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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 9, 2020 0:42:08 GMT -5
X-Men #14"Fingers on the Trigger (X-Cutioner's Song Pt. 3)"Cover Date: Nov, 1992 Writer: Fabian Nicieza Artist: Andy Kubert Feature Characters: The X-Men (Blue Team---Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Gambit, Psylocke, Rogue, & Jubilee) (Gold Team---Storm, Jean Grey, Colossus, Archangel, Iceman, & Bishop) (Professor X) Villain: Stryfe (Behind the Scenes), Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, The Mutant Liberation Front (Reaper, Forearm, & Zero), & The Dark Riders (Foxbat, Gauntlet, Psynapse, Tusk, Barrage, & Harddrive) Special Guests: X-Factor (Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Multiple Man, Wolfsbane, Quicksilver, & Val Cooper), X-Force (Cannonball, Boom Boom, Warpath, Siryn, Sunspot, Shatterstar, Feral, & Rictor), Cable, "Professor," Moira MacTaggart, & Stevie Hunter Official Plot:The Beast reveals to Storm, Havok and Valerie Cooper that Professor X is going to die if they cannot find a cure. They inform their teammates - Wolverine, Archangel, Iceman, Polaris, Psylocke, Multiple Man, Rogue, Gambit, Quicksilver, Colossus, Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, Jubilee and Bishop, before breaking into two teams – one team led by Storm to find the missing Cyclops and Jean Grey, and another team led by Havok to find X-Force, while Bishop and Jubilee remain at the Mansion. In Panama, Reaper and Forearm of the Mutant Liberation Front meet Mr Sinister - who gives them Cyclops and Jean Grey, in a trade for some mysterious genetic matrix, which Sinister boasts will shake mutantkind forever more. Some of X-Force are in a stolen IPAC, after their run-in with X-Factor, and crash in Texas. Meanwhile, in Egypt, the Dark Riders awaken their master - Apocalypse - from his rejuvenation chamber, though it is too soon, however the Dark Riders inform him that trouble is afoot, as Cyclops and Jean Grey were kidnapped by his Horsemen, and in his name. The members of the X-Men and X-Factor are hesitant about going after X-Force, but know they need to get to Cable. At that moment, Cable returns to Graymalkin, and the Professor fills him in on events that have transpired since Xavier was shot by someone posing as he. At the Mansion, Bishop and Jubilee discuss matters, before an intruder is detected - it is Mr Sinister and he has taken Valerie Cooper and Stevie Hunter hostage. The X-Men and X-Factor land in Texas, and Psylocke is quickly taken out by X-Force, as the full team has arrived to defend themselves Brodie's View:Unlike the last issue, we get no major battle here, but we do get a lot of set up for a fight that will take place in the next part of this story, as well as a lot of business happening behind the scenes (and in some cases, very much in the forefront) that will set up the direction this story will go from here on out, and in one case, beyond this storyline and into one that will run for the rest of the 1990's. I'll get into that last bit in the last part of this Crossover, as it's an event that one wouldn't think much of at this point, but will factor in HUGE as it relates to the various X-Teams, and to be fair, mutant kind as a while, for years to come. I'll give a bit of a hint, and I'll say that it involves the deal Stryfe made with Mr. Sinister for kidnapping Cyclops and Jean Grey while posing as Apocalypse. Speaking of the semi immortal mutant, Apocalypse is pulled out of his resurrection chamber early by his Dark Riders (a group of mutants that test different mutants to see if they are "worthy/strong enough" to survive in Apocalypse's Darwinist ideal world). When informed that his Horsemen are being used by other villains, he isn't too happy about it. Of course, things are going to get much worse before they get better for ole' Apocalypse, as Stryfe holds a major grudge against the blue and grey mutant for his shitty upbringing in the future, and we'll see the confrontation between the two baddies in the very near future. Speaking of mutants that arrive late to the party to find out some dirty deeds are being done/have been done in their name, we get the first actual appearance of Cable in this storyline, as he returns from the future to learn about what Stryfe did while posing as him. Needless to say, he realizes right away that he is now a hunted man, and we will see this playing out in a major way as well as this story continues. However, first things first, as the two X-Men teams and X-Factor team up to catch Cable, find Scott and Jean, and most importantly for our part, take down X-Force, as the "children of Xaiver" reason that this might lead them to Cable, who up until recently had led the former New Mutants. In other words, we're going to get that throw down fight a lot sooner than I'm sure X-Force wanted. This was a pretty cool issue, that, once again, while not loaded with action, had a lot of character and story stuff going on. I would say that while Peter David is probably the best writer overall of the three writers spearheading this crossover event, Fabian Nicieza is probably the best writer of the three when it comes to writing X-Books, as he does a great job keeping to the classic Claremont formula, while also making things feel very fresh and hip (at least for the time) with the dialogue. Plus, as we'll see when we get to the stuff with Stryfe and Apocalypse, he definitely has that bombastic writing style that is perfect for this kind of story. However, as we see during certain moments in this issue, he doesn't lose the human factor with these characters. I'll add to this that Andy Kubert is definitely the best artist, as far as having solid art that fits the story being told, of the the four major artists involved in this story. That's not to crack on the other three artists either; all are solid, and some would go on to become great as the years went on, but Andy Kubert was already there, most likely due to his pedigree, and he definitely knew how to draw the X-Characters dynamically. In the next part of this story, we get a heck of a lot of fighting and action, as not only will a nice chunk of the X-Men and X-Factor take on X-Force, but we'll also see Bishop taking on Mr. Sinister for the life of the comatose Charles Xaiver. (Double ) GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 9, 2020 23:43:57 GMT -5
X-Force #16"Jacklighting (X-Cutioner's Song Pt. 4)"Cover Date: Nov, 1992 Writer: Fabian Nicieza Artist: Greg Capullo Feature Characters: X-Force (Cannonball, Boom Boom, Warpath, Siryn, Sunspot, Shatterstar, Feral, & Rictor) Villain: Stryfe, Mr. Sinister, The Mutant Liberation Front (Forearm, & Zero), & The Horsemen of Apocalypse (Death & Famine) Special Guests: The X-Men (Blue Team---Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Gambit, Psylocke, Rogue, & Jubilee) (Gold Team---Storm, Jean Grey, Colossus, Archangel, Iceman, & Bishop) (Professor X) X-Factor (Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Multiple Man, Wolfsbane, Quicksilver, & Val Cooper), Cable, "Professor," & Stevie Hunter Official Plot:The X-Men and X-Factor ask X-Force to surrender - but they are not willing to, and the battle begins as Feral leads the attack. Tensions are high as Siryn and Multiple Man battle, and Rictor and Wolfsbane fight. Boom-Boom, Warpath, Rictor and Shatterstar are taken down, while Cannonball, Siryn, Feral and Sunspot escape into the woods. Wolverine eventually manages to track down the escaped X-Force members, who are then surrounded by the X-Men and X-Factor. They are forced to surrender, and loaded into the Blackbird, with tensions still running high. Meanwhile Storm leads Beast, Iceman, Archangel, Colossus and Quicksilver as they track down Apocalypse. They are met by two of his Horsemen - Caliban and Famine - who are easily defeated. A holographic projection of Sinister reveals that it was he who is responsible for kidnapping Cyclops and Jean Grey, not Apocalypse, At the Mansion, Sinister holds Valerie Cooper and Stevie Hunter hostage, though he is confronted by Bishop and Jubilee, before Sinister leaves a note for Valerie, revealing who really shot Professor X. At a safe-house, Cable prepares for battle, donning armor and collecting weapons as he prepares to find out who framed him. Jean Grey and Cyclops are brought before the man known as Stryfe - who calls them “mother” and “father” and welcomes them to the end of tomorrow. Brodie's View:We finally get our all out fight between a good chunk of the X-Men Blue Team (Minus The Beast, who is teaming up with the Gold Team due to a good chunk of that team having former X-Factor members, as they had more experience dealing with Apocalypse....and Cyclops, who along with Jean Grey are prisoners of Stryfe, who reveals his true form to the two X-Men) and X-Factor (Minus Quicksilver, who is also teaming up with the Gold Team) versus X-Force, and while the former New Mutants put up a decent fight for a while, the outcome is never in doubt, as the double threat of numbers and experience soon allows the two X-Teams to take out X-Force. There is a mix of feelings between the X-Men and X-Factor teams over having to do this; some are very conflicted, as they feel that X-Force shouldn't have to suffer for the crimes of their former leader, while some of the members (mostly Wolverine, who takes the fight deadly serious; at one point he runs Shatterstar through with his claws ) take it to X-Force as if they were fighting their deadliest enemies. Meanwhile, Cable, who is seeing the chaos breaking out around him, gears up for war with as many guns and ammunition as he can carry. Of course, as we'll see, it will take more than guns and ammo to defeat Stryfe, but in the meantime, I will be honest and say that there will be a LOT of shooting taking place over the course of this story, as this still is the early 90's. ( ) Speaking of which, we get a continuation of the confrontation teased last issue between Bishop and Mr. Sinister, who has somehow invaded the X-Mansion. Bishop blows a hole clean through Sinister's head, only for Sinister to completely no sell it and wreck the future X-Cop. He then does something very Mr. Sinister-ish, and leaves the name of who is behind all of this, betraying the very person he kidnapped Scott and Jean for at the beginning of the story (or manipulated Apocalypse's Horsemen to do it for him). He also leaves a hologram for the Gold X-Men team (plus Beast and Quicksilver) after they run through the Horsemen like Taco Bell through my digestive system, telling them that Apocalypse is innocent of Cyclops and Jean's kidnapping. Sinister probably thinks he's being super devious turning on Stryfe like he does in this issue, but Stryfe already screwed Sinister (and the rest of mutant kind, but we'll get to this at the end of the crossover) over with the canister he traded Scott and Jean for. Of course, being that Stryfe has kind of planned a lot of this out, he probably figured Sinister would betray him and decided to betray him before he could be betrayed. That's one thing I do love about this storyline. There's a lot of villains turning on each other, even to the point of helping the heroes stop the main villain behind all of this. So, yeah, we get a LOT of action in this issue, paying off a lot of the story set up we saw in the last part. Fabian Nicieza gets the best end of things with this crossover, as he gets back to back parts to be able to play off things he set up in the previous part directly. Of course, this is X-Force's book, so, they (as well as Cable) kind of get the focus more than they have so far in this story. Unfortunately, they'll end up sitting the next few parts out for the next part, as they will be temporary prisoners of the X-Men/X-Factor. However, this will change as Stryfe and his mechanizations are revealed over the next third of this story. I will also say, before we move on, that Greg Capullo does a pretty solid job as artist, although, I will say that this is pretty early on in his career. His art will get a LOT better when he makes the jump to Image several months from this, as he will replace Todd McFarlane as the artist on SPAWN. Still, it definitely fits the more gritty feel of X-FORCE here. This was yet another solid part of this story, but we're only about a third of the way through at this point. In the next part, we will see Stryfe and his plans start to be revealed, while we get some strange alliances being formed to battle Stryfe. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 10, 2020 22:48:10 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #295"Familiar Refrain (X-Cutioner's Song Pt. 5)"Cover Date: Dec, 1992 Writer: Scott Lobdell Artist: Brandon Peterson Feature Characters: The X-Men (Blue Team---Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Gambit, Psylocke, Rogue, & Jubilee) (Gold Team---Storm, Jean Grey, Colossus, Archangel, Iceman, & Bishop) (Professor X) Villain: Stryfe (Behind the Scenes), Apocalypse, The Mutant Liberation Front (Forearm, & Zero---On Television Screen Only)), & The Horsemen of Apocalypse (Death, Famine, & War) Special Guests: X-Factor (Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Multiple Man, Wolfsbane, Quicksilver, & Val Cooper), X-Force (Cannonball, Boom Boom, Warpath, Siryn, Sunspot, Shatterstar, Feral, & Rictor), Cable, "Professor," & Moira MacTaggart Official Plot:A weakened Apocalypse makes his way to one of his old safe-houses, where Storm, Beast, Iceman, Archangel, Colossus and Quicksilver are waiting for him, his Horsemen defeated at their hands. The X-Men believe Apocalypse knows where the missing Cyclops and Jean Grey are. Apocalypse battles Storm and her squad, and after absorbing energies from his old base to re-power him, he teleports away, determined to find out who has set up this “game” he now finds himself involved in. At the Mansion, Jubilee yells at X-Force, who are now imprisoned in the Danger Room. Havok finds Polaris upset at the way they have imprisoned X-Force, while Psylocke promises to the Professor that she will put him out of his misery if technology cannot cure him. Valerie Cooper reveals to the remaining members of the X-Men and X-Factor that Sinister informed her Stryfe was responsible for the assassination attempt on Xavier. Jean Grey finds herself tormented by Stryfe, ever cryptic as to why he has captured her. Wolverine and Bishop, meanwhile, have journeyed to Department K in Canada, where they are attempting to find information on Cable’s safe houses so they can apprehend him. Havok and Gambit meet with Cannonball, and after much discussion, Cannonball agrees to help them track down Stryfe. Cable arrives at Department K as he wants information on tracking down Stryfe - but is confronted by Wolverine and Bishop. Brodie's View:We begin the next third of this story with a NICE fight between a majority of the Gold Team of the X-Men (Minus Jean Grey and Adding The Beast and Quicksilver) battling a weakened (as he had been awakened early from his healing chamber, where he had been recovering since his last battle with the previous X-Factor and the Inhumans in X-FACTOR #68) Apocalypse, and despite being outnumbered and half dead....Apocalypse kicks their asses with little trouble. Of course, it probably didn't hurt that the house the X-Men fought Apocalypse in was one of his safe houses, which held hidden reserves of power to replenish him, and let's not forget the fact that while the team assembled was a pretty formidable one, it still wasn't the X-Men at their full strength. Still, for both sides going in with a handicap, it still was a pretty kick ass fight, and the highlight of this issue. Of course, that's not the only action we get in this part, as we see Wolverine and Bishop kicking mucho Department K (an offshoot of the organization that created Wolverine and Deadpool (among others) in the first place) goon booty on their way to try and get information about Stryfe's whereabouts, only to run smack dab into Cable who was there for the same reason ( ). Needless to say, we'll get a huge fight there in the next part, but we'll get to that in the next review. Speaking of Stryfe, we see the combined X-Teams (well, other than X-Force, who is imprisoned within the X-Mansion's Danger Room, which is being used as a cell, and the Gold X-Men team, which as I said in the beginning of this review, is in the process of having their asses kicked by Apocalypse) discussing Stryfe after Mr. Sinister dropped the dime on him in the last part. Of course, the children of Xaiver still believe that Cable and Stryfe could be the same person, which as we continue this story we'll find out that this is pretty far from the truth (although, the two characters definitely share a connection, as we'll learn by the end of this crossover), but this is still very much part of Stryfe's mission to cause as much chaos and confusion as possible for the X-Teams until Stryfe can get what he wants. We see a bit of that in this issue, as Stryfe tortures Jean Grey by using machines to make her as helpless as an infant. This all leads back to the X-FACTOR issue I mentioned above, and how that story ended (with Cyclops and Jean being forced to send Scott's child, Nathan, into the future to save him after Apocalypse infected him with the techno organic virus). By the end of this story, things will come full circle back to the ending of that X-FACTOR story, and the three writers involved in this storyline have done a great job so far slowly filling in the subplots left dangling by Chris Claremont before he was forced off of the X-Books. As much slack as Scott Lobdell gets as a replacement for Claremont, and some of it deserved, he does do a pretty damn good job with this issue, as there is enough action and story to definitely make this issue the opposite of a dull read. The fight between a chunk of the X-Men and Apocalypse is definitely the highlight, but there is a lot of story and moments within the story that keeps things interesting while setting up the next part. I will also say that while Brandon Peterson's art isn't as good as Andy Kubert's, or as interesting and dark as Jae Lee's, he still does a solid enough job with his work here and in the other issues he draws in this trade. I will definitely say he is good at depicting the emotions of the various characters involved in this story, as he has a very expressive art style. In the next issue, we'll jump back over to the X-FACTOR side of things, as we get another massive fight between Cable and Wolverine/Bishop. There should be shooting and stabbing a plenty for those feening for some good old fashioned early 90's violence. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 12, 2020 0:14:39 GMT -5
X-Factor #85"Snikts and Bones (X-Cutioner's Song, Pt. 6)"Cover Date: Dec, 1992 Writer: Peter David Artist: Jae Lee Feature Characters: X-Factor (Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man, & Quicksilver) Villain: Stryfe & The Mutant Liberation Front (Dragoness, Tempo, Forearm, Wildside, Reaper, & Kamikaze (the Last Dies), Various Human Soldiers) Special Guests: The X-Men (Blue Team---Cyclops, Wolverine, Gambit, Psylocke, & Rogue) (Gold Team---Storm, Jean Grey, Archangel, Iceman, & Bishop) (Professor X), X-Force (Cannonball & Boom Boom), Cable, "Professor," Apocalypse, & The X-Patriots (Prodigal & Lukas) Official Plot:At Department K, Wolverine and Bishop battle Cable. Eventually Wolverine ends the battle against Cable, as he admits that he doesn’t believe Cable shot Xavier, and they agree to team up to get this mess sorted out. In Arkansas, Havok, Storm, Cannonball, Polaris, Iceman, Archangel, Rogue, Gambit, Boom-Boom, Psylocke and Quicksilver have tracked the Mutant Liberation Front to a small town - they are confronted by strange townsfolk, before locating a hatch to an underground base. Apocalypse arrives at Cable’s safe-house, and puts more pieces of the puzzle together. The battle against the Mutant Liberation Front begins, with Cannonball and Dragoness picking things up from when they last battled. Quicksilver struggles against Tempo, who is taken down by Psylocke. Cyclops finds himself battling children - apparently - while Stryfe is as cryptic as ever. Archangel struggles against Forearm - and accidentally decapitates Kamikaze, freaking out Boom-Boom. Gambit is taken down by Wildside, before Reaper slashes Quicksilver’s leg - and is about to cut his head off with his scythe. Meanwhile, at the hospital where Taylor has been recuperating, the X-Patriots render Multiple Man unconscious, and make their escape. Brodie's View:I will say, first off, that what this Crossover lacks in deep, meaningful storytelling, it definitely makes up in ACTION and craziness. Take this story, as we get two major battles happening at the same time, with momentary story breaks taking place between the bloodshed. Not saying this is a bad thing, as with a story like this, tons of violence kind of comes with the territory, but I would argue that it comes with purpose, as by the end of this storyline, a few mysteries that had been left hanging since Cable first showed up will get settled, moving the X-Books in a new and interesting direction. Back to the "Present," though, we get a wicked battle between Cable and Wolverine and Bishop, as both Cable and the two X-Men showed up at the same place for the same purpose, but as one would imagine with characters like these, fighting instantly breaks out, as while Wolverine might have his doubts as to whether or not Cable shot Charles Xaiver at the beginning of this story, Bishop does not, and he goes for the kill on the future X-Soldier. However, Cable eventually realizes that the way to end this is to stop fighting, which pretty much stops the fight....well, other than Wolverine punching Cable in the gut to end it officially. With a little bit of talking, the testosterone is lowered, and the three X-Characters officially Team Up to track down the real enemy, Stryfe, who is busy torturing Cyclops in this issue, making him see how his leadership abilities can lead to tragedy. It's interesting how we're getting little pieces of the overall puzzle that is Stryfe's overall intentions, other than causing chaos between the X-Teams and some of their enemies. Speaking of enemies, we also see a combined force of X-Men, X-Factor, and even Cannonball and Boom Boom from X-Force taking on Styrfe's former group, The Mutant Liberation Front, who Stryfe just hangs out to dry here. That being said, the MLF do try their best to fight back, with momentary advantages being gained (including the moment at the end of this issue, where Reaper appears to be about to decapitate Quicksilver and Gambit ), but overall, the combined X-Army will assuredly take out the rest of Stryfe's former group. A perfect example of this is the case of decapitation that DOES take place in this issue, as one of the MLF, a character named Kamikaze tries to attack Archangel from behind, only to have his head sliced clean off accidentally, as Warren moves to fight another member of the group....Ouch! As one would expect from Peter David, a joke is made about Kamikaze and his being doomed from his name alone....lol. This is one thing I will definitely give all three writers of the issues in this story, while there is a LOT of action and drama going on, there is also a lot of humor, as the wisecracks flow pretty well throughout each issue, but not enough to the point where it descends into complete silliness. As far as the action goes, though, there has been tons of it so far, and the fights aren't over yet....far from it. On that note, I will say that artist Jae Lee does a LOT better here than he did in the first X-FACTOR issue in this story, as one thing Lee is great at drawing, and that is violence. He has a very abstract style that works really well with the amount of fighting that takes place in this issue, and Peter David gives him all the blood and guts that he can get away with drawing in a Comics Code era comic. This was another pretty awesome issue, but as I said before, we're only at the halfway point of this story, and the craziness and violence isn't over by a long shot. In the next issue, we get a wrap up on the X-Men/Factor/Force vs. MLF fight, while Stryfe starts making more major moves, setting up one of our biggest fights yet. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 14, 2020 0:40:02 GMT -5
X-Men #15"The Camel's Back (X-Cutioner's Song Pt. 7)"Cover Date: Dec, 1992 Writer: Fabian Nicieza Artist: Andy Kubert Feature Characters: The X-Men (Blue Team---Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Gambit, Psylocke, Rogue, & Jubilee) (Gold Team---Storm, Jean Grey, Colossus, Archangel, Iceman, & Bishop) (Professor X) Villain: Stryfe, Apocalypse, The Mutant Liberation Front (Reaper, Rusty Collins, Skids, Dragoness, Thumbelinia, Slab, Stroe, Forearm, & Zero), & The Dark Riders (Foxbat, Gauntlet, Psynapse, Tusk, Barrage, & Harddrive) Special Guests: X-Factor (Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, & Quicksilver), X-Force (Cannonball, Boom Boom), Cable, & Moira MacTaggart Official Plot:Reaper stands over the unmoving bodies of Quicksilver and Gambit - he is about to decapitate them with his scythe but Havok attacks him, before Psylocke takes him down. Boom-Boom and Psylocke then take down Forearm, while Storm, Polaris and Rogue pursue Dragoness - and a combined effort takes the lethal Dragoness down. Thumbelina and Slab make a run for it, but Iceman puts a stop to that, while Cannonball and Boom-Boom find it no surprise that they are in pursuit of their former teammates Rusty and Skids. They battle their mind-controlled friends - only for Skids to break Boom-Boom’s jaw! Rusty is knocked unconscious by Cannonball, while Rogue is attacked by Strobe - who is then taken down by Polaris. Archangel and Iceman round up the MLF foot soldiers, while Storm plans to interrogate them to find out what she can about Stryfe. In New Foundland, Wolverine, Cable and Bishop are on the run from Department K soldiers - before Cable teleports them away. At the Mansion, Colossus and Strong Guy bond, while the Beast and Moira MacTaggert, via video conference, are having no luck destroying the techno-virus attacking Professor X. From his base, Stryfe watches the various events play out on monitors, before he brings Cyclops and Jean Grey food, which they refuse to eat. Stryfe makes cryptic comments, before Cyclops and Jean realize their powers are gone thanks to a dampening field. Zero teleports Stryfe to Bani Maza, where he is met by the Dark Riders - whom he takes down with ease, before Stryfe wakes Apocalypse from his regenerative state, vowing to kill him. Brodie's View:The combined X-Teams (well, somewhat) end up whipping the asses of Stryfe's former group, The Mutant Liberation Front, while the main man himself makes some major moves as we enter the second half of this story. We ended the last issue with Reaper (one of the MLFers) about to decapitate either Quicksilver or Gambit, only to be quickly taken out by Havok, and other than Strobe blinding Rogue (and Boom Boom getting her jaw broken, but we'll get to that in the next sentence), the battle goes about as well as one would expect for the X-Teams. Along the way, the two X-Force members involved in this raid, Cannonball and Boom Boom, encounter two mutants that they knew from their time as New Mutants/Hanging with X-Factor, and that's Rusty and Skids, who we see have been completely brainwashed by Stryfe. The two former New Mutants make the mistake of trying to approach them as friends, only for Skids to break Boom Boom's jaw ( ). This causes Cannonball and Boom Boom to take off the kids gloves, and they quickly put Rusty and Skids on ice, while the other X-Men/X-Factor members do the same to the rest of the MLF. After a bit of character stuff at the X-Mansion, we spend most of the rest of this issue with Stryfe, who tortures a helpless Cyclops and Jean by force feeding them baby food. While it's probably unclear to the two X-Men why Stryfe is doing this, and to them specifically, it's very clear to Stryfe, as he considers himself to have been abandoned by Cyclops and Jean as a child. In other words, he thinks he's Nathan Summers, who Cyclops had sent into the future to be cured after Apocalypse infected him with a techno organic virus. By the end of this story, we'll get the truth about that matter, and Stryfe is only half right in his anger and hate. However, one grudge he definitely has a valid reason for having is with the character he awakens at the very end of this issue, after kicking the shit out of his Dark Riders, and that's Apocalypse, who had been trying to recuperate in his resurrection chamber after being awakened by the Riders issues earlier. While there is some action in this issue, this story was more of a connector piece, as a lot of things get set up for the future parts in this story, and more specifically the next part. That's fine, as we kind of needed an issue of breather after all the fights and violence we've seen in the last few issues, and we definitely didn't want this story to turn into an early Image story; all style and no substance. Once again, Fabian Nicieza does a solid job depicting the action without losing the character moments that happen in between the bloodshed. Colossus and Strong Guy get a nice little scene here, as well as Beast and Moria MacTaggart, as Xaiver almost dying is kind of the major moment that will lead to Hank embracing his role as a scientist more in the years to come, after spending years as kind of a bouncing, joking typical superhero. In other words, important groundwork being laid, both in a character and story sense, for the future of the X-Men. In some cases, these are things that still exist to this very day, character wise. As always, Andy Kubert's art is pretty top notch as well. It's too bad he won't be the artist for the next issue, as we're going to get another major fight happening. Stryfe Vs. Apocalypse! Place your bets!!! GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 15, 2020 0:36:44 GMT -5
X-Force #17"Sleeping with the Enemy (X-Cutioner's Song, Pt. 8)"Cover Date: Dec, 1992 Writer: Fabian Nicieza Artist: Greg Capullo Feature Characters: X-Force (Cannonball, Boom Boom, Warpath, Siryn, Sunspot, Shatterstar, Feral, & Rictor) Villain: Stryfe, Apocalypse, & The Dark Riders (Foxbat, Gauntlet, Psynapse, Tusk, Barrage, & Harddrive) Special Guests: The X-Men (Blue Team---Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Gambit, Psylocke, Rogue, & Jubilee) (Gold Team---Storm, Jean Grey, Colossus, Archangel, Iceman, & Bishop) (Professor X) X-Factor (Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Multiple Man, Wolfsbane, Quicksilver, & Val Cooper), Cable, "Professor," & Stevie Hunter Official Plot:Cryptic as ever, Stryfe battles Apocalypse, blaming him for everything that has gone wrong in his life. Apocalypse is weak as his regeneration was not complete, though he does his best to defend himself against Stryfe - whom he seems to recognize once Stryfe removes his helmet. Stryfe then stabs Apocalypse through the chest with the same weapon that Apocalypse once used to kill him. Apocalypse falls on to a teleportation pad, and vanishes. The Dark Riders confront Stryfe, and bow before him as their new master. Inside Graymalkin, Cable, Wolverine and Bishop watch a reconstruction of events in Cable and Stryfe’s past/future, and learn that either Cable or Stryfe is a duplicate of the other, but Cable does not know why. At the Mansion, Stevie Hunter does her best to tend to the wounded Quicksilver, Gambit, Rogue, and Boom-Boom, whose jaw is now wired shut. Havok joins Storm and Valerie Cooper as they observe the Beast working to remove the virus from Xavier, while in the Danger Room, the imprisoned X-Force members talk to Wolfsbane, her former New Mutants teammates asking her whose side she is on. Siryn learns from Multiple Man that what they shared together was actually Siryn and a dupe. Inside Stryfe’s base, Cyclops and Jean Grey make a run for it from their cell, while back at the Mansion, Iceman, Archangel, Polaris and Colossus are alerted to an intruder - whom they soon discover is none other than Apocalypse. They attack him, until he reveals that he has come to help them battle Stryfe! Brodie's View:As Wolverine, Cable, and Bishop start to piece together (with Cable filling in some of the missing pieces, and actually telling some of the back story of his and Stryfe's history with each other) the motivations and make up of Stryfe, the real deal attacks Apocalypse as we reach the 2/3rds portion of this crossover. And when I say Stryfe attacks Apocalypse....let's be real here, Stryfe owns Apocalypse, complete with stabbing him in the chest with an ancient dagger, and then after Apocalypse makes his escape, Stryfe takes the blue mutant's Dark Riders as his own troops (replacing the Mutant Liberation Front after the X-Men/Factor/Force took them off the chess board in the last part of this story). This leaves the near immortal mutant with little choice but to go to the X-Mansion and ask their help in defeating Stryfe. This happens at the very end of the issue, but there's some other interesting stuff that happens throughout this story. We get a follow up on the conditions of the wounded from that last battle between the X-Army and the MLF; Rogue is probably the one that has the longest lasting injury from that fight, but she recovers within a few issues of this crossover as well. We also see Cannonball, who made a deal with Havok to join up with the other X-Teams to take out the MLF, trying to talk to his fellow X-Force members, only for them to give him the cold shoulder. Once again, that resentment, at least on the surface, doesn't last that much longer than the end of this crossover, as things will become even more dire in the coming months, so much so that the other X-Force members decide it's not worth it to hold a grudge. Once again, this was a solid issue, highlighted by that memorable stomping of Apocalypse by Stryfe, who demonstrates how powerful he is by literally flinging Apocalypse around with his mental powers. Of course, like with the earlier fight with the X-Men, it's important to keep in mind that this wasn't Apocalypse at any where near his full strength, which was definitely important for both Stryfe's plan and Apocalypse's role in this story, as like Sinister, these Big Bads had to be minimized to a point to allow Stryfe to have his full moment, and have it he most certainly does. I love Fabian Nicieza's super over dramatic way of writing Stryfe and Apocalypse, as it very much seems like some epic comic book fight versus trying to make these two characters speak like regular people, like we would most likely see today. I will also say that I liked Greg Capullo's art a lot more in this issue versus the first part of this story that he drew. It seems like he's taking much more ambitious chances with his artwork, which I guess really goes with the story, as it is so epic and overblown (but in a good way) that one can't help but step their game up to meet the standard of some of the other artists. I will say that's one of the things that I would argue makes this a more effective Crossover than the last major X-Crossover that had happened, The X-Tinction Agenda, which had great parts, but was surrounded by work of lesser quality, both on the writing and art side of things. The writers and artists of this crossover, while not reaching the levels of Chris Claremont or Jim Lee, are all pretty damn solid, and they make for a much more consistent story and over all product. Speaking of which, in the next issue we will head back to UNCANNY X-MEN, as we enter the last third of this story. In this next part, we will see Cyclops and Jean try to make their big escape from Stryfe's clutches, as strange alliances are formed to fight him. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 16, 2020 0:06:01 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #296"Crescendo (X-Cutioner's Song Pt. 9)"Cover Date: Jan, 1993 Writer: Scott Lobdell Artist: Brandon Peterson Feature Characters: The X-Men (Blue Team---Cyclops, Beast, & Wolverine) (Gold Team---Storm, Jean Grey, Archangel & Bishop) (Professor X) Villain: Stryfe, Apocalypse, Zero, & The Dark Riders (Foxbat, Gauntlet, Psynapse, Tusk, Barrage, & Harddrive) Special Guests: X-Factor (Havok & Polaris), X-Force (Cannonball, Boom Boom, Warpath, Siryn, Sunspot, Shatterstar, Feral, & Rictor----Other than Cannonball, all the others are on computer screens only), Cable, "Professor," & Moira MacTaggart Official Plot:During their escape, Cyclops and Jean Grey are attacked by the Dark Riders - but they quickly overpower them, and continue their escape through Stryfe’s complex, which is strangely familiar to them. At the Mansion, the Beast and Moira MacTaggert via video conference, continue to discuss ways of curing Professor X of the techno-virus which has ravaged his body. Moira’s computer breaks the binary code, but it is just a taunting message from Stryfe. Inside Graymalkin, Wolverine, Cable and Bishop watch a re-play of events since the attempted assassination on Xavier. They work out the key players in this to be Cyclops, Jean Grey, Cable, Stryfe and Apocalypse, but wonder what the connections are. Continuing their escape, Cyclops and Jean Grey soon come across a baby attached to wires and cables. Back at the Mansion, Havok, Storm, Cannonball and Archangel discuss with Apocalypse his offer of teaming up, and of him helping to cure the Professor. The X-Men are hesitant to ally themselves with one of their deadliest enemies, but Archangel convinces them to. Apocalypse asks his “son” why he doesn’t slay him now, to which Archangel tells him that he wants him to suffer the way he did. Inside Graymalkin, the men begin a scan for where on Earth Stryfe could be hiding, supposing he is in one of Apocalypse’s base of operations. Jean and Cyclops attempt to remove the baby from the cables, but Stryfe informs them that the child is genetically linked with his own consciousness and interwoven into the life support system of this complex. He tells them that they can escape by simply destroying the child. Of course Cyclops and Jean refuse to do so, and continue to try and remove him, before they are attacked by the Dark Riders. They fight the Dark Riders, and soon the “child” is revealed to merely be a techno-organic construct. Cyclops blasts a hole in the side of the complex - and they are sucked through a vortex. Inside Graymalkin, the scan for Stryfe came up negative, which is when Wolverine reveals that is why Jean has not been able to telepathically contact anyone - because they are in Apocalypse’s last base of operations - on the moon! And at that moment, Cyclops and Jean fall to the lunar surface. Brodie's View:As we enter the last third of this crossover, Cyclops and Jean Grey attempt to make their escape from Stryfe's base of operations only to meet much resistance. Most of this resistance comes from Apocalypse's former group, The Dark Riders, who Cyclops and Jean make quick work of, however, all of this is being allowed by Stryfe, who has the two mutants on his monitor. See, Stryfe thinks Cyclops and Jean are his parents, which wouldn't even be true if he really were the former Nathan Summers, as that child was a product of Scott and the Mr. Sinister created clone of Jean, Madelyne Pryor. Of course, that probably wouldn't have mattered to Stryfe, who is pretty clearly out of his mind at this point, even with his grand scheme working pretty perfectly so far. His playing mind games with Cyclops and Jean seem much more like the workings of a child acting out than some master villain, such as making Scott and Jean choose between stopping him and the life of a baby (secretly a techno organic construct of a baby). He assumes, as he assumed that Scott and Jean abandoned him as a baby to stop Apocalypse, that the two X-Men would choose stopping a villain over the life of a child, but they surprise him by doing the exact opposite. Of course, as I stated earlier, and as the story basically states, Stryfe has been driven insane by his hatreds, and only has that hate to hold on to in the end, so, despite being proven wrong in his assumptions of Scott and Jean, Stryfe still carries through with his plan. Eventually Cyclops and Jean try to bust out of Stryfe's complex only to find out they're on the moon ( ), in a moment very reminiscent of the moment in UNCANNY X-MEN #98, where Jean, Wolverine, and Banshee were sucked out of a space station. Of course, much like that issue, we see the other side of that scenario happening aboard Cable's ship, as he, Wolverine, and Bishop end up slowly putting together Cyclops and Jean's location as well. Hopefully they're not too late to mount that rescue operation, right? This was yet another good issue, which kicks this story towards it's big conclusion. We also get some nice stuff with Apocalypse and some of the X-Men, as one of their biggest enemies makes a deal with them to take down Stryfe, and we get a great moment between Apocalypse and Archangel (who actually vouches for Apocalypse being able to potentially save Charles Xaiver, and then threatens to one day kill him a few moments later...lol). This was some very nice work from both Scott Lobdell and Brandon Peterson, who I will say I love the expressive art of, especially when it comes to the faces of the characters. I kind of ragged somewhat on Lobdell's writing at the very beginning of this crossover, but, honestly, I didn't find him to be that terrible of a writer, especially when considering some of the shit writers who have been on the X-Books since his run. He and Fabian Nicieza kept the X ship afloat after their big superstars either left or were pushed out the door, and they deserve to be commended for that. However, the next chapter in this story will take us to X-FACTOR, where another good writer, Peter David, will deliver the tale of whether or not Apocalypse was able to cure Professor X of the techno organic disease Stryfe infected him with (well, obviously he does, as Charles Xaiver is a ongoing character to this very day, but you'll excuse me for setting up at least a little bit of drama with these next review teases ), and whether or not Cyclops and Jean survived their little trip into the cold void of outer space. (Triple ) GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 17, 2020 0:37:28 GMT -5
X-Factor #86"One of These Days...Pow! Zoom! (X-Cutioner's Song, Pt. 10)"Cover Date: Jan, 1993 W riter: Peter David Artist: Jae Lee Feature Characters: X-Factor (Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man, Wolfsbane & Quicksilver)(Val Cooper) Villain: Stryfe, Apocalypse & The Dark Riders (Tuskettes & Barrage) Special Guests: The X-Men (Blue Team---Cyclops, Wolverine, Psylocke, & Beast) (Gold Team---Storm, Jean Grey, Archangel, Iceman, & Bishop) (Professor X), X-Force (Cannonball), Cable, & "Professor"/Moria MacTaggert Official Plot:Wolverine informs Storm, Havok, Iceman, Beast, Archangel, Polaris, Valerie Cooper and Psylocke that Cyclops and Jean Grey are on the moon. Wolverine explains how he came to this conclusion, while a desperate Jean Grey and Cyclops slowly crawl across the lunar floor, blood pouring from their noses and mouths as they have no oxygen - until Stryfe appears and throws a force field bubble over the two of them. Wolverine announces that he Bishop and Cable are heading to the moon, but Storm tells him not to, that she wants them to leave Graymalkin and return to the Mansion. Cable isn’t keen on that however, and plans to get to the moon. Havok and Storm discuss the situation, before selecting their team to go into space - the two of them, Polaris, Archangel, Iceman, Psylocke and Cannonball. Back on the moon, Stryfe continues to spout off cryptic messages to Cyclops and Jean, who begin to run out of air inside the bubble. At the Mansion, Valerie, Storm, Havok, Beast and Archangel confront Apocalypse, who has promised he can help the dying Professor. Multiple Man informs Havok that he has lost contact with the dupe at the hospital who was keeping an eye on the X-Patriots. Moira MacTaggert is cautious of Apocalypse’s ability to help the Professor, before he uses a strange device to extract the techno-organic virus - though it appears that Apocalypse may be destroying Xavier once and for all. On the moon, Stryfe tells Cyclops and Jean that all they have to do to save their own lives is beg him to save them - but they don’t. Stryfe removes his helmet, revealing his face, but Cyclops and Jean have passed out. Bored inside Graymalkin, Wolverine, Cable and Bishop decide to ignore Storm’s order and go to the moon. Back at the Mansion, a small techno-organic bug crawls from Xavier’s body, and Apocalypse crushes it, explaining that he accelerated the virus’s growth beyond the point where it could replicate itself properly, and it found him to be somewhat unpalatable so could not transfer to him. Storm thanks Apocalypse, who announces that he can take them to the moon. At that moment, Cable, Wolverine and Bishop arrive - and are met by the Dark Riders and the many human foot soldiers of the Mutant Liberation Front. At a hospital, the Multiple Man dupe wakes, while the X-Patriots are long gone. Brodie's View:Peter David officially ends the set up/ties up loose ends on our path towards the big two part finale of this crossover in this part, as while Stryfe unsuccessfully tries to get Cyclops and Jean act like he imagines they would, Apocalypse, through some sacrifice, cures Charles Xaiver of the techno organic virus that Stryfe infected him with to start this whole storyline off to begin with. Of course, being that Apocalypse is still one of the X-Men's biggest threats, there's quite a bit of distrust from the various X-people watching the near immortal mutant do this, even to the point of thinking that Archangel (who had vouched for Apocalypse being able to cure Xaiver in the last part) had turned on them, and was helping Apocalypse kill Charles Xaiver once and for all (as two years later, we would see what Apocalypse would do to a world without Xaiver in the AGE OF APOCALYPSE storyline). However, Apocalypse is true to his word, and cures Xaiver of the virus by overfeeding it to the point where it tries to feed off of Apocalypse, only to not find the organic nutrients it needs to survive, and give up. He then offers one of his ships to Storm and the team of X-People she assembles to take the fight to Stryfe once and for all, which we'll see that crew roll up in the next part. However, they'll be joining Cable, Wolverine, and Bishop, who arrive early due to Cable's bodysliding (teleportation) capabilities, and find The Dark Riders waiting for them. ( ) Needless to say, the time for talking and planning is officially over, and we're about to see a heck of a lot of violence and fighting to close out this crossover. As always, Peter David does the best job he can moving the overall story along, while also trying to address some of his plot lines that had existed before this crossover started, mostly concerning the X-Patriots, the former Genoshians that had fled to the U.S. after the events of the X-Tinction Agenda, and had been under the care of X-Factor until they decided to knock out one of Multiple Man's dupes and escape in the last issue of X-FACTOR. These constant crossovers would wear on Peter David, though; to the point where he would leave the X-FACTOR book shortly after this crossover, as he hated having to constantly put his stories on the back burner for the yearly (and at this point, bi-yearly) X-Crossover. I can understand this, but at this point one really had to expect that this would come with the territory, as the X-MEN were pretty much Marvel's Golden Goose at this point, and the company wanted to keep laying those Golden Eggs as much as possible, especially in a Post IMAGE talent exodus/X-Men cartoon on Fox Kids world. Of course, it wouldn't matter for that much longer, as the comic boom of the early 90's would start to go bust a couple of years later, forcing Marvel to have to ease off of their constant crossovers (this would last about a decade before the sale to Disney would cause Marvel to once again kick into Major Crossover Mode), but for now, it's crossovers leading into more crossovers leading into even more crossovers. Leaving all that behind, I will say that Jae Lee, once again, does a great job here, especially depicting Apocalypse curing Xaiver, as he makes it look far crazier than most artists would have. With all the congrats handed out, it's time to turn our attention to the next issue, which, as I said previously, will be Part One of the big Two Part ending of this crossover, as we'll finally see Stryfe meeting both Cable and a pissed off group of X-Men/Factor/Force members that are more than willing to lay a stomping on Stryfe's ice bucket helmet wearing ass for all he's done in the course of this story. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 17, 2020 23:41:40 GMT -5
X-Men #16"Conflicting Cathexes (X-Cutioner's Song Pt. 11)"Cover Date: Jan, 1993 Writer: Fabian Nicieza Artist: Andy Kubert Feature Characters: The X-Men (Blue Team---Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine,& Psylocke) (Gold Team---Storm, Jean Grey, Archangel, Iceman, & Bishop) (Professor X) Villain/s: Stryfe, Apocalypse, The Mutant Liberation Front (Zero), & The Dark Riders (Foxbat, Gauntlet, Psynapse, Tusk, Barrage, & Harddrive) Special Guests: X-Factor (Havok, Polaris, & Wolfbane), X-Force (Cannonball), & Cable Official Plot:On the moon, Wolverine, Cable and Bishop battle the Dark Riders and the Mutant Liberation Front foot soldiers, though they are soon aided by the arrival of Storm, Havok, Iceman, Archangel, Polaris, Psylocke, Cannonball and Apocalypse. Stryfe watches events unfold, before collecting his prisoners - Cyclops and Jean Grey. The X-Men split into teams - and go in search of their teammates, while Apocalypse ventures off on his own, followed by Archangel. Psylocke traces Cyclops, and discovers that he has been taken seemingly though a wall. But when she, Wolverine and Storm open the door, they find themselves being sucked out into open space. Tensions run high between Cable and Cannonball, who are partnered with Havok and Polaris. Apocalypse finds his former soldiers - the Dark Riders who challenge him to a battle. Cable, Cannonball, Polaris and Havok make their way outside onto the moon surface to another complex - surrounded by a force field which only Cable and Havok can pass through - where they find Stryfe standing over Cyclops and Jean Grey, and all sorts of cryptic images surrounding them, while Stryfe tells Cable it is time for them to talk. On Earth, the Beast recalls recent events, while wondering what is going on inside the unconscious Professor X’s mind. Later that night, the Professor wakes, ranting mysterious phrases, he announces that Cyclops, Jean, Cable and Stryfe are all linked to each other. Brodie's View:The pieces all start falling into place, as far as explaining just what has exactly been happening throughout this crossover, as we reach the next to last part of it. This is mostly where is concerns Stryfe and his connection to not only Cable, but Cyclops and Jean as well. This all comes to to the forefront as we reach the very end of this story, as most of this issue is fighting or the lead up to fighting, from what seems like the last stand of Cable, Wolverine, and Bishop vs. The Dark Riders and Stryfe's foot soldiers to later Apocalypse vs. his own Dark Riders. The first battle ends when Storm and her assembled team of X-Men (and Apocalypse) show up to turn the tide in the favor of the heroes, as Cable, Wolverine, and Bishop had been hopelessly outnumbered up to that point. The second battle is one we don't get to see in its full glory, but we definitely see the aftermath of it in the next issue. Once Stryfe's army is taken care of, the issue then becomes finding where Stryfe, who is aware that the endgame is upon all of them, took Scott and Jean. They eventually find a force field that only those with connections to the Summers family (so only Cable and Havok) can enter, and upon entering, they find Stryfe waiting for them with a helpless Cyclops and Jean being suspended in mid air by Stryfe's telekenesis. This is also around the time that Charles Xaiver suddenly awakens from his coma to tell Beast and Wolfsbane that he knows what the connection is between Stryfe, Cable, Cyclops, and Jean Grey, and we will get a full explanation of that in the final part. Let's just say that Stryfe is both correct and incorrect when it comes to the knowledge of what happened to the baby (Nathan) that Cyclops sent into the future in X-FACTOR #68. Once again, no complaints about either Fabian Nicieza's (who also gets to write the last chapter of this story) writing or Andy Kubert's art, both are damn good for what story is being told here. We get a LOT of action in the first half of the issue, and then an equal amount of set up for the finale.' I will say that this ending will definitely answer a few questions while creating new ones, which is always the hallmark of a good ongoing story. At the very least, it will most certainly change the relationships between certain characters, as well as how Cable and X-Force are viewed by the other X-Teams. I guess originally Magneto was going to make his official return during this story as well, but I'm glad the writers decided to hold that off until the next crossover, FATAL ATTRACTIONS, which would start dropping about six months after this one ended (and then that would lead pretty quickly into an X-MEN/AVENGERS crossover....Whew! See what I mean?), as Magneto being thrown into the mix with Apocalypse, Sinister, and the various groups that the X-Teams fight throughout this story would have definitely taken the focus away from Stryfe as the Big Bad of this story, and that most certainly would have weakened the overall effect of this story. Speaking of that, we will see the ending of this story (save for an epilogue, which I'll set up in the next review) next time, as we will learn a nice chunk about the complicated connection between Cable and Stryfe, which will also explain Stryfe's need for payback against Cyclops, Jean, and Apocalypse.....and we'll also see that his payback will extend far beyond the ending of this particular story. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 19, 2020 0:55:21 GMT -5
X-Force #18"Ghosts in the Machine (X-Cutioner's Song, Pt. 12)"Cover Date: Jan, 1993 Writer: Fabian Nicieza Artist: Greg Capullo Feature Characters: X-Force (Cannonball) & Cable Villain: Stryfe, Apocalypse, & Mr. Sinister Special Guests: The X-Men (Blue Team---Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Psylocke, & Jubilee) (Gold Team---Storm, Jean Grey, Archangel, Iceman, & Bishop) (Professor X) X-Factor (Havok & Polaris), & Gordon Lefferts (1st Appearance of the Last) Official Plot:Inside the force field, Stryfe is ever so cryptic as to his connection to Cable, Cyclops and Jean Grey. He talks of his past - the future - before battling Cable. Elsewhere on the moon, Psylocke learns that Apocalypse is dying, and informs Archangel, who goes to find him. Stuck outside the force field, Polaris and Cannonball worry for their friends inside, while Cable and Stryfe beat each other up, and Stryfe goes on about how hard done by he is. On Earth, a somewhat delirious Xavier tells Beast that the only thing that will end this is Cyclops and Jean’s lives. Archangel finds Apocalypse, who is indeed dying, and while Apocalypse wants Archangel to kill him, Archangel refuses his wish and leaves him to die without lifting a hand agaisnt him. Havok enters the battle to help Cable, while Cyclops and Jean Grey free themselves. Jean tells Stryfe that they can help him, but he doesn’t believe her, Wolverine and the others join Polaris and Cannonball outside the force field, where inside, Cable has devised a plan to self destruct the force field, though Cyclops has to press the button, something he does not want to do. Cable takes out Stryfe and Cyclops presses the self destruct, causing Cable and Stryfe to vanish, leaving only the X-Men behind, as the executioner’s song ends. But as the old song dies, a new chorus begins, for Mr Sinister’s assistant opens the vial that Stryfe traded Sinister for - it doesn’t have the Summers’ family genetic material as it appears to be empty, though the assistant suddenly develops a mysterious cough. Brodie's View:Okay, I was wrong when I said all would be explained, as it related to Cable and Stryfe (and their connections to Cyclops, Jean Grey, and even Apocalypse), at the end of this crossover, as while things are most certainly hinted at during the final battle between the two men, little solid information is given. That being said, I'll do my best to sum it up; Cable is the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, who was sent into the future to be cured by Scott, after Apocalypse infected him with a techno organic virus. He never did get the cure, but he did find a way to use his telekenetic abilities to keep the virus in check, hence, why he has metallic parts. Styrfe was the clone of Cable created so he could have a perfect version of the mutant he infected, as he assumed Nathan had died from the TO virus. This is why Stryfe went after Apocalypse, as one could assume he was not the greatest "father" to have growing up. It's unclear whether Stryfe knows the full truth of this, but he does kind of hint a few times in this issue that he does, hence, why he's so angry and crazed in his revenge scheme. His accusing Cable, while attacking him, of not being a real man seems almost as if he's talking about himself as much as he is talking about Cable. Still, Cable, by seemingly sacrificing his life to blow up both him and Stryfe (both would return; Cable much sooner), ends this whole saga for now, although, not before Stryfe declares a Pox on all mutant kind. At the time, this probably just seemed like Stryfe cursing the people he felt wronged him before his death, but the very end of this issue tells a different story, especially being able to look back in hindsight to see what was being set up. Near the beginning of this crossover, it was revealed that Stryfe had made a deal with Mr. Sinister (who manipulated Apocalypse's Horsemen into kidnapping Cyclops and Jean Grey) for a mysterious canister. That canister is opened by one of Sinister's assistants to reveal....nothing. Sinister is pissed, because he thought he was getting the Summers family DNA, but then again, he isn't surprised that Stryfe screwed him over, as he had basically done the same thing by tipping the X-Men off to Stryfe's involvement in this whole scheme. Of course, what we will find out later is that the canister contained a deadly virus known as the Legacy Virus, which will act as kind of an AIDS for mutants, and will result in quite a few deaths from it. In effect, this is Stryfe's true legacy, and his fall back plan all along. Pretty hardcore, huh? Eventually, the Legacy Virus would be cured by Colossus, who would sacrifice himself to create an instant cure for the virus altogether. This would lead into Joss Whedon's ASTONISHING X-MEN run, and if you want my thoughts on that one, all you need to do is go back quite a bit through these reviews. Back to this crossover, though, this was definitely a pretty damn good piece of work by the creative on the X-books at the time. They got to pay off a few plot threads that were left hanging with various writers and artists left/were pushed out the door by Marvel, while also setting things up for the future. There is one more story to come before this particular run is over, and it serves as kind of an emotional epilogue for this crossover, with various X-Characters dealing with the aftermath of all that occurred during this story. As I said in a previous review, it wouldn't be very long after this crossover ended that another one started, this one dealing with the return of Magneto and his Acolytes. I'll play spoiler and also say that this is when Cable makes his return as well, but he ends up getting even more messed up, as one would expect, by the Master of Magnetism. However, he recovers from that, and retakes his place as being a major part of X-Force for a few more years after. Anyways, in the next review, we get the wrap up for this run, and then we move on to one of my Dream Runs that I finally have all the pieces in place for. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 21, 2020 0:21:51 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #297"Up and Around (X-Cutioner's Song Epilogue)"Cover Date: Feb, 1993 Writer: Scott Lobdell Artist: Brandon Peterson Feature Characters: The X-Men (Beast, Archangel, Jubilee, Rogue, & Gambit) (Professor X) Villain: None Special Guests: An unnamed Security Guard Official Plot:In the dead of the night, Archangel and Beast begin to rebuild Harry’s Hideaway. During the reconstruction, they discuss how their lives have changed since they joined the X-Men many years ago. Gambit attempts to help the now blind Rogue deal with her new situation. Rogue expresses the anguish she feels at never being able to hold someone due to her powers. Jubilee is doing some night-time roller-blading when she encounters Professor X walking. Jubilee takes him blading, and learns more about the Professor, developing respect for him as the night continues. When the temporary use of his legs begins to fail, Jubilee helps the Professor walk to his wheelchair. Brodie's View:So, before we leave the world of the X-Men behind once again (although, they'll pop in here and there throughout that run) to do my next major run, we have this one last issue in the X-CUTIONER'S SONG trade paperback (well, other than the STYFE'S STRIKE FILES one shot that is also included, but most of that is just art with Stryfe's thoughts on various characters included; interesting, sure, but not enough of a story there to review), which serves as an epilogue to what has happened throughout this crossover, as well as addressing some character things that have gone unsaid throughout the chaos the various X-characters had been experiencing for the last few years previous. The main framing story is Beast and Archangel repairing and rebuilding their old hang out spot, Harry s Hideaway, which had been destroyed during the Horsemen of Apocalypse's attack on (and kidnapping of) Cyclops and Jean Grey. This allows the two characters to have some bonding time that we really hadn't gotten to see since Angel was turned into Archangel by Apocalypse, which is most certainly addressed, as well as Beast's scientific experiments on himself resulting in his "blue monkey" form (which I wish would make a comeback). We also see Rogue dealing with the effects of being blinded by Mutant Liberation Front member Strobe during the battle between that group and the combined X-Men/X-Factor (with Cannonball and Boom Boom), as she's also dealing with the blossoming romantic feelings between herself and Gambit. This is a relationship that would take many twists and turns over the next few decades, so, it's cool to see some early character stuff between the two here. Finally, we have the best part of this issue, as Jubilee gets to have some one on one time with Charles Xaiver, who thanks to the effects of Stryfe infecting him with the techno organic virus has the ability to temporarily walk again. This allows the two characters to have some interaction time that they really hadn't had at all since Jubilee kind of ended up in the X-Men towards the end of Claremont's run, and it ends with Jubilee showing some caring for the Professor when his legs start to fail him. This was important for Jubilee, as up to this point she had kind of been little more than a hipper Kitty Pryde ripoff, and this issue definitely started an effort, mostly by Scott Lobdell, to turn the former mall rat into a more well rounded character than she had been up to that point. I know the whole "Save the Best for Last" statement has kind of become a cliche,' but we really did get it here, as this issue allowed Lobdell and company to touch on a lot of character stuff that would have gotten lost in the chaos of the actual crossover, and they did a great job. Once again, I know Scott Lobdell gets a lot of flack for his being the guy, main writer wise, to take over the reigns from Chris Claremont on UNCANNY X-MEN, and although I wouldn't say Lobdell is as good of a writer as Claremont was during his prime, he definitely was about equal to the Post Prime Claremont, which isn't necessarily a knock on him as a writer. He does show here that he's quite good at doing the emotional character stuff, and we would see a lot more great little issues like this throughout his run. Anyways, going back to what I said at the beginning of this review, it's time to leave the world of the X-Men behind for now, although, I'm sure we'll end up back there before too long. After all, one of my dream runs is EXCALIBUR, which despite it's being kept separate from what was going on in the other X-Books for a good while, it still very much an X-Book, and one I will do before my comic review gig is over. Plus, I've always wanted to do the entire AGE OF APOCALYPSE storyline as well, so, as I said before, we will be back to the X-Men eventually. For now, though, it's time to move over to another major Marvel team, and another dream run I've held off on doing long enough. I have the entire run in trade paperback form, so, in the next review, I'll be moving on to those trades, which will start with....a rerun, but once you see what that rerun issue is, it'll probably clarify which run I'm going to be doing. Is the suspense killing you yet? GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 22, 2020 0:11:37 GMT -5
Marvel Two In One # 50"Remembrance of Things Past!"Cover Date: April, 1979 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Thing & The Thing Villain: None Special Guests: Reed Richards (from two alternate Earths) Official Plot: When Reed Richards conducts another experiment on the Thing's mutations over the years, he comes to the conclusion that Ben's preferred state is that of the rockey hided thing. He shows Ben another serum he had hoped would change Ben back into human form, but deduces that it would have only worked on Ben back during the earlier days of his mutation where his "Thing" form was more reptilian in nature as opposed to a rock-like material. Thinking that he'd be better off if he wasn't the Thing, Ben takes the serum and uses Dr. Doom's time machine to travel back in time to the early days of the Fantastic Four. There, before the Fantastic Four setup shop in the Baxter Building, Ben finds his earlier self. The embittered past incarnation attacks Ben, not believing that he is his counterpart from the future. After a lengthy battle between the two Things, Ben manages to knock out his past self. He administers the serum that Reed had created for him, and the past-Ben changes back into human form. When Ben himself doesn't change to human form as well, he figures he just needs to return to the present. Traveling through Dr. Doom's time machine once more, Ben arrives back in the present where he finds that he's still in his mutated form. When he tells Reed of his adventure, Reed explains to Ben that his past is immutable -- and instead of changing his own history, Ben created an alternate reality. Brodie's View:
Yay! It's our big 50th issue, and what a cool little story we have here. First off, let's mention that our Writer and Artist this issue is none other than John Byrne (Double Yay!!!), and this is definitely an early example (perhaps the first) of Byrne doing double duty like this all on his own. Of course, in the early 80's, Marvel would give him two books (Alpha Flight and The Fantastic Four) to work his magic on, and he would do a kick ass job on both, but we can definitely see the greatness here. Long story short, Reed Richards, while doing research on Ben, winds up concocting a potential cure for our rocky hero. The only problem is, it would have only worked on Ben right after he became The Thing. Ben, considering this, decides to use the time machine Reed built off of Doctor Doom's original machine, and he goes into the past to cure himself, hence, also curing the present version. However, the past Ben (who is FAR more somber and tortured than our current lovable pile of rocks) doesn't want to hear it, and attacks the present Ben. The two Things fight it out, with Present Ben finally getting the advantage due to his being The Thing longer, and knocking his Past version out cold. He then cures him with Reed's serum, and returns to the present, figuring that he'll be cured when he comes back. However, that doesn't happen, and when he asks Reed why, Reed explains that by curing the past Thing, he basically created an alternate time line. Ben, however, doesn't seem that upset about it, claiming that after seeing himself in the past, he feels a lot better about himself. Of course, it will later be revealed by Reed (and by Byrne) that there's a reason why all of the attempts to cure Ben have failed, and that it all comes back to Ben subconsciously not wanting to be cured, due to the fear that Alicia would not accept him as normal Ben Grimm. I will also say that we'll eventually return to this now alternate timeline Ben has created, and show how bad things can get in a world with no Thing to help protect it. However, that won't happen for a long while; the next issue will be a new story, and will involve not only a ton of Guest Stars, but will have another future superstar on the artistic side of things. GRADE: A 2020 VIEW: So, as you might have guessed, especially being that I've already done a run on MARVEL TWO IN ONE, that the next run I'm going to be doing is the John Byrne run on FANTASTIC FOUR ( ). However, I'm going in order of the trades, and the first trade is #0, which is a collection of issues showing Byrne's early work involving the members of the FF before his run actually starts. Also included in this trade was MARVEL TEAM UP #61-62, which is the whole story involving the Super Skrull, and had first the Human Torch and then Ms. Marvel as Guest Stars. However, those issues weren't that far back, review wise, so, if you want to check out my views on those issues, all you have to do is click and scroll. This issue was a while back, so, I figured this would be the one to rerun, as it shows The Thing going back in time to try and cure himself of being the Thing before his condition becomes permanent, only to get in a fight with his past self before curing him. As we'll find out, all this did was create an alternate reality where the lack of a Thing leads to Galactus draining the Earth, and the remains of it being taken over by the Red Skull. However, the Thing from the 616 reality did go back to the world he created, and helped that reality's Ben Grimm to overthrow the Skull, at least giving that reality a chance to survive and thrive. That happened in the last issue of MARVEL TWO IN ONE, #100, but the set up for that story was this one, so, I figured I would mention it. Anyways, in the next review, we actually get to some FANTASTIC FOUR issues, but some Pre Run ones, as Byrne, at that point, hadn't left UNCANNY X-MEN to completely take over that book yet. But we will see some early Byrne FF for the next few reviews before we move into the actual run.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,471
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Jun 22, 2020 12:38:06 GMT -5
Marvel Two In One # 50"Remembrance of Things Past!"Cover Date: April, 1979 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Thing & The Thing Villain: None Special Guests: Reed Richards (from two alternate Earths) Official Plot: When Reed Richards conducts another experiment on the Thing's mutations over the years, he comes to the conclusion that Ben's preferred state is that of the rockey hided thing. He shows Ben another serum he had hoped would change Ben back into human form, but deduces that it would have only worked on Ben back during the earlier days of his mutation where his "Thing" form was more reptilian in nature as opposed to a rock-like material. Thinking that he'd be better off if he wasn't the Thing, Ben takes the serum and uses Dr. Doom's time machine to travel back in time to the early days of the Fantastic Four. There, before the Fantastic Four setup shop in the Baxter Building, Ben finds his earlier self. The embittered past incarnation attacks Ben, not believing that he is his counterpart from the future. After a lengthy battle between the two Things, Ben manages to knock out his past self. He administers the serum that Reed had created for him, and the past-Ben changes back into human form. When Ben himself doesn't change to human form as well, he figures he just needs to return to the present. Traveling through Dr. Doom's time machine once more, Ben arrives back in the present where he finds that he's still in his mutated form. When he tells Reed of his adventure, Reed explains to Ben that his past is immutable -- and instead of changing his own history, Ben created an alternate reality. Brodie's View:
Yay! It's our big 50th issue, and what a cool little story we have here. First off, let's mention that our Writer and Artist this issue is none other than John Byrne (Double Yay!!!), and this is definitely an early example (perhaps the first) of Byrne doing double duty like this all on his own. Of course, in the early 80's, Marvel would give him two books (Alpha Flight and The Fantastic Four) to work his magic on, and he would do a kick ass job on both, but we can definitely see the greatness here. Long story short, Reed Richards, while doing research on Ben, winds up concocting a potential cure for our rocky hero. The only problem is, it would have only worked on Ben right after he became The Thing. Ben, considering this, decides to use the time machine Reed built off of Doctor Doom's original machine, and he goes into the past to cure himself, hence, also curing the present version. However, the past Ben (who is FAR more somber and tortured than our current lovable pile of rocks) doesn't want to hear it, and attacks the present Ben. The two Things fight it out, with Present Ben finally getting the advantage due to his being The Thing longer, and knocking his Past version out cold. He then cures him with Reed's serum, and returns to the present, figuring that he'll be cured when he comes back. However, that doesn't happen, and when he asks Reed why, Reed explains that by curing the past Thing, he basically created an alternate time line. Ben, however, doesn't seem that upset about it, claiming that after seeing himself in the past, he feels a lot better about himself. Of course, it will later be revealed by Reed (and by Byrne) that there's a reason why all of the attempts to cure Ben have failed, and that it all comes back to Ben subconsciously not wanting to be cured, due to the fear that Alicia would not accept him as normal Ben Grimm. I will also say that we'll eventually return to this now alternate timeline Ben has created, and show how bad things can get in a world with no Thing to help protect it. However, that won't happen for a long while; the next issue will be a new story, and will involve not only a ton of Guest Stars, but will have another future superstar on the artistic side of things. GRADE: A 2020 VIEW: So, as you might have guessed, especially being that I've already done a run on MARVEL TWO IN ONE, that the next run I'm going to be doing is the John Byrne run on FANTASTIC FOUR ( ). However, I'm going in order of the trades, and the first trade is #0, which is a collection of issues showing Byrne's early work involving the members of the FF before his run actually starts. Also included in this trade was MARVEL TEAM UP #61-62, which is the whole story involving the Super Skrull, and had first the Human Torch and then Ms. Marvel as Guest Stars. However, those issues weren't that far back, review wise, so, if you want to check out my views on those issues, all you have to do is click and scroll. This issue was a while back, so, I figured this would be the one to rerun, as it shows The Thing going back in time to try and cure himself of being the Thing before his condition becomes permanent, only to get in a fight with his past self before curing him. As we'll find out, all this did was create an alternate reality where the lack of a Thing leads to Galactus draining the Earth, and the remains of it being taken over by the Red Skull. However, the Thing from the 616 reality did go back to the world he created, and helped that reality's Ben Grimm to overthrow the Skull, at least giving that reality a chance to survive and thrive. That happened in the last issue of MARVEL TWO IN ONE, #100, but the set up for that story was this one, so, I figured I would mention it. Anyways, in the next review, we actually get to some FANTASTIC FOUR issues, but some Pre Run ones, as Byrne, at that point, hadn't left UNCANNY X-MEN to completely take over that book yet. But we will see some early Byrne FF for the next few reviews before we move into the actual run. 2 in 1 was a great series. And it is one I have collected a few times. Got every issue. Plus teh what 4 vols of Essentials.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 22, 2020 23:26:44 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #215"Blastaar!"Cover Date: Feb, 1980 Writer: Marv Wolfman Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain: Blastaar & HERBIE (Possessed by Doctor Sun) Special Guests: Randolph James/Futurist (1st Appearance of) & The Avengers (Captain America & The Vision---On Screen Only) Official Plot:The Fantastic Four help one of Reed's colleagues, Professor Randolph James, tackle a life-threatening emergency in the scientist's home laboratory, unaware that back at the Baxter Building a being of tremendous power has blasted his way through the portal to the Negative Zone. Reed having received a Priority One signal on his belt buckle, the FF are soon heading back to their headquarters in the Fantasticar, leaving James to deal with the unwelcome arrival of some street punks intent on robbing him of his money. Johnny races ahead of the rest of the team and on trying to enter the building is repulsed by a tremendous force, but luckily Sue catches him with one of her force fields. The FF land on the roof of their headquarters and Reed investigates the intrusion only to be knocked unconscious by a blow from Blastaar the Living Bomburst! Sue repels the villain with a force field, and Ben wraps him up in a roll of metal casing, but their foe works his way free, and Sue and Reed have another go at containing Blastaar, but fail. Ben catches Blastaar off guard and, as the villain prepares to use his explosive powers on the Thing, HERBIE opens a window through which Johnny is able to propel the villain with a fiery blast. The FF investigate at street level, but Blastaar has already blasted through the ground and made his escape into the sewers below. As Reed contacts the Avengers to warn them of the threat from the Negative Zone, Randolph telephones Reed asking for his help. He has been badly beaten by the three punks and is in a lot of pain, so Reed promises to make his way to James' house as soon as possible. While waiting for Reed, James eyes his prototype Evolutionary Accelerator with the intention of using it to heal his injuries. By the time Reed arrives, James has undergone an amazing transformation, having been super-evolved into a being of God-like power. As James' assailants return to finish off what they started, he transforms them into three harmless mice with but a mere thought. Brodie's View:As I said in the last review, the run I am doing next is John Byrne's FANTASTIC FOUR, but before his run REALLY starts, there are a few issues he did as kind of practice for that run, and this is the first of those issues. This also seems to be a point where Marv Wolfman was transitioning off of the book as writer, as we'll see a transitioning over to Bill Mantlo over the next few issues. It seems, without reading the issues leading up to this one, that some crazy stuff had happened recently, as the FF were hit with a Skrull ray that de-aged them somewhat, while also increasing their powers to their peak. This is good, as the threats are going to be bigger and badder during Byrne's run, and even before that they end up having to fight Blastar (The Living Bomb Burst!!!), who has escaped from the Negative Zone, and even with their powers increased, Blastar kind of kicks their asses before escaping in the sewers below. However, Blastar wasn't really the main story here; that would belong to a scientist that Reed Richards is shown working with at the beginning of this issue, and has somehow invented an Evolutionary Accelerator. This scientist is assaulted by a group of thugs right after the FF depart his place to fight Blastar, and injured from the assault, decides to use that Accelerator to heal his wounds (although, you would think he would consider using such a device to heal simple wounds a mighty big risk to take, but.....). This ends up transforming him into a Godlike being known as The Futurist, who has seemingly evolved into being the ultimate extent of mankind's evolutionary capabilities. Of course, as we (but not Reed Richards) see, pettiness isn't something that has evolved out of the former scientist, as he ends up turning the thugs that attacked him into mice without even lifting a hand to do so. Needless to say, this is probably not going to lead to good things for Marvel's First Family, but we'll see all that unfold next issue. This was a pretty solid start for Byrne, art wise, on the FANTASTIC FOUR, but his art would evolve even more by the point that his run actually starts. Still, he does some good work here, especially with The Thing, who looks even more developed, detail wise, than we saw him look in MARVEL TWO IN ONE #50. One thing to keep in mind as well when looking at this issue is that this is very much the classic Fantastic Four of the 60's and 70's we're seeing here, although, by de-aging and upping their powers, we're definitely seeing Marv Wolfman setting them up for their evolution throughout the 80's. A character that we will most certainly see evolve is Susan Storm, still the Invisible Girl at this point, and still very much the cliched' "weaker female character" at this point, who practically faints every time she has a strain put on her powers. Once again, she will become a MUCH stronger character as we move into Byrne's run, losing the "Girl" part of herself once and for all. One last thing to note about this issue is the inclusion of HERBIE, the robot that had replaced The Human Torch on the FANTASTIC FOUR show produced by Hanna Barbera in the late 70's, due to network execs' fear that the Torch would cause kids to set themselves on fire (later on during Byrne's run, we'll see an issue where this very thing happens). However, by this point, the show was off the air, which meant that it was time to get rid of the robot that everyone hated. I'm not sure how much of this we'll actually see play out in the issues we have to work off of, but the robot is currently being possessed by an older FF villain named Doctor Sun, and is doing little things to mess the FF over. Anyways, with all that being said, let's move on to the next issue, where the FF will deal with the awesome power of The Futurist....and I don't mean Tony Stark. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 24, 2020 0:15:03 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #216"Where There Be Gods!"Cover Date: March, 1980 Writer: Marv Wolfman (Plot)/Bill Mantlo (Script) Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain: Blastaar, The Futurist, & HERBIE (Possessed by Doctor Sun) Special Guests: Franklin Richards and the NYPD Official Plot:The super-evolved being that was Randolph James hovers over Times Square, causing panic among New York's citizens while he himself remains oblivious to their concerns. Threatened by a street gang he turns them into insects, but when this attracts the attention of a member of the NYPD the self-styled Futurist, mindful of the police's protective role, merely propels the officer into the East River with but a single thought. All the while he is watched from afar by Blastaar, who covets James' power in his desire to defeat the Fantastic Four. At the Baxter Building, Reed recounts James' startling transformation to his teammates before setting off with Ben and Johnny in pursuit of his erstwhile colleague. As the three approach, Blastaar confronts the Futurist and tricks him into thinking he is under attack by the FF. The combined might of the Futurist and Blastaar is enough to subdue the FF's attack, and the pair head for the Baxter Building. Inside the FF's headquarters they attack Sue, rendering her unconscious, and as Blastaar sets about trying to destroy the portal to the Negative Zone, an incensed Franklin intercedes and uses his vast mutant powers to transport Blastaar through the portal and back into his home dimension. The Futurist reveals that, contrary to expectations, he is not so out of touch with everyday human experience as Reed thinks, for it was he who caused Sue's unconsciousness out of a desire to protect her and to see Franklin's powers manifest themselves against Blastaar. With that the Futurist departs to seek his greater destiny among the stars. As the FF are dumbfounded by what they have witnessed, Reed is concerned by who or what could have activated the computer controls to the Negative Zone to free Blastaar in the first place. Unseen by the quarter, HERBIE the robot lurks ominously in the shadows. Brodie's View:At the end of the last issue, Professor Randolph James subjected himself to the power of the Evolutionary Accelerator that he had created, only to be transformed into a Godlike being calling himself The Futurist. This is where we pick up in this issue, as the Futurist finds himself hovering over Times Square, trying to find his place in the world after being transformed into seemingly the extent of mankind's genetic potential. This attracts the attention of Blastar, who escaped from a Reed Richards created portal to the Negative Zone last issue, and had faked escaping altogether after whooping off on the FF, who were caught unaware by The Living Bomb-Burst's escape. He faked escaping, we learn, because he wants complete control of the portal (which is safeguarded behind a indestructible door), and seeing the Futurist using his powers, he realizes that this new super being might be the answer to his prayers. He tricks the Futurist into thinking 3 of the Fantastic Four (as Sue stayed behind with Franklin Richards) were attacking him, which leads to them heading back to the Baxter Building, where the Futurist uses his powers to knock Sue out while Blastar tries to blast his way through the portal door, but to little avail. However, seeing his mommy knocked unconscious is enough to awaken Franklin's dormant mutant powers, and he ends up flinging Blastar through the portal door (without opening it ), and back into the Negative Zone. The Futurist, realizing he had been played by Blastar, and realizing that he no longer really has a place on Earth, flies off into the cosmos. This leaves the First Family of Marvel scratching their heads as to how all this could have happened, but we see that HERBIE is secretly responsible for freeing Blastar from the Negative Zone in the first place. Uh oh! Another solid issue that delivers both a physical threat and a philosophical one for the FF, as while they can fight Blastar all day, what Randolph James had transformed into is so beyond the team's ability to properly deal with, so, all they can do is try to appeal to the small shred of his humanity that remains. Luckily, the Futurist decides to take himself off the playing board by flying off into space, but there's definitely a WHAT IF? story that could have been told, had the Futurist decided to stay on Earth no matter what. Unfortunately, we can only guess whether or not the Futurist plot line being ended so quickly was original writer Marv Wolfman's original plan, or whether his leaving (most likely for DC, to start THE NEW TEEN TITANS with George Perez) sped up the resolving of this story by Bill Mantlo, who takes over the writing duties for the next few issues. Anyways, this was a pretty cool issue, and it's amazing to think that Byrne was drawing these issues around the time he was also doing the artwork on UNCANNY X-MEN during the opening issues of what would become known as "The Dark Phoenix Saga." Dude was a friggin' machine during this time. Anyways, with Blastar and the Futurist taken care of, there's only one pesky robot remaining to deal with, and in the next issue, we'll see the FF fighting their version of Scrappy Doo, which I'm sure the writers at Marvel were more than chomping at the bit to have happen at the time. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 25, 2020 21:55:47 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #217"Masquerade!"Cover Date: April, 1980 Writer: Marv Wolfman (Plot)/Bill Mantlo (Script) Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain: HERBIE (Possessed by Doctor Sun) (Destroyed) Special Guests: (In Present) Dazzler (In Recap Form Only) Master Xar, The Sphinx, & The Champions of Xandar (Nova, Power House, Comet) Official Plot:As Reed immerses himself in the task of repairing the Baxter Building's systems from last issue, Sue berates her husband for sending Franklin to Whisper Hill to be looked after by Agatha Harkness, and for ignoring her protestations before walking out on her husband. Reed however is oblivious to his wife's complaint and sends HERBIE to the central computer core to run a systems check. Inside the core HERBIE interacts with the main computer and, with access to all the secrets of the Fantastic Four's systems laughs ominously to himself. Johnny meanwhile is enjoying a night out at a New York discotheque, and meets Alison Blair, the Dazzler. Having defended Alison from the unwanted attentions of a customer, Johnny settles back to watch Alison at work. As she goes through her act Johnny is mesmerised by her mutation-powered performance. In Sue's private quarters she comes under attack from HERBIE who threatens to kill her. Turning invisible and trying to escape doesn't help: HERBIE uses his infrared sensors to track Sue's movements and then knocks her out with an energy blast. He then binds the unconscious blonde girl helplessly to the wall. Reed and Ben are busy installing a new lock on the portal in the Negative Zone chamber, but they too come under attack from HERBIE who manages to blast Ben through the portal and into the Distortion Area. Reed tries to rescue Ben but is kept at bay by his robot creation, which reveals that it is possessed of the intelligence of Dr. Sun. Ben makes it back through the Negative Zone portal and grabs HERBIE, but the robot dissipates a massive electrical current into the Thing, flooring him in the process, though giving Reed precious time to activate the FF's emergency signal. Across town, Johnny cuts short his dance with Alison, and blazes away to answer the distress call. As he returns to the Baxter Building, he is attacked first by compressed air guns and then by flame retardant foam before finally being imprisoned in a vacuum chamber. Reed manages to enter the circuitry of the building's computers and over-ride Dr. Sun's control, thus releasing Sue and Johnny from captivity and restoring HERBIE's personality. Realising that Dr. Sun could easily regain his control HERBIE chooses to sacrifice himself, destroying the main computer and Dr. Sun in the process. Brodie's View:It's the last stand for HERBIE the robot here (although, HERBIE would later be briefly rebuilt), as it's revealed that he had been taken over by a former Chinese scientist calling himself Dr. Sun, who had somehow uploaded his consciousness into the Xandarian computer systems, which thanks to the Fantastic Four updating their computers using Xandarian technology, caused Dr. Sun to be uploaded into their computer system. This caused Dr. Sun to go insane, and when Reed Richards built HERBIE, Dr. Sun was able to transfer his consciousness into the small robot, and lied in wait, as we saw in the last few issues, doing small things to try and bring harm and death to the FF. This all comes to fruition here, as HERBIE/Sun takes advantage of the fact that the team is separated (Johnny goes out to a disco, which we'll get back to in a minute, and Sue is off by herself, upset at Reed for throwing himself into his experiments rather than deal with the fact that their son used his powers again in the last issue) and the fact that Dr. Sun has complete control over the Four's computers. He takes out Sue first, then attacks Reed and Ben, knocking them both unconscious. Meanwhile, we see that Johnny is partying it up at Club Infinity, disco dancing with Dazzler, who makes a nice little Guest Appearance here. It's cool that Byrne got to draw Dazzler a few times before she moved off on a path where he wouldn't have much interaction with, character wise, as an artist. Anyways, Reed manages to fire the 4 symbol before Sun knocks him out, and the Torch comes back only to get subdued by Sun. However, this gives Reed a chance to recover and free Sue from her trap, and then save Ben, who was in danger of being sucked into the Negative Zone. Sun leaves HERBIE's body to regain full control of the FF's computer, leaving the actual HERBIE to act on his own, and in a heroic move, he actually destroys himself to prevent Sun from controlling his body again, and evidently destroys Sun in the process. This was a pretty cool story that didn't end the way I thought it would. I guess I was thinking that the hatred towards HERBIE was more vicious than it really was, as while the FF writers destroyed him, they also let him go out like a hero, which I wasn't expecting. I thought it was interesting that they mentioned a few times that HERBIE was only created by Reed because of the Hanna Barbera cartoon using him, which is cool that the writers actually acknowledged that there was a cartoon made about the Fantastic Four in the actual 616 reality, but then again, they've acknowledged that there was a comic book based on the First Family's adventures, so, I guess giving the cartoon a nod shouldn't be that much of a surprise. That all being said, this was a pretty cool issue, made even better by Byrne's artwork, which like we saw with his brief MARVEL TEAM UP run, actually improves with each issue. Speaking of MARVEL TEAM UP, in the next issue, we get a reverse of that scenario, as Spider-Man will be the Guest Star of the Fantastic Four's book, as the five heroes will Team Up to battle common enemies. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 26, 2020 23:59:43 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #218"When a Spider-Man Comes Calling!"Cover Date: May, 1980 Writer: Bill Mantlo Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain: The Frightful Four (The Wizard, The Trapster, The Sandman, & Electro Special Guests: Spider-Man & Debra Whitman (The Last in Recap Form Only) Official Plot:Dressed as Spider-Man the Trapster infiltrates the Baxter Building and defeats both the Human Torch and the Thing of the Fantastic Four. Then a trap is set by the Sandman , Electro and The Wizard to defeat the Invisible Girl. Finding herself surrounded by the evil F.F., the gorgeous blonde tries to flee, but her attempt is in vain, as her lovely pink nightgown can still be seen. Electro imprisons her in a shell of solidified carbon, easily rendering Sue totally helpless. The Frightful Four then join together to fight the last remaining member Mister Fantastic. After the Fantastic Four have all been defeated by the Frightful Four. However, the Frightful Four's mistake is leaving their prisoner, the real Spider-Man, alone. Spidey manages to get free and, getting the drop on the Frightful Four and manage to overpower them and repay them for the surprise attack they made on him earlier in the night. With the help of Reed Richards, Spider-Man is able to defeat Sandman, Electro, and the Wizard, however, the Trapster tries to escape. This doesn't end so well for the Trapster who runs into a revived Thing, Human Torch, and Invisible Girl. His fright over the prospect of being at the Thing's mercy causes the Trapster to pass out. With the Frightful Four defeated, Spider-Man realizes that he ditched Debora Whitman on the boat, and abruptly leaves to try to do some damage control for his bonehead move. Brodie's View:It's a reverse MARVEL TEAM UP story, which is actually a Crossover between this book and SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #42, which set up the first part of the story. Sadly, for some reason, that issue wasn't included in this trade, so, I didn't end up reviewing it, but I will say that this issue gives us a nice little recap to show what happened in that issue. Basically, the new Frightful Four (with Electro joining The Wizard, Sandman, and the Trapster) trick Spidey into coming to the Statue of Liberty by using a device that simulates the Human Torch's powers. This is the usual meeting place between the Web Slinger and the Torch, so, Spider-Man heads over to the Statue, thinking that Johnny Storm had summoned him for some reason, but it was a trap, and Spidey gets overwhelmed and KO'ed by the Four, who then plan on doing the same to the Fantastic Four. This is where this story picks up, as the Trapster disguises himself as Spider-Man, and then tricks the Human Torch into letting him in the Baxter Building. He takes out the Torch and the Thing, and being that the Baxter Building's security system was already on the fritz after the FF's battle with HERBIE last issue, it's pretty easy to sneak the other members of the Frightful Four into the building. From there, it's a quick task to gang up on the Invisible Girl and take her out, and then the Four corner Reed Richards in his lab. Luckily, this is around the time that Spider-Man awakens in the Frightful Four's ship, and with a bit of effort, manages to free himself and tries to mount a rescue operation. This leaves Spidey and Reed against the Four, but luckily, Electro's inexperience with working on a team manages to create an opening that allows Spidey and Mr. Fantastic to take out the three most powerful members of the Frightful Four. This leaves the Trapster, who tries to split only to run into the other three members of the Fantastic Four, who threaten the former Paste Pot Pete to the point where the glue based villain simply faints, ending the threat of the Frightful Four altogether. This was a pretty great issue that, as I stated at the beginning of this review, very much feels like a MARVEL TEAM UP story more than a FANTASTIC FOUR one. In fact, it felt like the story from issue #2 of that series, where Spider-Man and the Torch had been captured by the Frightful Four, and escaped due to the Wizard opening the portal to the Negative Zone and releasing Annihilus. Granted, nothing happens on THAT level in this story, but it does follow a very familiar trajectory, which is most certainly not a bad thing, as it leads to some good old fashioned super hero fun, with Spidey and Mr. Fantastic having to be the incredibly intelligent heroes they are by using the element based villains' power against themselves, and doing the same with the Wizard and his massive ego. I thought it was also pretty cool that the Trapster was able to mimic Spider-Man's powers with his various devices and tricks, at least to the point where some of the FF members would be temporarily fooled long enough for the Trapster to blindside them and take them out. All in all, this was a damn fun issue; the best we've dealt with so far in this run (of course, we're just getting started here, as this isn't even the official run yet); made even better by, of course, Byrne's artwork, but then again, the dude always did draw a GREAT Spider-Man. In the next review, which will actually jump a couple of issues, we get the first issue that Byrne writes as well as draws, as we basically get a two part story that will serve as the audition tape for John Byrne to take over the Fantastic Four franchise. Then...we'll start the Actual run. GRADE: A
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,471
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Jun 27, 2020 11:22:02 GMT -5
I forget Byrne was on FF so early on. I mostly know the latter part of his run when he was writing and drawing the book.
Has the Thing Solo series,the one Byrne started,ever been traded?
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 27, 2020 23:52:35 GMT -5
I forget Byrne was on FF so early on. I mostly know the latter part of his run when he was writing and drawing the book. Has the Thing Solo series,the one Byrne started,ever been traded? Actually, I think it is, under the name THE THING CLASSIC, or something along those lines.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 28, 2020 0:19:50 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #220"...And the Lights Went Out All Over the World!"Cover Date: July, 1980 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain: Constructs of the Flb'Dbi Special Guests: Alicia Masters, Franklin Richards, Vindicator, & The Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, The Vision, & The Scarlet Witch) Official Plot:As Ben and Alicia take a cab to the airport to escape the harsh New York winter for a break in the sun, their cab driver worries about the implications for his insurance should a super-villain decide to mount an attack. Suddenly the cab is caught in gridlock as a city-wide blackout brings chaos to the streets. From the cab, Ben sees the boom of a crane on a nearby construction site falling and threatening passers-by. Hurriedly ripping the door off the cab he rushes to catch the boom before it can cause any damage. Across town, at approximately the same time Sue and Franklin have just finished a shopping expedition when the blackout occurs, and Sue quickly sees that a couple of window cleaners are about to fall to their deaths. Reacting quickly she saves the men by creating a force field cushion. On Long Island, Johnny is tuning a hot rod with a friend of his when the blackout strikes. Hearing the sound of a light aircraft engine cutting out Johnny blazes through the roof of the garage and creates an updraft that keeps the plane aloft long enough until the power is restored. At the Baxter Building, Reed is busy trying to find the cause of the power blackout in his lab. As Sue, Ben, Alicia, and Franklin enter and relate their experiences to him the leader of the Fantastic Four realizes that the blackout wasn't just confined to his lab, and a call from Avengers' Mansion confirms even worse news: the blackout was world-wide! As Johnny enters, Reed surmises that a global electromagnetic failure would seem to indicate disruption at the Earth's magnetic poles. Leaving Franklin in Alicia's care, the four decide to investigate. Soon the Fantastic Four are traveling high above Canada in their ICBM en route to the North Pole. Reed soon realizes that something is altering the magnetic fields of the Earth, but another power outage soon sends the ICBM plummeting towards the ground. The ship's emergency wings deploy automatically and Ben is able to bring it under control and execute a crash landing. The Fantastic Four investigate the source of the EM disruption, tracking it to beyond an ice ridge in the distance. There they find a mile-wide hole in the polar ice around which machines of an alien design are gathered, operated by dark alien creatures. Suddenly a tremendous vibration nearly knocks the Fantastic Four off their feet as a mile-high crystal tower rises up menacingly from the ice. Brodie's View:From here to pretty much the end of this run, barring crossovers, which we'll have a few of, it's pretty much all John Byrne, when it comes to both the writing and the art, from here on out. However, this issue and the next are not part of the official John Byrne FANTASTIC FOUR run, but it is definitely a sneak preview of what could come to expect from the writer/artist, once his actual run would begin pretty much a year from this very issue. At this point, Byrne and Chris Claremont were pretty much wrapping up the DARK PHOENIX SAGA, so, Byrne was a good half a year away from ending his run as artist on that book. Right off the bat, one can tell the difference when it comes to both the writing and the approach Byrne takes with the characters here, which is far less of the "superheroes that deal with scientific things" approach that the team had previously operated under, and more of the "science adventurers that also happen to be superheroes" approach, which definitely fits the more cerebral nature of Byrne's writing. Take this story for instance, unlike the FF issues we've seen so far, as good as those admittingly were, there was no need to throw your typical super villains into the mix for there to be a believable problem for the Four to have to tackle. In fact, by the end of the first part of this Two Part story, we don't even really find out who is behind the mysterious blackout which has overtaken the planet. We assume it's some sort of alien race by the very ending of the story, but there's no "I am Kickassopolis, and I have come to conquer your puny planet!" moment to end this issue off with, as we would probably usually see in a Two Part story, as one often needs a crazy cliffhanger to keep the reader coming back to read the second half of the story. Not so with Byrne, who takes a very different approach with writing stories like this one. That's not to say that we don't get those Big Super Villain moments in the run itself, because we do....quite a few of them, but then there are stories like this that Byrne offers us, which don't fit into the typical super hero comic mold. The crux of this story is that some sort of alien race is constructing some sort of ice tower in the North Pole, which is causing the power to go out all over the planet. The first half of the issue is three of the Fantastic Four dealing with the fallout of New York suddenly losing power, while Reed tries to figure out what is going on in his lab. After a bit of discussion, the Four fly off to the North Pole, briefly encountering another character Byrne is quite familiar with, Vindicator from ALPHA FLIGHT, as they're passing through Canada. While they are flying, we get the inner thoughts of the Thing, as well as a recap of the origin story of the Foursome, which is always nice to have for the start of a new run, although, we're technically not there yet. Eventually, the FF land in the North Pole, where they encounter a group of what looks like aliens melting a circle of ice, from which the previously mentioned giant ice tower suddenly springs up from. Obviously, this story will be continued in the next issue, but as I stated in the first paragraph, it's more the approach Byrne uses to tell this story that makes it unique, and probably sold Jim Shooter on giving him the keys to the Fantastic Four kingdom a year from now. Plus, Byrne's artwork just gets better and better, especially the details of faces, which he would improve even more on as this run starts/continues. All that being said, in the next issue, we will get the conclusion to this story, and then....the actual run begins. GRADE: A-
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