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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 7, 2017 0:51:47 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 153"Kitty's Fairy Tale"Cover Date: January, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: None...at least real ones Guest Stars: Carol Danvers & Illyana Rasputin Official Plot:The X-Men are cleaning up the grounds at the Xavier estate following the recent battle with the White Queen. While the others are hard at work, Kitty Pryde decides to tell Illyana a bedtime story. She entitles her story, "Kitty's Fairy Tale" Kitty's Fairy Tale In the Caliphate of Nhu Yorkh, the local constabulary seeks to apprehend two notorious brigands known as Pirate Kitty and her first mate, Colossus. Colossus uses his massive strength to open up an escape route, and Kitty and he make for the docks. They come upon a group of strangers. One is an ancient wizard sitting upon a flying carpet, and the other is a blind prince who can shoot fire from his eyes. The Wizard, Xavier, explains to Pirate Kitty that they are seeking a missing princess known as Jean. Jean is the inheritor of a great power that has corrupted her, turning her into an entity known as the Dark Phoenix. Even as the travelers speak, Dark Phoenix arrives and attacks the troupe with massive star bolts. Xavier drives her away by way of a magic sphere, containing the pure and good aspect of Jean's soul. As Phoenix flies off, Xavier convinces Kitty and Colossus to help them track her down. Kitty summons her pet, a gigantic black dragon named Lockheed. Everyone climbs on the dragon’s back and Lockheed flies across the western ocean. They eventually come upon a grassy, peaceful island and they stop for a rest. A species of small, blue elves named Bamfs appear before them and begin hanging around Kitty. Colossus, meanwhile, walks to the beach where he finds a bottle floating on the edge of the shoreline. He opens the bottle, releasing a powerful genie named Wind-Rider. Wind-Rider reveals Jean Grey and she were once close friends, but Dark Phoenix imprisoned her inside the bottle. Rounding out the cast is a strange, hairy man known only as the Fiend-With-No-Name. The Fiend manages to offend everyone around him and gets into a scuffle with Colossus – a scuffle that comes to an abrupt end due to a burst of flame from Lockheed’s mouth. Suddenly, Dark Phoenix appears and begins attacking everyone. Xavier uses his magic to grant Kitty and Colossus the gift of flight. Wind-Rider and Prince Cyclopes concentrate their own energy powers on Dark Phoenix. While Phoenix concentrates her efforts on the assailants, the Bamfs appear and begin teleporting all about her, causing her to become distracted. This allows the wizard Xavier the opportunity to channel the good spirit of Jean Grey from the magic sphere back into her body, exorcising the malevolent Dark Phoenix for all time. Brodie's View: Alright! We're back to the regular issues now, and what a treat we come back to. You know, for all the flack I give Dave Cockrum as an artist, I couldn't imagine anyone else being able to draw an issue like this quite as well as he did, as his artistic style fits the tone of this story like a hand in glove. For those that don't know, most of this story is a fairy tale version of the X-Men, as told by Kitty Pryde as a bedtime story to Colossus' sister, Illyana. Little by little, the X-Men start to overhear the story Kitty is telling, and when she finishes, she walks out to find them all parked outside Illyana's room, and though she is highly embarrassed by this, it does take that next step in bonding the X-Men even further as a family, and solidifying Kitty's place in that family. Illyana would repay this favor to Kitty later in a future Annual story (Of course, Illyana would be quite older than she is here, but we'll get to the why of that in several issues.) There are a few interesting things that came out of this story, besides Illyana's later version of a fairy tale. One would be the establishing that the BAMFS, little versions of Nightcrawler, actually do exist in an alternate dimension that Nightcrawler would visit in a limited series that would come out a couple years later. Another thing would by an actual version of Kitty's dragon (which was based off of the X-Men's jet, the Blackbird) that she would name after the fantasy dragon created in this story, Lockheed. However, we'll get to Lockheed in issue #167 and beyond, but I'll just say that despite this being a (mostly) one off fun story that doesn't really feed into anything, it ended up being a (Justly deserved) beloved story, and a real highlight of this period. In fact, I would say #150, this issue, and #162 are the highlights of the second Claremont/Cockrum run, not saying that any of the other issues are chopped liver. In fact, in the next issue, we return to the ongoing storylines, and we start to return the X-Men to space to pick up on storylines that have been sitting since #107/8. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 7, 2017 3:24:15 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 154 "Reunion"Cover Date: February, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Sidrian Hunters Guest Stars: Corsair, Carol Danvers, & Illyana Rasputin Official Plot:X-Mansion: Storm and Cyclops are playing handball with their powers, and exhausted, finally call the game with it being tied - neither able to gain an advantage over the other. Just outside the solar system: A Shi'ar ship piloted by Corsair heads rapidly earthward, passing Voyager 2 during its long trip between Saturn and Uranus. Corsair is surprised by the sudden appearance of a Shi'ar warship. Magneto's Caribbean Base: The X-Men are appropriating the island base for their own use. Presently, Colossus is unloading crates of equipment and supplies. Carol Danvers is up above doing some soul searching[2] when Wolverine comes up to her. Wolverine tries to comfort her, but Kitty interrupts. Above Earth: Corsair speeds towards earth, only to be fired upon by Shi'ar ships that have arrived before him! He flies into the gauntlet... X-Mansion: Ororo and Scott are having lunch and reading the mail. Ororo's leadership of the team comes up, and she offers it to Scott if he wants it, but he turns it down. Suddenly Corsair's ship streaks overhead and crashes into the pond on Xavier's estate! Ororo and Scott dive in and rescue Corsair from the wreckage, and just as they pull him out the starship explodes! Corsair dreams. He dreams of the doomed flight during which he and his wife were taken after having pushed Scott and Alex out of the plane with the only parachute. He dreams of his time with the Starjammers. And finally, he dreams of what prompted him to come to earth against such danger. He comes to - to be questioned by Cyclops about the locket he wears, a locket with Alex and Cyclops photos in it! Corsair reveals he is Cyclops father, which Storm confirms. Suddenly a Sidrian Hunter smashes through the window! Cyclops, Storm, and Corsair battle their way out of the room and onto the lawn. However, the X-Men realize they need the rest of the team, so Cyclops goes to get the Blackbird ready and takes Corsair with him. Corsair objects to leaving Storm behind to fight a rear-guard action, so Cyke socks him. He gets the Blackbird started as Storm creates a monsoon, giving her time to flee down the passageway to the plane just before take-off. The X-Men look down to see Sidri swarming over a destroyed mansion, and then suddenly they merge into a large aircraft and pursue! The Sidri ship pursues them until it forces a combat over New York City! The blackbird has special glass that allows him to use his eye-beams through it, but it seems to have little effect on the Sidri ship. Storm leaves the Blackbird to apply her elemental talents to the Sidri ship as well. After an aerial dogfight, Storm and Cyclops overwhelm the Sidri's energy matrix and it breaks into its individual bodies, falling down amidst oil reserve tanks. Corsair tells cyclops to detonate the tanks and kill them while its vulnerable, but he refuses, so Corsair uses the open hatch that Storm used to return to the plane to blast a tank with his laser-pistol, igniting the tanks and incinerating the Sidri. The X-Men are appalled, but Corsair says it was necessary - he is trying to save the world. From what? The Shi'ar, their empress captured, have followed the trail of the kidnappers to earth, and they'll do anything to retrieve her, including leaving earth a burnt-out ruin! Brodie's View: After last issue's bit of fun, we now return to our "regularly scheduled program," and in this case, it's dealing with a lot of issues that have been simmering on the back burner for a while; issues not only related to the X-Men, but the Shi'ar and the Starjammers as well. In specific, this story concerns Corsair (The leader of the Starjammers), who finally drops the bombshell to Cyclops (that he is his father) in this issue, although he does so inadvertently. But this is only a small (but no less important) part of a MUCH bigger story-line; one that technically only runs for the next four issues, but in reality stretches until #167 (and beyond). Storm and Cyclops have a good natured duel at the beginning of the issue, and afterwards discuss the elephant in the room subject of just exactly who is the leader of the X-Men, now that Cyclops has returned. He basically tells Storm it's her position now (He wouldn't be that generous when the subject is brought up again in #201), but before they can discuss the matter further, Corsair crash lands in a pond on Xaiver's estates. The two X-Men save the space pirate from drowning, and while he is recovering, Cyclops discovers a locket around Corsair's neck that reveals that he is the father of both he and his brother, Alex (AKA Havok). Cyclops, of course, reacts with anger from this discovery, and his mood isn't lightened by the fact that Storm reveals (due to Jean Grey telling her) that she knew as well. However, before this discussion goes any further, they are attacked by a beetle-like alien race known as Sidrian Hunters, and as the three escape, the aliens destroy the mansion (one of many times this happens ). After a fire fight over NYC, Corsair winds up destroying the attacking aliens (much to the anger and disgust of Cyclops and Storm), but then he reveals that the Shi'ar are on their way to Earth, believing that someone there had kidnapped their empress (Lilandra), and they'll do anything to get her back, including destroying the planet. As previously stated, this is the beginning of a story-line that involves political intrigue involving the Shi'ar, and introduces new alien threats that will come to be long standing thorn in the sides of the X-Men. We'll start to see these aliens next issue: One of which has direct ties to Lilandra, the other....is much worse. Speaking of alien races, we'll see a little more of the Sidrian Hunters a dozen issues from now, as like beetles, they often can pop back up from hiding, even though one thinks the entire nest has been slagged. Back to the next few issues, though, the rest of the team join the fun in the next issue, along with an Avenging Guest Star, and things start to get REALLY interesting. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 7, 2017 22:48:41 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 155 "First Blood"Cover Date: March, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Deathbird, The Brood Guest Stars: Corsair, Tigra, Jarvis, and the Imperial Guard: (Gladiator, N'Rill'Iree, & Starbolt) Official Plot:Cyclops has just recently learned Corsair is his father. He's also learned that Storm has known for quite some time. Scott is not happy to have had the truth hidden from him, and he yells at Corsair. They soon have other problems, however, as the Blackbird is teleported en masse into a Shi'ar warship! Shortly thereafter, the other X-Men are also taken from the Caribbean to appear in that same hangar bay! Xavier demands to speak with Lilandra, but Chancellor Araki explains that is impossible, and takes the X-Men to be briefed. Lilandra was captured and taken to Earth. The Shi'ar are planning to send a detachment down to retrieve her, but Xavier points out that will lead to Lilandra's death, and the deaths of many of earth's inhabitants. As Shivarn'n Halanau (consort), Professor X forbids that plan, and Chancellor Araki gives him one day to retrieve Lilandra or they'll invade anyway. He also demands two X-Men stay onboard as hostages, and after a brief consultation, the X-Men leave Kitty and Kurt behind, but not before Professor X forms a mind-link with Kitty to give her all his knowledge about the Shi'ar. The X-Men are then teleported back down to earth. The X-Men go to Avengers Mansion to get some help, but they only find Tigra at home. Tigra agrees to accompany them. While there, Storm and Corsair take off on their own. On the ship, Kitty is getting her first view of Earth from outer space. Then Kitty shows off the clothes-making machine she discovered. She reveals to Nightcrawler that she's playing with the machine to mask her hacking into the ship's computers to get blueprints and other data. Corsair and Storm are walking in Manhattan, talking. Suddenly, Corsair is targeted by a mysterious foe. The gunman, a Brood warrior, is taking orders from a shadowed figure with wings, who commands the Brood to terminate both. The Brood fires! The Psi-Scream creates private nightmares for both of them, disabling them for Deathbird's attack. But the X-Men arrive just then, Cyclops blasting Deathbird from the sky! Tigra leaps at Deathbird, tangling with her in the air, but is ultimately repulsed, although she of course lands on her feet. Deathbird tries to blast Professor X with a bizarre weapon, but Colossus blocks the beam. Cyclops nails her again, and Deathbird retreats back into the construction site from which the sniper fired. Wolverine goes in to smoke her out. Colossus and Scott grab Storm and Corsair, who are fighting each other thinking they are battling some of their worst foes. While the X-Men hold them down, Professor X clears their minds from the effect of the Brood weaponry. Wolverine comes across Skur'kll before he can fire again, and defeats the brood warrior easily. However, other snipers have found targets, and Storm gets caught in some strange strand-projectile that wraps around her. Another one fires at Professor X, but Colossus again intervenes, only to discover the shot is acid, and it burns! Tigra jumps and grabs Storm, throwing her towards Wolverine who frees her. Storm uses water to cleanse the acid from Peter, but damage has been done. The X-Men leave Colossus and Professor X outside, and go in to the structure to find Wolverine polishing off another Brood warrior. Catching up to Corsair, the X-Men blast through the last of the Brood opposition, only to find Deathbird with her hands at Lilandra's throat! Deathbird distracts them with a bright explosion, and races to her escape craft, leaving the X-Men amidst the ruins of the construction site. The X-Men carve their way out, only to discover Colossus grievously injured and Professor X missing. As if it couldn't get worse, the police arrive and tell the X-Men they are under arrest! Brodie's View: As we get into the second part of this particular storyline, the rest of the X-Men are drawn into the whole Shi'ar situation that Corsair (Leader of the Starjammers, and Cyclops' father, which was officially revealed last issue) warned of at the end of last issue. They are told that Lilandra (The Leader of the Shi'ar) has been supposedly kidnapped, and the alien race will do anything to get her back, including destroying the Earth. The X-Men are given one day to get her back, to which the mutants agree, and they leave Kitty and Nightcrawler there as a sign of good faith (But secretly also to find out what the real deal behind all of this is). The team then go to Avengers mansion to ask for their help, but only find the she-cat, Tigra, who agrees to help them. However, as they try to make their way, they are attacked by Deathbird (Former Ms. Marvel villain, and sister of Lilandra, who wants her throne) and The Brood (A new alien race that are introduced in this issue. Imagine the aliens from ALIEN, but far worse), and after a bit of a scuffle, Professor X is kidnapped and Colossus is apparently fatally wounded. A lot of stuff goes down in this issue, to be sure. Far more than what I just said in the paragraph above. From the get go, Xaiver and the X-Men realize that there is much more to this whole "Lilandra has been kidnapped" thing than they are told by the commander in charge of getting her back, and in the next few issues, we will see that they are correct to think that. We also are re-introduced to Deathbird, who makes her first appearance in this book, but had, as previously stated, made a few appearances in Ms. Marvel's comic, when that was an ongoing series. Linking her to Lilandra was a great move, as it deepens the drama with the Shi'ar that would continue for the rest of Claremont's run, and having Deathbird in cahoots with an alien race like The Brood (who look like horrible, more insect looking versions of the aliens from the ALIEN series), and who have their own agenda for both the Shi'ar and the X-Men. Much of this agenda will be revealed in several issues, and trust me, it's more terrifying than anything Deathbird or the Shi'ar could come up with. I will say that the end of this issue, while everyone is focused on Colossus being gravely wounded (Hell, it's the cover image), the real business going down was the kidnapping of Charles Xaiver, and we'll see the implications of this play out over the next dozen issues. The last thing I'll mention about this issue is the guest appearance of Tigra, which really has little importance, other than the whole "Cat vs. Bird" fight between her and Deathbird, but I've always been a fan of the character, so, I had no problem with her inclusion in this issue and the next. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 8, 2017 2:05:22 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 156"Pursuit!"Cover Date: April, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Deathbird, The Brood, Admiral Lord Samedar Guest Stars: The Starjammers, Tigra Official Plot:The X-Men have just escaped the rubble of the collapsed IBM construction site (last issue) to discover Professor X missing and Peter Rasputin on the brink of death, struck down by Deathbird! At that moment, New York's finest arrives to place our heroes under arrest. Tigra, an Avenger assisting our heroes, tries to get them off the hook, but they aren't buying it. Suddenly, and to the dismay of air traffic controllers, the Starjammer appears directly above Manhattan. It beams up the X-Men (to the dismay of the police) where they are greeted enthusiastically by the Starjammers! Sikorsky is allowed to treat Colossus. On the Shi'ar warship, Kitty is still playing with the clothing machine when Admiral Samedar makes a call on the monitor. He takes delight in showing them Colossus being stabbed by Deathbird and then cutting the video, leaving Colossus's fate unknown. Shortly after ending his conversation with the X-Men, he makes a call to... Deathbird! Aboard Deathbird's ship Professor X is coming back to consciousness. He reaches out with his mind before opening his eyes, and is shocked to detect a fearsome presence nearby, but when he opens his eyes he can see only Lilandra! Deathbird pays them a visit, and Lilandra attacks her, but is easily repulsed. Lilandra reveals that Deathbird has been cast out of Shi'ar society, and that she cannot become empress while Lilandra lives. On the Starjammer Corsair and Cyclops share a tender father son moment, and we're told again their origin - how Katherine Anne Summers and Christopher Summers plane was attacked by a Shi'ar vessel, how Scott and Alex were pushed from the plane with the only remaining parachute, how Katherine was made a part of D'Ken's harem and how he killed her to get to Christopher. Just as they're coming to terms with their relationship, the Starjammer catches up to Deathbird's vessel. The X-Men and Starjammers prepare for boarding, only to get ambushed in turn by the Brood's Acanti vessel! They are swallowed, and they prepare to 'board' the larger vessel. They blast out of their own airlock with a recovered Colossus leading the way, directly into the surprised Brood boarding party. The battle is fierce, so fierce even the Acanti itself is harmed, shuddering under the pain. The Brood command tries to gain an advantage by reducing the combat area to zero-gee. This does not tilt the odds nearly as much as the Brood clan-master had hoped. While the X-Men and Starjammers are distracting the Brood warriors, Cyclops and Corsair have made their way onto Deathbird's ship to rescue Professor X and Lilandra. Brood are about to fire upon them when they arrive, but they handily deal with the Brood warriors. They hurry to rejoin the other heroes, but Storm is not with them. Storm is engaged in a battle versus Deathbird. Dodging one of Deathbird's spears, Storm noticed the Acanti started bleeding when the spear stabbed it. Shocked that the vessel was alive, she left herself open for Deathbird to order the nearby 'portal' opened, and Deathbird kicks her out into space! Sikorsky calculates there is 30s to rescue Storm, as the Starjammer blasts its way free of the Acanti. They manage to rescue Storm in time, but the Starjammer's engines are too damaged to make it back to Earth in time to stop the Shi'ar from destroying the planet! Brodie's View: As we step into the third part of this little "Saga within a much larger saga," things start to come clear as far as what's going on here within the Shi'ar, while also opening doors to things that are going to play out 10 issues from now. We open to find Colossus gravely wounded, and the X-Men on the verge of getting arrested by the cops. Luckily, Tigra plays out the other reason she's even there (and in the last issue), by shutting the cops down by flashing her Avengers I.D (Luckily this happened here, as she would soon quit the team). The cops try to argue this, but it doesn't matter, as the X-Men are suddenly beamed aboard the Starjammer's ship, and one of the members of that team (A bug-like doctor named Sikorsky) treats Colossus' wounds. Meanwhile, aboard the Shi'ar ship, the cruel Admiral Lord Samedar (who we later see is a double agent, serving Deathbird) shows Kitty (Who has secretly hacked into the Shi'ar computers, while playing with their costume-making machine) and Nightcrawler that Colossus has apparently died, and the two X-Men swear vengeance for this act. We also get some bonding moments with Cyclops and his father, the leader of the Starjammers, Corsair, before their ship is swallowed by The Brood's ship, a living race of aliens called the Acanti, who the Brood have enslaved. There is a fight within the whale-like ship, and Storm is kicked out into space by Deathbird, but she is saved before she freezes/suffocates. Also, we get Xaiver coming to aboard the Brood's ship, and feeling that there's something wrong, but seeing that there is nothing at least apparently wrong on the surface (little hints of things to come) of things. All of this leading into next issue's finale (at least for a few issues) of this whole storyline. Damn! A lot of business has been going down these last few issues, as it seems that Claremont is laying the ground work for some future stories (and he definitely is) with the events of these issues. The X-Men haven't really gotten to have that giant space adventure since #107/8 (as in the Dark Phoenix Saga, while they were in space, it wasn't exactly a galaxy spanning adventure like this story-line is), and these issues are definitely making up for the lack of STAR WARS like adventure. I will say that Dave Cockrum, in addition to being really good with drawing fairy tale type of things, obviously is also at his best in doing these space stories, as one can tell he gets a kick out of drawing the varied alien races that Claremont has been throwing at the mutant team. Plus, the one thing you can never say Claremont is bad at, is exploring the emotions and relationships between/within characters, and we get a lot of that in this issue. This is kind of the point when one can tell Claremont is really spreading his roots with the team (in the Post Byrne era), and, once again, planting seeds for stories that will play out years from now. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 8, 2017 3:00:58 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 157"Hide 'n' Seek"Cover Date: May, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Deathbird, The Brood, Admiral Lord Samedar, Half of the Imperial Guard (Warstar, Hussar, Fang, Webwing, Quasar, Mentor, various others) Guest Stars: The Starjammers, The other half of the Imperial Guard (Gladiator, Oracle, Starbolt, Blackthorn, and N'Rill'Iree), & Lilandra Official Plot:The Starjammers and X-Men are repairing damage to the Starjammer[1], using their powers from outside the hull to effect repairs. Cyclops and Mam'selle Hepzibah rescue Wolverine from being set adrift by a freak explosion that throws him free of the ship, but in the excitement no one notices Colossus collapse until after Wolverine has been rescued. Colossus is returned to Sikorsky's care. Inside the vessel, Lilandra tries to communicate with Chancellor Araki, but receives no reply. Replying would be hard given that Admiral Lord Samedar has just shot him to death! Before Lilandra attempts to contact anyone else, Samedar orders communication frequencies jammed, leaving the Starjammer incapable of communicating the Empress's safety. Xavier suggests he could establish telepathic communication, but while concentrating he discovers an alien presence within him.[2] He tries to probe it, but this merely causes him to call out in agony, and he collapses into a coma! Inside the wounded Acanti, Deathbird is assaulted by the Brood in revenge for the damage that she has brought upon them by the debacle Lilandra's kidnapping became. However, they had not figured on how great a fighter Deathbird is, and so at last a truce is reached. Deathbird convinces the clan-master[3] that the X-Men are worth the price, if they can be captured, for they will make exceptional hosts for Brood larvae. While cooperation seems assured once again, Deathbird plans treachery. On the Shi'ar flagship, Kitty and Nightcrawler notice the ship being called to battle-stations. Using the clothing generator to make her a short-term spacesuit, Kitty phases out through the outer wall (the only wall she can phase through of their room) and walks over to an airlock where she phases back into the ship. She makes her way through the corridors back to the door of their compartment to let Nightcrawler out, only to see assassins assembling outside. She phases through them as they open the door to warn Nightcrawler, shorting out their armor, and the two X-Men make short work of the Shi'ar soldiers. They go to Araki's quarters where they discover Araki's body. Quickly they hatch a plan - they need to distract the Shi'ar to delay the firing and capture Oracle, a telepath who can read their minds to ascertain the truth. On the bridge the Imperial Guard is questioning Samedar's order to conduct punitive bombardment of Earth. Just then, Nightcrawler rapidly teleports through the bridge, filling the room with smoke. Under this cover, Kitty phases up through the floor dressed as Phoenix, and as the smoke clears threatens the Shi'ar with dire consequences should they attack her 'home'. Nightcrawler then teleports to Oracle and away with her quickly, making it look like she just disappeared. Disoriented from porting, Oracle still believes Kitty is the real Phoenix, and tries to run. Eventually the X-Men convince her of the veracity of their tale, and summons Gladiator. Oracle convinces Gladiator, but Gladiator is worried about some of the Imperial Guard who might side with Samedar. Those same Imperial Guard break through the wall just then, ending any doubts whose side they are on, and battle is joined. Kitty starts out helping, but Kurt orders her to disable the ships computers, so down through the floor and towards the core she phases. However, before Kitty can get the secondary core she is neutralized by a defensive weapon, and our heroes in the melee are similarly defeated by a Brood weapon secreted on one of the traitor Imperial Guard. His ship finally returned to Samedar's total control, the Admiral orders the main weapons batteries to open fire, but the Starjammer emerges from hyperspace just then to block the shot! Lilandra broadcasts to all vessels that she is safe, and the danger to Earth is over. At the end we learn that Colossus is recovered, although he would still benefit from rest. But Professor X has not stirred... Brodie's View: Okay, for starters, I'll be the official party pooper here and say that despite the cover image, The Phoenix does not return in this issue. It's all a ruse created by Kitty Pryde, the Shi'ar costume maker, and some special effects, to distract the Shi'ar until Nightcrawler can grab a few of the Imperial Guard members they believe are more loyal to Lilandra than Deathbird, as this whole "kidnapping" deal has been an elaborate ruse by those in the kingdom that miss the craziness that D'Ken provided them, and the plan was to kill Lilandra and put Deathbird (The Scar (LION KING reference) of this whole deal) in her place. Speaking of Deathbird playing the "Scar" role, we see that her "allies," The Brood, are no more loyal to their leader than the Hyenas were to Scar, as they practically try to (kill, or worse) gang up on Deathbird for her assumed failure in this whole deal. Deathbird only escapes The Brood's punishment by offering up the X-Men as potential "Breeders" for the next generation of Brood (we'll see the full implications of this in a few issues), but secretly swears vengeance for this betrayal (she never gets it, but it happens nevertheless). The X-Men and The Starjammers wind up cowboying up and rescuing Xaiver and Lilandra from the grasps of The Brood, but Xaiver instantly falls into a coma afterwards (after detecting something wrong with him after running kind of a mental check up). He will remain this way for a few issues, and by the time he wakes up....well, let's just say that the X-Men will soon be able to relate to how he feels, but we'll get to that in #162. The big moment in this issue is, of course, the Shi'ar Imperial Guard "Exploding," as the few that are 100% loyal to Lilandra are attacked by the other members of the group, and a big battle ensues (With Kitty and Nightcrawler helping the good half of the IG, of course). However, the good guys are felled by a Brood weapon, but then in turn are stopped by the Starjammer's ship, and Lilandra assuring the loyal part of the Shi'ar that she is alive and safe, and the corrupt Admiral Lord Samedar, Deathbird, and The Brood's plan is undone. However, this wouldn't be the end of this whole ordeal, and as we'll find out in a few issues, pay back can be a bitch, and The Brood have their eyes on a certain group of mutants. This was a fun ending to this whole story-line, or at least the first part of it, and over the next few issues, we'll see some of the personal fall out from some of the events that have taken place over the last year (Both in this book and others). Starting next issue with Carol Danvers and a villain who later becomes an X-Man.....curious as to who I'm referring to? Tune in tomorrow and find out. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 8, 2017 19:21:43 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 158 "The Life That Late I Led..."Cover Date: June, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Rogue and Mystique (and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants), The Brood (in the background) Guest Stars: The Starjammers, Lilanrda, Moria MacTaggert, Illyana Rasputina, Carol Danvers, Oracle, Havok, & Polaris Official Plot:On the island that once served as Magneto's base in the Bermuda Triangle, Carol Danvers spars with the Starjammers for a morning exercise. Nearby, Peter Corbeau monitors the fight, assessing Carol's performance now that she is without her Ms. Marvel powers. Carol's performance is exemplary, although the three Starjammers (Raza, Hepzibah, and Ch'od) eventually pin her. In another room, Piotr Rasputin and his little sister Illyana are watching a movie, while Kitty Pryde surreptitiously observes. Kitty is dealing with the emotional burden from Colossus's apparent death and subsequent recovery. She wants someone to talk to, but doesn't feel comfortable confiding in anyone. Peter Corbeau finishes his review of the morning workout. Carol discovers that the events which caused her to become Ms. Marvel also irrevocably altered her DNA. While she's lost her powers, she still retains that genetic heritage. They go to check on the Professor, but Moira MacTaggert reveals there is no change in his condition. Oracle attempts to use her telepathy to examine Charles' mind, only to discover a psychic war being waged within - the trauma causes her to lose control, and she starts randomly throwing psi-bolts until Storm and Wolverine manage to break her link to Professor X. After the excitement is over, Kitty comes in to tell them that there is something 'interesting' on TV. The X-Men discover Senator Robert Kelly demonizing the X-Men on John Cheever's talk show. Kelly promises that the US government will investigate mutants, and Moira worriedly points out that Professor X used to work with the FBI, and thus the government already has files on, and knows the identity of, a number of X-Men! Kitty proposes they upload an open-ended virus into the government computers that will delete any reference to X-Men. In the Rio Diablo mountain range, Scott Summers and Corsair pay an impromptu visit to Alex Summers and Lorna Dane. Scott reveals that Corsair is Alex and his father! The Pentagon. Storm, Wolverine, and Carol Danvers infiltrate the building using Carol and Wolverine's military uniforms, ranks, and ID. Everything is going smoothly until Carol bumps into Rogue! They battle in the halls of the Pentagon. Rogue absorbs Wolverine's powers, and Storm sends Rogue flying while gathering Wolverine and fleeing before the arrival of the MPs. Rogue, however, gained Wolverine's tracking ability, and catches up with them quickly, but Wolverine is shortly back on his feet and Nightcrawler has teleported in from the car. Rogue grabs Storm, absorbing her powers, and totally loses control, washing the X-Men away down the corridor with a flash flood! Carol had slipped off towards the main computer banks after the initial scuffle, but is noticed by Mystique, who tries to shoot her disguised as Nick Fury. Carol plays dead and then defeats Mystique before uploading the virus, leaving the shape-shifter unconscious. By the time Rogue can rejoin the battle with the X-Men, Storm has regained consciousness, and sends Rogue out of the Pentagon with a cyclone. Carol leaves the Pentagon after the successful completion of the mission, and rejoins the X-Men in their car. Brodie's View: The X-Men are officially back from space in this issue, and having to deal with Earthbound issues while Professor X remains in a coma. A biggie is the Anti Mutant movement that is starting to pick up steam due to the various battles the X-Men have fought in the public eye recently, and the damage it has caused. Senator Kelly is leading the charge (Ungrateful Bastard that he is ), and the mutant team worries about what could happen to them once someone like Kelly gains major political power, due to the FBI files that exist on various mutants (Back from the days of the original team, where Xaiver worked hand in hand with a certain FBI agent that had since passed on), and so they (Well, Storm, Nightcrawler, & Wolverine, using Carol Danvers, a former SHIELD agent, as their in) decide to break into the FBI, and erase all files concerning the X-Men and various other mutants. However, while there, they encounter enemies both familiar and new (Mystique and her adopted daughter, Rogue, who makes her first official appearance in the pages of this book.....see why I included that AVENGERS ANNUAL now? Eh? Eh?), and havoc (Not Cyclops' brother, who we also see in this issue, as Cyke introduces him to his father, Corsair from the Starjammers) breaks loose. The X-Men, however, do end up erasing those files, but in the process cause more damage to their public image in the process, and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are re-established as a threat. There is also some great conflict between Danvers and Rogue, who was responsible for Carol losing her Ms. Marvel powers/identity, and is the main reason she's been chilling with the team. We also get Oracle (from the Imperial Guard) trying to see what's wrong with the still comatose Professor X, and hitting his defense mechanism in the process (which also almost messes up everyone in the room, until she regains control). It's clear that something is VERY wrong with the Professor, and we'll see this continue to develop over the next 9 issues....in all the worse ways possible. The events of this issue does kind of make one wonder whether Claremont had the long term plans for Rogue that would unfold over the next few years, or if it was a spur of the moment decision (due to Cyclops leaving later) to turn her face and have her join the team, as she's pretty clearly portrayed as a heel in this issue, and doesn't seem to be suffering from the eventual issues that cause the face turn. In fact, it seems like in this issue that they're setting her up to be a major threat to the X-Men. Ah well, back to the solid facts, rather than speculation. In the next two issues, we'll see the team dealing with more supernatural threats than either Earthbound or Space foes, and then at the end of #161, all hell breaks loose, and we enter what I personally feel is the 2nd Great Era of the Claremont run....one that lasts a good 50 issues. This is not saying that the next few issues are shit. Once again, far from it, but we go back up a gear once #162 rolls around. Excited yet? GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 8, 2017 22:27:12 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 159 "Night Screams!"Cover Date: July, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Dracula Guest Stars: Corsair, Havok, Polaris, Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, & Moria MacTaggert Official Plot:The X-Men arrive at Misty Knight's apartment, but find someone other than Misty in residence. They shortly discover that the resident is fashion model Harmony Young, and she is sharing the apartment with Misty. Storm apologizes, and explains that Misty had offered them use of the apartment whenever they needed it. She says they'll go if their being there is a problem, but Harmony dismisses this - if its okay with Misty, its okay with her, and she wouldn't mind some cute guys around. Wolverine reminds Kitty that she has a meeting with her parents and can't go dressed as an X-Man. Worried about clothes, Harmony offers Kitty some of her own. Excited, Kitty gets dressed and Storm walks her to meet her parents. In the Rio Diablo mountains, Scott and Alex take a walk to talk. They get back for dinner, and then Corsair reveals that he's going to be returning to space with the Starjammers soon. Back in New York, Kitty calls Nightcrawler to check in, and they discover that Storm, who had left Kitty hours ago, never returned... Wolverine and Colossus get called to the hospital where they find Ororo. Apparently she was the victim of a strange mugging, neither robbed nor molested, and found with her throat 'slashed', although the damage was mostly superficial. They take her home and put her to bed, but she has unsettling dreams. She wakes up, opens the window, and invites someone inside. The weekend passes and Kitty returns from visiting her parents. However, the X-Men's faces are grim - Storm is still abed, and doesn't want to go on living! Kitty goes into comfort her, but Storm protests when she opens the curtains, claiming the sunlight hurts. She and Kitty talk, but Kitty notices Storm flinch when light reflects off the Star of David Kitty wears around her neck. She also notices the nice scarf with an embroidered D that Storm claims to have gotten from an admirer. Storm asks Kitty to go, and Kitty leaves the apartment, claiming she has errands to run. That night, Dracula comes for Ororo one final time, to make her his undead bride. Just then, Kitty phases through the wall, cross held firmly in her out-stretched hand. Dracula at first flinches, but then realizes it has no effect on him! He attacks her, but burns his hand on the Star of David Kitty wears as a pendant. Dracula and Ororo flee, and the X-Men come into the room, having heard the commotion. Kitty explains that Dracula took Ororo, and while doubtful of the assailants identity, Wolverine sets to work tracking him. They track Ororo to Belvedere Castle, outside of which Dracula attacks them alongside wild dogs and rats of monstrous proportions. The X-Men defeat the wildlife, but Dracula is proving too much for them. Except Nightcrawler does truly believe, and he forms the Cross from some splintered wood at hand, hurting Dracula, and he tries to zap the fuzzy elf with demonic lightning. Inside the castle, Kitty has slipped away from the fight. She finds a coffin, using Holy Water to make it unsuitable for use by a vampire. Kitty gets ambushed by Storm, already starting her transformation - her fangs elongating. Kitty dives for the stake she brought with her, and prepares to use it. But then she drops it. She can't stake her friend, and tells Storm that if she wants her life, she can take it. Outside, the X-Men think to bring the battle to a head, but a tremendous blast of lightning leaves the X-Men unconscious and Dracula victorious. Storm arrives, and Dracula tells her he will slay them, but then Storm reveals that his hold on her is broken! She chases him through the sky, knocking him through the glass facade of a high-up restaurant. Dracula grabs a hostage, forcing Ororo to drop the stake she got from Kitty. But its a stand-off, Dracula cannot exert his influence over Storm, but neither can Storm attack him. Finally, Dracula drops the hostage, conceding that her strength was what attracted him to her, and that same indomitable will has defeated him, for she has bested his attempts to bind her to him. He leaves. Later, Storm and the X-Men are re-united. However, Moira MacTaggert calls with bad news - Professor X is getting worse. Brodie's View: The X-Men (Minus Cyclops, who is on leave with his family----Corsair, Havok, and Polaris (Alex Summers' girlfriend)) vs. Dracula. Yup, for the next couple of issues, the X-Men go supernatural, and we start with Storm being seduced by one of the oldest evils in the Marvel Universe; Count Dracula himself, who wants the X-Man leader for his own. This starts with his biting her as she's returning from dropping Kitty off to her parents, and over the next few days, she goes through all the symptoms of being bitten by a vampire (including the mental hold the Lord of the Undead has over his chosen victims). Once the X-Men figure out what's going on, it's almost too late, and it's only by appealing to the humanity within Ororo, that they are able to break the vampire's hold over her. There are a few things that are introduced in this issue, mostly the faith of two of the mutants (Kitty being Jewish and Nightcrawler being Catholic, both wearing symbols of their faith, which are able to repel Dracula due to their strong faith in them). On the other hand, those who rely strictly on their powers and claws (Colossus and Wolverine) are easily handled by the Lord of the Vampires, whose supernatural strength surpasses most realistic strength. An interesting side note to all of this is that years later, a WHAT IF was written under the pretense that the X-Men failed to stop Dracula, and were transformed into vampires. Of course, since Wolverine was WOLVERINE by this point, his will causes him to take out Dracula and become Lord of the Vampires. The vampire Wolverine would later appear in some other WHAT IF stories. Not that this affects anything in the stories we're currently talking about, but a cool side note none the less, no? It's kind of cool that Claremont decided to go in this direction for these issues, as, like the fairy tale issue, one can tell that Claremont is feeling his roots as a writer on this book (Like having Bill Sienkiewicz do the art, who was really starting to come into his own on MOON KNIGHT, and adds quite an interesting look to this issue), and all the things he does and the chances he takes with these characters just deepens the mythos of them. This is a big reason the book became such a sensation during this period, as it would have been very easy to just do the X-Men vs. Magneto over and over again, but Claremont takes the road less traveled, and does the unexpected quite a bit during this whole period. Of course, this is just one of the many reasons why I love this run so much. BTW, Dracula will be back one more time during Claremont's run, and not that far in the future....but not next issue. No, the next issue will change the destiny of a character close to one of the X-Men, and basically set up a huge story that will simmer and build for the next 6 years before exploding into an INFERNO.....now THAT'S some foreshadowing. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 9, 2017 0:51:29 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 160"Chutes and Ladders"Cover Date: August, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Brent Anderson Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Belasco, Sym, Limbo Nightcrawler Guest Stars: Illyana Rasputin, Limbo Storm Official Plot:As the X-Men are in the middle of a training session on Magneto's old island base, they are unaware that they are being watched by some demonic being. As the X-Men are distracted, it calls out to Colossus's sister Illyana and lures her to a dark corner of the island fortress. Noticing that Illyana has wandered off, Kitty follows after her. Rounding her off at a corner with her phasing powers, she is puzzled to find the young girl missing. Walking into the darkness she activates some sort of mystical stepping disc and is transported away. Meanwhile, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Colossus have all finished their exercise and are relaxing when they notice that both Kitty and Illyana are missing. Wolverine tracks their scent to the dark part of the island and they too are transported away. Kitty wakes up to find herself in a strange neither world, and sees Nightcrawler. However, this Nightcrawler is twisted and perverted and wearing strange clothing. When she runs to him, he gropes her, sending her sprawling backward. When he asks her to "prove" how happy she is to see him, Kitty flees down a corador and trips over her own feet. She falls before the throne of a demonic creature who introduces himself as Belasco. Meanwhile elsewhere, Storm and Colossus materialize in some tunnel in this nether realm. Upon their arrival, Storm's attention is drawn to a mystical amulet which she feels compelled to place on her upper arm. When she is attacked by some strange tentacle monster, Colossus tries to run to her rescue but a teleportation disc appears sending him away. Much to Storm's surprise, she somehow manifests Colossus's metallic skin and Wolverine's claws and is able to defend herself and get to safety. Meanwhile, Belasco has trapped Kitty's body in a crystal and sends the perverted Nightcrawler away when he proves to be a pest to young Illyana. He summons forth his minion S'ym and orders him back through the tunnels to destroy the other X-Men. Because Limbo is a timeless realm, S'ym points out that he destroyed the X-Men already as he plucks an Adamantium claw from the corpse of Wolverine to pick his teeth, and feels confident that he can do it again. After S'ym left, Belasco torments Kitty some more by mystically separating her skeleton from her body so that if she is freed from the crystal before her skeleton is replaced she will die. He then presents the Beatrix Medallion to Illyana: a mystical amulet with sockets for five bloodstones, that once aligned in their proper place at the points of the pentagram will allow her to ascend to her glorious destiny. Watching from above is the true Nightcrawler who is trying to make sense of everything he has seen below and vows that he will do whatever it takes to save Kitty and Illyana. Storm wakes up in a strange bed near a pool and decides to take a swim. With her costume in ruins she finds a spare set of clothing and flies off to find her friends, unaware that a woman is watching her in the shadows. Elsewhere, the Nightcrawler doppleganger is attacked by the real Nightcrawler. When they both teleport away, only the doppleganger appears before Belasco. He reports that the other Nightcrawler is dead to curry favor, but Belasco warns him not to push his anger any further. In another part of Limbo, Wolverine comes across the a corpse of Colossus. The scent tells him the body is really old and this makes Wolverine wonder what's going on. He is attacked by S'ym, who gives him a good fight, until he is teleported away. S'ym is disappointed until the real Colossus appears and attempts to attack him. Although S'ym manages to injure Colossus with the severed claw of the Wolverine doppleganger, he is soon overpowered when Wolverine returns to the scene and helps Colossus. They fail to stop S'ym however when one of the random teleporters allows him to escape. They are then confronted by the mystery woman who was watching Storm and teleports Wolverine and Colossus to Belasco's throne room. There, Storm arrives and the "doppleganger" of Nightcrawler appears to be the true Nightcrawler all along. The X-Men give Belasco the fight of his life when the mystery woman arrives to help. She reveals herself to be an older version of Storm and explains to the X-Men that countless versions of the X-Men have come here to die before them. Using her mystical powers, Storm rebonds Kitty to her skeleton and frees her from the crystal she is trapped in. As the elder Storm uses her powers to hold off the demon hordes, she summons a portal to send the X-Men and Illyana back to their home dimension. Before they can escape, Belasco reappears and grabs Illyana. A tug of war between dimensions ensues and the X-Men win, pulling Illyana back to their realm. However, they are shocked to find that somehow Illyana has aged into a thirteen year old girl. That night, the X-Men wonder what had happened to Illyana and Colossus goes up to Illyana's room. There she awakens from a nightmare and tells her brother that she is happy to be back and safe before going back to sleep. As she does her hand opens revealing the amulet that Belasco gave her earlier. It pops open showing that the blood stones inside have moved closer to their final position. Brodie's View: Wow! Talk about a "Game Changer" issue, as it relates to Colossus' sister, Illyana. This opens up yet another world for the mutant team, that of the mystical, as Ka-Zar villain, Belasco (A sorcerer who was corrupted by magic into being a demonic being, and then trapped in a Hellish like Limbo) takes an interest in the child, and kidnaps both her and Kitty (who tries to go after Illyana), while the X-Men (Minus Cyclops, who is still on leave) are having an impromptu training session on Magneto's abandoned island base (abandoned since #150). The X-Men soon figure out something is wrong, and follow the two through a portal, where they all are separated. Kitty is the first to encounter Belasco, his (somewhat) minion, Sym, and a Kurt Wagner who has been corrupted by Belasco's evil, and now serves him (See, an X-Men from another timeline had came to Limbo after an alternate timeline's Illyana, and most of them had been either killed or corrupted somehow), and has her skeleton removed from her body, and her body placed in a large crystal by Belasco. While Wolverine and Colossus battle Sym (who gloats over killing the last Wolverine and Colossus he fought), and Nightcrawler battles his evil doppleganger, Storm encounters her doppleganger, who is a Storm who had grown older, but managed to stay alive and uncorrupted (for the most part) by learning sorcery to hide her from Belasco's presence. She helps Storm and the other X-Men free Kitty and Illyana, and they manage to escape Limbo, other than Illyana, who Belasco manages to pull back into Limbo. They only lose her for seconds in our time, but when Kitty manages to pull her back out, Illyana is years older and wiser than she just had been, as time passes far more slowly in Limbo than in our world. The X-Men, confused by what had happened, but happy to have Illyana back, go home, but we reveal that she has been changed by her experience, and this whole story-line is FAR from over. Things get mighty dark in this issue, as we see a magical world where the X-Men have either been killed or corrupted by their time there (And I'm sure you're wondering, "Wait. What happened to the alter Kitty Pryde in Limbo?" I'll get to that in a second). This was quite the interesting twist, as a character that had previously just been a background character has now been progressed to an age where she not only could become a friend and companion to Kitty, but also a "New Mutant" (Hmmmm) in her own right, as she is revealed to not only have mutant powers, but now mystical ones as well. More would be revealed with this over time, both in the X-Men books and the New Mutants book, which would be debuting shortly, but also a 4 part mini series called MAGIK, which would go into full detail about what happened in those "seconds" between Illyana being pulled back into Limbo as a child, and then her coming back out as a teenager (And I don't own that whole series, so, sadly, I won't be able to review it here....it is quite good, though, and we learn more about Limbo Storm, as well as seeing what happened to that timeline's Kitty in Limbo). Anyways, Illyana would eventually join this team of New Mutants that would be brought together shortly (while the X-Men are in space, and assumed to be dead....sorry to give future story-lines away), and her demonic power would grow and grow, slowly corrupting her to the point where things would come to a head with both her story and a future story that will begin about 10 issues from now. It would result in a crossover entitled INFERNO that would take place in 1988, but that's 6 years away, so, I won't go into any more detail on that for now, but I'll definitely say this was an issue that changed the Status Quo for the mutant team in a BIG way. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 9, 2017 3:19:28 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 161 "Gold Rush!" Cover Date: September, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Nazis/Hydra/Baron Von Strucker (In Flashback), The Brood/Deathbird (In Present) Guest Stars: Magneto (In Flashback), The Starjammers, Carol Danvers, Lilandra, Moria MacTaggert (In Present), & Gabrielle Haller (1st appearance) (Both Past & Present) Official Plot:Professor X is tormented by mental images of leering monsters, psychic residue of his ongoing struggle against the Brood embryo implanted in him. Hovering around his bed, the X-Men receive grim news from Sikorsky. Professor X must soon wake up or else he will die! Scott doesn't take the news well, and storms off - Ororo goes after him. Cyclops vents, including voicing his disapproval for the recent debacle at the Pentagon which made the papers, but ultimately what he needs is someone to comfort him, and Storm is there for him. At Xavier's bedside, Lilandra cries. In Xavier's mind, he is in Israel, 20 years ago, meeting his old friend Daniel Shomron. Daniel contacted him to help with a patient, Gabrielle Haller, who is catatonic after her experiences imprisoned in Dachau during World War II. Daniel introduces Xavier to Magnus. They go to see Gabrielle, and Xavier enters her mind, where he discovers a wall, and she summons psychic monsters to force him away. He breaks down the wall and relives Gabrielle's experiences in the concentration camp, including a mysterious final metaphoric memory in which the camp supervisor turns her into a statue of solid gold. Following this, Gabrielle wakes up, and they put her to bed after letting her cry herself out. They then go to Daniel's office, connecting most of the images she conjured to reality, but the golden statue bit perplexes them. Unfortunately, they are overheard, and a mysterious figure sneaks away to inform the "leader", with a mental "Seig Heil!". Over the next few weeks, Charles and Magnus take Gabby around Israel as she starts to put herself back together. During this time, Charles discusses his theories of mutation with Magnus, who believes him, but thinks coexistence is naive and impossible. Gabby, meanwhile, desperately needing to love and be love, begins wooing Charles, who assents against his own better judgment. Suddenly, they are attacked by Hydra. Israeli soldiers quickly come to their aid, but they are overmatched, and Charles is knocked unconscious by a bullet grazing his temple. The attackers capture Gabrielle and are escaping in their transports when one of them is suddenly and violently torn apart! However, the one carrying Gabrielle gets away. Charles saw Magneto alight with energy on the roof as the vehicle was destroyed, and asks him about it, to which Magnus responds he did what he had to do. They have a prisoner, and Xavier quickly extracts the information needed to track Gabrielle down. Charles and Magnus infiltrate Hydra to discover that Gabby was programmed with directions to the Fuhrer's secret gold reserve, hidden towards the end of the war. They use their powers to rescue Gabby, in the process revealing to each other what abilities they have, but ending up in the cave with the gold, where Baron von Strucker attacks them, only to be easily defeated by Magnus' magnetic powers. Magnus punches a hole through the roof, levitates Charles and Gabby out it, followed by the gold, and then collapses the cave on Baron von Strucker as he leaves. On top, Magnus and Charles have a philosophical confrontation, and Magnus flies off with the gold. Then Gabrielle comes to, and she and Charles share an intimate moment... and just then Professor Xavier wakes up! The X-Men go to a farewell banquet onboard the Shi'ar flagship, but suddenly Lilandra goes catatonic. The X-Men rush to her, only to be taunted by Deathbird appearing and announcing herself the new Shi'ar empress. She then detonates a bomb which renders the X-Men unconscious, and her Brood allies are well pleased with the vessels she has provided them! Brodie's View: Think of this as the Calm before the Storm, as we only deal with present events for the beginning and end of this issue (But the events that take place are doozies, especially the events of the end of the issue), and the rest of this issue is a flashback in the mind of a comatose, but active mind of Charles Xaiver, allowing for more background on his (And Magneto's) past. However, before I get to all that, I'll say that the beginning of this issue sees a bedside vigil for Xaiver, who appears to be dying, but instead is fighting against a foreign presence within him (However, nobody in the book knows this, and we, as readers, only get a slight hint of what's going on. Things will become more clear next issue), including Cyclops, who confides in Storm his anger and helplessness at not being able to help the man who he regards as a second father. However, within Xaiver's mind, he's back in Israel in the 1960's, where he was called upon to help with a catatonic Holocaust survivor named Gabrielle Haller, and in the process he is introduced to his long time friend/enemy, Magnus AKA Magneto. Xaiver is able to break through the trauma inflicted on her by the Nazis, and over the course of weeks, as he and Magnus try to nurse Gabrielle back to health, he finds two things happening: His friendship with Magnus growing stronger, as he realizes they both have an interest in mutant affairs, and also the fact that he is falling for Gabby. Meanwhile, they are being observed by the heir to the Nazi idea and agenda; Hydra, who attack the three, and kidnap Gabby. Through this, Xaiver and Magnus find out that the other has powers, and they use them to track down Hydra, who is being led by Baron Von Strucker. See, during her time in the concentration camps, Gabby was given secret information on a hidden reserve of gold that Hitler kept, and that Strucker and Hydra now want. However, the forces of Hydra are no match for Magneto and Xaiver's powers, but Magnus doesn't stop with freeing Gabby. He steals the gold for his own usage, and buries Strucker alive in the hole the gold was buried in, despite Xaiver's urges not to do so. They part due to their two different approaches in dealing with threats, but Xaiver is left with the woman he would one day father a child with (more on that in a second). At this moment, Xaiver comes back to consciousness, and everything looks to be all good in the hood, so to speak. However, as we cut to a event happening days later in space; the X-Men (Minus Xaiver, who is still recuperating), Carol Danvers, and Lilandra are having a farewell feast for Lilandra (who is going to clean up the mess of her empire made by Deathbird in #154-157), and the good guys are attacked and knocked unconscious by a bomb that had been planted under the table, revealing that the whole thing had been a trap set by Deathbird and The Brood to take Lilandra out of the picture once and for all, and to deliver all of them to the Brood for their own usage (we'll see the full implications of this next issue) . Some interesting plot points are laid out and started in this issue. As I stated before, this issue shows the friendship and kinship Xaiver and Magneto shared in the past, but why they could never truly work together as allies (or could they?), and it introduces Gabrielle Haller, a woman that we will later reveal Xaiver had a child with; a very dangerous mutant with multiple personality disorder who will become known as Legion. We will also see a later, older Gabby in later events, as she has become an attorney, and will be called upon to defend someone from her past for his past crimes.....but all of that doesn't come for about 40 issues, so, we won't concern ourselves with it now. We also see the threat of Baron Von Strucker, and how Magneto dealt with that threat (as he has his own reasons to hate the Nazis, or anyone that would take up their cause). Of course, this also would have later consequences, both for Magneto and the X-Men, but that will come later as well, so, we'll pick up that thread when it becomes important to do so. The biggest event of the issue is what happens at the very end, and what has been secretly happening since Charles Xaiver was kidnapped back in #155. Over the next few issues, we're going to see that while Deathbird and her plans she had for the Shi'ar were scary, that's nothing compared to the plans The Brood have for the X-Men, the Earth, and the entire Universe, and, once again, we will see the depths of those plans laid out over the next 6-7 issues. Trust me....things are about to get VERY interesting, and scary as shit at the same time. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 9, 2017 22:13:55 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 162"Beyond the Farthest Star"Cover Date: October, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Brood/Deathbird, Fang (From the Imperial Guard....but not for long) Guest Stars: Lilandra, Carol Danvers (Both in Flashback, as are the X-Men, other than Wolverine) Official Plot:Wolverine is running through an alien jungle landscape, and he knows that he's dying. He gets ambushed by a plant-creature which blasts him with hallucinogenic pollen and falls into a daydream. In the dream he is riding with Mariko Yashida - they share a tender moment, but then Wolverine notices large birds coming towards them, and on instinct tries to send her riding away. She gets blasted anyway by some sort of ray and disintegrates! This and some banter by the Brood hunters snaps Wolverine back to reality. He dives down into the underbrush to evade them, and when that fails he takes the fight to the closest one. The others come quickly, but Wolverine is better even than Brood warriors - until he makes a misstep and plummets down through the canopy. He hits a gigantic web hard, and passes out. Dawn finds Wolverine still in the web, but finally with a clear view of where he is. He sees a humongous corpse, resembling one of the Brood's living starships, but unbelievably huge, its ribs reaching above the breathable atmosphere of the planet. Its partially decayed, the natural decomposers unable to degrade anything that big quickly. Its corpse is being used by the brood as the structure for a city, with gleaming transparent domes dotted along the opened rib-cage. Wolverine then hears creatures coming to investigate the web, and starts to try and free himself - but he feels a sharp pain in his head and falls into a flashback of how he got there. He's on the Shi'ar starship Z'Reee Shar, and he recounts the banquet and ambush. When he recovers consciousness, he sees Brood all around him, and tries to alert the others, but they don't seem to notice. Suddenly, he's seeing Shi'ar and a banquet instead of Brood. His senses and his intellect conflict over which is reality. Wolverine keeps flipping back and forth between the different versions, and then the main ceremony of the Shi'ar banquet begins. The X-Men each go up in turn to receive something from an incredibly tall Shi'ar woman. Each of the X-Men receive a hug from her, until its Kitty's turn, and she suddenly reacts in horror! But Wolverine can't seem to act, and then its his turn, and just before its all over, he realizes that 'tall Shi'ar' is actually the Brood Queen! Wolverine awakes from the flashback in time to fend off scavengers moving in on him. He escapes as the scavengers turn on the ones Wolverine has weakened or killed, and he climbs up onto a large branch. None of the combatants he has fought have done much damage, but he's weak, worn out. He puts his head back and waits to die. He has yet one more flashback. Its last night. He awakes in what appears to be a room on the Shi'ar homeworld but looking out the window confirms he's somewhere else. He creeps out of his room to find Storm, and tries to clue her in, but she dismisses his worries out of hand. He 'nerve pinches' her, knocking her unconscious, so she doesn't alert their captors. Deciding he's on his own, he makes only one stop before escaping. He wants to take Kitty with him, but decides she's better off where she is - and gives her a kiss on the forehead goodbye. He promises himself he'll get her out of there safe, but his mind is seeing him popping his claws through her chest as the light fades from her eyes. He shakes away the disturbing image and leaves. While leaving, Wolverine stumbles upon Fang (one of the renegade Imperial Guard) begging for his life. Suddenly he begins to transform, and the Brood disclose he was implanted with a Brood embryo, an embryo that is now hatching! He transforms into a Brood warrior, and Wolverine cries out in anguish - he realizes he and all the X-Men have also been implanted! The Brood warriors hear his cry, and the chase is on. Wolverine comes to on the tree branch. He sees a lone Brood patrolling the area and ambushes him, ultimately forcing the Brood to carry him back to the Brood city. Wolverine has decided to go down fighting. However, he has another attack, and the Brood takes advantage of this to drop him amongst other warriors. The fight is on, but Wolverine is the best he is at what he does. The fight over, Wolverine's implanted embryo starts to hatch. He fights - it can't remold his adamantium skeleton, and he uses that as an anchor. They both scream. Sunrise comes again. Wolverine wakes up - his healing factor has helped defeat the embryo. Its dead. Wolverine summons up his resolve - he can't save his friends the way he saved himself - if need be he'll kill them to stop this horror. And then, it's the Broods turn. Brodie's View: This is not the best issue of the X-Men. That would probably be #137, but this is probably my favorite issue of the comic. I can still remember reading this one for the first time in 1982; waiting for my mom, who was helping out one of her friends. Her friend's son was also an X-Men fan, and he let me read the newest issue, while I was sitting and waiting. Shit, I can even remember the song on the radio when I was reading through this in wide eyed horror (I was 6 at the time, so, this story was some pretty heavy shit)......"Rosanna" by Toto, and every time I re-read this issue....hell, whenever I even THINK about this issue, that song is playing in my mind. Vice Versa for hearing the song, it makes me see the visuals in this issue. However, taking all the personal feelings out of it, it is still a fantastic issue, and I would say the beginning of the 2nd great era of the Claremont run; one that would go all the way until the end of the Mutant Massacre storyline (So #213). Basically, a 50 issue run of pure awesomeness......pretty sweet shit, and a run that even surpasses, at least in length, even the best part of the Claremont/Byrne run, and we would go through 3 regular artists (plus a bunch of notable one shots) before we're done, so, the credit for this run can be laid mostly at Chris Claremont's feet, and he should be incredibly proud of that. This is also an important issue in the history of Wolverine, as it is basically his issue entirely (Including the thought boxes that would later become a Wolverine standard, to the point of parody), as the rest of the X-Men are only seen via flashbacks and visions. It opens with him already on the run on what appears to be a distant planet, and we can tell by his torn clothing (he's still wearing the outfit given to him by the Shi'ar for their "celebration dinner") that something REALLY bad has happened. Boy, we don't know the half of it. We see the end of last issue via flashback, as the X-Men, Lilandra, and Carol Danvers were ambushed by Deathbird and the Brood, and a bomb under the table went off, knocking our heroes unconscious. Wolverine comes to in that flashback to see that he and the others are all apparently okay, and are in the midst of celebrating amongst the Shi'ar, however, this doesn't ring true to Wolverine's senses, and he sees flashes of reality that they are really among the Brood, and the "party" is merely an illusion. But things quickly snap back to the illusion, and Wolverine wonders if he's going crazy, which is made worse by the rest of the heroes insisting that everything is okay. This lasts up until they are brought to a large Shi'ar woman, who wishes to "personally congratulate them," but Wolverine senses danger. He's not the only one, as when it is Kitty's turn, she freaks out, also sensing that this large woman isn't what she appears to be, but she is brought to her all the same and "congratulated." When it is Wolverine's turn, he sees why Kitty was so freaked, as the illusion completely falls away, and he sees he's at the mercy of the Brood Queen, who jabs him in the chest. He screams, and re-awakens to find himself being attacked by scavenger aliens. He fends them off, manages to find a safe place to lie, and he flashes back again to looking out what appears to be the window of a Shi'ar ship, but once again, his senses tell him this is fantasy. He tries to go convince Storm, but she is too brainwashed to even accept what he is saying, and he knocks her out, rather than risk her alerting the others. He then goes to Kitty, who is asleep, and he considers taking her with him, but realizes that the danger is too great for her. He also momentarily visualizes killing her, and he wonders what made him think of doing such a horrible thing. He leaves her, and as he's leaving, he happens across a group of Brood who have surrounded Fang (one of the Imperial Guard loyal to Deathbird, but evidently not loyal enough to not be sold out by the rogue Shi'ar). He starts to smoke and transform, as the Brood explain that he had been implanted with a Brood egg that is now starting to hatch, and once it does hatch, it transforms the host into a new Brood warrior, and Wolverine realizes that the same thing has been done to him and the rest of the X-Men, and yells out in shock. Thus, the chase is on, as while the Brood are trying to bring him back without damaging him (as he has a Brood Warrior growing within him), they're not trying hard enough, but then again, not that it matters much, as Wolverine slaughters them. However, he has no time to bask in his victory, as his egg starts to hatch, and he starts to transform. However, his healing factor and his adamantium skeleton prove too much for the Brood egg, and he is able to kill it, despite his skin remaining scaly from the battle. As he looks over "Sleezeworld" (The Brood's home planet, or one that has been taken over by the insect-like race), and the dead Acanti (a whale-like race that has been taken over by the Brood, and used as transport/housing) that lies bellow them, he realizes that it's going to be up to him to kill the rest of his friends before they can experience the horror of turning into one of the Brood.....and then, it'll be the Brood's turn. Holy Shit, right? As I said before, this was quite the ground breaking issue, as while things had gotten dark and hopeless for the X-Men, other than DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, things had not been portrayed as being quite that dark and hopeless before. The X-Men (Other than Wolverine) are basically walking dead people, just biding their time until they transform into the horrible, insect looking aliens, and the Brood will use the mutant gifts that these new warriors will also retain, in order to help conquer first the Acanti, and then the rest of the galaxy, and to make things worse.....they already have an Queen egg implanted on Earth, in order to quickly take that planet, and it's implanted inside someone who could make that happen VERY easily (I'll give you 3 guesses as to who it's in, and the first two don't count ). In other words, things have gotten very serious VERY quickly, and we're only in the first part of this whole saga (or the second part of it). The rest of the X-Men get directly drawn into this conflict in the next issue, and we start to slowly reveal just how screwed they are. GRADE: A+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 10, 2017 0:31:01 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 163 "Rescue Mission"Cover Date: November, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Brood Guest Stars: Lilandra, Carol Danvers, Corsair, Havok, Moria MacTaggert, and Polaris Official Plot:Carol Danvers is being experimented upon by the Brood, one of whom catches us up to date on the events thus far. Carol is the subject of curiosity because her DNA is unique. The Brood scientists are able to modify her form, but her psychic resilience surprises them. Wolverine, sneaking through the Brood city, tags Carol's scent first. He thrashes a technician, then busts into the main lab itself - the Brood don't last long. Carol's skin flows like hot wax - Wolverine crosses his fingers and smashes everything in sight - he gets lucky, and Carol collapses whole... or at least mostly whole. Her scent is no longer human. Carol grabs some cloth and a weapon, and they head off into the city. Back on earth, Havok and Corsair return from space to where the Mansion is being rebuilt. Corsair and Alex relate that the X-Men were captured by Deathbird and given to the Brood. Corsair vows to rescue them, but refuses to take Alex with him because it will be a killing mission. Moira hopes this does not break Professor X. Cyclops is pursued by Brood Warriors, whom he downs, and then finds the other X-Men - except they transform into Brood. He blasts them, and thinks he's losing his mind. Recalling his psychic defense training, he snaps out of what is actually a drug-induced dream. Nearby Storm is sitting in quiet meditation. He resolves on disturbing her when suddenly an image of the young Brood Queen forms around her features. Storm comes to, and she wants to know why she is crying, why she is at war with herself. Wolverine and Carol arrive at that moment, and Wolverine tells them they can steal Lilandra's Yacht and escape. They grab Colossus, Kitty, and Nightcrawler - none of whom have broken the illusion yet - and split into teams. Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus, and Carol go looking for Lilandra while the others go to steal the yacht. Wolverine debates telling the others about the eggs, but suddenly they come to a fork in the path - Lilandra is down one, and the Queen is down the other. Wolverine wants to go after the Queen, but Cyclops is having none of it - "the X-Men don't kill". Suddenly they are ambushed by Brood warriors, but the Brood are unwilling to damage the queen-hosts, and so the X-Men gain a tremendous advantage. Carol slips down towards where Lilandra is being held to free her, and Wolverine drives his way towards the Queen. Carol returns with Lilandra, but Wolverine isn't leaving until he gets the Queen. Outside, Storm flies Nightcrawler and Kitty up as high as she can, and Nightcrawler teleports with Kitty to the outside of the yacht. All of them are finding their powers 'rough' and not nearly as fine-tuned as they remembered. Storm gets attacked by a Brood patrol ship, and leads it away from the yacht. Kitty phases into the yacht to open the air-lock for Kurt, but gets ambushed by a Brood warrior. She retreats into the airlock, but the Brood follows. She doesn't want to cycle the lock because she won't murder the Brood - but it attacks her and she phases, and the Brood hits the airlock controls, opening the outer door and forcibly expunging it into space. Kitty phases to stay inside, and then helps Nightcrawler into the yacht - although he's now cold and looks lifeless. Back in the Queen's chambers, Wolverine is about to administer the deathblow to the Queen when they get teleported out by the yacht! The yacht races away, all the X-Men, Lilandra, and Carol on board, but its about to come under fire! Brodie's View: Fantasy becomes reality, and the X-Men start to realize how deep in shit's creek they are upon awakening, as instead of being aboard a Shi'ar ship, they are really at the mercy of the Brood on their world. This is basically the story of this, the second part of "The Brood Saga," as Wolverine, who was able to break both the Brood's mental control and kill the Brood egg implanted within him in the last issue (due to the egg not being able to compensate for his healing factor and his adamantium skeleton), tries to rescue the rest of the group, Lilandra, and Carol Danvers (who he goes to first, as she was taken away to be experimented on by Brood scientists before she could be implanted with an egg). As he finds Carol, he sees that the Brood scientists, who have discovered that Carol's genetic makeup makes her different from both normal humans and mutants, and are experimenting with altering her form. Wolverine kills them and destroys their machine, and manages to get Carol out somewhat unscathed, but some alternation has happened, but he (and we) won't know the extent of it until next issue. We then see a cutaway on Earth, as Corsair and Havok (and Polaris/Moria MacTaggert) discover that the X-Men have been captured by the Brood and Deathbird (although the full extent of what has happened to them is not known), and Corsair sets off to find them. Speaking of Summers family members, we rejoin the action on Sleezeworld, as Cyclops has a nightmarish vision that snaps him out of the Brood's created illusion, and he starts to realize what deep shit they're in. He finds Storm, who also has a premonition of something being wrong, but before they can discuss what happened, they are joined by Wolverine and Carol, who are being attacked by the Brood. They fight them off, and go rescue the others, who are still coming out of the brainwashing. Once they do, they realize that they need to escape....Stat (although, Wolverine is intent on killing the Brood Queen, who discovers that Wolverine's egg has died. Cyclops stops him due to the whole "X-Men don't kill" ideal that they will quickly have to get over in order to survive). Nightcrawler teleports Kitty up to a Lilandra's ship, and after fending off one of the warriors, ALIEN style (aka: The Brood warrior goes to attack her, she phases, and he nails the button for the air lock, sucking him out of the air lock, and allows Kitty to pull a seemingly lifeless Nightcrawler in with her), she teleports the others inside the ship, and they go to escape, only to find themselves under fire by one of the Brood's other ships. Boy, talk about the shit hitting the fan quickly. The X-Men escape the Brood world, but they (other than Wolverine and Carol) have been implanted with Brood eggs that could hatch and transform them into enemies at any moment, and only Wolverine knows this (who hasn't had the heart to tell them.....yet. He will next issue). The Brood are after them, but more to bring them back to allow their eggs to hatch properly, so, they can proceed with the next step of their plan....eventual take over of first Earth, and then assumingly the entire universe. Some of the team realize that something is wrong, but don't know the extent of how wrong things are. Plus, we have the whole deal with what has been done to Carol Danvers, but, once again, we'll find out more information next issue. For now, the X-Men have made their escape from the planet, but will have to escape the entire armada being after them. We'll see how they do this next issue as well. I hate to be vague like that, but next issue will definitely push this whole plot forward in a MAJOR way......promise. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 10, 2017 2:58:55 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 164"Rescue Mission"Cover Date: December, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Brood Guest Stars: Lilandra, Carol Danvers/Binary, Illyana Rasputin Official Plot:The X-Men and Lilandra, aboard the Z'Reee Shar, have come under fire from Brood warcraft while fleeing Sleazeworld. Still within the star's gravity well, they can't jump to warp space yet, but the Brood are mysteriously firing warning shots rather than going for a kill. Unbeknownst to most of the X-Men (except Wolverine), they host Brood Queen embryos, and the "Mother-of-us-all" will not see them killed. Wolverine, Carol, and Colossus head to the weapons, minimal though they are, but Colossus's firing is ineffective because he is yet unwilling to take a life. Cyclops and Storm also participate in their own distinctive way, neither willing to actually kill, although Storm loses control of her lightning bolts and destroys a ship instead of disabling it! Suddenly the ships rear shields buckle and the ship takes a hit, knocking out the warp drive! Not being able to repaired from inside, someone will have to go E.V.A.(Extra-Vehicular Activity)to fix it. After brief discussion, Kitty takes it upon herself to go out and fix it. She phases into a spacesuit and through the hull. The Brood try to blast Kitty, but she phases and they miss. As she gets to work, the Brood realize that they must have crippled the engine, and press their attack. Inside, Storm is catatonic from having killed, and Carol has another weird sensation pass over her - and wonders what the Brood did to her in the lab. Outside, Kitty gets hit by some stray shrapnel, taking a minor wound, but refusing to go inside before she's done. Suddenly, Carol transforms into something much more than human, and blasts all the surrounding Brood ships! At that moment, Kitty finishes her repairs, and tells Lilandra to throw them into warp, but doesn't respond to urgent subsequent radio calls... X-Mansion, Earth. Professor X is preparing dinner, and Illyana comes at his telepathic call. Illyana asks Professor X some pointed questions - why does she sometimes hear him perfectly clearly when he's not nearby, and how did she learn to speak English so fast, and he reveals his telepathy to her. It is also revealed the Illyana can do "things" too, although she doesn't reveal what, and that Professor X cannot read her thoughts. Professor X gives up - his drive is broken by the apparent death of his X-Men and he merely wants to be left alone. Back aboard the Z'Reee Shar, Carol Danvers, manifesting unknown energies, goes out to retrieve the wounded Kitty. Back inside, we discover that the warp drive has again died, and that the matter anti-matter drive has shut down as well, cutting off life-support systems. Their only hope is to restart the drive, and Carol instinctively knows that she has sufficient power available to do so. She succeeds, but also discovers there is a limit to her new powers. Later, after everyone has had a chance to rest, Carol and Colossus work on repairing the hull. Colossus invites Carol to join the X-Men, but she declines - she's always wanted to explore space, and joining the X-Men would tie her to Earth. Instead, she wants to stay out among the stars. Inside, Kurt checks on Kitty, and then goes to talk to Cyclops. Kurt is confused by Kitty's fast recovery - she suffered a serious wound and enough radiation to kill her 10 times over, but now she seems perfectly recovered. Wolverine wanders by in a snit, berates Cyclops again for not helping him kill the queen, and is otherwise rather moody and agitated. He storms off again. Storm is in the shuttle hangar bay, trying to find her internal harmony. She starts to fly, but with a cry suddenly plummets to the floor. Cyclops rushes in, and convinces Ororo to confide in him. Storm confesses her disorientation and her loss of... soul. Suddenly a thought strikes her, and probing, she senses life within her! She probes deeper, and cries out "No!", hopping into a shuttle and leaving the ship without explaining anything to Cyclops. Cyclops finally forces Wolverine to tell them the truth, and he does, including his confession that he thought about killing all of them but couldn't bring himself to do it. Carol, with a cry of rage, activates her Binary powers and blasts off into space - neglecting, however, to open the hatch. The rest of the X-Men are suddenly forced to deal with explosive decompression! Brodie's View: Well, we go from last issue, which the events could be summed up with a sentence of two (The X-Men find out they've been captured and brainwashed by The Brood, and try to escape....and, oh yeah, Corsair and the X-people on Earth find out they've been kidnapped.) to a issue where a LOT of stuff happens, but that's not knocking last issue's lack of plot movement at all, as one kind of needed that issue to get to THIS issue and a lot of things answered (plus setting up some future stuff). The most important question answered relates to the woman on the cover of the book, and that was, "Hey, what did happen to Carol Danvers after the Brood messed with her DNA?," in which she transform into a being of cosmic energy who names herself Binary (kind of interesting that she had a name all picked out all ready, almost as if she knew she were going to transform into a being of cosmic energy at some point, and had a list of names at the ready.....of course, maybe she did, as when she finally does come back to Earth in Kurt Busick's late 90's AVENGERS run, having depowered down to a Ms. Marvel level once again, she already has the name "Warbird" picked out for herself....she must put a LOT of thought into being a superhero). Of course, corniness aside, it was cool of Claremont to do this for the Carol Danvers character, after she had pretty much been time raped, impregnated by said rapist, and then tossed away by Jim Shooter in AVENGERS #200. He basically picked her up off of the trash heap, dusted her off, allowed her to redeem herself somewhat, and then transformed into a new hero, and this issue (Heck, this whole story-line) is basically her BIG HERO MOMENT, as she saves Kitty Pryde from dying of radiation poisoning in the cold of space (After shrapnel damaged her space suit). Of course, at the end of the issue, she blasts out of the ship in a fit of rage, leaving a hole that almost sucks the rest of the good guys out into space as well (Hey, nobody's perfect), but her rage can be explained by the second major revelation of this issue. Of course, this could be nothing else but Wolverine finally telling the rest of the X-Men (well, save for Storm, who figures it out for herself shortly before hand, freaks out, and steals a ship and takes off before saying anything to anyone), Lilandra, and Carol (who is safe from that fate, but super pissed at the Brood for doing it) what the Brood did to them, and that other than Carol and he, they are all on borrowed time until the Brood eggs implanted inside them hatch, transforming them into Brood. Needless to say, the news doesn't go well, and Logan even admits struggling with having to tell them, and even considering killing them before they went through such a horrible fate (which he did in #162, but his healing factor/adamantium skeleton managed to kill it), and we'll see the rest of the team's fall out with finding out this news in the next issue....well, if they can keep from getting sucked out into space. The other important thing about this issue is something that might have just written off as a simple side scene when it happened, but as the months go on, we'll see the importance of that little scene, and that would be the brief cutaway with Professor X and Illyana Rasputin, who sit down to breakfast together, with Illyana now being able to speak perfect English (Xaiver taught her while she slept), and Illyana cryptically revealing that she does "things" as well, but not elaborating on that comment. Xaiver blows it off due to his grief over the X-Men most likely being dead, but we'll see another such scene in the next issue, as we're getting the build to Xaiver finally enacting Jim Shooter's wishes back in 1979, and forming a team of NEW MUTANTS, of which Kitty Pryde was originally supposed to be the first member of, but Illyana will end up in later instead. Of course, the subconscious reason for Xaiver forming a team of young impressionable mutants is actually pretty horrible, but it's not his fault.....really. Of course, we'll get more into all that by the time we reach #167. The last important thing about this issue, but not the least for sure, is that it's the last issue for artist Dave Cockrum, who had helped launch the ALL NEW, ALL DIFFERENT team back in GIANT SIZE X-MEN (1975), and picked up the slack in #145 when John Byrne left the book. I kind of bagged on Cockrum's art at times for not being as flashy and cool as Byrne's and some of the later artists, but to be fair, his stuff was always very serviceable, and honestly, he was a lot better in this second run, as one can tell he perfected his craft since leaving the book in #110. He was really great at drawing the fairy tale stuff in #153, the alien stuff in #154-157 and #162-this issue, as well as the funhouse stuff during the Dr. Doom/Arcade storyline (#145-147), and, of course, the big showdown with Magneto in #150. In other words, most of his second run was pretty damn good, and he should be commended for that. He would go on to do a side story in a reprint of GIANT SIZE that would come out shortly following this storyline's end, and also the NIGHTCRAWLER mini series that would be produced in 83/84 as well. Of course, that all being said, the art definitely takes a big step forward in the next issue, as the great Paul Smith takes over the art duties for the rest of this story-line, and would do most of the issues leading up to #175. We'll see the difference in art styles in the next issue, as Storm goes through some Ch-ch-ch-changes. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 10, 2017 22:33:37 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 165 "Transfigurations"Cover Date: January, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Brood Guest Stars: Lilandra, Moria MacTaggert, Stevie Hunter, & Illyana Rasputin Official Plot:After Binary blasted off into space, accidentally tearing a whole in the hull, the X-Men are suddenly faced with explosive decompression. Quick thinking allows them to block the hole and restore atmospheric pressure long enough to let the ships automated repair systems actually fix it. Back at the X-Mansion, Illyana, Stevie Hunter, and Moira MacTaggert are getting some sun. Moira goes in to talk with Charles. Reed Richards wrote a letter to her about Xi'an Coy Manh, a mutant that he'd like her and Charles help training. Recently Moira and Charles have fought a lot about whether the school should continue, Moira says she's done fighting, but other options exist for the girl. Other options like Magneto and Emma Frost. Faced with that choice - its him or some of the greatest threats the X-Men have ever faced, Charles makes the decision he has to, and picks up the phone. Storm pilots her shuttle, thinking herself through the options available to her. Suddenly, the Brood transformation begins, but the shuttle stumbling into the galactic core floods Storm with enough power to halt and even reverse the transformation! It then becomes clear to Storm what she must do. Summoning the power of the galactic core itself, she lights up like a young star for the briefest of moments (ripping the shuttle apart in the process). The Brood embryo does not survive the experience. Neither does she. Back on the Z'Reee Shar, Wolverine convinces Lilandra that paying the Brood back in kind is the only viable response. Surprisingly, Cyclops comes around to agreeing with him. Wolverine later stumbles upon Nightcrawler praying. This leads to a brief discussion of spirituality (or lack thereof), and ends with Wolverine suggesting they go look for beer. Kitty dreams. In her dreams she's at a funeral, but the person in the coffin is also herself. Suddenly, it opens its eyes and changes into a Brood, reaching for her - she tries to phase but it still grasps her. It pulls her into the grave and only the young queen remains. Kitty awakes with a yelled "No!". And quickly Peter is there to comfort her. Kitty is afraid of death - more specifically, she hates knowing she's going to die from something growing inside her that could take her at any moment, much preferring death in battle or in old age. After a long hug, Kitty wishes she was older, and to her surprise, Peter responds that he also wishes it were so. They kiss. However, Peter is adamant that Kitty is in fact too young, whereas Kitty figures societies rules don't really matter when you're at death's door. The discussion is cut short when suddenly Kitty spies... Ororo. The vision speaks briefly, then disappears. Logan and Kurt are drinking something alcoholic that was whipped out by the food synthesizer, when Ororo also appears to them. Logan responds flippantly, then realizes it was Ororo - but by then she's gone again. She appears to them again, as a little child, muttering "sigh, this isn't right either", before disappearing once more. Kurt and Logan run to the bridge to tell everyone they've seen Storm, where Kitty and Peter have already done so. Storm appears a few more times, each time looking differently. Suddenly, an Acanti is seen on visuals, and it swallows them - dampening their engines and weapons! At last, Storm manages to manifest in her X-Men uniform, and tells them there is no cause for alarm - the Acanti and she are one. Brodie's View: In many ways, other than the stuff with Storm and the cutaway on Earth with Xaiver, Moria MacTaggert, and a few others sitting poolside, this is the fallout/leadup issue. The fallout from last issue's revelation by Wolverine that the X-Men and Lilandra were implanted with Brood eggs (Wolverine's powers and adamantium killed his), and that they are basically the Walking Dead, at least as it relates to their humanity. The lead up is the build to next issue's big confrontation with the Brood, as the X-Men plan to spend their last moments as humans battling the Brood, and trying to stop their plans for galactic expansion by any means necessary. The details of this will fall into place in the first part of next issue, but I will tell you that it has a lot to do with what happens with Storm in this issue, so, perhaps we should start there. In the last issue, due to Storm's intimate connection with both nature and herself, she finds out before the rest of the X-Men that she has a growing Brood warrior inside her, freaks, steals an escape craft, and takes off by herself in a panic (perhaps she thought she was the only one implanted, perhaps not....we're not given the answers to that question). We see her briefly on her ship before she starts to transform into a Brood, and it's only by flying into an energy field that she's able to reverse the transformation. Rather than risk it happening again, she commits suicide by basically blowing her ship up. However, as we later find, both in this issue and the next, she is saved by a young Acanti (a whale-like alien race that was enslaved by the Brood, and it was due to that that the race can't break free of the Brood's grip), who basically heals her body in exchange for Storm (who resides in an astral form for the next couple issues) helping its race break free of the Brood. Once again, we get more detail on that in the next issue. We also get more foreshadowing on Earth, as Moria MacTaggert mentions to Xaiver that Reed Richards got ahold of her regarding the discovery of a young mutant named Karma, who has to the ability to psychically possess people (The FF and Spider-Man encountered her in MARVEL TEAM UP #100). Xaiver blows her off, so, Moria strokes his sense of responsibility by mock threatening to deliver her to Magneto or The Hellfire Club instead. Xaiver finally decides to do the right thing, and gives Reed a call. Of course, this is more lead up for THE NEW MUTANTS, the first spin off X-Title that would be created, as we would soon meet a brand new team of X-Men in training (Of course, this was kind of bad timing, as I think 3 issues of the book had already been released by the time the X-Men come back to Earth in #167, but I guess we don't really know how much time passes between what's happening in space and what is taking place on Earth). The rest of the issue, other than the reunion with Ghost Storm at the end of the issue, is basically the X-Men reacting to the news they had heard in their own respective ways. In the case of Kitty and Colossus, it's kind of strengthening the growing feelings that have been developing between the two since she joined the team, and hinting of them taking their relationship "to the next level," but Colossus saying no due to their age difference. You can tell this was a big moment for Joss Whedon, who would kind of name drop this moment, and then do his own version of that with them both as adults in his run (Hint....a lot of screwing takes place). We also get Wolverine and Nightcrawler discussing religion (Nightcrawler being a devout Catholic, while Wolverine being an Agnostic at best), and then just saying "F**k It," and heading to go look for beer. I know Claremont gets a lot of flack for slowing the story down an issue and having moments like this (I guess Byrne used to mock him about it relentlessly), but to me, this is what makes this book so great during this period, and at heart, these are the moments that made the X-Men "THE X-MEN," and put them way over any other super hero book Marvel was putting out at the time (DC would be smart and create their own team book like that with THE NEW TEEN TITANS). The ability to have an issue with little action, but a LOT of character development and pathos, and this issue is probably one of the best examples of this. However, those craving action will only need wait until next issue, as the X-Men will make their "final" stand against the Brood, and we get a new character introduced that, while not majorly important to the team as a whole, he/it is very important to the team in a way, and VERY important to one member of the team. One other cool thing about this issue is that we welcome Paul Smith to the behind the X-Men family, as he is the new artist on the book. As we can see, he does a great job with the pencils, particularly with Kitty's nightmare sequence, where she imagines what transforming into a Brood will be like (and in many ways, she's pretty spot on). We can definitely tell that Smith has a much more visual approach than Dave Cockrum did (nothing against Cockrum, but, yeah.....Smiths art is definitely more dynamic). He will be sticking around until #175, when another very visual (but more gritty) artist takes over the book, one who comes from artistic "royalty." GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 11, 2017 1:24:08 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 166"Live Free or Die!"Cover Date: February, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Brood Guest Stars: Lilandr, Binary, The Starjammers, and Lockheed (1st appearance) Official Plot:On the Brood colonized world Madrizar, a recently captured Acanti is infected with the Brood slaver virus. Suddenly, the Brood all turn at a bright light in the sky. It is the last thing they see. Binary unleashes her full fury upon the world, and devastates the Brood utterly. She frees the Acanti from its shackles, but it telepathically informs her that it is already infected, and there is no way to reverse the virus. There is only one way for it to be free, and Binary grants its request. Carol leaves the planet and runs into... Storm. Carol is confused by Storm's appearance out in the middle of space. On the one hand, Storm cannot survive in vacuum. On the other, she was also implanted with a Brood embryo and should be dead. Storm reveals that she purged the embryo from herself in an act that basically did kill her, and that this was an astral form. She takes Carol back to her body. On entering Storm's Acanti-body/host through its mouth, they re-unite with the X-Men. The X-Men tease Carol about the explosive decompression she caused leaving the Z'Reee Shar, but the joking is too much for Kitty, who finds it incongruous with their unavoidable death/transformations into Brood queens. Lilandra and Wolverine favor a vengeance mission back to the Brood homeworld, to kill the Queen and as many others as they can. However, Storm offers them another way. She explains that when the Brood first came to their universe, they discovered the Acanti, large but gentle creatures that made easy prey and excellent starships for them. In their early raids they captured the Acanti prophet-singer, who shepherds the souls of the Acanti and without whom the Acanti are a doomed race. His corpse is the skeleton on which Sleazeworld's city is built. Now a new prophet-singer has been born (Storm's host), but the Acanti racial soul needs to be freed from the body of the old prophet-singer. If they released this soul, the newly born prophet-singer could come into his full power, and lead his people to safety. The soul is located at the base of the Prophet-singer's skull, in territory, Wolverine knows from his previous experience on Sleazeworld, is occupied by creatures even the Brood fear. Cyclops proposes Binary and Storm distract the Brood while the others teleport down from the Z'Reee Shar (i.e. from within the Acanti) and make for the soul. Wolverine objects, reasoning the only ones he can trust not to turn into brood mid-battle are himself and Carol. Cyclops challenges Wolverine on this - "kill us now" he demands, and Wolverine has a brief tormented inner monologue...then he pops his claws. Kitty runs between the two of them, and Wolverine backs down. The next "day", Storm/Acanti does a flyby of the skeleton and the X-Men head to the transporter room and beam down to the surface. The Brood take the bait, and the Queen demands the Acanti's capture. Suddenly, a Brood telepathically contacts the Queen, informing her of the X-Men's plan (and letting us know that one of the X-Men has begun his transformation and is playing double agent). The Queen refuses her daughter's request to kill them, and assembles a hunting force to capture them. Planet-side, Wolverine leads the X-Men towards the soul by following its 'scent'. Top-side, the Brood think they have the Acanti when suddenly Binary zooms in, springing the ambush and devastating the Brood fleet. Down below, the X-Men are fighting their way through a mixed group of monsters. Kitty gets grabbed by something, and phases through a wall to avoid it. Cyclops and Wolverine verbally spar - and Wolverine finds both the verbal sparring and Scott's berserker battle attitude out of character. Kitty finds herself in the middle of a large nest, a nest with a pile of Brood skeletons nearby! Fortunately, no parent seems to be nearby. Mildly disturbed, she carefully makes her way out of the nest, unaware that she is seen and followed. In space, numbers finally begin to take their toll, and Carol is overwhelmed and neutralized. Storm is about to flee to save the nascent Prophet-Singer, but then suddenly the Starjammer drops out of hyperspace! Below, Wolverine - disliking Scott's recent attitude - maneuvers to get a scent, and what he smells displeases him. Lunging at Scott, he pulls the visor off to reveal Scott has begun his transformation into a Brood queen. He blasts Wolverine and Colossus, and then the Queen springs her warriors upon them, stunning Lilandra and Nightcrawler. The X-Men all unconscious, the Brood Queen makes them her prisoners. Kitty has been on the run from Brood patrols since shortly after she left the nest, and finally her endurance is spent. The Brood capture her, when suddenly a soft "ahem" is distinctly heard, and then the corridor fills with flame! Kitty, vaguely shocked by her rescue, is further surprised to find her rescuer is a pint-sized dragon. One last Brood interrupts their meeting with a blaster shot, narrowly missing but opening a hole to a brilliantly glowing chamber. Mesmerized, both the Brood and Kitty are compelled to walk into the chamber! The Brood hunting party is making its way back to the royal crèche when the Brood/Cyclops loses control of its optic blasts, knocking the Queen for a loop, and Scott gains control briefly. Wolverine takes advantage of the confusion to maneuver himself into taking a hit, freeing himself from his shackles. As the young Queen re-asserts itself over Cyclops, Wolverine knocks it out. Then, taking advantage of the Queen being momentarily unconscious, threatens the other Brood with her death if they don't drop their weapons and release the X-Men - they comply. Shortly, the X-Men find a crystalline chamber, and Kitty walks out to greet them. She tells them a Brood that came in with her was turned to crystal in the chamber - judged by the Acanti's soul and found wanting. The X-Men resolve to enter, and the Queen insists on accompanying them. Suddenly the X-Men notice the Queen is corrupting the chamber - as are they. (At least, those still hosting queen embryos.) Wolverine commands a withdrawal, but the Queen takes advantage of the distraction to stab him. He cuts off her stingers while they are in his back, and collapses before picking himself up again. The other X-Men begin their transformation into Brood, and Wolverine pops his claws and moves toward Kitty! Suddenly, Carol swoops in and prevents him from finishing her. Wolverine tells Carol to forget him and save the Acanti. The Queen tells them that even if they killed her and all the other X-Men, another Queen embryo exist - and that it imperils Earth. Carol ignores the Queen and the X-Men and instead somehow uses her solar affinity to distill the soul-essence from the chamber and return it to the Acanti young prophet-singer. The passing of the soul kills the embryos - restoring the X-Men to health, and turns the Brood Queen to crystal! The X-Men are teleported out by the Starjammer just moments before Sleazeworld explodes from the stress of Carol's actions. Kitty wonders what became of the dragon. Epilogue: Storm is restored to health, the X-Men are wounded but recovering. The Acanti are free. However, Wolverine points out that the Queen claimed there was an embryo which imperiled Earth - and that could only be Charles Xavier. Brodie's View: What a slam bang (almost) ending of this whole "Brood Saga," as the X-Men and Lilandra (with the aid of Binary and Storm, who is in an astral form after the events of last issue) fight to stop the Brood by free the soul of the Acanti (The whale-like race of aliens that the Brood have enslaved into serving as their space craft, allowing them to spread their pestilence to other worlds and galaxies) before they (other than Wolverine, who destroyed the Brood egg that was implanted inside him back in #162) transform into new members of the Brood. The beginning of this issue is everyone reuniting, and then Binary and the X-Men/Lilandra learning the story of the Acanti, and why freeing them from the Brood is so important in stopping them, which makes the X-Men feel a lot better about going after the Brood, as now theirs is a mission of saving others from a horrible fate, rather than just a simple mission of vengeance for what had been done to them (Of course, they admit to wanting that as well). In other words, by adding this whole element into the mix, it allows the X-Men to do what they do best; Be the heroes they always have been, even when put in the most hopeless situations, and this one is pretty f**king hopeless. And to make things worse, the next day, when they go about their mission, we find out via a cutaway that one of the group has already begun their transformation, and has psychically tipped the Brood Queen off about their coming, and why. Despite that, they charge ahead, as Binary attacks the fleets waiting in reserve (and almost gets overwhelmed, until the Starjammer ship suddenly appears and evens the odds). The X-Men and Lilandra, meanwhile, teleport aboard the Acanti that the main section of the Brood have been flying in, and start taking out both Brood and the other predator creatures that reside within the Acanti. During the battle, Kitty gets knocked into a wall (well, part of the Acanti), and winds up in a different part of the whale-like alien's body, where she is surrounded by Brood, but then saved by an alien that turns out to be a small dragon-like creature. Yes, folks.....this is the first appearance of LOCKHEED THE F'N DRAGON, a creature that will bond to Ms. Pryde, and the two become as inseparable as Batman and Robin, Captain America and Bucky.....ok, maybe those are bad examples, but let's just say that it's love at first site between the two. Anyways, another Brood tries to attack, but accidentally opens a wall that ends up leading into the soul of the Acanti (IOW, exactly where the X-Men needed to get to). Kitty and the Brood warrior enter. Meanwhile, Wolverine senses that there is something up with Cyclops, and after using his senses, figures out that he is the one who has started to transform, and after being proven right, he and the other good guys are blasted by other Brood. However, the Brood controlling Cyclops has yet to master his powers, and after his eye beams start going crazy, Wolverine is able to take back the advantage, and takes the Brood Queen prisoner. They all make their way to the soul, where they are met by Kitty, as we reveal that the Acanti's soul is so pure, it has transformed the Brood that followed her in to pure crystal. As they all enter, however, the Brood within them (as well as The Brood Queen) starts to corrupt the soul and the infected begin their transformations as well. Wolverine tries to stop them, but the Queen stabs him with her tail, and as he tries to recover enough to kill them, we see the X-Men and Lilandra transforming into Brood as the Queen gloats that by bringing them to the soul, they gave her the means to permanently enslave the Acanti, thereby making the conquest of the Universe (as well as mentioning that there is a Brood Queen egg implanted inside someone on Earth) easier. Just at that moment, Binary flies in, and uses her cosmic energy to expunge the Brood presence from the soul, making it pure once again, and also turning the Brood Queen into crystal and killing the eggs inside the X-Men/Lilandra in one fell swoop, freeing them. The rest of the issue involves the team recovering aboard the Starjammer ship, and being all happy (As Storm reveals also that her body has been fully regenerated, and she is back in the flesh) until Wolverine reveals what the Queen told him about one Queen egg being left on Earth, and that there's only one person it could be inside.......Charles Xaiver. Once again, this was such a cool ending to this whole storyline (well, technically next issue is the end, but the end of the X-Men's direct part of it), and it allowed everybody involved to have their BIG HEROIC MOMENTS within it. I will say that the whole climax was rather Deus Ex Machina-ish, as Binary could have just ended this whole thing at any time really, but I will say that it definitely fit the whole point of the story, and that was, once again, to allow the X-Men to do something truly heroic to stop the Brood, so, I'll give it a pass. I kind of wonder, however, what would have happened had what Carol did not led to the killing of the Brood themselves. Would Wolverine and Binary have then had to kill the Brood X-Men, and then they, Storm, and the Starjammers have had to go back to Earth and kill a Brood Queen Xaiver and (perhaps) a Brood New Mutants? Sounds like that would have been a cool WHAT IF story, and I'm honestly surprised no one did it. Despite all that, this was a damn good ending (and we got to see Lockheed for the first time, so, awesome points for that alone)......of course, as I also once again said, this whole thing isn't QUITE over yet, as now the mutant team must do battle with the man that brought them all together; the man that some of them view as a father figure. Should be an epic battle.....be there or be square. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 11, 2017 3:30:18 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men # 167"The Goldilocks Syndrome!" (or: "Who's Been Sleeping in My Head?")Cover Date: March, 1983 Writer Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Brood Guest Stars: Lilandra, Binary, The Starjammers, Illyana Rasputin, The New Mutants (Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Karma, Psyche, & Sunspot), Gladiator, The Fantastic Four (briefly), and Moria MacTaggert Official Plot:This story takes place after New Mutants #3... The New Mutants are spending their evening watching an episode of Magnum P.I. in relative quiet, when suddenly the X-Men burst into the mansion seeking out Professor X, as he has been infected with a Brood Queen embryo. Unsure if the young mutants that are in their home have been infected, the X-Men try to subdue Xavier's newest students while Kitty goes upstairs looking for the Professor. Although she is armed with a Shi'ar blaster, she is easily disarmed by the Brood infected Xavier. While downstairs, the X-Men are easily rounding up the younger mutants when Kitty is thrown down by Charles. With the Brood persona in full control of his body, Charles allows himself to transform into his Brood form who charges after the X-Men. Cyclops blasts the Brood out of the mansion, while outside Colossus (having been knocked outside during the fight with the New Mutants) goes after their mentor, but finds the combination of the Brood's physical strength and the Professor's mental powers too much to fight up against. Wolverine is the only one who can bring himself to slay the Professor, while the others try to stop him to find some other way. When the Brood manages to escape it's taken down by Storm and Binary. With the Professor's mind reasserting itself, he asks his senior students to put him out of his misery. When Wolverine motions to do it, Cyclops orders him back because he refuses to kill the Professor unless they can do something to save him. Cyclops, the X-Men and the New Mutants board the Starjammer and wait while Moira MacTaggert and Sikorsky look over Xavier's body. When the exit the infirmary they report that they cannot change him back to his human form, but they might be able to clone a new body for him and transplant his mind. It's a risky job, but the X-Men agree to go ahead with the attempt anyway. As Colossus, Illyana and Kitty are reunited, Storm notes that her once close friendship with Kitty might be coming to an end and feels alone. She goes elsewhere on the ship where she spends some time with Nightcrawler and remark on the New Mutants who were gathered in their absence Marvel Graphic Novel #4. While not far away, Cyclops and his father Corsair spend time together. When Scott asks his father what he intends to do, Corsair explains that after spending some time on Earth he will return to space as he would not fit in on his old home world. Scott asks if he can accompany him when he leaves Earth, and Corsair tells him that he can come with him if he'd like. In the meantime, Corsair asks Scott if he'd like to meet his grandparents, to which Scott is joyed with the prospect. The peace is broken when Gladiator arrives asking for an audience with Empress Lilandra. Taken to his queen, Gladiator informs her that Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four had recently saved the life of Galactus. Angered by this, Lilandra beams a holographic image of herself before Reed and his wife Sue, who are sleeping in bed. She warns Richards that should Galactus consume any worlds that are populated he will be tried under Shi'ar law and punished fully for his aiding in Galactus's continued survival. With her message done, Lilandra rejoins the X-Men and New Mutants and is informed that the operation was a success. When Charles Xavier exits the infirmary in his new, younger, clone body he surprises everyone by being able to stand up and walk. However, this is only a brief moment as he soon buckles over in pain. Xavier explains to his students that his body is having a psychosomatic response after years of being crippled, however intends to work on being able to walk again. He formally introduces the X-Men to his new students the New Mutants whom he intends to train in the use of their powers. He shocks the the X-Men when he also announces that Kitty will be removed from the team and placed with the Mutants so that she can learn how to use her powers with students her own age. Brodie's View: We get two major battles in the first half of this issue, with the second half being used for the fallout from those battles, and setting up what the new Status Quo for the team will be (although, that also changes quickly, but we'll get to that later). The X-Men arrive back on Earth to find a new group of mutants in the Mansion (Known, groupwise, as THE NEW MUTANTS, natch), and that classic tale of superhero misunderstanding takes place, as the X-Men are after the Brood infected Charles Xaiver, and the NM's think this strange team of super powered beings are attacking them/Professor X, and instantly attack the X-Men. We get to see a bit of the young X-Men's powers against the older team (with the older team, for the most part, kicking their asses due to their experience), with Kitty phasing up to Xaiver's study to take care of him (Wrong choice....should have been Wolverine), but seeing him sleeping, she hesitates. Big mistake, as the Brood Xaiver was playing possum, and instantly ends the X-Men/New Mutant battle by blasting Kitty into the living room, and upon greeting the returning X-Men, he transforms into a Brood Queen, and tries to escape, with both mutant teams now in full chase. After being wounded and taken down by the X-Men, New Mutants, and Binary, we quickly realize that there is still a spark of Xaiver left inside the horrible creature, or at least his mind, and he begs the X-Men to kill him before he can 100% be overtaken by the Queen within him. However, Cyclops decides to try and save the Professor, and we next see them all aboard the Starjammer, as it is revealed that Xaiver's body has been cloned, and they are basically trying to transfer his mind over to the new body; an experiment that turns out to be a success (although, it would have been interesting if Xaiver's mind still maintained a Brood presence, but Claremont decides not to go that way). Meanwhile, the two teams get to know each other (And Lilandra threatens the FANTASTIC FOUR for saving Galactus in their own book. The follow up of that also happens there, so, I won't go into too much detail with this.), while Cyclops decides to take another leave of absence from the team. Finally, the (mostly) recovered Charles Xaiver is brought out, and not only is he OK, but since he has a new body, he has regained the use of his legs (although, it will take time to train his mind to accept that his legs work again), but before the teams can celebrate this whole Brood thing being over, Charles drops a bombshell that he is removing Kitty Pryde from the X-Men, and placing her in the New Mutants, so, she can receive better training for her powers; a decision that doesn't sit well with Ms. Pryde and some of the rest of the team. It's kind of interesting that this issue starts off with non stop action, and then kind of ends in typical Claremont fashion with emotional character bonding stuff. This has been a roller coaster of a period that started in #154, and is just now coming to an end, and a LOT has changed with the team and their supporting cast during that time. However, more changes are coming soon, in both the roster of the X-Men and the direction of the book itself, and we'll see that play out over the next year or so worth of issues. SECRET WARS will be a big catalyst for that change, but really it's kind of more a change in the art style, as John Romita Jr. (Who starts the book in #175, and pretty much is the main artist for the book until we get to the Mutant Massacre (#210-213) is far more of a grim and gritty type of artist than Paul Smith and his more clean, sci-fi feel. In addition, we now have a brand new group of NEW MUTANTS that will become regular supporting characters for the main X Book as well, and provide a place for a few supporting characters from the past. Finally, we have the fate of Carol Danvers/Binary, who has essentially shed her Ms. Marvel skin completely, and is now functioning as a brand new character, one who doesn't wish to give up the grand adventure of space. She'll get her wish, as she will join Corsair and the Starjammers pretty much in this issue, but officially in #171. We also get the beginnings of a change for Storm, who feels apart from the group (most likely do to her death and rebirth, thanks to the Acanti), and we'll definitely see some big changes for her over the next year or two of issues. This was a pretty great transition issue, and like I said earlier, really sets up the new status quo for the team, if there really IS a status quo at this stage of the run. Last, but certainly not least, there is the whole deal with Kitty Pryde, and whether or not she'll continue to be an X-Man after this issue. We do get an answer for that, but it's not going to be for a few reviews, as I'm going to spend the next couple reviews on an Annual (With a certain Bloodsucking Lord returning), a Graphic Novel (Which was the basis for X2), and a short story with Kitty hitting a milestone (and the last of the regular X-stories, other than the NIGHTCRAWLER limited series, (which, sorry, but I won't be reviewing due to lack of owning) to be drawn by legendary X-artist, Dave Cockrum). After those three reviews, we'll come back to #168, and Professor X being a JERK! GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 11, 2017 22:33:09 GMT -5
Special Edition X-Men #1"A Day Like Any Other" (Reprint: Deadly Genesis)Cover Date: February, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont (Len Wein) Artist: Dave Cockrum (Both) Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) (See Pg 1 for team) Villain/s: None (Krakoa) Guest Stars: Lilandra, Polaris, Havok, The Starjammers, Illyana Rasputin, Stevie Hunter, & The New Mutants (Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Karma, Psyche, & Sunspot) (Both) Official Plot:(Read Pg 1 for Deadly Genesis) Illyana walks with Kitty around the mansion while everyone else is away. While on the grounds, they learn of an intruder and go to investigate. Kitty opens a door and is surprised by all the X-Men and New Mutants. It is her 14th birthday. Brodie's View: I'm not going to bother giving my views on DEADLY GENESIS, as you can easily go back to Pg 1 of this thread and read my views on that. My opinions haven't changed. No, I'm going to talk about the 2nd story; a bonus story to reward anyone who double dipped by basically rebuying GIANT SIZE X-MEN, or give an extra cool reward for anyone buying it for the first time to go back to the beginning (well, of the modern team), and see how this team of X-Men came together. The second story concerns Kitty and Illyana bumming around the X Mansion by themselves. After quite a bit of teenage girl talk, Illyana asks Kitty to show her the grounds, and Kitty agrees, and they (and we) take a little tour of the X-Mansion and the grounds, with Kitty explaining the importance of each section/room. Finally, an intruder alarm goes off, and the two girls split, with Kitty trying to get to the bottom of who might have snuck onto the grounds without alerting the defenses. She needn't worry, however, as it was all a set up to give time for the X-Men to set up a surprise party for Kitty (Her 14th Birthday party, which she never got, as she turned 14 in space), with Illyana keeping Kitty distracted so she wouldn't notice. The Starjammers, New Mutants, Havok, and Polaris all show up to the party, and Kitty thanks Illyana for giving her such a nice surprise. This was a really fun story that delivered on a few different levels. We got to see some good bonding between Kitty and Illyana, who are now about the same age. This bond would deepen between the two girls to such a level that Kitty would inherit Illyana's mystical powers and Soul Sword, were anything serious to happen to her (This happens a couple of times under Claremont's watch: Once after the Beyonder kills the New Mutants, and once after Illyana had been de-aged (Kitty was part of the group, EXCALIBUR at the time). We also got a nice little tour of the re-built X-Mansion (after its destruction in #154), and, of course, some new art by former X-artist, Dave Cockrum, which considering Dave drew the first story as well, gave a nice comparison of how much he had grown as an artist since 1975 (as well as how much the team had changed and grown since GIANT SIZE). All in all, this was a fun little issue that isn't essential to read (Unless you're a hardcore Kitty/Illyana fan), but a quick and fun read if you happen to have this issue in your collection but never bothered to read it. GRADE: B+ (For the new story)
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 12, 2017 0:47:55 GMT -5
Marvel Graphic Novel #5"God Loves, Man Kills"Cover Date: January, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Brent Anderson Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: William Stryker, The Purifiers (Including Anne) Guest Stars: Magneto, Illyana Rasputin, & Stevie Hunter Official Plot:Prologue Two young mutant runaways named Mark and Jill are fleeing from a group of religiously motivated anti-mutant group known as the Purifiers. They chase the two children into a playground where they are executed with guns and strung up on a swing set with a sign labeling them as "Muties". Their bodies are found by the X-Men's long time foe Magneto, who vows to make those who have killed these children, and many others, pay for their crimes. In New York City, the leader of the Purifiers, the popular televangelist Reverend William Stryker finishes reading a Bible passage from Deuteronomy 17:2-5, before getting a call from his operatives. They report to him their findings about the mutant group known as the X-Men, providing him information of their members, powers, and the well guarded secret that they operate from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. When his aid enters his office to get him ready for his evening broadcast on the ABC network, Stryker hints that he is about to destroy the X-Men. Chapter 1 At the dance school of Stevie Hunter in Salem Center, Kitty Pryde gets into a fight with one of her fellow students after he makes an anti-mutant comment. The fight takes them right out into the street and Piotr "Peter" Rasputin and his sister Illyana try to break it up. When Stevie goes outside to see what the commotion is about, Kitty's fellow dance student Danny tells them that Kitty attacked him when he was talking about how he and his parents were members of the Stryker Crusade and went on an anti-mutant tirade, and called Kitty a "Mutie-Lover". With the situation straightened out, Stevie sends Danny away and tells Kitty to calm down because they are only words. Kitty becomes even more upset that Stevie can be so tolerant of such hatred asking her if she would be just as tolerant if Danny called her a "Nig***-Lover" before storming off back to the Mansion. Stevie thinks Kitty was right. When Peter and Illyana follow after her to make sure she gets home safe, Stevie considers Kitty's words and realizes that Pryde was right. Visibly upset, Stevie goes back into her dance studio, unaware that Purifiers have been watching the whole confrontation. Further still, she is unaware how close they were to killing her, the only thing saving her life being the fact that she is human. Arriving at the Mansion, Kitty tells Logan about the scrap she had, and also tells him that she did not have the heart to win the fight because she was not fighting a super-villain or evil mutant, but a kid like her. Later, the X-Men gather to watch Nightline on ABC where their teacher, Professor Charles Xavier appears next to Reverend Stryker in a debate about the danger of mutants in their society. While Xavier maintains his long standing stance that mutants are merely the next step of evolution, Stryker airs his religious belief that mutants are an abomination before God and must be exterminated. When the interview ends, Kitty and the other X-Men are angered by Stryker's words and decide to change into costume and practice in the Danger Room to blow off some steam. While the X-Men are training, Stryker's aid, Anne, bumps into Scott Summers and Ororo Munroe at the television station, marking them as the X-Men Cyclops and Storm. Anne approaches her leader and tells him that they will be striking the three X-Men when they approach Central Park. Just as planned, when Xavier's Royals Royce drives past Central Park they are attacked by the Purifiers, who gun all three mutants down with tranquilizer guns and blow up the Royce. When the police call the mansion later, they inform Kurt that the Professor and the others have died in a car accident, much to everyone's sadness. Chapter 2 The next day while the other X-Men are in the city, Kitty spends some time alone outside on the Xavier state when she is joined by Illyana. Illyana tends to the grieving Kitty and the two decide to talk a walk. Along the way they come across some strange scanner device that has been setup and directed at the Mansion. Wondering who had set it up, Kitty shorts it out with her phasing powers and the two lay in hiding to see who comes to investigate. While in the city, Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler investigate the supposed accident site. While Logan and Peter examine the wreck, Kurt surveys the area in secret. When Wolverine identifies that this was no accident, Nightcrawler notifies them that two men in a car have been watching them the whole time. Wolverine decides that they should get the men and change into costume. Despite the men's attempt to flee, the three X-Men manage to disable their getaway vehicle. However these Purifier members are ready to fight using their special armor. They only get one shot in when they are stopped by Magneto, who uses his magnetic powers to destroy their armor and use it as a containment. Back at on the Mansion property, Kitty and Illyana watch as Anne and other members of Stryker's Crusade arrive to repair the device that Kitty damage. Ariel decides to try and sneak up on them by phasing through the ground. However as she is working herself through, they activate the device and detect Illyana's proximity to them due to her mutant nature. They knock her out with a tranquilizer dart and take her hostage. When Kitty attempts to sneak into their getaway vehicle by phasing through the trunk, Anne detects it and fills the trunk with gas to knock her out as well. Shortly thereafter, Magneto and the X-Men take the captured Purifiers back to the X-Mansion where Wolverine attempts to interrogate them by threatening to use his claws. When this does not work, Magneto tortures them with is magnetic powers and they learn that Stryker intends to use Professor Xavier to achieve his goal of complete eradication of the mutant race. Chapter 3 At Stryker's headquarters, Charles Xavier is being put through brainwashing wherein he lives the illusion of being crucified on a cross and being attacked by the various X-Men, who torture him and maim his body until he is saved by Reverend Stryker. This brainwashing is for the purposes of bending Xavier's will and making him loyal to Stryker so that the Reverend can use Xavier's mental powers to further his goals. Stryker then goes to check on Cyclops and Storm who are also his prisoners and have been restrained and tortured in deprivation tanks. Releasing them temporarily, Storm asks Stryker why he is doing this. Stryker replies that it is because their existence "is an affront to the Lord." Stryker explains to the two mutants why he started his crusade to eliminate Homo superior. He says that, thirty years ago, he was a soldier working for the military during nuclear tests. He was married and his wife Marcy was pregnant with their first child. When visiting Marcy's parents on the holidays their car crashed outside of Phoenix. As Anne went into labor, William helped her give birth. When he saw that his son was a mutant, he was horrified and killed his newborn child and then his own wife. He put their bodies in the wreck of their family car, which was leaking gasoline, climbed in next to them, lighting it on fire. Miraculously, Stryker survived the explosion while his family was burnt beyond recognition. After the funeral, he turned to the bottle and ultimately got removed from the military because his drinking caused him to lash out on his trainees. After hitting rock bottom, he would find new direction when he read about mutants and found God. Believing that mutants were godless abominations, the work of Satan, he began his crusade which he helped boost his popularity with the help of his newly established televangelist career. Stryker tells his two captives that he began focusing the first part of his crusade on destroying the X-Men, and learned all about them when one of his devoted followers -- a member of the FBI -- provided him with a file on the X-Men that was prepared by one-time government liaison Fred Duncan. He concludes that he does not plan on killing the two captured X-Men yet. When Anne calls in and reports that she has Illyana and Kitty captured, Stryker orders her to bring Illyana to his offices, but to kill Kitty, much to Storm's horror. When Ororo pleads that he spare Kitty's life, he recites scripture that justifies his decision and fully imprisons them once again. Anne and her Purifiers drive to the South Bronx, where they place a "Mutie" sign on its trunk and open fire on it. When they check to make sure that Kitty is dead, they are shocked to find that the trunk is empty. Anne orders her men to go out and track the girl down. Ariel, who had phased as soon as she heard the gas jets, tries to find her way out of the Bronx when she runs into a gang of thugs in a back alley. They are about to mug and rape her when the Purifiers arrive and demand that they turn the girl over to them. When the punks refuse, Anne shoots one of them, leading to a gun fight in the alley. Kitty manages to slip away with her phasing powers, however the Purifiers pursue her. She manages to call the Mansion and tell the other X-Men where she is before she has to flee again, this time phasing onto a passing subway train. When a police officer comes to see if she is okay, the Purifiers smash through the roof of the train. When the cop goes to her aid, they shoot him down in cold blood. Before they can kill Kitty, Magneto arrives and levitates the train, deflecting the Purifiers' bullets and energy blasts with his magnetic powers. The X-Men arrive and make short work of Kitty's attackers. With Magneto's help, the X-Men remove the bullet from the police officers chest and take him to a hospital. A short time later, Reverend Stryker checks on Xavier and is happy to see that the brainwashing has worked and that Charles is now a willing follower of his cause. To prove this, he has Xavier to use his mental powers to seemingly slay Cyclops and Storm, as a Purifier doctor announces that their vitals signs have ceased. With the two senior X-Men seemingly slain, Stryker orders the preparations for his giant rally at Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, the X-Men manage to capture Stryker's head doctor and learn what Stryker is attempting. Sneaking into Stryker's office tower, they collect Storm and Cyclops's body and recover Illyana in disguise. However when they are found out by Anne, she tries to shoot them, but proves unable to stop them. As the elevator bursts through the roof through Magneto's powers, Anne jumps out onto the Stryker Building. On a rooftop, Wolverine confirms that Cyclops and Storm are not physically dead and have just had their brains shut down and vital signs reduced. Magneto manages to jump start and revive their minds with a jolt of his powers, and they learn of Stryker's full plot. Chapter 4 At the Square, Stryker has Xavier hooked up to a machine that will allow him to detect mutants in the audience and kill them with his mental powers. As the rally begins, Stryker begins his harshest sermon yet, verbally calling out for the destruction of Mutantkind. This does not sit well with the security guards, as well as a prominent United States senator. Behind the podium, a Purifier activates the psi-scan device connected to Professor X. Outside on a nearby building, the X-Men start bleeding from the ears and having headaches. They notice similar effects on some of the pedestrians below. Meanwhile, Magneto enters the rally through the roof and confronts Stryker. Stryker compares Magneto to the devil, and directs the psi-scan device at him to knocking him down. While the X-Men fight the Purifiers, Ariel tries to save Professor X, but he blocks her with a mindblast. As the fight carries on all the mutants -- including the Senator and Stryker's loyal minion Anne -- begin to get nose and ear bleeds. When Anne realizes this, she begs the Reverend for mercy. However, he refuses to compromise his beliefs, pushing her off the balcony and, as television cameras roll, falls to the ground and snaps her neck on impact. While back stage, the X-Men find the Professor and are forced to knock him using simultaneous attacks. Cyclops then smashes all of Stryker's machines. Rallying his teammates, Cyclops points out that the only way to stop Stryker's organization is to take down Stryker himself -- no matter what it takes, a decision all the X-Men agree upon. They appear on stage and plead their case for mutants, debating their opposing view with Stryker on live television. When Stryker attempts to use Nightcrawler's demonic form to prove his point, Ariel pipes up and tells the audience that, despite Kurt's physical appearance, he is kind and generous and tells them all that if she had to choose between her friend or Stryker's god, it would be her friend. Stryker then pulls a gun and is about to shoot Kitty when one of the police on security detail shoots Stryker instead. The crowd is soon dispersed and the X-Men, who in the eyes of the law have done nothing wrong, are allowed to leave. Epilogue Later, back at the mansion, the X-Men watch the news and see that public opinion of Stryker has pretty much been destroyed due to the fact that he almost shot a teenaged girl on live television. With Xavier back in his right mind and the threat of Stryker's bigoted campaign over, Xavier and the X-Men offer Magneto to join the X-Men. However, Magneto cannot bring himself to join after everything that has happened. Magneto offers Xavier the chance to join him in his cause, but Xavier refuses and Magneto departs. Xavier thanks his students for saving him and their work that day. Alone with Storm, Cyclops points out that only through love and acceptance will humanity and mutants be able to live side by side together. Brodie's View: And now we go from really light and fun, to something far more dark and topical, both when it was released (In the height of the Televangelist craze of the early/mid 1980's) and now (When a similar movement has risen up, as many religious people have been convinced that they are under attack by secular society). This format of the graphic novel allowed Chris Claremont to make a statement on bigotry and religious based persecution of certain groups in a way he couldn't do in the month to month comic. He took full advantage of this freedom, basically writing this as if it were X-MEN: THE MOVIE, and telling his story in a very PG-13 format. In short, a mutant hating televangelist named William Stryker has grown very popular due to his use of Anti Mutant rhetoric, which his followers eat up with a spoon. He enacts a plan against the X-Men by making it look like Cyclops, Storm, and Professor X were killed in an auto accident, but really he is planning to brainwash Xaiver, and use him into a tool to out/kill all mutants. The remaining X-Men try to fight back, but are outgunned until they are joined by Magneto, who vows vengeance against Stryker for what he has done against mutants. They converge on one of his "Revivals," where there are able to stop Stryker by standing against him and what he preaches, but at the end, they realize that while they might have stopped the man, his message of hate lives on in many humans. There's a lot more to the story than the little description I laid out, but as you can see above, a LOT happens in this story, and I didn't want to spend multiple paragraphs repeating what was said above, so, I'll just comment on the GN as a whole. One can definitely tell this is a story Chris had wanted to tell for a while, but really couldn't in the monthly comic, as everything was meant to lead into other things, and this, for the most part, is a stand alone story, though one that definitely sets the tone for the direction the book will go in as the 80's go on. The "enemy" in this book is the enemy Claremont wanted to tackle from day one of his run (and we can see it at certain points, including DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, where we see where that all leads), and it's the simple fear and hatred of anything different to the "norm," and how certain people who obtain a position of power and influence can use that hatred to fuel their often sinister schemes. In particular, it's interesting that Claremont used the power of religion as a bonding tool for anti-mutant bigots, as we've seen increasingly lately, bigots often are quick to throw Bible quotes out to justify their very UNChrist-like feelings on those who happen to be different than them, and the actions they often take against those they hate and distrust. We can see shades of this in the whole Gay Marriage/LGBT bathroom controversy that happened last year (although, in the time this was written, it was definitely the "Religious Right" electing Reagan as President as a backlash to the more free thinking 1960's/70's). It's also interesting in the character development Chris gives to some of the X-characters in this, even though it isn't meant to really fall anywhere in the continuity of the main X-Book (However, this would change in the 2000's, as Claremont would bring Stryker back as a villain in his Xtreme X-Men book). In particular, Magneto, who furthers his face turn that began in #150, by coming to the aid of his former enemies against a much larger one. Although he ends this book turning his back on Xaiver's dream, and resuming his own path (after almost convincing Xaiver to do the same), one can see that Magnus is realizing that his and Xaiver's dream are not that far apart, it is merely the means used to make that dream happen that separates them. However, time and certain events would bring about some further changes in the X-Men's former deadliest enemy, and before long, they would end up being full allies.....at least for the bulk of the rest of Claremont's run. In the end, "God Loves, Man Kills," is one of the most powerful examples of Claremont's X-Men as they were, and the main reason they are together---"To fight for a world that fears and hates them," and part of that fight is to fight AGAINST that fear and hatred. Unfortunately, as we see here, they can only do so much, as they can't change human nature. GRADE: A+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 12, 2017 2:33:14 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men Annual #6 "Blood Feud!"Cover Date: November, 1982 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz Team: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite, and Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Dracula, Lilith Guest Stars: Rachel Van Helsing Official Plot:Following the end of her relationship with Frank Drake, Rachel van Helsing has relocated to the United States and began teaching at Bard College. Returning to her home one day she is shocked to find her old enemy Dracula waiting for her, and he ready to make her pay final retribution for all the years that she has hunted and hounded him. Meanwhile, at the X-Mansion, Kitty Pryde is exceptionally emotional over the fact that her parents are getting a divorce. Having hoped that her parents would patch up their relationship, Kitty takes the news terribly and breaks down into tears asking Storm and her fellow X-Men how her parents can do this to her. She storms up into her room and takes out her frustrations on a photograph of her parents before calming down. As she remarks over her temper tantrum she is unaware that she is being watched. The being in the shadows quickly takes possession of her, although Kitty doesn't know it. When Storm comes into her room later to see how she is doing, Kitty is caught off guard when Storm suddenly reveals that she has fangs, bits her, and drinks some of her blood. A vampire once more, Storm goes from room to room feeding on her fellow X-Men: Colossus, Wolverine, Cyclops and Nightcrawler. After her feast, Storm goes to her loft and transforms into a human/bat hybrid and flies off into the sky. She meets up with Dracula and they embrace. However Storm wakes up in her room and realizes that it was all a dream. She then goes and checks on Kitty. Feeling the call of Dracula, Storm changes into her costume and flies off to answer it. She is unaware that Kitty has been feigning sleep and watches her leave. Some force inside her decides that she needs to manipulate the X-Men into going after Dracula. Seeing Colossus in his room, Kitty uses strange hypnotic powers on him despite his protests. Some time later and 3000 miles away, Storm arrives at Dracula's castle in Cornwall, England. There she is greeted by Rachel van Helsing, whom Dracula has turned into a vampire. When Dracula enters the room he reveals that he still has control over her since tasting her blood in their previous encounter Uncanny X-Men #159 and uses this link to control her. Needing to feed, Dracula leaves telling her that he has plans for her when he returns. When he does, shortly after he orders her to do a task for him. She agrees with it as long as nobody is harmed and that the X-Men are not involved. Dracula agrees to these terms and tells her that he intends for her to collect a book that contains a spell that can destroy him once and for all. Dracula and van Helsing lead Storm to a castle in the town of Pendarrow where he orders her to enter a castle which is on holy ground that he cannot cross. As Storm searches the castle looking for the book which Dracula has sent her to obtain she is shot with a crossbow by Kitty. Sweeping Kitty away with a gust of wind, Storm attempts to continue forward when she is attacked by Kitty's slave, Colossus. He knocks her down while Kitty recovers the spell book which she announces has the Montessi Formula -- a powerful formula that can destroy all vampires, including Dracula himself. Storm attempts to go after Kitty, but is forced to jump out a window when she realizes her young friend is willing to slay her in order to keep possession of the book. Storm is saved and carried off by Dracula and she passes out from her injuries. She has a nightmare about being in Cairo, Egypt with her parents when they are attacked in an air-raid. After reliving the tragedy that would cripple her with claustrophobia for her entire life, Storm wakes up to find herself inside a coffin within Dracula's castle. After checking to make sure she had not turned into a vampire, Storm would attack Dracula in anger for his manipulations. Fed up with Storm, Dracula intends to kill her if not for the timely arrival of Cyclops, Wolverine and Nightcrawler. As the three X-Men battle Dracula and van Helsing, Kitty arrives with Colossus which sends Dracula fleeing. Kitty and Colossus chase after him with the other X-Men not far behind. Wolverine and the others get to Dracula first and the Vampire Lord manages to bite Wolverine, putting him under his control and sending him after his friends. Kitty and Colossus arrives and Kitty begins reciting the Montessi Formula which begins to kill Dracula. Not wishing to see anyone die, not even Dracula, Nightcrawler swats the book out of her hand and she attacks him. Dracula reveals that Kitty has been possessed by his daughter Lilith. With the truth exposed, Lilith changes Kitty's form to match her own and commands the X-Men to slay her father. Before the X-Men can react, Rachel manages to impale Dracula through the heart with a spear and using a crucifix, she causes Dracula's body to burn away to a skeleton. With Dracula's death, his castle begins to crumble. The X-Men and Rachel manage to escape before it breaks free from it's cliffside location and tumbles into the ocean. With the battle over and the sun about to rise, Rachel asks the X-Men to put her out of her misery. Wolverine is the only one who can bring himself to do it and performs the mercy killing by impaling her through the heart with a stake. Lilith reveals that she is still in possession of Kitty's body and explains that she had fulfilled her mission to destroy her father and leaves, freeing Kitty from her control. As she departs, Lilith explains to Storm that her father's death also has released her from any hold he had over him before departing. With Kitty okay, the X-Men try to make sense of their encounter. When Wolverine asks Storm how Kitty is doing, Storm tells him that she seems to be getting over the fact that her parents are splitting up. Brodie's View: Our final little side trip before we get back to the actual issues is an Annual that was released while the X-Men were still in space (but takes place after #167, which kind gave away that all the team got out of the Brood thing A OK. Ah well....). The main story of this Annual.....The X-Men vs. Dracula Part 2, in a bit of unfinished business from #159 (although, not to be "That Guy," but I kind of wonder how Dracula was able to somewhat still control Storm after her basically dying and being reborn during the Brood story-line). Anyways, Dracula summons Storm to help him destroy a spell book, which contains a spell that could kill Dracula called the Montessi Formula, as she, as a living being, can touch the book, while he (or any other non living being) can't, to which she agrees, as long as none of the X-Men are harmed. Little do they both know, Dracula's traitorous daughter, Lilith, also wants the book so she can destroy her father, and assumingly claim his place as the Lord of the Undead. She possesses Kitty Pryde, who uses vampire hypnosis to enlist Colossus to aid her in getting the book before Storm does. To add to all this, at the beginning of the story, Dracula surprises the descendant (Rachel Van Helsing) of his age old enemy, Dr. Van Helsing, and turns her into a vampire. Anyways, the X-Men figure out what is happening, and tries to stop Dracula/Lilith, although, it is Rachel who winds up ending things by turning on her new master, and driving a stake through him. He wastes away, and then Rachel, not wanting to continue life as one of the undead, talks Wolverine into staking her as she watches the sun rise. Of course, Dracula winds up coming back from this, but not for long, as someone Does end up reading the Montessi Formula in the pages of a later issue of DOCTOR STRANGE, and destroys not only Dracula, but Lilith and all the other full vampires as well (However, half vamps or synthetic vamps like Blade and Morbius are spared). This was part of some edict to get rid of most of Marvel's horror characters in the 80's, as Jim Shooter or someone must have decided that vampires and werewolves had no place in the Grim N' Gritty 1980's. The monsters would start to come back in the 90's, and Dracula would finally make his return in the 2000's, before being killed again. A few years ago, there was a big storyline with the X-Men and the Son of Dracula called CURSE OF THE MUTANTS, but I didn't get a chance to read any of that, so, I can't speak on it (I do know Jubilee was turned into a vampire, but have no idea if she still is or isn't), but I imagine it was a follow up to the events in #159 and this Annual. Anyways, we're done with the side trips (for now), and we'll be back tomorrow for #168, and Professor Xaiver being a JERK. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 12, 2017 22:39:14 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #168"Professor Xaiver is a Jerk!"Cover Date: April, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Sprite (Cyclops & Wolverine----Go on Leave) (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Sidri Hunters Guest Stars: Illyana Rasputin, Lilandra, Havok, Corsair, Amanda Sefton, Stevie Hunter, Lee Forrester, Madelyne Pryor (1st Appearance) and Lockheed Official Plot:Kitty Pryde is upset that Professor Xavier has demoted her from the X-Men to train along side the New Mutants, a move that she finds unfair as she believes that she is more skilled than the new students and that she has proven herself as an X-Man. As she goes off another rant with Illyana, her friend tells her that she is tired of hearing her complain. When they realize that they are running late for their dance class with Stevie Hunter, Kitty and Illyana race off unaware that some strange creature is in the mansion and watching them. Elsewhere in the mansion, Logan is preparing to go on a small vacation back to Canada and discusses the Kitty's removal from the team. Both men come to the conclusion that although Kitty has been an asset to the group she can also be at risk fighting along side them. Down below in the Danger Room, Lilandra runs Charles through an exercise to try and beat the mental blocks preventing him from walking in his new body. When the most recent exercise fails, Lilanda and Charles decide that they must decide what to do next. With Charles unable to leave the X-Men or the New Mutants, and Lilandra needing to get back to her empire, the two decide to accept the hard reality that they soon must part and decide to enjoy the little time they have together. As they embrace, the creature that has been watching Kitty and Illyana now watches them as well. At Stevie Hunter's dance studio, Kitty's moon causes her to make mistakes during her practice and when Stevie calls her on it she loses her temper again. When Stevie learns why Kitty is in a bad mood, she suggests trying to prove to Charles that she is worth of the X-Men. With new resolve, Kitty decides to do just that. While back at the X-Mansion, Storm goes out into the winter cold wearing nothing but a fur coat. Having been away from Earth too long she decides to enjoy her reunion with mother nature. However when she strips off her coat she finds that the elements are no harder to control as they are a force of anger now. Unable to keep herself warn with her mutant powers, Storm wonders what her time away from the Earth has done to her powers and her connection to the planet. In the coming days, Kitty tries many methods to try and convince Professor X to let her back into the X-Men, to no avail. While in Shark Bay, Florida, Scott Summers pays a visit to his old boss and one time lover Lee Forester. Scott catches her up with what's been going on in his life and his coming visit with his grandparents. The two come to terms with the fact that Scott's world frightens her and that they should enjoy one last fleeting romance before ending their affair. Cyclops isn't the only one having a romantic evening as back in New York, Nightcrawler waits in the apartment of his girlfriend Amanda Sefton waiting for her to return from her job to have a romantic evening together. While at Xavier's school, Kitty pores into her school work and laments over still being unable to win the Professor over. When Illyana and Peter try to convince her to come out to chop firewood with them, she declines to tag along so that she can continue her school work. When checking the computer she notices that one of the home scan programs is picking up an anomaly in the hanger bay. Going to check it out, she finds that some of the wires have been chewed on. She contacts the Professor telepathically and tells him of her discovery. When the Professor detects no thoughts but her own he tells her to pull back while he summons Colossus. Unwilling to do so, determined to prove herself to Charles she continues on. She runs into recently hatched Sidri warriors. Kitty is over powered however she is saved by the little dragon whom aided her on the Brood homeworld. She is also aided by the timely arrival of Colossus. Between Colossus and the dragon, all the Sidri's are destroyed or eaten. After explaining the situation to the Professor in person, Kitty convinces him to let her keep the dragon, whom she named Lockheed. The Professor is also impressed by Kitty's performance in battle and agrees to let her back on the X-Men on a probational period provided she can keep her marks up. While in Alaska, Scott, Alex and their father Corsair arrive in Anchorage to be taken up to where their grandparents live by a pilot that works for their freighter company. When the woman who is to fly them arrives, Scott is shocked to see that she bares a striking resemblance to Jean Grey. However, the woman introduces herself to them as Madelyne Pryor. Brodie's View: And now we're back to our regularly scheduled program, and dealing from the aftermath of the Brood storyline and the fall out from the very end of it. A fully recovered Charles Xaiver officially announced that he was pulling Kitty Pryde from the X-Men, and putting her in the New Mutants, so, she could properly learn how to use her powers. Of course, this doesn't sit very well with Kitty, so, she spends this entire issue trying to convince Xaiver that she has earned her stripes as an X-Man, and to allow her to remain with the team. She does end up doing this by book's end, but only after showing Xaiver that she indeed has gained the skills to defend herself with/without her powers; by surviving a (mostly) one on one fight with a new nest of Sidri Hunters (The Beetle-like aliens that destroyed the X-Mansion back in #154), as most of the rest of the X-Men were off doing their own thing; recuperating from the stressful events of the last dozen or so issues. I will talk a bit more about that later, but I want to continue with Kitty for a bit, as she is the main focus of this issue. In many ways, this was kind of an important issue for her, as it kind of mirrors her first solo adventure in #143 in many ways (Kitty having to face a forgotten threat from the past alone, and surviving due to her skills and intelligence), but as that issue kind of cemented her place with the team, this issue reaffirms why she belongs with the X-Men, as she shows how much she's grown since then. This will be the last issue in which she will be known as Sprite, and wears the generic X-Men outfit she's been (mostly) wearing since #139. She'll have a new costume (we actually saw it first in GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS, which kind of gave it away early, but ah well) and a new Code Name (Ariel) that she'll keep for a little bit, before updating once again to another costume/Code Name set, and this particular set will last a LONG time....at least into the EXCALIBUR period for her. We also get the return of the small alien dragon (She names him Lockheed, after the dragon from her fairy tale) introduced in #166, as he somehow was able to follow Kitty back to Earth, and after saving Kitty again, he officially becomes her pet/companion. This is great, because it adds another little bonus to the Kitty Pryde character......plus, dragons rule. However, this issue isn't all Kitty related, as we see a bit of the other X-Men either enjoying, or about to enjoy that R&R I mentioned earlier (although, for the X-Men, there is rarely too much R&R that actually takes place before something crazy happens). We see Nightcrawler and Wolverine debating whether Xaiver pulling Kitty from the team was the right choice (Nightcrawler takes the "For" position, while Wolverine takes the "against," further strengthening the somewhat Father/Daughter bond that is developing between them) as they are on their way out. Nightcrawler is off to get some witchy booty from his long time squeeze, Amanda Sefton (Unfortunately, as we see next issue, this doesn't last as long as Kurt would like it to), and Wolverine is off to Japan to.....well, star in his own Limited Series called WOLVERINE (written by Chris Claremont/Frank Miller, art by Miller), which would redefine the character somewhat as a master-less samurai (THE WOLVERINE is largely based off of this Limited Series and #172-3, when the X-Men are drawn into Wolverine's Japanese adventures), and would bring him one step closer (and a HUGE step) toward becoming the Iconic character he would be by the end of the decade. I won't be reviewing this, as I don't own it, but it kicks ass, and is DEFINITELY worth reading if you're a Wolverine fan.....in fact, I would say it's essential. Finally, we come to Cyclops, who briefly visits his somewhat girlfriend, Lee Forrester, and the two kind of break the relationship off due to her not being able to handle Scott's crazy life. However, this is a good thing, because at the end of this issue, on his way to Alaska to meet the Grandparents he never knew he had (with his dad, Corsair from the Starjammers, and his brother, Alex Summers AKA Havok, in tow), he is introduced to the woman that would become his new girlfriend. Her name is Madelyne Pryor, the pilot of the plane he is riding in, and to Scott's extreme shock and surprise, she is the spitting image of his late love, Jean Grey. Of course, there is a lot more to Ms. Pryor than meets the eye, but I won't try to reveal too much to risk spoiling some future surprises. I will just say that another piece to the puzzle that will eventually grown into an INFERNO has just fallen into place. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 13, 2017 0:54:25 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #169"Catacombs"Cover Date: May, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel (Cyclops & Wolverine----On Leave) (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Morlocks, The Hellfire Club, an Unnamed Villain (Behind the scenes) Guest Stars: The Angel, Candy Southern, Lockheed, Amanda Sefton, and Caliban Official Plot:Candy Southern returns home to the apartment she shares with Warren to discover feathers and blood. She hears someone else inside, and calls Professor X, realizing the police could never arrive in time! Just as Charles answers the phone, her attacker announces himself as... Sunder! At that instant, in Amanda Sefton's apartment, Kurt and Amanda are sharing a Jacuzzi. The conversation has just turned towards their future, when Kurt receives Professor X's telepathic distress call in his head. He responds instantly, teleporting above the city and then over to outside Warren's apartment. He's there in time to see Angel carried into the subway by persons unknown, and then catch Candy as she is hurled out the window by her assailant! He returns with her to Amanda's apartment - needless to say, this makes quite a splash. Interlude. The Hellfire Club. Sebastian Shaw responds to an urgent summons from Tessa. Emma Frost had come to see him on urgent business - so dire she wouldn't even tell Tessa, and then apparently collapsed in mid-sentence. Tessa tells Shaw that analysis indicates she's entered a state of catatonic schizophrenia - likely induced by her assailant to keep her from speaking. Shaw muses that Xavier would be capable of such a feat, but its not his style. Amanda's apartment. The X-Men have gathered to discuss strategy. Lacking a tracker, Storm asks Professor X if they could borrow Rahne. He refuses her, and tells her the mini-Cerebro keyed to Angel should be sufficient. Amanda and Lockheed are left in the apartment to watch over Candy, and the X-Men head for the subway. In the subways, the mini-Cerebro reveals Angel is within a Kilometer laterally, but far below them! Storm eventually has Kitty look for a hidden door. She finds one rapidly, and they make their way down. Suddenly, they are ambushed by a mass of people! Storm sends Kitty to scout around, and the other X-Men hold their own. Kitty manages to come upon the leaders of the Morlocks, who are watching the battle to get an idea of their strength - comprised of Sunder, Callisto, Masque, and Plague. Despite being phased, Callisto manages to smell her, and sends Plague after her. Plague passes through her... harmlessly?... Kitty runs. Sunder tries to pursue Kitty through the wall, but Callisto calls him off - if 'a single molecule' of disease remains when Kitty solidifies, it should still finish her. Back at the main event, the X-Men put their assailants to flight, but they take their unconscious brethren with them, denying the X-Men prisoners to interrogate. The fight over, the X-Men worry over the fate of Kitty, but Angel's life hangs in the balance, and Storm chooses to press on. They descend. After the X-Men have gone, Kitty returns, Plague's disease already coursing through her. She calls out feebly for her companions before collapsing. Caliban finds her, however, and carries her unconscious form off with him, talking to himself about how they will live happily ever after. The X-Men at last descend into the Alley, a enormous cavern made as a bomb shelter by the US government in secret, and then abandoned. Suddenly, lights and loudspeakers deafen and blind our heroes. A railroad car rolls up unnoticed, carrying Angel shackled to it and Callisto caressing his hair. She declares she intends to marry him, the 'handsomest man in the world' to be her prince. She starts to clip Angel's pin-feathers, to prevent him from injuring himself flying around in the dark tunnels, and the X-Men try to stop her, only to be overwhelmed by a sea of Morlocks! The fight goes badly for them. Epilogue: Kitty awakens in a strange bed, dressed in night clothes. Despite feeling sick, she tries to get up. The effort makes her vomit. She finally manages to get to her feet, and then Caliban comes in. She's half-delirious, and collapses as Caliban rushes up to her. Caliban vows to defy even Callisto to save Kitty as he cradles her unconscious form. Brodie's View: Remember Caliban? The ugly looking mutant that lived in the sewers, and tried to kidnap Kitty Pryde back in #148? Anyways, he returns in this issue, and we find out that he's not the only mutant living down in Ninja Turtle land. This is the issue where we are introduced to the group/gang of mutants known as the Morlocks, and this time their target isn't a current X-Man, but one from the past, AKA The Angel, who they steal from the apartment he shares with his girlfriend, Candy Southern. The X-Men become involved when Candy returns as the kidnapping is happening, and is tossed out a window by a huge Morlock named Sunder. However, Nightcrawler is luckily nearby, and is able to save her, but in the process ruining his and Amanda Sefton's romantic moment in a hot tub (I do hope he got quite a bit of booty before all this happened). The X-Men are assembled (well, the ones who stayed at the X-Mansion, as both Cyclops and Wolverine are on leave.....however, we will see Cyclops next issue, but not in the main story.), and they find out that Sunder took Angel into the sewers. The four X-Men go into the sewers to investigate, but are almost instantly attacked by the Morlocks, who take down 3 out of the 4 (Kitty manages to escape, but is infected by one of the Morlocks, Plague, who is able to make people sick by touch), and bring them to their main meeting place, where it is revealed that their leader, Callisto, plans on marrying The Angel due to his beauty. Callisto clips Angel's pin-feathers so he can't escape, and the 3 X-Men try to stop her, but are taken down again. Meanwhile, Kitty comes to, now really sick, in the small dwelling that Calliban lives in, and Calliban vows to keep the young X-Man safe at any cost. The one side story that happens here is Sebastian Shaw being summoned by his right hand person, Tessa, who informs him that Emma Frost had arrived in a panic, wanting to talk to Shaw, but fell into some sort of a strange psychic coma before he got there. Shaw wonders whether or not Xaiver did this to her, as he reasons that he was one of the few who would be able to do such a thing, but morally, he knew Xaiver wouldn't do it, which means that a mysterious third party has stepped on the scene, one with a grudge against the Hellfire Club. Of course, this is the start of a future storyline that will build over the next several issues, as there is indeed a new (or is it?) player on the field; one that has a grudge against The Hellfire Club, The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and mainly, The X-Men, and like I said, we'll see all this play out in small ways over the next few issues before culminating in #175's big double sized issue. However, for now, we have the whole deal with the Morlocks, who will become quite important to the future (well, at least the next 40 or so issues ) of the team; first as enemies, and then eventually as somewhat allies. However, something pretty major goes down next issue that leads to this change, but I won't sell any wine before it's time and tell you what that is.....yo asses will have to wait until the next review. GRADE: B+
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