wondering why beings of such power would act in the fashion that they did. Finding the X-Men puzzling indeed, the Beyonder decides to turn his attention to others and teleports away. Brodie's View: This is a SECRET WARS II Crossover issue, although, the main focus of the story isn't really The Beyonder (although, he is kind of ever present throughout it), it's really Magneto, and his completing the Face Turn that has been building since #150. Of course, there's more to this issue than just that, but the redemption of Magneto really is the biggest story of this issue. We do kind of join the action already in progress, as Magneto and the X-Men ended up hooking up in SECRET WARS II #1 (which, once again, not reviewing) due to the Beyonder (although, we really don't get that as much in this issue, as The Beyonder just appears while the group is already assembled in a deli, and Rachel just happens to notice him, but doesn't freak out as much as how all the characters were acting in SWII #1 would have you suggest). Once again, it seems like a lack of communication between what Shooter was doing and what Claremont was doing seems to have happened. Luckily, I think Shooter gives more free reign for later SWII Crossover stories, as Claremont really makes the most out of the Beyonder in those issues. Here, not so much. In fact, there really was little reason to have him there, other than the fact that it was deemed a crossover issue, and thus the character is kind of shoehorned into different spots. The main story is really the gang of students that beat Xaiver up in #192 realizing that his still being alive could eventually come back to bite them in the ass, so, they decide to try to rectify that by planting a bomb in his office. However, Rachel Summers ends up accidentally activating the bomb, which almost ends up almost killing Xaiver anyways (and Magneto to boot). Rachel then detects where the students are, and goes after them; finding the leader of the group trying to kill Kitty, which causes Rachel to snap and revert to her Hound costume, and she tries to kill the guy. The person that saves the life of these potentially murderous humans is actually Magneto, who convinces Rachel that the way he used to be is wrong, and that she needs to follow a better path; Xaiver's path. This is, as previously stated, a huge moment for Magneto, and it really solidifies his spot among the mutant team during this whole period, which solidifies even more by #200. Of course, this being a Claremont issue, we get quite a few more things happening in addition to all the stuff I mentioned above. We have a brief scene with the highly religious Nightcrawler talking to a Priest, expressing his crisis of faith over meeting a godlike being like The Beyonder during the SECRET WARS and SWII, and wondering how real a Christian God could exist after meeting a REAL God. This crisis of faith would actually haunt the fuzzy elf for the extent of the SWII Crossover, but by the time it is done, he'll have much bigger things to worry about. The other big story is what happens to Storm, who is winged by a bullet fired by Andreas Strucker (who Storm humiliated in #194), as she's trying to save a lion who ends up being killed by the Struckers, and is left for dead in the African Serengeti. We'll see the results of this act play out over the next couple of issues, and then we'll see Fenris in all their glory in #200, as they go for payback against Magneto. However, this next issue will be kind of a fun one, but also an important one in the lives of two of the X-Men, both of whom have some unfinished business with each other that needs to be settled before we move on with things. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 2, 2017 1:09:34 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #197 "To Save Arcade?!?" Cover Date: September, 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: Arcade, Ms. Locke, NIMROD Guest Stars: Storm, Cyclops, Madelyne Pryor-Summers Official Plot: Colossus is plagued by a nightmare where he crashes in on himself and Kitty aboard the Starjammer. Battling himself, his opponent is sucked out through a hole burst in the hull of the ship, but Peter manages to save Kitty. However to his shock and dismay she transforms into a Brood warrior. Fleeing he runs into Zsaje, whom turns into a grim specter of daeth. Fleeing her as well he finds himself on the family farm on the day that he saved his sister from an out of control tractor. Saving her, he is shocked to see that his sister is some demonic creature. They three women gang up on him and tell him that he failed to save them, cutting him with acidic touches causing him to wake up in a scream. Colossus soon realizes that he is not in his room at the X-Mansion, and that Kitty is there with him just waking up from sleep as well. To their surprise they have been captured by their old foe Arcade. While in Anchorage Alaska, Scott Summers answers an important phone call from Moira MacTaggert about Professor Xavier. He tries to leave quietly without waking his wife Madelyne, but she wakes up anyway. Understanding that Scott needs to go because he owes Xavier so much, she wishes her husband safe travels and tells him to be careful and come back soon. Back in Murderworld, Arcade has Shadow Cat and Colossus sit down for a meal when suddenly they are attacked by a hunter-seeker missile. The two mutants disarm it, but Colossus's costume it torn to tatters. Arcade brings them to a room where he keeps his robot duplicates of all the X-Men. There he explains to them that someone has put a contract out on his head and he had captured both X-Men to protect him and stop the killer before it's too late. Meanwhile, in Lower Manhattan, Nimrod (in his human disguise) goes out for coffee with Jamie Rodriguez, the man who has put him up since he had appeared in this time. Their outing it interrupted by some thugs who attempt to rob the place. Nimrod simply changes into his true form and incinerates the two crooks on the spot. As the two leave the diner, Nimrod is hailed as a hero. Back at Murderworld, Colossus and Shadow Cat enter a part of the amusement park of death modeled after New York City circa World War II. When they are attacked by a subway train that transforms into a robot, Arcade lends the two mutants a hand by sending in an army of X-Men robots to help destroy the device. They are strafed by a craft seemingly carrying Dr. Doom, the apparent attacker. Colossus incapacitates the ship and then tosses Kitty at it so that she can phase inside as it crashes. It unfortunately crashes through the Arcade's control room. When Colossus gets there it appears as though Doom has killed Kitty, however it turns out to be only a robot duplicate of her and the real Shadow Cat shorts out "Doom's" armor. With their foe defeated it turns out to be Arcade's assistant Miss Locke. Arcade explains that every year on his birthday he allows Miss Locke the opportunity to try and kill him over the course of 24 hours and he must do whatever he can to prevent it. Having cheated death for another year, Arcade allows the two confused X-Men to leave. As they walk home, Kitty and Colossus realize that even though their relationship ended months ago they are at the beginning of a brand new friendship. Lastly, in Africa, vultures land near Storm's body. However she is far from dead. She suddenly bolts up and swats at the birds and dares them to come back and claim her while she's still alive. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View: Other than a few brief side plot points involving NIMROD (who is gaining fame as a local crime fighter of sorts), Cyclops/Madelyne Pryor (Cyclops leaves Madeylne, who is very pregnant with his kid, to go back to the X-Mansion, as he's been informed by Moria MacTaggert that something is seriously wrong with Charles Xaiver), and Storm (Who awakens, half delirious, in Africa, after being left there by Fenris last issue. Her story continues next issue), the main part of this story concerns Kitty Pryde and Colossus, who are kidnapped and used a pawns by Arcade and Ms. Locke, as they play War Games against each other for Arcade's Birthday. Making the retconned literal this time, Kitty and Colossus are "recruited" under the guise that Dr. Doom is trying to kill Arcade, even though "Doom" is revealed to be one of Arcade's robots. However, this isn't revealed until the end of the issue, as well as Ms. Locke playing the part of "Doom," so, for the most part, the threat to Arcade is taken as being real by the two X-Men, who despite being temped with letting Doom kill the obnoxious assassin, vow to protect him from "Doom" due to their being heroes and all. Of course, this, story-wise, is all just distraction (a fun one, but still) to allow Kitty and Pitor to work out the very real strife that still exists between them from #183, where Pitor shattered Kitty's heart by breaking up with her. Of course, a lot has happened since then, and this isn't really the same Kitty that was sitting next to Colossus on that cliff. That being said, there's still some hard feelings, but being forced to depend on each other at least re-strengthens their bond as both friends and X-Men, at the very least, and at the end of this little adventure, they're able to at least make it to the point that both are able to move on. And of course, that is the point of this whole issue, as, like I said before, the whole deal with Arcade and Ms. Locke, who have their own f**ked up relationship, was just a (fun) distraction to deal with Kitty and Pitor's past and present relationship. However, I've always dug Arcade and that whole deal, so, that was just gravy for this whole issue. The whole scene with Kitty and Colossus using an army of X-Men robots to fight "Doom" and "his" robots was pretty kick ass, and the moment where the Kitty robot is destroyed, which momentarily makes Pitor think that she really had been killed, and thus expressing his true feelings about how bad he felt about breaking her heart, was an important moment in their relationship, and as I said, it allowed the air to be cleared between the two, and re-strengthened their bond as friends and teammates. It's really good this issue happened, as things are going to get a lot more serious for the X-Men in the next year, and the bonds between the team are going to have to be as strong as they can be to deal with those events. Of course, by the time we get to the MUTANT MASSACRE, even that might not be good enough. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 2, 2017 2:40:23 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #198"Lifedeath: From the Heart of Darkness" Cover Date: October, 1985 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Barry Windsor-Smith Team: Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers, & Rogue (Storm---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: None Guest Stars: None Official Plot: Continued from last issue... Following being grazed by a bullet on the African Serengeti, Storm continues her long trek, but now is becoming more delirious due to her injuries. When she is struck by a sandstorm she calls for it to go away, and when it does she mistakenly believes that her powers have returned and attempts to fly. She ends up falling down a hill, injuring herself some more. She is visited by a vision of Forge, the man she could have loved if it had not been for his invention stripping her mutant powers away. He tries to convince her to find cover while the sandstorm continues to blow, but she refuses and pushes on. She ends up tripping over her feet and falling down in front of a viper. She quickly grabs the poisonous creature and tosses it away before crawling away into a cave, wondering if this will be the death of her. In the cave she is visited by visions of her fellow X-Men. She bows to them in shame, feeling that without her mutant gifts she is nothing to them. When Phoenix tries to comfort Storm, telling her that no matter what she still loves her and all the other X-Men. Wolverine comes next and tells her that if she wants to give up he is willing to impale her with his claws to put her out of her misery. When the Professor gives advice that she can stay in this cave and live safely until she perishes, she lashes out, making the illusions go away. When she comes around she finds that another viper has made it's way near her. She doesn't panic and the snake eventually leaves her alone without biting. Storm is determined to get up and keep moving and as she treps onwards she finds that an overturned bus. The only survivor of the vehicle is a lone pregnant woman who surprisingly has not been badly injured. Storm feels that she is a poor candidate to save this woman, however she feels duty bound to bring her back to her village. Providing the woman cove and helping her make her way home provides Storm with a new motivation to keep going in life. Along the way they come across the many abandoned farming machines that have been left disused when attempts to cultivate the land had failed. When Storm and her new friend Shani arrive at the village, She is worried how her family will react to the idea of her being pregnant. When they get close enough to the village, she is welcomed home byt the tribe lawspeaker the elder Mjnari. Having completed the task of getting this pregnant woman home safe to her family, Ororo collapses. She is awaken some days later by Mjnari who tells her that Shani needs assistance giving birth to her child. Storm goes to the hut where she has lain and helps Shani with the complicated birth. When the child comes out and is not breathing, Storm administers CPR and manages to save the child's life. With the baby born, Mjnari tells Storm that he has a final task to perform and she is shocked to see him strip himself of most of his clothing and leave the village. Storm is shocked by this she follows after him. She learns that their poor village can only feed so many people, and that with a new born child, the most eldest person in the tribe must now go. He explains that this is the way they live after the attempts to use technology to stimulate crop growth failed after years of neglect and wars caused their once lush land to turn to mostly ruins. Storm is saddened by this, but Mjnari explains the precarious balance of the village and she spends his final moments listening to his wisdom before he wills himself to die. After his death, Storm prepares a grave for him and finally realizes that she has renewed hope to keep on living and promises to keep on fighting on, in honor of her new friend who made the ultimate sacrifice for his people. Brodie's View: And now we come to this, the follow up to #186's "LifeDeath" storyline, which involved Storm and Forge. That issue was a major (for the most part) tone change from any other issue in this run (or 99.9% of superhero comics period up to that point), in the sense that other than minor subplot moments with Rogue/Val Cooper and the Dire Wraths, it was an issue dealing with characters and adult emotions almost entirely. This follow up takes an even more daring route, as there are no side plots, villains, or comic bookish situations at all. This issue deals entirely with Storm, who in the aftermath of being left for dead (after being winged by a bullet) by Fenris a couple of issues ago, fights the urge to just lie down and die, and by the end of the issue, finds the strength to carry on living, even without the powers that once allowed her to soar through and control the elements themselves. This is not without hitches, as Storm has delirious visions of Forge and later the X-Men confronting her about her decisions and actions, and she switches back and forth between despair and defiance, dealing with the conflicting emotions within her. She finally finds a pregnant woman who is lost in a wind storm like she is, and together they brave the elements. Eventually they make it to a village, where the woman has her child (the child is at first stillborn, and Storm uses CPR to bring the child back to life), and afterwards, Storm realizes that the elder of the village is going to exchange his life for the life of the child, as the tribe, after briefly embracing technology, has gone back to the old ways after the new ways failed them. It is that sacrifice that makes Storm realize that her feeling sorry for herself due to her powers being taken from her is pretty petty in the face of what she has witnessed and dealt with on this "vision quest" of hers. This was a very good issue, and, as I said in the first paragraph, probably the most different issue in this entire run, as it's completely a character issue, and has very little to do with what else is happening in the present continuity. One can tell that Storm is Claremont's favorite character, as I doubt he would have given an issue like this to any other character (although, there are several little character pieces that happen here and there in the next year's worth of issues, but none of them are as character focused as this one), and between this and the first "LifeDeath" story, Storm has become a fully realized character, rather than just the one note character she had started out as. Sadly, as some have stated, she really wouldn't get as much pure focus Post the end of the whole Forge/Adversary arc in the FALL OF THE MUTANTS Crossover, but perhaps that's because all of the work was being done here. As stated before, as the Kitty Pryde we saw in the last issue wasn't really entirely the Kitty we saw in #183, the Storm that returns to the X-Men by #200 isn't entirely the Storm she was in #183 either. There has been a lot of growth in the characters even since the Paul Smith era, and the growing isn't quite done yet, as there a lot more (no pun intended) storms for the team to endure. In the next issue, we see the gathering of some of those storms in the form of a group of enemies deciding to take advantage of the political climate, and where it relates to teams like the X-Men, in particular, and switching to the side of "good." Of course, during this period, the concepts of who is "Good" and who is "Evil" is highly subjective, and we'll see that in action as we lead up to our big 200th issue. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 2, 2017 22:31:25 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #199"The Spiral Path" Cover Date: November, 1985 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Storm---On Leave)(Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Freedom Force (The Former Evil Brotherhood of Mutants: Mystique, Destiny, Blob, Pyro, Avalanche, and Spiral) Guest Stars: Cyclops, Magneto, Henry Gyrich, Valerie Cooper, & Moria MacTaggert Official Plot: Cyclops has returned to the X-Men at the request of Moira MacTaggert, and is now testing his skills in the Danger Room. The test shows that despite being on vacation since his marriage to Madelyne Pryor, Cyclops is still at the peak of his abilities. With the session over both Wolverine and Moira congratulate Cyclops on a job well done. They are interrupted by Rachel, who has come to try and tell Cyclops that in her time he and Jean Grey are her parents but chokes up. Moira then impatiently calls Cyclops up to the control room to discuss what she had asked him to return to the X-Men for. Cyclops and Wolverine discuss Rachel's past and before Wolverine can explain why Rachel seems to be so transfixed on Scott, Moira cuts in. She explains that Charles Xavier has not fully recovered from his recent beating and is in fact dying. Cyclops is shocked by this and refuses to believe that he Professor will die and expresses the fact that he doesn't believe Magneto would have reformed. When he asks how long Charles has, Moira tells him that he may live long enough to see Scott and Madelyne's child be born. Overhearing this telepathically causes Rachel to burst into tears. Meanwhile in Washington DC, Valerie Cooper returns home to the shock of her life: A woman in her house who looks exactly like her. It actually turns out to be Mystique, and she reveals her true form. She explains that due to the growing anti-mutant sentiment in America she wishes to give up the services of her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to the government for full amnesty and protection from any mutant control laws that have been passed. She offers that the group could change its name to Freedom Force and it would be under the full control of the government, unlike the Avengers or Fantastic Four. Valarie likes the idea, however she tells Mystique that this "Freedom Force" is going to have to show its good faith and prove their intentions to the President. She challenges Mystique to take down the Brotherhood's original leader, Magneto. Meanwhile, Rachel Summers has traveled to Annandale-On-Hudson to visit the grave of her mother Jean Grey to pay her respects. When she goes to the Grey family home she waits for John and Elaine -- her grandparents in her home reality --to leave their home so she can look around. Inside she begins being haunted by the psychic imprints of the Dark Phoenix confronting her parents and her own early childhood memories, visiting the home with her parents when she was only an infant. Going up into the Grey's bedroom, Rachel comes across the holomatrix globe given to them by Lilandra. Peering into it, Rachel unleashes the full fury of her powers, creating a Phoenix effect. Rachel decides that she will live up to her mother's ideals, and prove that Phoenix is not a force of evil, but one for good. That she vows to use her full abilities to defend humans and mutants alike, in her name. The sudden flare of powers causes Rachel to black out and as she collapses on the floor, the globe falls out of her hands and smashes on the floor. At the Washington National Holocaust Memorial, Magneto and Kitty Pryde both go to an annual gathering of Holocaust survivors. Magneto because he himself lived through and survived the Holocaust, while Kitty's great-aunt went missing during the war and she is trying to find the connection for her late grandfather Samuel Prydeman who died the last year. Through talking to other survivors, Kitty learns that her great-aunt Chava Rosanoff was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where she was murdered. After Magneto meets with some of the other survivors he himself knew in Auschwitz, he is reminded how important it is for human/mutant peace to endure as history could repeat itself for the mutant race. The gathering is interrupted when Mystique gets close enough to Magneto by posing as Lee Forester. Revealing her true form she calls Magneto to take accountability for his past terrorist actions, pointing out that in the past he acted no worse than Hitler himself. Magneto uses his powers to bind Mystique in steel girders. Then the other members of the new Freedom Force arrive: Blob, Pyro, Avalanche, Destiny, and Spiral (who has joined the group while she searches for Longshot on Earth). While Magneto uses his powers to gently coax the innocent bystanders out of the building, he sends Kitty to get the rest of the X-Men. Magneto holds the former Brotherhood at bay until the other X-Men arrive to defend their unlikely ally. Shadowcat takes out Destiny, while Colossus takes out Pyro. Nightcrawler teleports the Blob onto the top of the Washington Monument, while Rogue knocks out Avalanche. However, the battle ends when Spiral casts a spell that locks Magneto into place and Mystique puts a gun to his head. Spiral is then knocked out by Cyclops and there is a Mexican stand-off between Freedom Force and the X-Men when Wolverine manages to sneak up behind Mystique close enough to get his claws near her head. When Cyclops tells the X-Men to retreat and leave the "Brotherhood" for the police, Mystique explains Freedom Force's new law-abiding stance and tells them that they have come to arrest Magneto. Before the X-Men can do anything, Magneto decides that if he is to truly reform then he must stand accountable for his crimes and stand trail and therefor allows himself to be arrested. Brodie's View: Lots of stuff happens in this issue, as we continue the build towards #200. Not the least of which is Cyclops returning briefly to the team (Although, it's such a brief run that I'm not going to consider him a regular member of the team. He's basically a glorified guest star at this point) for his last little stint on the team until the very end of this run. The reason behind his return is the next major issue to deal with in this issue (and even more so in #200), and that is the deteriorating physical condition of Scott's mentor, Charles Xaiver, who has been going down hill since his attack at the end of #192 (and various assaults on him in #193/196). Moria MacTaggert reveals to Scott that Xaiver is, in fact, dying, and that he doesn't have much longer to go. This makes Scott feel responsible, and convinces him to stay with the team (although, plans end up changing over the next couple of issues, but we'll get to that when we get to those issues). From Scott, we go to his kinda sorta daughter (from an alternate future), Rachel Summers, who overhears the news about Xaiver dying, which causes her to embrace her "destiny" somewhat. She goes to the home of her "mother," (alternate future Jean Grey) and picks up the memory globe given to her parents at the end of #138, absorbing the essence of the Phoenix. She takes the mantel from her "late mother," and hence forth will be known as the Second incarnation of the Phoenix, or Phoenix II. Needless to say, this is going to make things interesting between Rachel and Cyclops, who she still hasn't revealed herself fully to. It will take a while for this to happen, and things will be very different where it concerns both characters by then. Speaking of character changes, or at least somewhat alignment changes, we have Mystique making her long awaited move, which has been building since the events of #177-78. By that, I mean that she finally reveals herself to Government Gal, Val Cooper (although, she's been secretly working with Val for a while now, under the guise of Raven Darkholme), and basically offers her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to the U.S Government as a Gub'ment controlled mutant team. She offers to prove herself by capturing the man that the U.S (and the world) still regards as one of the most dangerous mutant terrorists out there, Magneto. We then see Magneto and Kitty Pryde visiting a Holocaust survivors gathering, and we get a warm moment where people from Magneto's past recognize him from his acts of heroism during that period. However, this doesn't last, as Mystique and her newly named Freedom Force make their move to try and capture Magneto, as Kitty runs to get X-assisantce. Eventually, a fight breaks out between the two teams, which abruptly ends when Magneto surrenders himself to Freedom Force, stating that if he is to truly change his ways, that he must stand trial for his past actions. This sets up the major event/s of #200, along with the fate of Charles Xaiver. However, before we get to all of that, we have a set of Annuals that continues the story the X-Men/Alpha Flight crossover started, and the dealings with the trickster God, Loki, who is still quite pissed at what happened in that mini, and looking for payback of his own kind. He tries to get it by kidnapping one of the team (who is on leave), and their future (The New Mutants), forcing the rest of the team to travel to Asgard to try and get them back. There are a lot of twists and turns in this story, and over the next couple of reviews, we'll see those twists and turns play out in most unexpected ways; some of which alter characters completely, or sends them in paths that they would have never gone down without Loki's machinations. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 3, 2017 1:06:04 GMT -5
Special Edition New Mutants #1"Home Is Where the Heart Is" Cover Date: December, 1985 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Arthur Adams Team: New Mutants: Mirage, Cannonball, Karma, Magik, Magma, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Cypher, Warlock Villain/s: Loki, The Enchantress, & Hela Guest Stars: Storm, The Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, & Volstagg), and Sym Official Plot: In Asgard, Loki sits atop a rocky peak watching images of the X-Man Storm battling his forces during their last encounter and marvels over her warrior strength and spirit. He summons the Enchantress to his side and asks her to get revenge against the X-Men on his behalf for their defeating him in battle. Meanwhile, on the island of Kirinos, Storm has brought the New Mutants to the island following their ordeal with the Shadow King. There is trouble, since Karma is in a depressive, near-suicidal state thanks to all the weight put on her body from the excessive indulgences of the Shadow King when he possessed her body. Storm attempts to comfort her, and tells her that she must continue to struggle no matter how bleak things might look for her now. The other New Mutants are down by the beach, where Illyana attempts to explain to Warlock what water is, how to swim and what the proper swimming attire is for men, to a slight success. Getting a tan with Cypher, Illyana listens to Doug's worries about he growing anti-mutant sentiment around the world and wonders if he'll ever feel safe in the world with such bigotry. As Sunspot shows off his diving skills to everyone, Mirage decides to give her teammates an unexpected training session by using her illusion casting powers to make it appear as though they are being attacked by a sea serpent. The catches the Mutants off guard, but they react quickly. When Warlock encases Doug within himself, Doug remarks how he hates always being pushed aside in the face of danger. When Dani appears and explains everything to her friends, they are unimpressed, although she tells them it's important that they maintain their battle edge so that they are never caught unprepared for a fight. Just then, a strange eclipse happens over the island, prompting the New Mutants to go seek Storm to see if she knows what is going on. They send Warlock off to scout the skies, but he is struck by a bolt of lightning, prompting Cannonball to go and save him. Promptly afterwards, a number of Asgardian warriors come out of the sky and easily subdue the New Mutants, knocking them out and taking then back to their home dimension. Storm finds herself teleported to Asgard before Loki, and before she can do anything, she is encased in mystical crystal by the Trickster God, who also transforms her outfit to one resembling that of Thor's. With Storm subdued, Loki begins his special plans that he has for the former wind-rider. The New Mutants revive in the dungeon of the Enchantress, who confronts the young students. When Magik attempts to teleport them away, the Enchantress triggers a magical feedback that sends the New Mutants scattering across time and space all over Asgard, and leaving Illyana a helpless prisoner of the Enchantress. The Enchantress then sends her Troll minions out into Asgard to track down and capture the escaped New Mutants. Xi'an wakes up to find herself in the middle of a vast desert. Finding herself with no food, water, shelter or friends, she simply collapses on the ground in tears, unable to carry on and wanting to die. Soon, however, she wakes up to the sound of a young girl being chased through the wastes by a giant sand worm creature. Not wishing to see the little girl die, Karma uses her powers to knock the primitive beast out. When the little girl asks Karma to bring her home safely, she agrees to try and help the little girl, deciding that she has no right to lay down and die when someone so innocent needs help. She uses her powers to secure food and water for themselves while trying to fins a way out of the desert, and as time passes, Xi'an gradually loses her bulk and returns to her former, slim self. As she finally makes it out of the desert, however, the girl suddenly and inexplicably disappears, leaving only a length of cord wrapped around Xi'an's finger. Cypher finds himself teleported into the middle of a banquet of Harald Einarson. When Doug is pushed around by some of the Asgardians there, he tries to fight back. Finding the weakling human amusing, they challenge him to fight their serving maid, but he finds that he cannot even lift the sword that they had him. Doug is knocked clear across the room by a single slap, and to the laughter of the men gathered, a slave collar is slapped on him and he is put to work cleaning up after them and serving more food. Wolfsbane ends up in a forest glade where she finds herself being attacked by three Giants, but she is saved by another wolf, who sends the Frost Giants tumbling. She is shocked to find that this white wolf, who goes by the name of Hrimhari and is a prince of his wolf people, can talk and agrees to follow him, feeling herself strongly attracted to him but unsure about how to respond, due to her strict upbringing. In the end, although she enjoys his romantic attentions, she begins to feel herself torn and breaks away in confusion. Warlock finds himself in Hel, where he is low on energy and attacked by a dragon, and he is forced to infect it with the Transmode virus to absorb its energies. Subsequently, Warlock is confronted by Hela, who demands to know who Warlock is and reveals where he is currently situated. The cowardly Warlock decides to flee the scene rather than to remain in a realm of the dead, leaving Hela musing over his nature. Sunspot fares better than most of the other New Mutants. Finding himself in a bar fight after a patron forces an advance on one of the serving maids, he finds that his powers are greatly enhanced in Asgard, thus matching him with any regular Asgardian male. After clearing out the bar of its unruly visitors, Sunspot is made the tavern's bouncer and wins the fancies of the women around, much to his delight. Later on, the Warriors Three enter the tavern to challenge the boy they have heard so much of. The boastful Voltstagg offers Sunspot the challenge of lifting his heavy mass off of a chair. Sunspot take up the challenge and manages to do it, but pulls something in his back. Despite this, he has earned the respect of the Warriors Three, who take him off to party. Magma finds herself before the generosity of some fairies, who give her food and drunk. As she indulges, she begins to feel light-headed and passes out, only noticing at the last moment that these apparently hospitable creatures are really Dark Elves, who proceed to warp her mind and body to make her one of them. Cannonball finds himself in Nidavellir the realm of the Dwarves. There he is spotted by a war party led by Eitri. Sam begins to ask for their help, but their conversation is cut short when Eitri's wife screams out for her husband as the Dwarves' home is under siege by Rock Trolls. Cannonball manages to fight off the invaders, but he is stabbed in the back by one of them while rescuing Eitri's wife and collapses right after the battle is won. For his deed, Sam is welcomed as a true friend by Eitiri and his daughter, who has taken a fancy on Sam, but then they are attacked by a group of Dark Elves and the warped Magma. During the insuring battle, the Fairies are fought back and Magma is taken prisoner. Sam is worried about the transformation that has come of his friend, but Etiri swears to him that his people will try to find some way to restore her to her human form. Mirage finds herself in an open field where she finds a beautiful winged horse caught up in a trap. Feeling horrible for the majestic creature, she begins freeing it and feels some sort of connection being established. Right after freeing the creature, she finds herself surrounded by a hunting party, who tells her to let them slay the horse. Dani refuses, and they attempt to attack her, but are eventually scared off by the arrival of a Valkyrie. Their leader, Mist, is surprised to see that one of their horses would bond to a human from Midgard and asks Dani to join them, to which Dani happily agrees. But while Dani stays with the Valkyrie, she once inadvertently overhears that the Valkyrie are shocked and puzzled that her horse, Brightwind, would bond with a human of Midgard and that the bond must be paid "in blood"; a statement which prompts Dani to depart at once. Back at the fortress of the Enchantress, the mystic becomes tired of waiting for the New Mutants to come and begins torturing Illyana. She decides instead to send her out to capture her teammates, and sucking out the dark half of her soul and manifesting it into a physical form, the Enchantress explains that she is going to send her evil half out to hunt down the New Mutants, and that any damage inflicted on it would transfer over to Illyana. In the meantime, Loki decides to continue his manipulations of Storm, transforming her into an eagle so that she can always be at his side. He goes to visit the Dwarves where Sam has just managed to get Magma to shake off the conditioning on her mind influenced by the Fairies. Loki orders Etiri to create for him a hammer just as powerful as that of his brother Thor. When he spots Cannonball among the Dwarves, Etiri covers by telling Loki that he is an "idiot nephew". Loki is satisfied with this and teleports away, telling Etiri that he expects the hammer soon. Recognizing the transformed Storm and smelling trouble for his friends, Sam decides to take off with Amara. Back at the bar where Sunspot hangs out, Roberto is taken off guard by Magik's Demon form, who easily captures him and makes him her minion. The same happens with Rahne right before Hrimhari's horrified eyes. At the court of Einarson, Cypher lands into some trouble when one of the men maliciously trips him, causing him to spill food all over Harald. Before he can be whipped for it, Illyana arrives with an army of Demon Riders, who slay Harald and attempt to capture Doug. Doug jumps out a nearby window and is reunited with Warlock, who has succeeded in tracking him down. After Warlock is forced to blast Magik, the two flee the scene together and later join up with Xi'an, who has just managed to find her way out of the desert. The three are then forced to confront Illyana, their corrupted friends and their entourage, with the added participation of Sam, Amara and Dani, who chance upon the scene and swiftly join the fight. Cannonball and Magma are instantly captured, but Cypher and Warlock (with Warlock encasing Cypher as a living battlesuit) prevent Karma from being possessed. With the battle fought to a standstill, Karma uses her powers to take control of the Illyana simulacrum, breaking the Enchantress's connection to it and forces it to bring them back to her castle. They make it appear as though Illyana had won, but when the Enchantress comes out to gloat, the reassembled New Mutants reveal their ruse and easily overpower her. Meanwhile, Karma has the demon form of Illyana lead her to the dungeon where she finds Illyana broken and beaten, but when Karma allows the simulacrum to remerge with Illyana, the damage is reversed and she is freed. When the Enchantress teleports down and attacks, the New Mutants overpower her once again and Magik summons S'ym to take her away to Limbo. Realizing that Loki is behind this whole plot and that Storm is still missing, the New Mutants vow to make him pay for what he's done. This story is continued in Uncanny X-Men Annual #9... Brodie's View: "Whoa!," you must be thinking. "This is a New Mutants issue. What the hell is it doing in your X-Men run?" Well, this Giant Sized Special kind of feeds into X-Men Annual #9, and it follows the events of the X-Men/Alpha Flight crossover I did a few days ago (See why I reviewed that now? Huh? Huh?), as it concerns Loki getting revenge for the events of that (he gets a separate revenge on Alpha Flight in their own book, but I won't be reviewing that) crossover, while also trying to create his own replacement for Thor (who was at the time this was released, a frog) out of Storm. However, not only does Loki kidnap Storm, but he kidnaps The New Mutants as well (As Storm had hooked up with them in their own book, aiding them in their battle with the Shadow King), transporting them all of Asgard. While he takes Storm for his own personal project, he leaves the others in the hands of long time Thor villain, The Enchantress (last seen, at least by us, having her face f**ked up by The Lizard on Battleworld in SECRET WARS #12), who was probably going to corrupt all of them for her own usage, however, Magik manages to teleport them all (save for herself, who The Enchantress snatches back) away. They all end up at separate points in Asgard, getting into their own situations/adventures. Some find their time on Asgard to be the answers to their prayers (Sunspot, who becomes the hero he always saw himself as; Wolfbane, who finds love with another wolf shape changer), some find the peace they weren't able to find on Earth (Mirage, who becomes a Valkyrie; Karma, who finds purpose, and loses the massive amount of weight she gained while being possessed by The Shadow King), and some.....don't have that great of a time (Cypher, who finds that he's even more useless there than he was on Earth; Magma, who is tricked into becoming one of the faerie folk). Meanwhile, The Enchantress pulls the Demon Child part out of Magik, and transforms that into a soldier to bring back the other New Mutants. This is successful at first, but the team manages to reunite, and eventually defeat the Dark Child soldier, and then The Enchantress herself. After finding out that Loki is behind all of this, Magik transports The Enchantress to Limbo (and leaves her to the demon, Sym), and the team decides to pay Loki back for what he's done, any way they can. Of course, this is all leading to the X-Men getting involved in the next part, as we'll eventually get our big confrontation with Loki vs. the two teams. However, the lures of Asgard aren't quite through with our young mutants yet, as we'll find out in the second part that not all of the New Mutants want to leave Asgard, as, like I've said, they've become more there than they really were on Earth (and to add to that, the very things that make them hated and hunted on Earth makes them heroes in Asgard). Plus, there is Storm, who is transformed into a female version of Thor, and brainwashed by Loki into thinking that her former friends are now her enemies. We'll definitely see how that plays out in the second part as well. I must say, however, that this is a damn good two part story that actually tops the two part story that inspired it (of course, that might be due to the art of always kick ass artist, Arthur Adams, who does a great job with this two parter, but Claremont also really brings it with this story), and this two parter is definitely one of the highlights of this era, as it's always great to see a team like the X-Men or the New Mutants in a setting more fitting Thor, and how they differ in their reactions to the various beings and threats that reside within that world. In other words, this two parter (Also collected in the X-Men: Asgardian Wars trade paperback) is pretty damn great, and we're not done yet. GRADE: A+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 3, 2017 3:06:49 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men Annual #9"There's No Place Like Home" C over Date: December, 1985 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Arthur Adams Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Loki & Hela Guest Stars: The New Mutants (Mirage, Cannonball, Karma, Magik, Magma, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Cypher, Warlock), Cyclops, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, & Lockheed Official Plot: Story continued from New Mutants Special Edition #1.... Kitty has a nightmare, which Rachel determines is actually a sending from Illyana, and the New Mutants and Storm are in trouble. They suit up, and Phoenix shows off her new costume with Phoenix-emblem. Cyclops zaps them all with Arkon's lightning bolts and they travel to Asgard. Magma is having a daydream about how things used to be at Xavier's, which Cannonball wakes her from and we discover she is now a faerie! They are separated from the rest of the New Mutants, and helping Eitri the smith make a hammer to present to Loki - hopefully allowing them to expose him publicly, and thus thwart his plan. Eitri also gives Cannonball magic armor and sword. The X-Men arrive in Asgard to see some trolls attacking a wolf. They rescue the wolf, only to be greeted by Hela. The goddess of death specially greets Phoenix as her mother's daughter, and Child of Light and Darkness. Elsewhere Cypher, Illyana, Rahne, Dani, and Karma watch Warlock following Storm in eagle form return to Loki. Loki notices Warlock as out of the ordinary, and shoots him with an arrow, causing him to crash. Dani and Cypher go to aid him. We also discover Loki has woven magic, lies, and Storm's desire to regain her powers into control over her. The X-Men split-up, half to enter the city of Asgard, and the other half to follow the wolf-prince in search of his beloved, Rahne. Wolverine, Kitty, and Rachel are chosen to enter the city, the rest after the wolf-prince. Dani retrieves Sunspot from a bar, and begins to exhibit unusual power to cow hardy warriors. When the three of them (including Cypher) catch up to Warlock, Warlock goes berserk at the sight of Dani, and flees with Cypher in tow. The X-Men team following the wolf-prince succeeds, only to be ambushed and defeated by Loki. Loki sends Rahne and the wolf-prince, bound by magical collars, to find Magma with a troupe of Rock Trolls. The X-Men try to escape, and Rogue almost defeats Loki, but the arrival of Storm turns the tables. In Asgard city, the infiltration X-Men team finds Cannonball and Magma, followed by Dani and Sunspot. Suddenly they are ambushed by Rock Trolls, who grab Magma and retreat, but not before Cannonball frees Rahne. Also aiding in the battle is Warlock/Cypher who swoop in as the Enterprise. Wolverine gets badly poisoned in the battle. The banquet begins, and the free X-Men and New Mutants are mostly in attendance. Elsewhere, those not in attendance: Kitty, Rahne, and Cannonball; free the other X-Men just after Karma knocks out Illyana and herself. Back at the banquet, Loki starts his speech-making as Storm arrives, and the X-Men suddenly attack. Storm is given the hammer by Loki, and blasts Wolverine. His courage under her assault finally convinces her that he is the real thing. But then Hela appears to claim his soul since he is near death, but Dani opposes her and the X-Men offer battle - she flees. Storm attacks Loki but is repulsed. Then Kitty gives Loki an ultimatum - give up or the X-Men disperse and spread the tale of Loki's perfidy all over Asgard, ruining his aspiration to rule it. At the end, the X-Men take the 'return everything to the way it was' deal, and go home, with the exception of Brightwind who does return with Dani. Brodie's View: We come to the second part of our little kick ass "Mutants in Asgard" story, and the rest of the X-Men finally get involved (Due to Kitty Pryde's connection to Magik, which shows the team what's been happening to Storm and the New Mutants in Asgard). With the help of Arkon's (Remember him from a few Annuals back?) magic teleportation arrows, the team makes their way to Asgard, and quickly find some of the New Mutants. However, they quickly learn that a few of the youths have changed since they came to this magic land, and not all of them are in such a hurry to leave (Sunspot, Mirage, & Wolfsbane). Heck, a few of them (Mainly Magik) have been corrupted by the dark magics that also reside in this land. To make things worse, Storm is still under the control of Loki, who has brainwashed her into thinking she's the new Goddess of Thunder (which plays a lot off of her wish to have her actual powers again). To make things even worse, there's conflicts within the team itself, namely as it relates to Cyclops (who has briefly rejoined the team, ditching his pregnant wife quite a bit to do so.....of course, we'll go into more detail on that in #201's review) and Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, who both takes the mantel and wears a derivative costume of the one Scott Summer's late love, Jean Grey, wore. But in Rachel's mind, why shouldn't she wear it, or take the mantel of the Phoenix? She is, after all, the daughter of Scott and Jean; from an alternate future, sure, but, hey, in her mind, same thing. Plus, she still hadn't revealed to Cyclops who she really was (although in this issue, Hela, the queen of the Asgardian version of Hell, basically calls her out on being the daughter of the original Phoenix, even though Scott doesn't sell it at all), so, there's quite a bit of tension between the two of them. To add to all of this, one of their heavy hitters, Wolverine, gets bitten and poisoned by a dragon early on, and spends the rest of the issue trying to fight off death as long as he can (Mirage, who has become a Valkyrie, and henceforth can see death visions over people who are soon to die, sees one over Wolverine), and during the final confrontation with Loki, the brainwashed Storm almost ends up finishing the clawed mutant once and for all, but it is him almost near death that winds up shocking Storm out of Loki's brainwashing, and the two teams attack Loki. Finally, they battle him to a stand still (Well, Kitty basically blackmails him into giving up, in a great scene), and Loki basically offers to send them all home as they were, as long as all of them agree to go back. This ends up being a tough decision for some of them, but in the end, all agree to go back, and Loki begrudgingly sends them back (which is where we'll find them at the beginning of #200, teleported to France, where Magneto is being tried by the World Court). Wow! What an Annual. And there's a whole lot of stuff I didn't mention, but if you've ever wanted to see The X-Men in a D&D type of setting, this was your Annual, and both Claremont and artist Arthur Adams does a fantastic job capturing all of this. This was a story that ended up having some long term ramifications, especially as it concerned a few of the New Mutants, as Mirage (Dani Moonstar) gets to keep the winged horse she found on Asgard, as well as some of the abilities she gained by becoming one of the Valkyries. In addition, where it concerns the X-Men, this was one of the last adventures for the Classic Team of the Post Byrne era (well, and Rachel, but she was introduced at the end of the Byrne era, so.....). They would remain together for #200, but that's more situational, and once we get into the 200's, things slowly start to fall apart for that team. By the time we reach #220, we're dealing with almost an entirely different X-Men team. Is that a good thing? It's debatable, but it's most definitely different, as we'll discuss those changes as they happen. But for now, enjoy one of the last of the big adventure stories for the Classic X-Men in this era. The shattering of this unit begins in #200, as the team(s) lose their father figure. GRADE: A+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 4, 2017 0:20:43 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #200"The Trial of Magneto!" Cover Date: December, 1985 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Fenris Guest Stars: Cyclops, Magneto, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, The Starjammers, and The New Mutants Official Plot: Magneto is escorted in handcuffs to his trial. A reporter retells what has brought us to this point and how Freedom Force captured the "Master of Magnetism". Sir James Jaspers, the English Prime Minister is the prosecution in the trial while Gabrielle Haller and Professor X head up the defense. Meanwhile, on a boat in the Mediterranean, the Von Strucker twins toast as they watch the trial begin on television. That night in Paris, the X-Men and New Mutants are suddenly teleported from Asgard where they left moments ago. They find out that they were brought to France and decide to look for Professor X. They begin to be seen and Phoenix hides them with a blinding light and telepathic block from the onlookers. In Poland, someone suddenly attacks a Red Army base and sets it ablaze. They leave the mark of "Free Magneto - X-Men". The report on the news of the incident awakens Professor X who suddenly cannot breathe. Cyclops enters and asks if the Professor is okay. He realizes that he is sick and possibly dying. The trial for Magneto begins the next day. As the prosecution begins their opening statement, the unknown terrorists strike again in Germany. Gabrielle begins her opening statement. Meanwhile, the X-Men try to find who is doing these acts in their name. They decide to split up and wait for an attack and then catch their terrorists. It turns out that they don't have to wait long. The terrorists attack a hospital and Nightcrawler and Colossus are first on the scene. They save the patients of the hospital and Colossus puts out the flames. They are still blamed for the attack and the police try to stop them. They escape. At the X-Mansion, Madelyne Pryor talks to her unborn baby about how Cyclops has not called her to check on her. Suddenly Corsair and Lilandra appear and they are looking for Professor X. Madelyne tells them he is in Paris and they go back to the stargate to transport there. As they leave Madelyne begins to go into labor. They appear at the stargate and Hepzibah radios them that the Starjammer is under attack by Shi'ar ships. Corsair and Lilandra decide to go into the stargate to go to France and tell Binary to run if the gate collapses. In France, the trial goes on and the soviet admiral that fired nukes on Magneto's island testifies against Magneto. The X-Men use Phoenix's power to track down the terrorists to a boat on the Seine River. Magneto tries to defend himself against the prosecutions accusations. The X-Men find the terrorists and attack them. They realize that the "terrorists" they are fighting are a diversion. In the courtroom, the Von Strucker twins, Andrea and Andreas, attack to avenge their father. They destroy the courtroom and the battle goes into the basement. The Professor breaks the twins bond and they are powerless. Sir James Jaspers starts to attack Andrea Strucker with a brick and Magneto saves her. The judge sees Magneto's humanity. Charles begins to have a heart attack. The twins break free and break the wall and the river floods in. Magneto saves Charles from death and gets him above ground. There Professor X tells him to take over his school and teach the New Mutants and look after the X-Men. Magneto wearily says he'll try. Lilandra and Corsair arrive to take him to be saved. The judge says the court of public opinion is going to judge the X-Men and Magneto now. Phoenix says Professor X is "gone" and that she cannot "find" him when she tries to locate him telepathically. Magneto, crying, finally tells himself he will follow Xavier's dream and take over his school. Brodie's View: Despite all the guest stars and hoopla, this, the 200th issue, really focuses on two characters: Charles Xaiver and Magneto. Since #192's beating at the hands of an Anti-Mutant mob, Charles Xaiver has been steadily declining from the wounds suffered from that beating (and the fact that he wouldn't really let himself heal, as he still has been trying to be the field leader for the team he's been acting as since SECRET WARS, and then Storm leaving for a time), while Magneto, who has completed the face turn that's been building for him since the ending of #150, has become somewhat of an ally for the team. However, now the world court has to judge whether his newfound heroism (well, in the current era) is genuine, and how much he should be punished for the crimes of his villainous past, and that, too, is a major plot point for this issue (and the added bonus of the Von Strucker twins, AKA Fenris, finally making their play for the Master of Magnetism for what he did to their father years ago). Into all of this, the X-Men and New Mutants return from Asgard, teleported into France (where the trial is taking place), after the events of X-Men Annual #9. They quickly find themselves on the defensive, as anti mutant terrorist groups are setting off bombs throughout France, and pinning the blame on the X-Men. The team (after sending the New Mutants home) try their best to stop the terrorists, but quickly realize that the terrorist plot was merely a diversion to keep the team away from the trial, so Fenris could make their move, and make it they do, quickly destroying the courtroom, ending the trial (which was starting to tilt in Magneto's favor), and causing Xaiver to have a massive heart attack. After the major attack, Xaiver lies dying, and makes Magneto promise to take over his position in the running of the school, which Magneto begrudgingly accepts. That looks to be it for the Professor, but then Lilandra and the Starjammers suddenly appear, taking Xaiver with them, as they have the ability to fix him up (at the cost of possibly never being able to return him). We leave with the status quo drastically changed, as now the long time father figure the two teams have had guiding them, is gone, and in his place is a man who, at times, has been one of their most hated enemies. Of course, the ripples this creates leads into the shattering of the team as we know it over the next couple of years, as an X-Men led (somewhat) by Magneto doesn't really run as smoothly as it did under Charles Xaiver. However, this isn't really Magneto's fault, as the threats they face in the next year or so kind of compound on them, and new, darker threats show up; ones that don't play by the old set of rules. It forces the team to take a far darker turn, and they're not the same (literally) team by #220 that they were here. As for Charles Xaiver, we won't see him for a long time in the pages of this book; not until near the end of this run, when the team has been destroyed and reformed yet again. And Magneto, well, part of the darkening in this book kind of takes its toll on him as well, eventually leading him away from the X-Men, and back into more of a Neutral Good role, then a True Neutral role, and then finally back to being a Heel again by the time Claremont ends his run (which I'm sure wasn't Chris' wishes on the subject, but rather the wishes of Marvel comics itself, who wanted Magneto back in a clearly defined Bad Guy role). However, all of this doesn't happen for quite a while, and while Magneto is acting the part of the hero, he actually does do as well as he really could under the circumstances. However, leaving all that behind, and leading into the main conflict of next issue, the one other major event that happens is Madelyne Pryor-Summers going into labor, which we will see the fall out of in the next issue; a fall out that will reaffirm the leadership role of one of the X-Men, and send one away from the team (and on a far different, and highly unpopular, at least relating to the character, path) for a long time. A power vacuum will be filled, and a character will be introduced that will play a HUGE role in the late era of Claremont's run, as well as many years beyond it. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 4, 2017 1:50:43 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #201"Duel" Cover Date: January, 1986 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Rick Leonardi Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: None Guest Stars: Cyclops, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, The Starjammers (with Charles Xaiver), Uatu the Watcher, Ronald Reagan, Nathan Summers (The Future Cable, first appearance) and The New Mutants Official Plot: The X-Men have returned to their headquarters to find that Scott's wife Madelyne had given birth to their son Christopher while they were gone. As the X-Men ogle over the newly born child, Storm takes a moment to talk to Madelyne. Noticing that under the thing veneer of joy over her new child she is angry, Storm asks Maddy to open up. She explains that the whole time they were in France, all the X-Men called to check on her except for Cyclops. Storm tries to explain that Scott has always been private with he emotions and asks her to be patient with him. Meanwhile, Kitty and Rachel are left alone with Christopher and Rachel is absolutely in love with her new kid brother. Kitty tells Rachel that she can't keep the truth about her origins away from Scott forever, however the two take the moment look into young Christopher's mind with a psi-link. Rachel then promises that she will tell Scott soon about her origins and vows to her little brother that he will grow up in a better world than the one that she lived in. While outside the Mansion, Scott thinks about the fact that he's a father now and curses Charles Xavier for not being there to share his joy. Lightyears away, the Starjammer has been crippled upon it's exit from the Sol system and is in poor shape. Charles feels terrible that they risked their lives to save him. The prognosis is bad, without their warp drive they are stuck and unable to return to Earth, and with their enemies hot on the trail, they may not be able to return Charles to Earth ever again. In privacy with Lilandra, Xavier expresses his doubts about leaving the X-Men and New Mutants in the charge of Magneto and asks her if he made the right decision. She reassures him, and tells him that she did not want to lose him either. Back on Earth, while Cannonball tries hard to write his term paper on a computer that just won't cooperate, the X-Men are outside playing a game of baseball. When Kitty notices Sam's troubles she walks away from the game and fixes his computer before heading off to take a shower. She runs into Storm who suggests that she take a shower down in the locer room because Scott and Madelyne are having a fight upstairs in her loft. Upstairs, Scott and Madelyne are arguing over the fact that he wants to stay to lead the X-Men because he doesn't trust Magneto. Madelyne does not want to give up her life for the team and calls him on his responsibility as a father. With their argument going nowhere, Storm steps in and suggests that it be decided by a duel between her and Cyclops to see who leads the X-Men, a challenge that Scott accepts. Storm and Cyclops arrive just as the New Mutants are finishing up a training session. When the novice students hear that the two senior leaders of the X-Men are going to duel it out they all go up to the observation deck to watch. While the X-Men and New Mutants watch on, Madelyne waits upstairs in Storm's loft hoping that her husband loses but is willing to go home without him. Meanwhile, at the Grey family home, Rachel Summers returns to the home that in her timeline at least, is where her grandparents live. She has come back to use her powers to repair the holomatrix globe she shattered earlier, and also leave a portion of her essence as well so that even though she will not be born in this world she will be remembered. As she is repairing it, a flare of energy rises from the place where Dark Phoenix died on the moon months ago and helps her repair the globe. Leaving the globe behind, she vows that while the little girl she was may never exist on this world she exists none the less and she will make a mark for herself. The repaired globe that she leaves behind has not only the image of Jean Grey, but that of herself. Brodie's View: While last issue was really the story of two characters, this issue, despite a bunch of side things, is really the story of one, and his last hurrah with the X-Men until the very end of the Claremont run, and that is Cyclops. This is really the story of the Big Man on Campus returning to the place where he sowed his oats at, after going out in the world for a while, quickly realizing that things have changed, and that this isn't really his domain anymore. While there's quite a bit more complexity to it than that, that is the story of this issue in a nutshell. Of course, in the case of Cyclops, this is really the issue that changes everything for him, or at least kicks that change into high gear. We've gotten little inklings over the past couple of issues, as it relates to the marriage of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, that things weren't sunshine and roses in Summersville. This is made worse in this issue, as we can tell from our opening image (The X-Men gathered around Scott and Madelyne's new born son, Nathan Christopher Summers (AKA The future Cable, which made this issue quite expensive to get for a while), and the look on Cyclops' face in that opening image kind of tells the whole story. It's the look of a man trapped in domesticity, and realizing that he hates it. This fuels his need to reclaim his place as the leader of the X-Men, which sets him on a collision course with Storm, who has recently come to peace with the fact that she can remain the leader of the team even without her powers, and now is just as driven to protect her spot as Cyclops is to claim it. Of course, this doesn't sit very well with Scott's wife, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, who knows Scott's trapped animal actions for what it is, and secretly roots for Storm to beat him (which she does, using skill and stealth to defeat Cyclops' formidable power and battle knowledge). Of course, later, it is retcon revealed that Madelyne subconsciously used hidden powers to ensure that Storm would win this fight, but I'll get to all of that in a second. The point is, Storm wins, Cyclops loses, and he realizes his time with the X-Men is over. This leads into a major change for Cyclops that affects both the various characters around him, and the way the character is even portrayed for quite a while. See, during the last two months, we've seen the discovery of a mysterious cocoon that has been sitting in the bottom of Jamaica Bay in the pages of both THE AVENGERS and FANTASTIC FOUR books receptively. That cocoon is opened to reveal the body of Jean Grey, who was thought to have died at the end of UXM #137, but in a "wonderful" piece of retconning, instead of the Phoenix actually bonding with Jean, it, instead, took her form, allowing the real Jean Grey to recover in said cocoon from the radiation injuries suffered trying to save the lives of the team by piloting a ship back to Earth in UXM #100/101. Once she comes to, Jean (who still thinks it's the era UXM #100 took place in, wants to contact Scott and the rest of the X-Men, but Reed Richards plays it safe, and contacts the other original team members (other than Cyclops) instead. The original team (Beast, Angel, and Ice Man) eventually reunite Cyclops and Jean, and they all eventually form the X-Spin Off team, X-Factor. Of course by doing that, the writers basically had to have Cyclops drop his wife and kid like a hot potato (He does eventually try to go back to apologize, but they are long gone, which we see the other half of later in the X-Men book). Later, he is reunited with Nathan, and as for Maddie....well, that all gets settled as well, but not in the way people were expecting when it initially happened. Point is, Cyclops comes off as a selfish, unlikable douche in this issue (well, more than usual), and for the near future, until being somewhat redeemed by INFERNO, but in kind of a equally f**ked up way (But we'll get to that when we get to INFERNO). We won't really see Cyclops in this book for a long time (other than brief appearances here and there), and he won't rejoin the team, as previously stated, until about the end of Claremont's run, where Chris was kind of forced to return everything to the status quo in order to make it easier for the creative teams that would replace him. Speaking of new creative teams, or at the very least, creative teams that would be handling the X-Men, other than Claremont, the next review concerns an X-Men comic done for charity (in the age of "We Are the World," which this special issue also tackles the same problem of poverty in Africa), and the various writer/artist team ups on this book were drool worthy then, but seem absolutely INSANE to think about now, and may make some of you go looking for this book. Interested to know what I'm talking about? Tune in later, and be prepared to be wowed. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 4, 2017 2:52:05 GMT -5
Heroes for Hope: Starring The X-Men Cover Date: December, 1985 Story By: Chris Claremont, Ann Nocenti, Bernie Wrightson, Jim Starlin, and Jim Shooter Writer/s: Stan Lee, Ed Bryant, Louise Simonson, Stephen King, Bill Mantlo, Alan Moore, Ann Nocenti, Harlan Ellison, Chris Claremont, Jo Duffy, Mike Baron, Dennis O'Neil, George (R.R) Martin, Bruce Jones, Steve Englehart, Jim Shooter, Mike Grell, & Archie Goodwin Artist/s: John Romita Jr., John Buscema, Brent Anderson, John Byrne, Bernie Wrightson, Charlie Vess, Richard Corbin, Mike Kaluta, Frank Miller, Brian Bolland, John Bolton, Steve Rude, Bret Blevins, Herb Trimpe, Gray Morrow, Bob Layton, Joe Rubinstein, Steve Leialoha, & Walt Simonson Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers/Phoenix II, & Rogue (Magneto) Villain/s: Hunger (Both a created entity and the real problem) Official Plot: The comic book opens with Rachel Summers poking her head out of the X-Mansion to grab the mail, only to be confronted with a horrible sight. The X-Men rush to the entrance to see that the mansion has somehow been transported to the middle of a barren desert. After retrieving the comatose mail carrier, Wolverine senses that all is not right, and claws him in the face. But it turns out that it was all an illusion. The X-Men go back to business as usual after this fiasco, but then things begin to go wrong. One by one, a series of psychic assaults is launched on each member of the team, as they are subjected to their greatest subconscious fears. First Colossus (with art by Byrne and Austin) is mocked by steely apparitions of his teammates. This is more than he can bear, and he curls up in a fetal position. Kitty Pryde, as told by King, Wrightson, and inker Jeff Jones, goes to grab something from the refrigerator only to be surprised by an evil Death-type being in a cloak. He exposes Kitty's great fear of going hungry. As told by Bill Mantlo, Charles Vess, and Jon J Muth, Nightcrawler finds Kitty turned into a wizened old hag, which leads to his own experience, focusing on Christian imagery and moral dilemmas. Kurt is offered the chance to sacrifice himself so that one other person might breath the air and eat the food he would. He declines, and thinks himself a coward. Thanks to Moore and Richard Corben, the next to fall prey to the spiritual onslaught is Magneto, who is offered a glimpse of a world where his dream of mutant supremacy has been realized — and that it's not all it's cracked up to be. Rachel is swept back to her past, where she's confronted by a horde of mutant-hunting doppelgänger Hounds, reminding her of her part in that dystopian future. Wolverine, by Ellison, Miller, and inker Sienkiewicz, must confront the tension between his human and animal sides. Claremont, Brian Bolland, and P. Craig Russell depict Storm confronted by a carnival ringmaster, who traps her in a house of mirrors. She is shown various images of her possible self, each one more distorted than the last. Ororo gets drawn into the crazy carnival games, and in the first concrete expression of the story's theme, she realizes that it is wrong to waste food. Having defeated the psychic attacker by feeding illusory cream pies to illusory people, Storm returns to her teammates for discussion of what has transpired. Courtesy of Rachel's powers, the X-Men track the psychic presence that's been harassing them to the continent of Africa. They fly the Blackbird to the source, where they are met with horrible scenes of deprivation. Before long, a fleet of C-130 Hercules transport aircraft arrive, full of supplies, which the X-Men help distribute. That night, Rogue becomes so frustrated that she has not had her turn of psychic punishment yet that she decides to hunt down the entity herself. She sneaks around the campsite stealing her teammates' powers. Using the psychic powers of Rachel Summers, the Rogue hybrid traces the presence of the X-Men's harasser to a desert hideaway. Upon entering the crypt, Rogue is attacked by the avatar of the psychic being. Things are not going well for Rogue when Storm appears to give aid. The "entity" is revealed to be a primeval god-force that feeds on human despair. One by one, the X-Men awake from their Rogue-induced comas and join in the battle. The X-Men finally defeat the entity and return to their campsite, where they resume the enormous task of feeding the starving refugees. They realize their battle with the entity was a metaphor for the fight against famine, and indeed any human struggle. Kitty expresses fear that the entity survived the battle and is ready to strike again, but Wolverine comforts her with words of hope. Brodie's View: Okay, barring the plot, which has an entity that is seemingly created by the misery in Africa, torment most of the X-Men until the team travels to Africa to find the entity, and find it and defeat it they do, but the problem of starvation in Africa still remains, the real star of this book is the talent assembled to write and draw it. I mean, look at that f**king list of talent above; this was the "We Are the World" of talent when it was done, and now it just boggles the mind even more to see some of the names that were involved with this. Of course, there's people like Alan Moore and Frank Miller, both of whom were kind of on the outs with Marvel (Moore still is) during this period, and, hey, any time you get Alan Moore to write something like The X-Men is a big deal. You also have classic names like Stan Lee, John Buscema, and Herb Trimpe involved. In addition, you have just great/big writers period involved with this: Harlan Ellison, George (R.R) Martin (That's right, the "Game of Thrones" guy wrote The X-Men for a few pages at least), and Stephen King.....yes, THAT Stephen King. Like I said, a drool worthy list of talent assembling for a good cause. Saying all that, I guess the question remains then, is it any good? I would definitely say that the first half of the book is, as this "Hunger" entity attacks each of the X-Men (other than Rogue, but that is all according to its plan) in their weak points, or in some cases, just attacks them. I would say the Stephen King and Alan Moore (of course) bits are the best parts of this book. Not saying that the rest of it is shit; far from it, but those two writers are just on another level, and their work on even something like this shows that off perfectly. The story kind of takes a dip in its second half, when the heroes actually go to Africa to try and find this entity, and wind up instead experiencing the very real misery suffered by the starving. It seems that the writers were kind of clueless on how to make this more than what it was, and the whole last fight with the "Hunger" entity definitely lacks the impact it should have had, despite the great buildup for it. However, that first half is most certainly great enough to make this issue worth seeking out, and, shit, if you can pick it up for cheap.....good for you, as the involvement of talent that went on to blow up huge afterwards (George R.R Martin) might cause it to jack up in price eventually. For now, one can probably find it for less than $5, and it's definitely worth that, if for nothing else to see people you would never imagine writing/drawing The X-Men, writing and drawing The X-Men. GRADE: B+
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