|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 13, 2017 2:55:01 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #170 "Dancin' in the Dark"Cover Date: June, 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 Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Or more specifically, Mystique, Destiny, and Rogue), an Unnamed Villain (Behind the scenes) Guest Stars: The Angel, Madelyne Pryor, and Caliban Official Plot:Prelude: Alaska. Scott Summers is dancing the night away with Madelyne Pryor. Its their first date. Its a lot more than either thought it would be. Never one to let a good moment go unspoilt, Scott withdraws to have an angst-filled internal monologue about Jean. He tells Madelyne about Jean, who stands by the fire to think about it. More internal angst from Scott, but Maddie comes back. Neither of them is willing to walk away from the other that easily. The Alley: Callisto intends to marry Warren against his will. The X-Men object, and take that moment to break their bonds and start another fight. While Nightcrawler manages to defeat Callisto by multiply porting with her, his companions aren't nearly so lucky as Plague gets the drop on Storm. Nightcrawler backs down - he's unwilling to kill Callisto, and Plague is more than willing to finish Storm. Callisto reveals the origins of the Morlocks. Elsewhere, Caliban tells Kitty he cannot bring her fever down. Kitty pleads with Caliban to save the X-Men, and gives him an ultimatum - help the X-Men and she'll stay with him, refuse and she'll hate him forever! Interlude: Mystique is running from dogs across a familiar landscape. Her ankle breaks and she tumbles into a stream. Jason Wyngarde pulls the dogs off her, but only to give Lady Jean Grey the pleasure of slitting her throat! Mystique wakes up. She goes downstairs where Destiny is waiting for her. They talk, and Destiny says the being responsible works on a fundamental level of time and space. Suddenly, a timeline becomes clear to Destiny, and she shouts out that Rogue is in danger! Mystique rushes up to her room, but as Destiny predicts she is already gone. We briefly see Rogue on a Greyhound bus. Masque starts playing with Storm's features, and Nightcrawler demands he stop. Callisto offers him membership in the Morlocks, and he declines. Suddenly, Caliban appears in the chamber carrying Kitty! Colossus easily snaps the 'stronger' chains they bound him with in his rage at seeing her thus, and Nightcrawler tells the Morlocks that he needs to be allowed to get her to the Mansion's medilab. Callisto refuses. Caliban tells Nightcrawler that leadership of the Morlocks is decided by a one-on-one duel, and he's in the process of challenging Callisto to one when she informs him these duels are to the death. At that point Storm tells Nightcrawler to back down - she is leader of the X-Men, and the challenge is hers to make. Protests from her teammates that she is still feverish are ignored. Hoping to unnerve Storm, Callisto tosses a dagger high in the air to her, but Storm catches it smoothly out of the air. The duel is fierce, and Callisto scores first blood. But eventually Storm gets her opening and uses her cape to tie up Callisto's dagger arm. She raises up Callisto's arm, opening her up for Ororo's dagger thrust - straight through Callisto's heart! Callisto collapses. Callisto lives, but only because of the quick action of the Morlock Healer (offstage). Ororo takes Angel, and offers the Morlocks sanctuary at Xavier's. While they choose to remain, Caliban verbally wishes that they become friends. Epilogue: Alaska. Dawn finds Scott and Maddie awake and making out on the couch. Maddie offers to make breakfast, and when the bright sun causes her to squint she asks Scott if she can borrow his glasses, reaching over to grab them. Scott reacts in horror and hits her to prevent it. She demands an explanation and he shows her his power. They make up. Brodie's View: We get the second half of the Morlock story, and a HUGE turning point for Storm, but that's not all we get with this issue, as a lot of business goes down here. For one, we get the 3 X-Men who were captured by the Morlocks, while trying to rescue Angel, who was kidnapped by them at the beginning of last issue. To add to this, we have Kitty, who escaped the initial Morlock assault only to be infected by the touch of Plague (Storm also falls victim to her touch, which just adds to the amazement of what she does by issue's end), and is also basically under the thumb of the renegade gang of mutants. We get a bit of the history of the Morlocks, thanks to Caliban, and we learn that they were a group of mutants whose mutations made them more obvious to the human eye, unlike most of the X-Men, and being that they had no place to go, they gathered in the sewers, and through conflict, established a pecking order within the gang that Callisto sits on the top of, due to her being one tough chick. Of course, Storm's course of action at that point is clear, and she challenges Callisto to a fight for control of the Morlocks, and thus, their freedom. Nightcrawler and Colossus fear the worst, as not only is Storm sick now, but she has always been the gentle Earth Mother that wouldn't hurt a fly. Little do they know, the Storm that came out of the whole Brood saga (or perhaps she's been this way all along, but fought her inner nature by being the Earth Mother type) is a VERY different person, and not only does she beat Callisto in battle, but she fatally wounds her by STABBING HER IN THE HEART WITH A F**KING DAGGER(!!!!) Luckily for Callisto, the Morlocks have a healer that saves her life, but I'm sure she'd just as soon Storm killed her, as she basically in one action has supplanted her as the leader of the Morlocks, which opens up all kinds of interesting propositions for the future. However, the whole Storm/Morlocks thing is only a part of what happens in this issue. We also get an interesting, yet familiar dream had by Mystique, one in which she is being hunted by Jason Wyngarde and Jean Grey (with her taking the place of the human stag in #126). She awakens, and discusses the matter with the precog, Destiny, only to realize that something more substantial is wrong, and it concerns her Foster daughter, Rogue. Mystique goes to Rogue's room, only to find it abandoned, and we then see Rogue in a cutaway, on a bus, heading to a yet unknown destination. Of course, this all plays into future events (like, next issue future), and the dream....well, if you're not getting an idea of who's behind this whole deal, you don't know your X-History very well, folks. Of course, speaking of all that, we get some bonding between Scott Summers and the woman he met a couple of issues ago, Madelyne Pryor, who bears a striking resemblance to Jean Grey. In the last couple of issues, they've grown quite close, but Scott hasn't told her he's a mutant yet. Of course, Maddie tries to remove his glasses, which kind of forces the issue, and, luckily for him, she's OK with it. However, he's not 100% okay with this whole deal, as he suspects that someone is playing a game with him, or he wonders whether or not Maddie is some sort of reincarnation of Jean/Phoenix. He's both right and wrong on both of those suspicions, and we'll see some of that play out over the next few issues, and then the other half not playing out until Waaaayyyyy later, but the explanation will be worth it. GRADE: A-
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 13, 2017 22:47:59 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #171"Rogue"Cover Date: July, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Walt Simonson Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Joins the Team) (Cyclops & Wolverine----On Leave) (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Morlocks (briefly) Guest Stars: Binary (Carol Danvers), Illyana Rasputin, Madelyne Pryor, & Lilandra Official Plot:The Alley. Storm greets her new subjects, and commands them not to attack the "surface dwellers" any longer. As she leaves Callisto - weak enough that she can barely stand - intercepts her. They exchange unpleasantries, and Storm tells Sunder to put his mistress back to bed. Nightcrawler notes that Storm is going out of her way to make an enemy of Callisto, to which Storm responds they were moments from the instant they met. Nightcrawler is troubled about Storm's shifting personality. Anchorage. Madelyne Pryor wakes up from a nightmare, and Scott comes running. After she calms down she tells Scott about the 747 crash only she walked away from. She gives the date as September 1, 1980 - and Scott is shocked to realize that is the exact day Jean Grey died! Massachusetts. Carol Danvers finishes a visit to her folks. However, she's setting her folks on edge and she feels empty. She knows they're her parents, and that she's supposed to care for them, but she doesn't - those feelings were stolen by Rogue. She concludes there is no place for her on Earth - Binary's place is among the stars! Xavier's. Kitty is frantically searching her room for her computer disks with her homework on them, and blaming the New Mutants (X-Babies) for stealing or misplacing them. Her roommate Illyana makes fun of her when she finally finds them under her keyboard. In the Danger Room, Charles is running a gym setting to work on his leg muscles. Both he and Lilandra remain mystified as to why he cannot walk in his new cloned body; since his paraplegic condition was caused by his legs being crushed and not genetic, his legs should be perfectly functional! In the kitchen, Colossus is pondering a cookbook when Professor X psychically tells him they have a visitor. Because he used Peter's codename, he knows there might be trouble, and he shifts into his armored form as he opens the door to discover... Rogue? Professor X's study. We discover Professor X cannot read her mind. She tells them that her powers are out of control, that permanently absorbing Carol's powers was an accident, and that she needs help. The X-Men are suspicious, and eventually Professor X asks them to leave so he can talk to Rogue in private without all the hostility. The X-Men resolve to vent their frustrations in the danger room. Despite it being Kitty who wanted to hit something, she and Illyana end up in the control booth. Illyana picks out the program, and when Kitty asks what it is Illyana tells her its a surprise. However, when the program comes up Belasco, even Illyana is briefly surprised before flipping out. As if possessed, she draws her Soulsword from nowhere and attacks Kitty. Kitty phases, but the Soulsword still cuts her![4] Kitty disarms her, and Illyana comes to her senses - crying out "I remembered!" The other X-Men arrive in the control booth and Kitty hides the full nature of the incident, waving it off as an accident for Illyana's sake. Later, Ororo's Attic. She notices her plants are parched and starts a rainstorm to water them. However, while she has an angst-ridden internal monologue she loses control of her storm, and is reminded only by the sound of thunder. She clears the clouds, but the plants have already been ruined! Professor X contacts her telepathically, and she responds by hurling a dagger through his thought-image! Professor X's study. Charles has decided to admit Rogue to both the school and as a probationary X-Men member. Storm objects - as leader of the X-Men she feels she has a say, and is unwilling to take on a member who might betray them! At that moment, Binary lands outside the X-Mansion and enters. After a moment of peace we suddenly, we see Rogue flying through the roof, getting knocked clear into orbit!Rogue comes back for more and Binary gives it to her. But then Colossus holds Binary down and breaks up the fight. Professor X explains that Rogue is under his protection as of now, and Binary complains. It is Storm who tells Binary that Rogue is now the newest X-Man. A puzzled Rogue doesn't even know why Binary has it in for her, until Binary shifts to her human (looking) form! Rogue speaks Carol's name under her breath. Carol tells Rogue that she now has the power to destroy her. Storm tells Professor X that if Rogue stays, she goes - and Nightcrawler says they all will. Professor X talks the X-Men through the impasse - Carol concedes understanding but not approval, and leaves in a huff. Storm, however, is also uncertain, and goes to take a walk to decide whether she will stay or leave. She realizes, either way, that she will no longer be the woman she was. Brodie's View: We get our first new X-Man since the Byrne run here, and it's a most unexpected character. Rogue was introduced initially as a villain; a member of the Mystique's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and one in definite good standing (with the group, at least) after essentially taking the hero, Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), off the shelf by using her energy absorbing ability to steal her powers (and unknowingly, part of her personality, which is what leads to her coming to Xaiver in the first place). However, as I just said, those powers came with a price, and the price was Rogue having to share a mind with the woman who's life she stole, and it's slowly driving her insane. She goes to Xaiver because she knew that he could potentially do what Mystique couldn't, and was the only real person she could have gone to for her problem that wouldn't try to turn her to their advantage by mental manipulation (for example, Emma Frost, despite the fact that she is currently in a psychic coma). Of course, Xaiver's answer to this is to add her to the X-Men, in order to keep a better eye on her, while helping her, or at least trying to. Of course, this doesn't sit very well with the other X-Men, particularly Storm, who is not only pissed that she's on the team, but the fact that Xaiver pretty much ignored the fact that she's team leader, and made the decision without her council. This won't be the last time this happens, and it kind of adds to the growing anger and rage within Storm, something that will totally change her as a character over the next few issues (and beyond that). It also doesn't sit right with Carol Danvers (Binary), who returns to Earth to find the woman that ruined her life is now the newest X-Man. After a bit of a scuffle, Carol departs in a huff, officially deciding to join Corsair and the Starjammers in space (which, we'll see her here and there for quite a while, but never to the point we have over the last 20 some issues. We'll not see her in a major role again until Kurt Busick brings her back to Earth to join his Avengers team in 1997). The end of the issue leaves the X-Men with a new member they don't trust (or like) at all, but one that does add quite a bit of power to the team. Eventually, Rogue would earn the trust and affection of the team, and truly become an invaluable part of the X-Men, but the readers of the time didn't know this, and I think everybody was waiting for the eventual swerve revelation that she was really a mole for Mystique. However, history will show that everything here is surprisingly what it is on the surface of things; this is not to say that Mystique and her Brotherhood won't assume that her being part of the X-Men was due to Xaiver's mental manipulation, and we'll see the fall out from that suspicion several issues from now. For now, welcome to the X-Men, Rogue.....hope you blah, blah, blah. A few other important things also happen in this issue. We get Maddie's revelation to Scott that she was involved in a massive plane crash that happened (well, as we learn from the thoughts of Scott Summers) at the exact moment Phoenix died in #137. Is this a coincidence? Of course not, but the answers aren't what one would expect....well, not totally. However, the truth of this whole deal won't be revealed for some time, so, for now, this whole deal is just an interesting mystery that will be exploited by our mystery villain, who has manipulating things from the shadows (for now). We also get some teasers from long standing storylines; one minor, one pretty major. The minor one is Xaiver still having trouble training his mind that his legs are no longer paralyzed; this will continue for the next several issues, but eventually, Xaiver will have bigger problems than just his legs. The other big tease happens when Kitty has Illyana program a Danger Room scenario for them to blow off some steam (after the initial anger of Rogue being thrown into the X-Men). However, the scenario Illyana prepares is a simulation of Belasco's lair, which highly freaks the team out (as they were VERY lucky to get out of that situation), and when Kitty questions Illyana as to why, Illyana (upon seeing Belasco) freaks out and manifests a magical sword that she attacks Kitty with. Eventually, Illyana is brought back to reality, but she breaks down upon being caused to (unconsciously) remember her own experiences in that world (Which can be read in the MAGIK mini series, plug, plug). This won't be the last time we see that sword, and all that comes with it, in both the X-MEN and NEW MUTANTS series. All in all, this is a good issue, and an important one in the scheme of things, as Rogue joining the team kind of sends the book off in a new direction; one that will start to REALLY solidify in the post Secret Wars continuity. I would say my only complaint with this issue (and it's a minor one) is that Walt Simonson is doing the art, rather than regular artist, Paul Smith (who returns next issue). Walt's art has always been kind of hit or miss for me, as while I loved his stuff in THOR (where he was able to go crazy drawing monsters and various creatures), his art when dealing with mostly human characters is kind of lacking. Had Smith drawn this issue, it probably would have pushed it into "A" territory, but with Simonson's art...... GRADE: B+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 14, 2017 1:23:35 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #172"Scarlet in Glory"Cover Date: August, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Cyclops----On Leave) (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Viper, Silver Samurai, & Nabatone Yokuse Guest Stars: Havok, Yuiko, Mariko Yashida, & Lockheed Official Plot:This story takes place after the events of Wolverine #4... Tokyo: The X-Men arrive in Japan for Wolverine's wedding to Mariko Yashida, which is to occur in 5 days. Wolverine warmly greets all of them, except Rogue, who remains in the doorway until Mariko says something. Logan would rather tear her heart out, but the others tell him she's now an X-Man, and Mariko formally welcomes her. Atop a nearby building, the Silver Samurai is watching them, but is also being watched! Yukio strikes from the shadows, but the blow barely phases the Silver Samurai, and battle is joined. Wolverine hears the attack, and Nightcrawler teleports both of them near the battle to see what's up. Wolverine tells Nightcrawler to grab Yukio and he goes after the Samurai. Silver Samurai teleports away - letting Wolverine plunge off the edge of the building - but Nightcrawler saves him. Yukio, however, is gone. We see her bounce off poles and ledges with ease, but suddenly her foot slips and she falls downwards - until Storm grabs her! Landing, Storm tells her she could have been killed, but she laughs it off as an amazing ride. She cartwheels away, still laughing. Later, Storm tells Wolverine that she recognized the assailant from a recent battle the New Mutants had. Wolverine comments on Clan Yashida's past ties to the criminal underworld in Japan, but that he'd taken care of Shingen. Kurt gets Wolverine's implication - and Kitty is a little shocked. Elsewhere in the apartment, Mariko steels herself for a meeting she's been requested to attend. It is her honor at stake, and so she refuses to even tell Logan what she will be about. She summons Toni to tell her she'll be out for a bit, that the X-Men are not to know, and leaves. Unfortunately for Toni, she is ambushed by Viper shortly thereafter. Viper disguises herself as Toni and serves the X-Men poisoned tea. The tea is distributed, and Wolverine and Logan talk about Logan's concerns with Yashida involvement in criminal matters, and Wolverine is worried that Mariko might be corrupted if she tries to deal with it herself. Wolverine finally takes a sip of tea and realizes its poisoned - and warns Storm just before she drinks! But for the others the damage has been done... Outside, a driver pulls up with Mariko's car and she gets in. The driver, however, is no other than Yukio! Anchorage: Scott is digging into his grandparents' airline company's records on Madelyne. Alex comes in to ask him what he's doing, and wonders if its a good idea. Scott tells him he has to know - and that Maddie didn't walk away from the crash merely the same day that Jean died, but the same instant! A warehouse in Tokyo: Mariko goes into the building, and there finds Viper, Silver Samurai, and Nabatone Yokuse. We learn that Silver Samurai is Mariko's half-brother. Mariko declares that she does not recognize the crime worlds rulings - only the emperor's word matters. Harada (Silver Samurai) declares that his father promised him rulership of the clan, but Mariko denies his claim, and he starts to draw his sword. Mariko asks Nabatone about his promise of safety, but he says his promise was to Mariko, and that she wasn't Mariko! "Mariko" unmasks herself as Yukio! Viper goes to find the real Mariko while Silver Samurai draws on the Ronin. Yukio gets the first hit, but Silver Samurai is well-armored. Viper goes outside and opens the car door - and is blown away by a gust of wind. However, Storm barely controls it, and it slams Viper into the wall, rendering her senseless. Storm flies up and in through a skylight window in the warehouse. Seeing Yukio in deadly combat with Harada, she tries to summon her lightning, only for it to use far more power than she intended! Nabatone thinks something about Storm having sprung his trap, but Storm is too worried about electrocuting Harada and tries to draw the power into herself. This overloads Storm, sending bolts of electricity across the warehouse and detonating boxes of explosives. Yukio grabs the kimono she disguised herself in and jumps high into the air off a stack of boxes, grabbing Storm in the kimono, and sending them both into the water. Behind them the warehouse explodes. As they come back to the surface, they see a large firebird form over the inferno of the warehouse! Silver Samurai emerges from the Inferno to find Viper. He takes her and escapes. Storm and Yukio stagger off to find a haven - with Nabatone mysteriously watching from the shadows! The hospital: Mariko is trying to stop Wolverine from going after Harada, but he won't be put off. Rogue (also recovered) tells Wolverine she's going with him. They have a brief discussion - Wolverine is not keen on working with her - but he relents, telling her in no uncertain terms he's in charge. Brodie's View: After 4 issues and the WOLVERINE limited series (which hopefully you have checked out at some point....it's REALLY good), we welcome our favorite clawed X-Man back to the book, or perhaps it's the rest of the X-Men being welcomed into Wolverine's story, as it's basically a continuation of what occurred in that limited series, but now with the other X-Men, (Minus Cyclops, who is still in Alaska freaking over the whole coincidence (or is it?) that his new squeeze, Madelyne Pryor, survived a traumatic plane crash on the exact day (hell, at the exact MOMENT) that his old squeeze, Jean Grey, died on the moon.) or at the very least, Storm and Rogue, involved in the ongoing political drama in Japan. To sum up the WOLVERINE limited series; Logan went to Japan to hook up with his love, Mariko, only to discover she's betrothed to a man that beats her, and is the daughter of a cruel old man, who puts the success of his business and family honor over his daughter's happiness. To add to this, there is a criminal element involved, one who is trying to kill Mariko, because she is the heir to the business, which gets Wolverine involved, but in the process of defending Mariko, he shows a part of himself he never hoped to show her, which frightens her, and is seen as the ultimate dishonor in her father's eyes. Logan hits the skids, and winds up meeting a woman named Yuiko, who is a wild spirit like him, and for a moment, he gives in to his animal side, but he realizes that he wants Mariko. He wants to be the man she deserves, and not the animal that would make someone like Yuiko happy, and it is the man that finally defeats Mariko's father (who is revealed to have been the one behind the whole criminal plot to kill Mariko in the first place), which leaves Mariko in charge of her father's empire by right, and she and Wolverine elope to be married. In fact, the cover of this issue is the last page of the last issue of the WOLVERINE limited series....with a dagger through it. See, with Mariko's father being dead, there is a power struggle for control of his empire. Enter Viper and her love/flunky, The Silver Samurai, who were last seen together (at least with Chris writing) in the pages of MARVEL TEAM UP, as thorns in the side of Spider-Man and various characters he teamed up with (the most notable being the Not Ready For Prime Time Players.....that's right, the original (well, with Bill Murray, not Chevy Chase version) cast of SNL and Spidey teamed up to take on Viper and Samurai, who wanted a mystical ring that was mistakenly delivered to John Belushi. Honestly, this happens in MARVEL TEAM UP #74. The above is all background, though. In this issue, the X-Men come to Japan to celebrate Wolverine's wedding to Mariko, and for the most part, are welcome (Save Rogue, as there is no love loss between her and Wolverine, due to the whole Carol Danvers thing). However, the Samurai is watching, but so is Yuiko, who is keeping an eye on Wolverine. They fight, which draws Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Storm (who meets the devil may care Yuiko, and envies her freedom), who also take on the Samurai, who teleports away before the battle can be joined. They go back to Mariko's apartment, and discuss the incident while being served hot tea (secretly by Viper, who has taken the place of Mariko's, who is off for a secret meeting, servant). The tea is drugged, and everybody but Storm, who is warned by Wolverine as he's passing out, is affected. Mariko gets in her car to go to said meeting, but the driver is Yuiko, who takes her place for the meeting, which is a set up to kidnap/kill Mariko. However, Yuiko is found out, and the battle is quickly joined, with Storm coming out of nowhere to help Yuiko and even the odds. Storm goes to hit the Samurai with lightning, but summons too much, and she tries to pull it back in, but ends up electrocuting herself in the process, and detonating boxes of explosives, which causes the building they're fighting in to catch fire. The bad guys escape, as does Storm and Yuiko, who dive into the river bellow, and as they surface, they see what appears to be the Phoenix fire effect coming out of the explosion, which freaks Storm out. Meanwhile, we CUT to the hospital, as we see Wolverine and Rogue have recovered first from the poison, due to their heightened constitutions. Wolverine is set to go after Viper and the Samurai, but Rogue wants to tag along, which Wolverine refuses at first, but finally gives in to, as he realizes she could provide good back up. Thus, we have two different duos going after the same targets, which sets up an interesting Part Two of this storyline in the next issue. This is a great comeback for Paul Smith, who does a great job putting his own spin on the film ready art style of Frank Miller, who did the art/co-wrote the WOLVERINE mini series with Claremont. Chris seems like he got a major shot in the arm from doing this series, and we can definitely tell in this storyline, as he expands on the world he and Miller created in WOLVERINE. But the nice thing about this story line is that we're not only getting the obvious further build for Wolverine (which has taken another huge step into becoming the iconic character he would be by decade's end), but also with Storm and Rogue; the first expanding on the wild side that has seemed to have developed since being "reborn" during the Brood saga, and the second helping to cement Rogue's place within the team, and prove her trustworthiness. We would see several examples of this bonding over the next year's worth of issues (as well as in SECRET WARS), which help really make her an invaluable member of the team by the time we approach the 200th issue of the book. We also get both a bit of further development in the Cyclops/Madelyne Pryor thing, but also furthering the mind games our mystery villain (well, not such a mystery if one really thinks about it), who not only appears as "Nabatone Yokuse," and who is somewhat helping Viper and the Samurai in their plot against Mariko, but also manifesting the illusion of the Phoenix fire effect, which throws Storm somewhat, as she wonders if this is some sort of Omen of the Phoenix's return. A lot of cool things happen in this issue, and the follow up will be even more awesome, as we see Wolverine and Rogue kicking much ass on their way to Viper and the Samurai, and the adventures of Storm and Yuiko, who are doing the same, which sets up a ending full of surprises that will change certain things (and people) in very shocking ways. Hold on to your butts, people. It's going to be a bumpy ride. GRADE: A-
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 14, 2017 2:48:46 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #173 "To Have and Have Not"Cover Date: September, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Cyclops----On Leave) (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Viper, Silver Samurai, The Hand, & Mystery Villain (Pssst....it's Mastermind) Guest Stars: Havok, Polaris, Mariko Yashida, Madelyne Pryor, Lilandra, Corsair, Yuiko, & Lockheed Official Plot:Wolverine and Rogue get rowdy with the Yakuza in a Ginza district bar. They get information from Akio that leads them to the crime lord Nabatone. Elsewhere, Yukio seeks sanctuary for Storm and herself at one of the house of Yukio's friend, Tak. He says that there is no sanctuary for her and leaves them on the streets, where some lowlife muggers attack both of them. Wolverine looks for the Silver Samurai, who plans on killing Mariko Yashida, his half-sister and Wolverine's fiancée. Their father was a crime lord, and the Silver Samurai wants Mariko dead so he can control that empire. Wolverine invited the X-Men to Japan for their wedding, only for everyone but Storm to be poisoned by the Silver Samurai. Wolverine and Rogue infiltrate Nabatone's estate. Rogue accidentally sets off a security robot, and Wolverine saves her from the laser blast. They find the corpse of Nabatone Yokuse, who has been dead for over a week. The man who arranged the meeting between Mariko and the Silver Samurai was an impostor. Wolverine wonders if, while they have been wasting time chasing smoke, someone might try to attack Mariko and the poisoned X-Men in the hospital. Elsewhere, Yukio easily defeats the muggers once Storm fries them with a little lightning. Inspired by Yukio, Storm begins to embrace her emotions instead of suppressing them. Wolverine's fears are verified: Viper and a team of ninja assassins attack the hospital and dispatch the posted agents. Rogue flies in, grabs the whole gang of ninjas, including their leader, and tosses them aside; Viper orders her ninjas to kill Rogue while she looks for Silver Samurai. Wolverine challenges the Samurai and wins their brutal battle by breaking his arm. As he readies his claws for the killing blow, Mariko begs him to spare her half-brother. Viper pulls a gun on Mariko and Wolverine, demanding they let the Samurai go. The Samurai faints just as Wolverine and Mariko make a run for it. Rogue throws herself into the ray's path before it hits them. Rogue causes the gun to overload, but suffers life-threatening injuries. Viper uses her ring to teleport herself and the Samurai away. Wolverine forces Rogue to absorb his powers to save her life. A week later, while at the Yashida's ancestral seat preparing for the wedding, Mariko is visited by Mastermind. At the wedding reception, the X-Men are introduced to Cyclops' girlfriend, Madelyne Pryor. Everyone is shocked by her similarity to Jean Grey. Lilandra was so surprised that she almost attacks Madelyne, but Professor X and Colossus stop her. Storm arrives in her 1980's punk look, much to Kitty's apparent horror. Right before the ceremony starts, Mariko calls off the wedding in front of everybody. Wolverine asks Mariko why, and she tell him he is unworthy. Brodie's View: In this, the 2nd part to what is essentially WOLVERINE Limited Series: Part 2...now with Storm and Rogue from the X-Men, we get two different duos raising hell in Japan: Wolverine/Rogue kicking ass while looking for Viper and the Silver Samurai, and Storm/Yuiko, who is helping Storm find her wild side. It's kind of interesting how Yuiko's presence is portrayed as being kind of bad for Wolverine, as it allows him to embrace his wild side, rather than being the man he could be, but for Storm, who was always the gentle soul up until the Brood Saga, she represents Storm being able to express her growing inner wild side, which ends up being the best thing for her in a long term sense. Anyways, while Storm is getting to let her hair down (while she has it) by kicking mugger ass with Yuiko, Wolverine and Rogue are splitting criminal skulls throughout Tokyo, looking for Viper and the Samurai (who are on a mission to kill Mariko, who we reveal is the half sister to the Samurai), as the Samurai believes that he deserves the right to his father's empire instead of Mariko. Along the way, we get to see a bit of bonding between the two former enemies, and when Rogue is critically wounded by Viper during the final fight (after Wolverine f**ks up the Samurai, breaking his arm, and almost killing him, before Mariko pulls him off of her half brother) by stepping in front of a blast meant for Mariko, Wolverine lets her absorb his healing factor, which heals her from her wounds. It's an important moment in solidifying Rogue's place with the team. Anyways, with the bad guys defeated, the wedding between Wolverine and Mariko is back on, and all of the close friends and allies of Wolverine and the X-Men gather for the event. However, little does anyone else know, but Mariko had a mysterious visitor before the wedding (Pssst, it's Mastermind.....yes, he's been the mystery villain who has been screwing with the Hellfire Club, Mystique, and the X-Men over the last few issues....makes sense now, doesn't it? And he's not quite done yet.), and as Wolverine and Mariko gather at the alter, Mariko suddenly cancels the wedding, stating that Wolverine is not worthy of marrying her. She walks off as the X-Men all stand in complete shock, and Wolverine cries a single tear over being totally left at the alter (well, kind of). Sadly, Wolverine and Mariko never end up taking that plunge, as she later is killed in the pages of Wolverine's own book. Of course, Logan does have that history of tragic love affairs (as do most superheroes, to be fair.....I think it's just their lot in life), which I'm sure is made worse for him when he has to attend the wedding of another X-Man in a few issues, and one, might I add, that goes off without a hitch. Oh, and whose wedding it is has to just end up being an extra twist of the knife for him, but he doesn't raise any kind of a ruckus over it. Speaking of the wedding, before the tragic events of the ceremony itself happens, we have a few surprises that occur. One is the arrival of Cyclops/Scott Summers, who is with his new squeeze, Madelyne Pryor, whose resemblance to Jean Grey almost causes Lilandra (who is there with Professor X) to have a go at her before she is brought to her senses. Then on top of this, Storm arrives with a brand new look, looking very early/mid 80's with a leather outfit and a mohawk, which causes the X-Men even more shock and surprise (particularly Kitty, who will take time to adjust to Storm's new look and attitude). Once again, this is a huge moment in the transition of this team into what they will become by the mid 80's. This transition progress continues over the next few issue, in which we will see one of the team leaving pretty much for good (well, for most of the rest of Claremont's run), and Storm's leader position of the team become more solidified (well, when Xaiver isn't stepping on her toes). However, before this can all happen, we have a certain a certain illusion creating slime bag to deal with, and he will start to make his big moves.....next issue. GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 14, 2017 22:20:57 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #174"Romances"Cover Date: October, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Cyclops----On Leave) (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Mastermind, Silver Samurai Guest Stars: Madelyne Pryor, Lilandra, The Starjammers, Mariko Yashida, & Lockheed Official Plot:Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor rest on the Starjammer and watch an "earthrise". In the cockpit, Corsair introduces Binary as a member of the Starjammers. Corsair offers Cyclops to join the Starjammers. Cyclops hesitates. In the medical bay, Lilandra helps Professor X in his leg physical therapy. She tells him that she is going to need to go back to the Shi'ar Empire since her sister, Deathbird, has ascended the throne. She asks Xavier to come with her and he says that he must stay with the X-Men and New Mutants. Back on the bridge, Madelyne tells Cyclops not to refuse his father's offer to join the Starjammers on her account. In Japan, Wolverine enters the main grounds of the Yashida Clan estate. He is looking for Mariko. He asks her why she will not marry him and she explains that she cannot marry her father's murderer. Wolverine returns the clan's "Honor Sword" she had given him. The Silver Samurai boasts that he is Mariko's new heir. Wolverine is then told to leave the house and Yashida land forever. At the X-Mansion, Ariel interrupts Colossus from his painting and brings him to the mansion's attic where Storm has removed all of her plants. There they embrace and kiss. Storm interrupts them and explains that she has changed her room to match her new attitude. Nightcrawler tends to Rogue's wounds and she asks about Madelyne Pryor taking Jean Grey's "spot". Nightcrawler explains the story of the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix to Rogue. He goes to his room and finds a package from Amanda Sefton. It is a doll of a witch on a broom with a note telling him she knows he would prefer the real thing instead of the doll. Meanwhile, Cyclops and Madelyne are back on Earth and headed toward Anchorage. Cyclops walks the fuselage and encounters a priest who found a photo on the floor of Jean Grey. Scott does not recognize the picture as his and stashes it. The priest seems to be plotting something for Scott. The couple enjoy themselves at Madelyne's house where they begin to celebrate their relationship. They do not realize that Mastermind is hidden in the garage. Inside, Scott asks Madelyne if she is a reincarnation of Jean Grey or the Phoenix. She punches him and disappears. Scott recovers and looks up to find the Dark Phoenix walking through the doorway. She attacks him and then stands over his burning body. Brodie's View: This is kind of a character/set up/subplot issue, which Chris Claremont, if you haven't understood by now, loves to do, and on first glance, it would look like nothing much is happening in this issue. However, the one thing I would hope you've learned by reading these reviews by now is the fact that while it may look like not much is happening in this issue, a LOT is happening. Of course, you have the fall out from last issue's Non Wedding, as Wolverine confronts Mariko, demanding a reason as to why she did what she did. Mariko, now flanked by the Silver Samurai, AKA the man that was trying to kill her in the last few issues, states that she could never marry the man that killed her father, and that he is no longer welcome in her land or life, leaving Logan to leave, once again, dishonored. We also get some further developments between Colossus and Kitty, as she basically tricks him into going up to Storm's room, which is up in the attic of the X-Mansion, to make out. They are interrupted by Storm, and Kitty realizes for the first time that Storm has removed all of her plants, which Storm states it's to mirror her new attitude, which pisses Kitty off. Obviously, there is a heart to heart between the two that needs to happen, and it will, but not yet. We also get a nice scene with Rogue and Nightcrawler, who is nursing her after nearly being killed by Viper last issue, which leads to Nightcrawler telling her (and the new readers) the full story of what happened with Jean Grey/Phoenix, which also leads into our main story of the issue..... And that would be the whole mysterious relationship that has developed quite quickly between Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Madelyne Pryor, who is the spitting image of Jean, which bothers Scott, as he wonders whether this is some sort of plot afoot, or perhaps this is the set up for some sort of attack. He's somewhat right to feel this way, but it's not coming from the direction he's expecting. See, there's an old foe who has a grudge to bear, particularly against the X-Men, Cyclops, and especially Jean Grey, who left him catatonic upon their last meeting (#134), and that is Jason Wyngarde AKA Mastermind, the mutant with the power to create illusions. This has majorly come into play in the last few issues, as he was able to (1.) mentally blast Emma Frost into some sort of a psychic coma, getting payback on The Hellfire Club for seemingly leaving him hung out to dry after the whole Jean Grey thing, (2) drive a rift between Rogue and Mystique, which was probably paying her back for not inviting him to be a part of her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (one can only assume), (3) ruins Wolverine's life by convincing Mariko not to marry him, and now, (4) convincing the X-Men, and particularly Cyclops, that Phoenix has returned, and most likely in the form of the new woman he has fallen for, Madelyne Pryor. We see him at play a few times in this issue, which is obviously setting the stage for him making his big move, which he does at the end of this issue (although, the readers of the day might not have thought it at the time), as he plants doubt within Scott's mind that Madelyne might indeed be the reincarnation of Jean/Phoenix, which finally makes Scott break down and ask Madelyne. This causes Maddie to deck him and leave, and when Scott tries to follow to apologize, he is blasted by fire. We then see the image of Dark Phoenix standing over him, which one reading at the time might have taken as being a "Yes" answer to Scott's question, but there is a lot more to what's going on that meets the eye, and this is all important to remember for next issue, as one might think we get to see this newer team of X-Men fighting Dark Phoenix, but remember, we're dealing with a villain that is a master of illusion, and a grudge on top of that. The X-Men are in for a hell of a 175th issue. GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 15, 2017 1:11:14 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #175"Phoenix!"Cover Date: November, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Paul Smith/John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, Rogue, & Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Mastermind, "Dark Phoenix" Guest Stars: Madelyne Pryor, Havok, Polaris, Lilandra, The New Mutants, Illyana Rasputin, The Starjammers, Amanda Sefton, Sean Cassidy, Beast, Angel, Iceman, & Lockheed Official Plot:The X-Men are chopping down a dying tree when suddenly a large firebird appears in the sky above them! And from out of the firebird falls a man - Cyclops! Rogue catches him, and Storm tells Nightcrawler to take him to the infirmary, but he belays that. Its too late for such action - Dark Phoenix has returned! Professor X summons them to the study. Professor X is not convinced - he sensed Jean's death, but not her rebirth. He puts on Cerebro to look for traces of Jean, but Cerebro overloads, knocking him out and putting him on the brink of death! Nightcrawler teleports him to the infirmary while Kitty inspects Cerebro - to find that all the safety interlocks were disengaged and the settings reversed! Someone made Professor Xavier do that to himself! In the confusion, Phoenix slips out from within Cyclops, who collapses. The X-Men attack, but do so singly, and Phoenix defeats them all - all that is except Wolverine, who sees no point in attacking. Phoenix leaves to do some 'errands', promising to return to finish what she started. Kitty goes to raise the Starjammers on the comms, but when she finally gets through its to see Corsair telling them they are under attack by Phoenix -- and then the Starjammer explodes! They next try to contact the Avengers, but their conversation with Captain America is cut short as all of New York City ceases to exist! In the infirmary Professor X is stable but in bad shape, while Cyclops is in 'perfect health' physically but otherwise deteriorating rapidly. Cyclops, however, is looking down on his body from above, and he sees it charred and blistered. He drifts towards the light. Suddenly, he can sense Jean's presence through their psychic rapport, he knows she's here. And then a woman appears, but as he gets closer, he realizes that woman isn't Jean. She tells him to go back, and sends him hurtling back towards his body - he wakes up realizing it was his mom! Cyclops examines himself and finds no burns. He finally starts to piece it together - maybe he hasn't been burned either time and maybe Phoenix isn't real either! Cyclops reviews the evidence, and realizes only one foe could possibly be responsible. He rushes off to prepare, knowing that convincing the other X-Men will be difficult. Ten minutes later he rushes in to where Storm and Colossus are, but the X-Men don't see Cyclops - they see Phoenix! Storm uses wind to bring Cyclops close where Colossus can swing at him, and Cyclops gets hit hard, cracking some ribs. Cyclops manages to turn the tables enough to make his escape, but Kitty tackles him through the wall - Cyclops throws himself off the balcony and Kitty instinctively phases them through the floor and into ... the danger room! Nightcrawler ports down to the control room, but Cyclops has it booby trapped, and it knocks him out. He puts Kitty to sleep with a nerve pinch. The other X-Men enter, but Cyke has control of the Danger Room! He ambushes them with a sudden chasm, forcing the fliers to rescue the others, and hides in a jungle environ. Elsewhere, Madelyne Pryor is dressed as Dark Phoenix, and is utterly confused as to where she is. The villain, Mastermind, reveals himself to her, and proceeds to tell her his evil plan and why he seeks revenge. He then tortures her by making himself look like Scott, stealing a kiss, and laughing at her reaction as he turns back to his natural form. Cyclops is being hunted by the X-Men, but better knowledge of the terrain allows him to outwit his pursuers. However, its an open stretch to the door of the danger room, and the fliers come after him. But Storm throws off her lightning bolt, and as Cyke nails her he wonders if she's figured it out. Rogue catches Storm and lands between Cyclops and the door - but he specifically prepared some poppies designed to knock her out - and he wide-angle blasts the field she's landed in, sending poppy dust into the air. Rogue collapses. Cyclops picks Rogue up and exits the danger room. Cyclops shuts down all the mansion surveillance equipment so Mastermind won't know where he is, and then takes Rogue to the infirmary. There he wakes her with a vial and quickly touches her hand to Professor X's forehead. Suddenly telepathic, Cyclops persuades her he's not Phoenix. The remainder of the X-Men appear, but before they can attack 'Phoenix', Cyke has Rogue patch him through to the X-Men, and convinces them of the truth. At that moment, Phoenix appears behind them! Cyclops moves between the X-Men and Phoenix, and announces he knows its an illusion, and therefore it can't hurt him. Suddenly, he clutches his chest, and falls down. But Wolverine heard the shot - a gun with a silencer. He lets Storm know the enemy is here, and Storm summons up a monsoon which forces everyone to grab hold of whatever is available. When the Storm subsides, Mastermind has been blown back into a wall and is unconscious. Wolverine pops his claws and goes for the kill, but Storm stops him. Scott gets up and sees Madelyne, and rushes to her - thankfully she's alright. Later. Scott Summers takes flowers to Jean's tombstone. He's wearing a tux, and he makes his peace with Jean's ghost. Later that afternoon, Scott and Madelyne get married. Brodie's View: Damn! We've hit issue #175, which was celebrated as being the 20th anniversary of the X-Men first debuting in 1963 (actually, they were 2 months off, but hey, I can see why they wanted to do the big issue here), and we have a hell of a fight this issue, as Mastermind springs his big trap on the X-Men as his way of getting the ultimate revenge on them, and particularly, Cyclops. He does this by first convincing them that Dark Phoenix has returned, and eliminating every possibility of the mutants seeing beyond that illusion (Taking out Xaiver quickly, creating simulations where it looks as if Phoenix has destroyed the Starjammers/New York (which would prevent any of the nearby teams from helping them against this potential universe destroying threat), Mastermind works the X-Men up to a point that when he creates an illusion that makes the rest of the team see Cyclops as Dark Phoenix, it quickly becomes Scott Summers vs. the team he helped assemble back in GIANT SIZE (save for Kitty and Rogue). One would think Cyclops would get flattened here, but he actually does quite well, taking various X-Men out until he has Rogue, who he uses to convince the team that they are being played, and that Mastermind is the true enemy. Mastermind tries to regain control, but Storm creates a huge storm within the room that finally knocks Mastermind unconscious, winning the day. We then end this issue with Scott and Madelyne Pryor (who Mastermind had been keeping prisoner, and dressed as Dark Phoenix, obviously setting the X-Men up to kill an innocent woman, thinking she was a reincarnated Jean Grey/Phoenix) are married, after Scott making his final peace with Jean at her grave site. It's kind of fitting that this is Cyclops' last issue being a full on member of the team (although, I will keep him on the roster until #176, as he and Madelyne get the main story in that issue), as he really is the focus character of this issue. His falling from the sky (seemingly the victim of Phoenix's attack) starts the action off in this issue, and after he "recovers from his injuries," (which involves a strange "after life/out of body" experience that has Scott meeting the ghost of his dead mother) it really becomes his issue entirely, as he is forced to play a cat and mouse game with the rest of the team in the Danger Room, and using skill and training to take each one of them out before they can splatter him all over the place. Of course, being that he was Mastermind's main focus of revenge, it's probably not that surprising, as this issue kind of ends many of the loose ends experienced by Cyclops since Phoenix died in #137. It gave him closure, and the ability to move on with Madelyne (well, at least for a few years, when a nasty bit of retconning makes all of this kind of useless, but I won't harp too much more on that for now), and other than a few short comebacks (He is part of the team in SECRET WARS, and for a bit around issue #200), but we then don't see him as a regular member of the team for the rest of the 1980's, and most of the rest of Claremont's run. The baton that was handed from Cyclops to Storm at the end of the DARK PHOENIX saga becomes more permanent (and is SOLIDLY made so in #201, which is Cyclops' official last issue as a member of the X-Men until the 2nd book was launched in 1991) with his leaving, and things take a very different turn under Storm's leadership. So much so that by the time we reach #200, Scott comes back to find a team he barely recognizes (including a kind of sort of member that used to be the X-Men's deadliest enemy, but we'll get to that later), which also leads to his leaving. As for Mastermind, he doesn't pop up again in the pages of the main X-Men book until after Claremont has been sent packing by an Editor in Chief (Bob Harris) that was desperate to make superstar artist, Jim Lee, happy. In fact, by the time we see Jason Wyngarde in Uncanny again, Jim Lee had also split to help form IMAGE. Talk about sticking your foot in it, Mr. Harris. Anyways, the other notable thing about this issue is that it ends the short run for Paul Smith (who does make one more appearance, art-wise, during these reviews, as he pencils the X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT crossover I'll eventually be reviewing), but the person who takes over for him is no slouch either. John Romita Jr. was, of course, the son of Legendary SPIDER-MAN artist, John Romita, and as we see during the first few issues of his run (which lasts from here to #210), he does try to emulate his father's work until he starts to really develop his own style, and takes his version of the team in a grittier direction. That being said, the next review will be for ANNUAL #7, and that will be goofy as hell. Be here tomorrow for many (hopefully) Yuks. GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 15, 2017 23:03:56 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men Annual #7 "Scavenger Hunt"Cover Date: December, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Michael Golden & Bret Blevins Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, Rogue, & Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Impossible Man, The Hellfire Club (briefly) Guest Stars: Lilandra, Illyana Rasputin, Nick Fury/SHIELD, Jarvis, She Hulk, Iron Man, Ka-Zar, Shanna: The She Devil, Zabu, the Marvel Comics staff, & Lockheed Official Plot:The X-Men are participating in a leisurely game of baseball when it is suddenly interrupted by the seeming arrival of Galactus. When Professor X attempts to read the planet eaters mind, he is zapped by the telepathic feedback and is knocked out. "Galactus" informs the X-Men that he has come in peace and needs to take their headquarters, and before the team can do anything, he teleports away taking the X-Mansion with him. Reviving the Professor, the X-Men follow his psychic trail which leads them to the SHIELD Helicarrier. Upon their arrival, the X-Men send Nightcrawler, Lockheed and Ariel down to snoop around the Helicarrier to see what they can find out. When Ariel and Lockheed accidentally walk in on Nick Fury and the Contessa having a romantic moment security is called forcing the X-Men to flee. In all the confusion, someone or something has managed to steal Fury's eye patch. Following the trail again further, the X-Men find themselves in the Savage Land where they encounter their old ally Ka-Zar and his mate Shanna the She-Devil. They inform the X-Men that Ka-Zar's sabretooth tiger Zabu has been kidnapped. At Avengers Mansion, the security system goes off and Jarvis, and resident Avengers Iron Man and She-Hulk notices the Fantasticar is on the property and someone has loaded it with all of the Wasp's costumes. When the two Avengers go outside to investigate, they find Ariel, Colossus and Rogue on the property. Not knowing that Rogue is a member of the X-Men now they attack but are easily trounced when Rogue absorbs She-Hulk's powers, and Ariel shorts out Iron Man's armor wither her phasing powers. While the X-Men were busy, the same being manages to steal the mystical window from Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, unleashing all sorts of demons and spirits. The next place the X-Men track this mystery thief is the headquarters of the Hellfire Club. In it's lower levels they come across the unconscious body of the White Queen. They are soon attacked by Sebastian Shaw who is angry at the X-Men for invading his base. As they fight it out, the thief reveals himself to be the Impossible Man from the planet Popup. While the X-Men are occupied battling the Black King, the Impossible Man manages to make his escape with the item he was seeking: The Black Queen's uniform. With the Impossible Man fleeing, Storm takes the rest of the X-Men away, ending their fight with Sebastian Shaw, who vows to get revenge against the X-Men. The Impossible Man next attempts to collect comic book legend Stan Lee by showing up at the offices of Marvel Comics. Unfortunately, he is unaware that they had recently moved and ends up at their previous office at 575 Madison Avenue. Learning that they have moved to a new office, the Impossible Man goes there. He demands that the Marvel staff turn over Stan Lee, however they explain that Stan works out of Hollywood. Just then the X-Men arrive and put the Impossible Man on a merry chase across the office causing all sorts of chaos until he is stopped. Giving up, the Impossible Man explains that he was only on a scavenger hunt and didn't realize the trouble he was causing and sincere apologizes. The Impossible Man takes the X-Men to the Gobi Desert where he has been stashing all the items from his scavenger hunt and the X-Men are awestruck by the enormity of it. He has stolen items from across the universe and dimensions. The Impossible Man explains that after he and his wife left Earth to populate a new world due to the fact that Galactus ate his previous home they created an entirely new population of Popupians. The difference with this would be that everyone they created were independently minded unlike the previous population that was one group mind. When it came to choosing a leader, they decided to put it to the vote, however everyone voted for themselves. So the solution was that all those who wished to lead would have to win a scavenger hunt. The Impossible Man had chosen Earth and has almost captured all the things that he needs to do so. As the Impossible Man finishes his explanation an entire armada of aliens arrives on Earth and a delegation teleports before them all. The leader of the aliens explains that the universe is not amused by the Impossible Man's universal scavenger hunt and have come to declare war against the Impossible Man and those who would ally with him. Lilandra steps up and uses her diplomacy as empress of the Shi'ar to convince the aliens to allow the Popupians to finish their scavenger hunt and return all the items in the condition they left them in, pointing out that going to war against the Popupians -- knowing what they are capable of -- would not be worth it. The aliens agree with Lilandra's point and allow the Popupians to continue. However, despite all his effort, the Impossible Man loses the scavenger hunt and spends time at the X-Mansion complaining about his loss. However, when out with Kitty and Illyana, he manages to cheer himself up with ice cream. Brodie's View: And we go from the epic drama of the last 20 or so issues to an Annual that contains a bit of pure silliness. I think Chris wanted a story to unwind with after the serious events of that whole period (and to make way for the grittier direction the book would soon be taking), and who better to center the story around, silly-wise, than Fantastic Four nuisance character, The Impossible Man; a small green alien with the ability to change his shape into anything he wants. The short plot of this story is that The Impossible Man is competing against other members of his race in a Scavenger Hunt of sorts, and the X-Men wind up chasing him across the planet. They are trying at first to figure out what the hell is going on, and then dealing with the fallout of IM's stealing shit from not only Earth, but all over the galaxy, which causes an alien invasion of equally pissed off aliens, wanting the head of IM. Lilandra winds up convincing the aliens to let the IM's race finish their scavenger hunt, which IM ends up losing, and after pouting poolside with Kitty and Illyana, he is given ice cream to placate him, and....that's pretty much it, and the story even ends in that kind of, "Welp, that's the end, folks," kind of ending. If you don't believe that, check out the bit below.....it's literally the end of the Annual. Of course, throughout the story, the X-Men end up getting into all sorts of interesting situations while chasing IM around, as he is grabbing up various items. Heck, the story starts with IM showing up looking like Galactus (during an X-Baseball game, continuing the tradition), and stealing the X-Mansion, which puts the team into immediate chase mode. IM then sneaks aboard the SHIELD helicarrier to steal Nick Fury's eye patch (lol), jets to the Savage Land and steals Ka-Zar's (ugh) sabretooth tiger, Zabu, then sneaks into Avengers' Mansion and steals all of the Wasp's various costumes (Causing a brief fight between Colossus/Rogue and She Hulk and Iron Man), and loading them into an obviously stolen Fantasticar. He then steals the mystical window from Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum (causing all sorts of demons and monsters to break loose....double lol....Poor Dr. Strange), busts into the Hellfire Club, and steals the costume of the Black Queen (which causes another fight to break out between Sebastian Shaw and Rogue), and finally invades the Marvel Comics studio, looking to kidnap Stan Lee. Whew! In fact, here is a list of the Impossible Man's various "Finds": The X-Mansion Nick Fury's eye patch Zabu the sabretooth tiger The Fantasticar Wasp's costumes The mystical window that protects Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum The Black Queen's costume An alien worldship A cruise ship The key to Superman's Fortress of Solitude (Whoa!) The giant penny from the Batcave (Double Whoa!) The Millenium Falcon (Awesome!) Magneto's helmet Iron Man's original armor a pair of Hulk's purple pants (Lol....Luckily the Hulk was still intelligent at this point. A nekked Hulk would have killed people with his giant, Hulk sized ding dong.) So, yeah....a completely silly story that doesn't really affect continuity very much (outside of Shaw claiming to have faced Rogue before she joined the X-Men, which set up a flashback story that I don't think was ever told, unless it happened after I stopped reading ten years ago), and is pretty skippable if one doesn't want to read a silly X-Men story. I thought it was pretty decent, though, as it kind of was a sneak preview of some of the fun stuff Claremont would revisit later in EXCALIBUR. The next review will get back to serious business, as we see Cyclops (Who despite being on the cover of this annual, doesn't appear in it, FYI) fighting a large Squid.....no, really. GRADE: B+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 16, 2017 1:12:46 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #176"Decisions" Cover Date: December, 1983 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, Rogue, & Cyclops (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Morlocks, The U.S Government, and a Giant Squid Guest Stars: Madelyne Pryor-Summers, Mariko Yashada, Henry Peter Gyrich, & Valerie Cooper (1st Appearance) Official Plot:Scott and Maddie are flying to a remote island in the South Pacific for their honeymoon when a storm catches them and disables the engine. In Japan, Wolverine sneaks into Mariko's chambers. He's come to return the honor blade, which was delivered to him 2 days after he last returned it. We find out that Mastermind forced Mariko to call off the wedding, and that while under his control Mariko also involved the clan in criminal pursuits again. She loves Logan, but won't allow Wolverine to be with her until she has expunged the stain upon her clan's honor. In the South Pacific, Scott is working on the engine. He loses his balance while leaning over for a kiss, and a large shark leaps at him. He stuns it with an eye-blast. Unnoticed by either he or Maddie, the stunned shark becomes something else's meal before it can recover - something with long powerful tentacles! Washington D.C. Henry Gyrich has arrived to a briefing that has already started - a briefing on mutants! Frank Lowell of the CIA is discussing Magneto's most recent threat, a threat that was never followed through on for unknown reasons. Following him is Valerie Cooper. She presents evidence that mutants are no longer primarily a U.S. phenomena, but now a broadly global one - the U.S. must take steps to defend itself against foreign spies and assassins possessing mutant powers! Gyrich objects - he thinks to do so would be to prove Magneto right. But Dr. Cooper thinks mutants present a 'clear and present danger', and must be dealt with. The South Pacific. The main part of the Storm is starting to move over them as they try the engine, but it catches fire and Scott has Maddie turn it off. They get back to work, neither noticing the sinister tentacle reaching out of the water! The Alley. Caliban returns to his chambers to discover Masque, Callisto, and Sunder there. He orders them out but Callisto is concerned because she hasn't seen him much. They accuse him of mooning over Kitty, and he admits to being sad because she promised to stay with him if he helped the X-Men, but she didn't. Callisto tells him she means to see Kitty keeps her promise! The South Pacific. Scott finally has the engines working, and Maddie is pulling in the sea-anchor when she's grabbed by a monstrous tentacle! Scott jumps in after her, and blasts the squid, freeing Maddie. It grabs him, but he gives it an eyeful. However, he's lost his glasses. Getting to the surface, Maddie steers him towards the ship with her voice, but it grabs him again. Getting his bearings from the direction its pulling him, he lets the squid have it full power. They get back onto the plane, and after a few moments of panic, the second engine finally catches and they're off. Scott decides he's not interested in going off to fight a war with his father as a member of the Starjammers. Brodie's View: It's honeymoon time for the Summers, and being that they are both pilots, they are spending their honeymoon flying. However, their private plane is caught in a storm, and then the engine dies, forcing them to make a water landing. At first, they are set upon by a shark, but after Scott shoos the shark away with his optic blast, we see that something else under water is stalking them....something MUCH worse; a Giant F'N Squid, and most of this issue is Scott and Madelyne fighting off that giant quid, while Scott contemplates his future of whether he'll join his father (Corsair from the Starjammers) in space, or live a quiet life with Madelyne. Of course, Scott decides to stay on Earth, which, will last all of 4 issues of continuity until the Beyonder comes a calling, and pulls him away from Maddie to fight his SECRET WARS alongside the X-Men. After that, things really wouldn't be the same between the two, as a returning Jean Grey would pull Cyclops away from both her and the X-Men, and the original X-Men would reform to form X-Factor. They would pretty much stay as a unit until the end of Claremont's run, when the original X-Factor would be folded back into the X-Men in time for the relaunch of a second X-Men book (Titled just X-MEN); the first three issues of which would be Claremont's swan song until 2000 (and a VERY disappointing comeback, but we won't get into that). As for Madelyne Pryor, she would go on a very different path post Scott splitting on her and their son (Which was one of the downfalls of the whole Jean Grey retcon, as it made Cyclops look like a MAJOR ass for ditching his wife and son for his first love), and eventually would be forced to turn heel in order to make Cyclops look somewhat like a hero again. However, this is all WAY into the future, so, for now we'll leave Scott and Madelyne Summers as the happily married couple they were here. Instead we'll talk about some of the other events of this issue. We get Wolverine confronting Mariko after she sent the sword he returned to her back to him, after being Unbrainwashed by Professor X undoing the damage Mastermind did over the last few issues. However, it's kind of too late for them, as Mariko, while under Mastermind's influence, got in figurative bed, business-wise, with the Japanese criminal underworld, and she declines marrying Logan until she can regain enough honor to make herself worthy of him again. Sadly, this never happens, as eventually, dealing with the Japanese underworld would end up taking Mariko under, and she would die in Wolverine's arms (Which happens in his own book, so, I won't go into too much detail on that in these reviews). Later, Wolverine would briefly get married, but to a most unexpected person, and for most unexpected reasons (Once again, this happens in his own book, so, I won't go into too much detail about that either.....I will say it's someone we've seen in the book recently.....someone who likes wearing green leather). Leaving the Wolverine side of things, we also check in briefly with the Morlocks, as Callisto, still pissed about losing her leadership spot to Storm, has a scheme hatched to try and get a bit of payback on the X-Men/Storm for that; a scheme that involves a promise Kitty Pryde made to Calliban in order to get him to help her against Callisto and the other Morlocks in #170. We'll see the implications of that play out in an issue or two. Finally, we see action on a level that's, for the most part, unforeseen in this book, but the reality of where things are going makes this whole deal inevitable, and that's sitting in on a debate between various U.S government officials on the subject of mutants, and how to deal with them. There are two familiar faces (well, one familiar to AVENGERS fans (Their former douchebag liaison, Henry Gyrich, who actually is the voice of reason here) and the other, while making her debut here, will come to be familiar to X-Fans in the years to come, Valerie Cooper, who argues that measures need to be taken to prevent a county/world destroying mutant/mutant group from carrying out some horrible act (Magneto's actions in #150 is used as the chief example). As I said, this isn't the last we'll see of Ms. Cooper, as we are slowly moving towards the drafting of a Mutant Registration Act, which as we remember from DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, leads down a VERY dark road, and in many ways, that can be said about the post SECRET WARS era of this book period. (A bit of a side note, that's one thing that did bother me about Mark Millar's CIVIL WAR, in the sense of the X-Men being neutral in the whole Superhero Registration Act deal that sparks the CIVIL WAR between the heroes, as I would think anyone who was part of the team during this period would be very much AGAINST such an act, as they've seen where shit like that leads. It was kind of out of character for the X-Men, even being an obvious way to not make them a major part of that event, which is kind of shitty, as why wouldn't they be a part of that? A minor gripe about that mini series, which, for the most part, I really dug, but a gripe it is.) Anyways, we'll see more Government involvement in the lives of the X-Men very soon, and it won't be very good, especially for certain members. GRADE: B+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 16, 2017 3:04:46 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #177"Sanction"Cover Date: January, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Mystique/The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Arcade, Ms. Locke Guest Stars: Cyclops, Corsair, Havok, Lilandra, Stevie Hunter, and Amanda Sefton Official Plot:Mystique is in a Circus when Wolverine ambushes her from behind. She dodges, but he still draws blood. After a quick but brutal fight she slits his throat and he bleeds out. Kitty Pryde phases up out of the ground moments later, and seeing Wolverine down, rushes over to him. Its not Wolverine - its Mystique playing dead - and she's just gutted the girl. Suddenly the building behind Mystique explodes as a huge hurled stone strikes it, sending her flying. Colossus confronts her in a rage, and she realizes Cyclops is also there as he clips her from behind - she retreats into a funhouse hall of mirrors. The fun house is really a carefully constructed trap, and she uses it to focus Cyclops optic beam and amplify it until it can penetrate even Colossus's armored body! Cyclops, distraught over Peter's death, doesn't notice Mystique as she comes up behind him and garotte's him. Having changed into a combat suit, Mystique gets confronted by Storm. But the suit absorbs her lightning, and lets her channel it back at Storm. Storm dodges, but Mystique wasn't aiming at Storm, but at the tank of gasoline behind her! No longer held aloft by Storm's winds, she falls through the big top, and catches the bars - only to have Rogue try to bring the house down! Mystique pulls a blaster on her, and it actually finishes Rogue. In agony over having killed her foster daughter, she's totally unprepared for Nightcrawler's attack, however his multi-porting doesn't phase Mystique at all! She draws a dagger for the kill, but finds herself unable to follow through - and Nightcrawler knocks her out. She comes to with Destiny looking over her. Arcade and Miss Locke come in to celebrate her performance. Mystique wants all the Brotherhood to train in Murderworld - same deal, one of the robots will be set to kill. Mystique asks which was in hers, and Arcade tells her it was Rogue. After Arcade and Miss Locke leaves, Irene tells Mystique that her vendetta against the X-Men is a mistake. Salem Center. Kitty is about to leave her dance lessons, and she starts to talk to Stevie about Ororo's change in personality when Ororo comes to pick her up. But Kitty doesn't want to talk to Ororo right then, and walks past her. The Starjammer. Charles and Lilandra say there goodbyes, and Corsair bids his sons farewell. The Starjammers leave earth with Lilandra to reclaim her throne. Kurt, Amanda Sefton, Kitty, and Peter go to see the Royal Ballet at Lincoln Center. Peter drops Kurt and Amanda off, then he and Kitty go to park the car. Kitty and Peter finally park the car and are walking towards Lincoln Center when they see an explosion on top of a nearby building! Colossus rushes up to save anyone he can from the fire while Kitty runs off to call help. However, Colossus finds no fire, only Blob! Blob punches Colossus through the wall where he is caught by Pyro's firebird! Pyro heats him till he's red hot, then throws him to earth in the midst of semis with liquid nitrogen tanks! Avalanche's tidal wave effect sweeps the trucks towards Colossus. Kitty rushes towards the scene at the sound of his howl of agony, only to find him a frozen statue! Brodie's View: This is, for the first half of the issue, mostly a Mystique issue, as we see her appearing to fight and kill the X-Men, before being bested by Nightcrawler. However, it (and the cover) are an Arcade created illusion, as we learn Mystique has been using the crazed assassin's carnival of death, Murderworld, as he training ground to take on/out the X-Men, who she blames for corrupting and turning her foster daughter, Rogue, against her. However, it is interesting to note despite this, she takes out the robot version of Rogue with little to no hesitation, but hesitates when it comes to doing the same to the robot version of Nightcrawler (who will later be fully revealed to be her son). Mystique's companion, Destiny, warns Mystique against her vendetta against the mutant team, but Mystique, like Batman in BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN, is driven past the point of following logic, even from someone with precognitive powers. In the second half of the issue, we actually do get to see the beginning of Mystique's master plan take place, as Brotherhood members attack Kitty, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Amanda Sefton, as they were about to attend the ballet, and although the two women and Kurt get f**ked up, Colossus seems to be their main target, as he is first burned red hot by Pyro, and then smashed into semis filled with liquid nitrogen, turning him into a living statue. Part two of their attack against the rest of the team (which is a distraction, allowing Mystique to get to close to/take out the man she feels is the most responsible for "corrupting" Rogue, Charles Xaiver) will commence next issue. However, we do get an interesting "Behind the Scenes" of the attack before it happens, which is an interesting approach by Claremont. IOW, following the villain's story, rather than the hero, which is the usual practice. However, we also get Corsair, Lilandra, and the Strajammers officially leaving for space, which kind of ends their involvement with the X-Men for now, and allows Cyclops and his new wife, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, to enjoy their time as a newly married couple (well, for a few issues at least ). It's kind of fitting that we're moving out of the realm of pure sci-fi for now, as things are about to get very gritty and real for the X-Men (which kind of mirrors the strengths of current artist, John Romita Jr., who does street level stuff better than he does the space operas that Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith were more adapt at). We also get an added bit of character development between Kitty and Storm, as Kitty is still pissed at the changes Storm has undergone since returning from space. Eventually, this will come to a head, and a conversation between the two will occur, but that's if Kitty makes it through the next few issues. (Well, she obviously does, but I'm trying to be cute here, setting up shit that happens next issue, so, allow me the chance to be dramatic, kay?) I will say there are some costs to this battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood, which feeds right into the scene we saw last issue with the Morlocks and Calliban, as Claremont has become a master at dropping sub plots like DJ's drop beats. However, there will be pay offs for this, and I will say the next few issues will threaten the Kitty/Colossus relationship like it has never been threatened before.....and then things get REALLY shitty for them. GRADE: B+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 16, 2017 22:34:11 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #178"Hell Hath No Fury...."Cover Date: February, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Mystique/The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, The Morlocks Guest Stars: Amanda Sefton Official Plot:Shadowcat has just stumbled upon the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants handiwork - Colossus super-heated and then flash frozen to near-absolute zero - a condition which almost certainly means Peter's death! Desperate, she mentally calls out to Professor X for help. At the mansion, Professor X hears, and knowing that it is the Brotherhood, is careful not to alert Rogue. In the Danger Room, Storm and Wolverine are testing Wolverine's precision - he manages to nick her cape from her as she flies by at high speed without hitting her person. Storm is talking much like Yukio. The Professor contacts them, but their telepathic discussion is cut short by a powerful psionic scan. Storm carries Wolverine to quickly cover the distance between Salem Center and New York City. Kitty is pulling herself together where Colossus stands as a mute statue when she remembers Reed Richards had a recent device documented in Scientific American that might help. She tries calling ahead from a pay phone only to discover the Fantastic Four aren't in. She hops in a cab and tells the driver to head for the Baxter Building. Elsewhere, the Morlocks Callisto, Masque, and Sunder stand about the body of a homeless young woman in an alley. Callisto enigmatically predicts there will be one more Morlock before the night is through, and Masque goes to work on the corpse. Outside Lincoln Center. Kurt and Amanda are making out, when they realize that everyone has gone inside and the plaza is empty. They wonder what happened to Peter and Kitty, when they are suddenly attacked by a great bird of fire! Kurt's quick porting saves them from Pyro's creature and Avalanche, and then Amanda counters the fire creature with sorcery. Blob, however, gets the drop on them, and only the sudden intervention of Storm prevents their deaths. The Baxter Building. Kitty heads inside and phases through the robot secretary, disorienting it long enough to keep her ahead of the security systems. Lincoln Center. The X-Men and the Brotherhood are fairly evenly matched - until Storm opens up the heavens and makes it rain so hard the combatants have problems standing. Baxter Building. Kitty grabs the device and heads up to the roof. A little worried about the height, she tries to take it slow, but gets startled by something behind her as she's stepping out into oblivion! ... Lincoln Center. Nightcrawler uses Avalanche to trap Blob, and the Brotherhood surrenders? Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Rogue brings Prof X tea, except its not Rogue! Xavier notices the psionic damper, and beats it at the last second to change what would be a fatal shot into a grazing hit. The real Rogue walks in on Mystique getting ready for the kill, and they have a confrontation. Rogue pours her heart out. Lincoln Center. Mystique contacts the X-Men and offers to trade Xavier's life for the freedom of her Brotherhood. Storm agrees, and Blob laughs about how they still nailed Colossus. Destiny makes a dire prediction about Kitty Pryde and the Baxter Building. On a sidewalk outside the Baxter Building, Kitty Pryde lies broken from the fall. Brodie's View: Whoo hoo! From the cover, I'm sure you can guess what the main battle is in this issue: The X-Men vs. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants....well, a decent chunk of the X-Men vs. Most of the Brotherhood, as a few of the characters are missing from the main battle. However, we'll get back to that in a second. We open with Colossus being frozen as a living statue (a tag team effort by Pyro and Avalanche, who heated Pitor's metal form until it was glowing hot, and then launched him into a couple of trucks filled with nitro glycerin), as Kitty looked on in horror. However, she quickly realizes that Reed Richards had invented something that might help her reverse what happened to her boyfriend. She quickly takes off (But not before sending a psychic message to Professor X), taking her out of the main battle, which continues as Pyro and The Blob go after Nightcrawler and his witch girlfriend, Amanda Sefton. Xaiver (who is being cared for by Rogue) receives Kitty's psychic message, and he alerts Wolverine and Storm, who are having a Danger Room sparring session. However, before he can say more, he is hit with a scanning wave of immense power, which leaves him weakened for the rest of the issue (Actually this happens a few times over the next few issues, as it's basically set up, a kind that was happening in various ways over the main MARVEL books, for SECRET WARS, which I will be reviewing after UXM #180). Wolverine and Storm join the conflict, evening the odds after a bit of a scuffle between the two forces, which they soon learn was just one big set up for Mystique to get close to/kill the man she blames for turning her foster daughter, Rogue, against her; Charles Xaiver. However, Rogue confronts Mystique as she's about to do the deed, and after a heart to heart, convinces her foster mother that she's there of her own volition. Realizing that this whole thing has been a mistake, she offers Xaiver's life for the release of her Brotherhood, which the X-Men begrudgingly agree to, however, before they leave, Destiny warns the group that something has happened to Kitty, who we see laying in a bloody heap at the bottom of the Baxter Building (The FF's HQ). Okay, let's go back a second, as the actual battle only takes up a third of the story. A third of it follows Kitty Pryde, as she breaks into an empty Baxter Building to borrow the device she hopes will reverse what has been done with Colossus. She experiences some tense moments, as she evades the building's defenses, and finally makes her way to the roof, hoping to air walk with the device down to the ground. However, someone catches her, and apparently pushes her to her "death." Of course, we know that's BS, as we earlier see a scene with The Morlocks (Callisto, the feature changing Masque, and a few others) coming across the body of a dead girl, and it doesn't seem like they are up to any good. As it turns out, we're exactly correct in that assumption, but we'll see all that play out in the next issue. For now, it'll appear to everyone that Kitty has fallen to her death (Chris has loved teasing killing Kitty over the last couple issues, hasn't he?) The other third of the story follows Mystique, who uses Rogue leaving the room to grab something for Xaiver, who has grown faint after getting hit with that massive blast, as a chance to sneak in (disguised as Rogue), and she tries to take a shot at Xaiver, wounding him. She tries to finish the job, but Rogue confronts her. They have a great scene, and Rogue winds up explaining to Mystique why she went to Xaiver's, and that she's happy there, which Mystique even finally has to admit that he can do more for her, as far as the problems with her powers, than she can. This is a big moment for both characters, as, first off, it solidifies Rogue's place with the team, which was important, as it was kind of assumed that her being there was kind of a ruse, and that she would turn on them in a second if Mystique called. We see now that the suspicion was unwarranted, and Rogue is there for very genuine reasons, and, as I said previously, it helps to solidify her as being part of the X-Men Family. As for Mystique, this whole deal ends up convincing her that perhaps doing the whole "Super Villain Team" thing was the wrong way of going about things, and we'll see a more clever Mystique the next time we see (which will be sooner than we thing, and sooner than the X-Men realize) her in the book. All in all, this was an important issue for Rogue and Mystique, and kind of (at least for now) settled the issue between the two. In the next issue, we'll see the fall out from all this, and we'll find out what the Hell happened to Kitty (Pssst, if you haven't guessed, it involves the Morlocks and Calliban.....you're welcome). GRADE: B+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 17, 2017 0:45:36 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #179"What Happened to Kitty?"Cover Date: March, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: The Morlocks Guest Stars: Amanda Sefton, Illyana Rasputin, & Calliban Official Plot:Continued from last issue... The Morlocks have captured Kitty Pryde and are now preparing her for a forced marriage to Caliban. Having left the X-Men to believe that Kitty had died falling off the roof of the Baxter Building, Storm, Wolverine and Rogue go to examine the body. Wolverine tells his comrades that he girl on the morgue slab before them is not Kitty, making Storm wonder who could have captured her and why they went through such trouble to make the other X-Men think that she was dead. Meanwhile at the X-Mansion, Nightcrawler examines Colossus's frozen body and cannot detect a heart beat, making he, Professor X, Illyana and Amanda Sefton wonder if even in his armored form he could have survived being frozen. Their examination is interrupted when Storm contacts the Professor telepathically and tells him of the news surrounding "Kitty's" death. Before she can tell him whom she believes is behind the capture the Professor is struck by a powerful mental probe by some alien force of great power and passes out. Down in the Morlock Tunnels, Kitty snaps out of her stupor to find that the Morlocks are attempting to marry her off to Caliban. When she attempts to resist, Callisto points out that when she was down in the tunnels previously, she promised to do whatever Caliban wanted if he helped her. Caliban wished to marry the girl, and Callisto is trying to bind her to her promise, even though Caliban realizes that the girl could never love him. When Kitty attempts to flee into the sewers she comes across the young Morlock named Leech who is lost and scared in the tunnels. She decides to lead the boy back and agrees to honor her promise. Before the ceremony, Masque is brought in to alter Kitty's face so that she is deformed like all the Morlocks. However, when Masque's despisement of all things pretty makes him torment her, Callisto orders him to stop and change her back to normal. As the wedding ceremony begins, it is interrupted by the arrival of Storm, Rogue and Wolverine. A brief battle begins between the X-Men and the Morlocks before Kitty stops them and explains that she promised to Caliban and reminds them that saving Colossus is more important that fighting each other. A solution is soon made: Taking Callisto and the Morlock known as the Healer back to the X-Mansion, the Professor has Rogue absorb Colossus's powers. When the Russian mutant reverts back to his human form the Healer then uses his powers to heal his wounds. With Peter recovering in the infirmary, Kitty leaves to return to the Morlock tunnels giving Illyana to give letters to her parents and Peter to explain what happened. When she goes down she is met by Caliban, who tells her that he realizes that it is not right to force her to marry him or stay in the Morlock tunnels against her will and releases her from her promise. Before departing, he gives the young mutant a single rose before returning to the tunnels Brodie's View: The "All New" X-Men have survived their second major bout with Mystique's incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants relatively unscathed, or did they? Colossus remains frozen into a statue-like form, after being heated to the glowing point, and then rapidly cooled down (via liquid nitrogen), and the X-Men are making every second count trying to save him, if they can. To make things worse, they receive the news that another one of their members has been downed permanently, as Kitty Pryde has apparently fallen to her death from the Baxter Building. However, looks can be deceiving, as they quickly realize (thanks to Wolverine's senses) that a fast one has been pulled on them by someone who is able to change someone's features, which they quickly put one and one together, and come up with Masque of the Morlocks. While Nightcrawler, Amanda Sefton, Illyana Rasputin (Colossus' sister), and a weakened Professor X (who was hit from another major psychic blast from what will eventually be revealed to be the Godlike being known as The Beyonder) try to do what they can for Colossus, the other X-Men invade the Morlock Tunnels trying to get Kitty back. Meanwhile, Kitty has come to, and realizes the situation she's in (She promised herself to Calliban in #170, in order to get him to help her against the Morlocks. Thanks to the urgings of a vengeful Callisto, Kitty's now being called on to fulfill her promise.), and at first, freaks out and tries to run for it, but she is brought back and realizes that despite hating the end result of it, a promise is a promise. She, however, goes double or nothing, as she realizes that the Morlocks have a healer, and she states that she will go through the marriage without a protest if the Morlocks have their healer heal Colossus. After a brief scuffle between the X-Men and the Morlocks, Kitty stops the melee, and tells her friends she's going through with the wedding. Colossus is healed, but not without danger to Rogue, who helps the healer by taking on the statue form Pitor was in, as the healer heals the actual wounds from being solidified like he was. Finally, Kitty prepares to leave her above ground life, and join the Morlocks, but Calliban frees her from her promise, knowing it would slowly kill her to be down in the darkness. He says he doesn't want her to think of him as a monster, but rather as a Prince (and gives her a rose). Awwwwww. All kidding aside, this was a good issue, and one that had a pretty straightforward story; a back and forth between Kitty in the sewers, dealing with Calliban and the Morlocks, and the other X-Men; first when trying to help Colossus, and then a trip to the morgue to discover that the dead Kitty they're going to visit isn't Kitty at all. The stories then converge, as the X-Men have what will end up being their Last major clash with the Morlocks (as from here on in, they will slowly become more allies to the team....well, at least for the next 30 issues or so), only to be stopped by Kitty. This would be an important issue for Kitty, and part of the growing up process she would undergo over the next 10 or so issues (some of it we don't end up seeing, as it happens in a WOLVERINE AND KITTY PRYDE mini series that happens shortly after the heroes come back from SECRET WARS. I'll be reviewing the second, but not the first, as I don't own it. However, I will sum it up when Kitty leaves to go to Japan), as in this issue, she basically is willing to sacrifice her freedom and happiness in order to save the man she loves, Colossus. This will later be thrown up in Colossus' face, but not by Kitty. However, we'll get to that in a few days, review-wise. This is also an important issue for Rogue, who risks her life to save Colossus, by taking on his condition long enough to heal the Russian X-Man, which Storm notes to herself that after this act, she'll no longer question Rogue's loyalty, which is a huge moment for her, as she was one of the loudest to protest when Rogue was put on the team by Professor X. I think she, and the other X-Men, now realize how right he was in doing so, as she is proving to be a great asset to the team indeed. However, there are hard times ahead for both Storm and Rogue, but, once again, a lot of this happens after SECRET WARS, which I'll start reviewing tomorrow. The next issue, and final issue before SW will be kind of a "Calm Before the Storm" character issue that Claremont loves so much (as do I), but a lot of things that have needed to be said get said, and there is a bit of closure before everything gets thrown into upheaval again by that rat bastard "God," The Beyonder. GRADE: A-
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 17, 2017 3:43:50 GMT -5
Uncanny X-Men #180"Whose Life is it, Anyways?"Cover Date: April, 1984 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: John Romita Jr. Team: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Ariel, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver) Villain/s: Emma Frost Guest Stars: Doug Ramsey (1st Appearance) Official Plot:After months of practice, Charles Xavier has managed to beat the psychosomatic feedback his mental powers had created preventing him from walking in his new body. He decides to enjoy this newly acquired ability to playing basket ball. However, his game is ended when he's struck by yet another powerful mental scan and wonders what the alien force causing it could be. He is then visited by Storm who has come with her concerns over her lack of control over her powers, and her new more savage attitude and it's effects on Kitty. She wonders if she is going insane. Probing her mind, the Professor reveals that there is nothing wrong with her mentally. He points out that he doesn't know what's causing her change in personality and ethically cannot bring himself to alter her mind with his powers as it could do more harm than good. Elsewhere in Salem Center, Kitty Pryde is out at the arcade with her friend Doug Ramsey playing in an arcade. after ranking the top score the game fries and the two are kicked out by the owner, telling them they are not welcome back as they hog the machine for hours and hardly spend any quarters. Going for lunch, Kitty confides in Doug about her feelings about Storm. She explains that with all her changes, the woman she cared for like a sister has become someone who frightens her and she doesn't know what to do. Doug pledges to be her friend as well, and then tells her that he is appointment at the Massachusetts Academy and asks Kitty about her time there. Kitty explains that she hated it there, however secretly recalls that it was run by the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. She wonders if her friend Doug is a target of the X-Men's enemy and wonders what she can do about it. Back at Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Colossus spends time recovering from his injuries by chopping trees on the property. He is trying to come to terms with his feelings over Kitty. When Wolverine comes and forces him to talk about them, Colossus worries about their future given how she almost gave herself to the Morlocks and her new friendship with Doug Ramsey. He admits that he is insecure that Doug is everything Kitty could want and fears that he might lose her. Logan tells him that if he thinks that, he's lost her already. Storm has traveled to the Bronx Botanical Garden to spend some time enjoying the plants in the greenhouse. She comes upon a group of muggers attempting to rob an old couple and confronts them. When they attempt to stab Storm with knives, she unleashes her powers on them, sending them fleeing. When she goes to help the elderly couple, they are frightened by her mutant nature. She is then called back to the X-Mansion where she and the other X-Men are briefed about Doug Ramsey's invitation to the Massachusetts Academy. With the Hellfire Club currently in disarray and the White Queen seemingly in a coma, Charles agrees to let Kitty accompany Doug to find out if he is at risk. During the conversation, Xavier reveals that Doug is really a mutant that has language translation powers which surprises everyone. After the meeting, Kitty is walking through the halls of the mansion when she is swept up a wind into the sky by Storm. Up in the air the two come to terms with their feelings about Storm's recent changes in personality and style. Ororo explains to Kitty that she is going through changes that frighten her and that she needs to go through them to find out who she really is. After some conversation about the changes, Kitty and Storm promise to be there for each other no matter what. A week later, Kitty and Doug are boarding a plane to Massachusetts, and Kitty's mind has already gone to another worry: the aloof behavior of Peter making her wonder if there is anything wrong with him. As she boards the plane with Doug, her worries go change when they are greeted on the plane by the White Queen. When Kitty tries to alert the Professor telepathically, she cannot reach him as at that very moment, the Professor, Colossus, Wolverine and Storm are drawn to Central Park. There a giant construct has appeared in the location and as they all approach it they are teleported away to a far off place.... The fate of the X-Men continues in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1.... Brodie's View: So, yeah....this is kind of a "character issue," where there is little in the way of actual superhero-ism (other than Storm kicking the asses of a group of muggers, and, well, the end of the issue), and much in the way of conversations and moments between characters, which I know some hate on, but I personally love, as it (hopefully) deepens the reader's love and appreciation for these characters. At least that is the goal, but I think it is deeper for Chris at this point, as one can tell that he's really come to care about these characters and what happens to them. This issue is no exception, heck, in fact, there's even more resonance with this issue, as it occurs on the eve of the X-Men (well, most of them) vanishing off (along with Marvel's other major heroes) to a makeshift planet on the far side of the galaxy, to fight some of their deadliest villains for the edu-tainment of a Godlike being known as The Beyonder. This event is called the SECRET WARS, and it changes things quite a bit for the characters involved in it, and the X-Men are no exception. In fact, this jarring event kind of changes the entire focus and feel of the book, which I'm guessing was an edict from Editor in Chief, Jim Shooter, as one can see massive changes through all the books, most of which took place after the heroes "returned" from SW. Anyways, we see the hints of some of those changes that have happened already, particularly when it comes to Storm, who has taken on a new look and a new attitude several issues back. We see her quickly handle a group of thugs after asking Xaiver (who was hit with another Beyonder psychic blast at the beginning of the issue) if the changes that have happened within her were the symptoms of something seriously wrong with her, which Xaiver states that he senses nothing wrong. However, after that turmoil, we finally get the heart to heart between her and Kitty (which is depicted on the cover, well, the start of it), something that has been needed for a while, and this was a good place to have that conversation. Storm makes Kitty understand that this whole change is part of an inner journey within herself (although, I don't think she realizes how rough of a road that journey is going to be for her at times, but, then again, Kitty's journey will be pretty painful as well), and that she has never stopped loving Kitty as the daughter she never had. This conversation also comes around to Kitty and Pitor's relationship, and how it has entered an uncertain period, where it'll either become more serious or fail. We see the mirror of this conversation between Pitor himself and Wolverine, where Pitor expresses concern over any possible feelings between Kitty and her new friend, Doug Ramsey, who is more around Kitty's age (This is Ramsey's first appearance, and he turns out to be a mutant, although, a pretty useless one, for the most part. He can translate and speak any language. He will eventually become a part of the New Mutants, until his uselessness in combat catches up to him on one adventure, and he bites the big one). Of course, Kitty and Pitor have a right to worry, as this is effectively the end of their relationship during Claremont's run. Things would happen during SW that changes the dynamic between them, and they wouldn't become a couple again until Joss Whedon's run, 20 years later. I'm sure this was probably due to the age difference between the two, which I'm sure some readers weren't very happy with, and rather than taking the book into potentially creepy territory, Chris decided to just end the whole thing. The other major events of this issue end up happening near the end of it, as Kitty agrees to accompany Doug on a trip to check out the Massachusetts Academy (The school for mutants ran by The Hellfire Club), thinking that with Emma Frost still in a psychic coma, that everything will turn out OK. However, once they board the plane, Frost steps out from the pilot's chambers, and Kitty realizes that this whole thing has been a trap, and she was the true target all along. She tries to warn the Professor, but as that is happening, the rest of the team is investigating what ends up being the source of Xaiver's psychic blast; a huge, futuristic arena looking complex sitting in the middle of Central Park. They enter the complex, and vanish. (Of course, without Lockheed, which is strange, because he shows up with them at the beginning of SW, along with another missing X-Man, which is also strange, because if the Beyonder could just snatch people up, what was the point in having the whole "futuristic complex showing up in Central Park, which the heroes all go separately to investigate" deal in the first place? Ah well, nitpicking, I guess) Anyways, for all of the X-Men but Kitty, the story continues in SECRET WARS, which I will be reviewing over the next few days. If you're not interested in that, be back after I finish, as the X-Men will return from the SW, and fight a huge dragon (No, not Lockheed) in Tokyo. As for Kitty, her story continues in the pages of NEW MUTANTS (#15-17), as the team of teenage mutants will charge off to Massachusetts to save Kitty from the Hellfire Club, and encounter the HC's own group of "New Mutants," The Hellions (and no, I won't be reviewing that, as I don't have the issues). On our end of things, be here tomorrow, as the X-Men suddenly appear in a space construct, along with The Avengers, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The Hulk, and.....Magneto. GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 17, 2017 22:34:33 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #1"The War Begins"Cover Date: May, 1984 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Mike Zeck Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto Villains: Dr. Doom, Galactus, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Kang, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, & The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer) Official Plot:In the blink of an eye, Earth's heroes are gathered together in a construct in space. They are unsure as to what or who had brought them to this place. They introduce themselves to each other. They then realize they are not alone. Across the way another construct had appeared and had gathered and it houses the villains of Earth. The heroes are unsure; if all the villains are in the other construct, then what was Magneto doing in theirs? The villains are wondering the same thing in the other construct. After they introduce themselves to each other, both ships are hurtled through space and they realize that a very powerful being has summoned them all. The villains begin to bicker with each other and a fight breaks out. Ultron tries to defeat them all and is knocked into Galactus. They are all amazed that Galactus simply drains the energy from Ultron. Galactus then goes back to staring at the stars. Suddenly, a bright light appears in space and a voice announces who had summoned them all, the Beyonder. He tells them he could do anything imaginable and that he orders them to battle each other, and the winning side would receive whatever they want. Galactus refuses to obey him and tries to fly towards the light because he senses it has much energy, which he is immensely hungry for. Doctor Doom follows Galactus and, when they get close enough, the light diminished and they are thrown back. Then, the constructs are sent to a nearby planet and dispersed among two separate places on the planet. The heroes are then transported to the face of the planet. There, they again question why Magneto is on their "side". They argue and this causes Magneto to "fly" away. They then decide Captain America would be the leader of the band of heroes. Meanwhile, Galactus and Doctor Doom are seen on the planet surface as well. Galactus is unconscious as Doctor Doom explores the planet and finds a fortress. Inside, he finds the other villains. They are trying to band together and defeat the heroes. Doctor Doom talks to them about stealing the immense power of the Beyonder, but is disgusted at their simple minds and takes off in a vehicle to seek out counsel with Mister Fantastic. Kang uses the fortress' weapons and shoots down Doom's vehicle. The heroes see it go down and try to help him. Doctor Doom attacks after Captain America tries to help him to his feet. Doom is unable to tolerate the heroes pity and he attacks them in frustration, before fleeing. Iron Man warns the heroes they are about to be attacked and the villains unleash the first assault on the final page, to be continued into the next issue. Brodie's View: Okay, for the next 4 days, we're going to take a look at this, the first MAJOR crossover event (well, after THE CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS, which took place in 1983) that pits most of Marvel's Top Heroes against (some of) their top villains. However, we're going to do these reviews a bit different than I've been doing for X-MEN and the HULK run I did earlier. I'll break my opinions up into two different categories: THINGS I LIKED & THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE, so, without further ado.... THINGS I LIKED: This does start out really well, with an awesome assemblage of heroes and villains....well, for the most part, but I'll get to that in the negative section. That great 2 page splash on the 2nd and 3rd pages (which will be at the bottom) kind of says it all, as all the heroes and their confusion is very well conveyed by artist, Mike Zeck, and writer, Jim Shooter. I will give Shooter this, as there are certain characters he does write well (of course, surprise, surprise, many of these characters get special focus time throughout this mini series): The Avengers (which since he wrote a pretty decent arc of, isn't surprising), The Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man. As for the villains, he seems to do really well with Doom (In fact, this is kind of one of the Ultimate Dr. Doom stories, which is why, despite its flaws, I do still enjoy it), Galactus, the various goon characters like The Absorbing Man and the Wrecking Crew, The Enchantress, and one of the characters he seems to have a particular love for, Owen Reece, The Molecule Man, who not only gets a showcase spot in this mini, but pretty much a starring role in SECRET WARS 2 (Which I won't be reviewing, as it kind of sucks, and I don't own it.....I will, however, do some of the crossover issues, as it relates to the X-MEN). So, yeah, Shooter does a decent job setting things up here, as there are some surprises as to who The Beyonder (a Godlike being who is doing this whole thing, so, he can learn about humanity, or something like that) picks for the Good and Evil teams. The biggest surprise on the Good Guys' side is the inclusion of Magneto, who, while he was admittingly beginning his slow face turn after the events of UXM #150, his showing up on the White Hats side of things is still a big shocker, and most of the other heroes aren't too happy about it. In fact, they try to gang up on him, which leaves the X-Men, of all people, having to stand up for Mags, which doesn't make them look too good by association for doing so. This is kind of the beginning of the X-Men operating kind of separate from the other heroes, which, usually ends up kind of happening in these big event deals for most mutants who aren't named Wolverine. Of course, being as this is still the period of time where Wolverine hasn't quite become WOLVERINE yet, he's still portrayed as kind of a one dimensional hot head here, which I'll talk about more on the negative side of things. On the villain side of things, the big (and I mean BIG) surprise is the inclusion of the planet devouring Galactus with the villains, who instantly leaves the "lesser beings" behind to confront The Beyonder directly (which, Doom, being the opportunistic bastard that he is, flies behind Galactus to try and slip in and steal power where he can. The Beyonder slaps them both down like punks, which sets up future story issues in the series). And while we get the heroes trying to settle into some sort of order, the villains (Minus Doom and Galactus) catch them with their proverbial pants down, and attack them to end the issue, so, on that level, Shooter has definitely brought the WARS part of the series, as there would be a lot of back and forth battles over the next 10 issues of the series. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Not really a lot in this particular issue, but one can see that while Shooter does GET and write some characters well, some of the characters he clearly doesn't really get, and their writing/story arcs kind of go to show that. In particular, the Bruce Banner Hulk and the X-Men, which, I might be a bit biased towards, as I really dig the arcs that were being written by Bill Mantlo and Chris Claremont respectively.....arcs that Shooter clearly either didn't like, or didn't understand enough to write properly. Especially with the X-Men, they get made out to be kind of chumps a few times in this series, and I will be discussing that. Shooter also obviously had no love for Ultron or Kang, who he has Galactus and Doom just own on respectively. I will admit, the Galactus owning Ultron bit was pretty funny, but, damn....that's a top Avengers villain that just got owned like he was Frog Man or something. Kang is even worse, as Doom just straight has him killed in a few issues. Granted, Kang tries to kill Doom in this issue, but, still.....talk about the chumping out of a top Avengers villain. And speaking of villains, I kind of wonder why the villains side got kind of chumped out period vs. the hero side. I mean, I know Shooter was planning on creating a couple of new villains (and bringing back another), but, still....The Wrecking Crew?!? Really?!? All the great villains one could have used, and he basically brought in a group that the Avengers could take with their hands tied behind their backs. Once again, it quickly becomes clear that Shooter had favorites he was going to focus more on, which left the rest of the gang as mere cannon fodder, especially as we reach the later half of this, but, still.....The F**king Wrecking Crew?!? WTF!!! GRADE: B+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 18, 2017 0:35:14 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #2"Prisoners of War"Cover Date: June, 1984 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Mike Zeck Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto Villains: Dr. Doom, Galactus, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Kang, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, & The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer) Official Plot:On the surface of Battleworld the heroes gathered by the Beyonder are attacked by the villains the god-like being has brought here as well. The villains, armed with weapons found on Battleworld's patchwork, managed to get the element of surprise. Elsewhere Doctor Doom flies across the landscape recalling the events that brought them here. He manages to find Galactus who attempted to attack the Beyonder earlier only to be cast down to Battleworld. Doom attempts to get Galactus' attention, but the world devourer merely rises from the ground and walks off ignoring the villain as though he were nothing more than a gnat. With his attempt to ally himself with Galactus a complete failure, Doom decides to follow through on his alternate plan. Returning to the massive fortress that the villains have commandeered for themselves, Doom blasts past the security defenses and gains access inside where the inert body of Ultron is being stored. Back at the battle, the heroes manage to regain the upper hand and send the villains in retreat, however they manage to capture the Enchantress, Kang, Bulldozer, Piledriver, and Thunderball as prisoners. The heroes then go seeking shelter and find an abandoned fortress for themselves where they can contain their prisoners. As they are exploring the facility, Colossus notices that Lockheed went missing in battle and thinks about how his girlfriend Kitty Pryde would be upset if they do not return home with the little dragon. After the villains are contained, the heroes begin looking around and are surprised to find this fortress meets their every need but is completely abandoned. Captain America soon calls a meeting together and begins formulating a plan to capture their foes. He sends Thor, the Human Torch and Iron Man out on patrol while the rest of the group finds lodging and food. Elsewhere on Battleworld at yet another fortress, the mutant terrorist known as Magneto has found his own base of operations. Watching over the alien landscape before him, Magneto wonders if anyone else feels the same sense of destiny that he does of the events which are about to unfold. Meanwhile, the uncaptured villains return to their hideout to find Doom waiting there for them. Still thinking him a traitor they are about to attack when they are suddenly blasted aside by Ultron, who has been reactivated and reprogrammed to be loyal to Doctor Doom. Outgunned, the remaining villains have no choice but to follow Doom. Doctor Doom then begins playing up to the Molecule Man, easily one of the most powerful of them all. When Doctor Octopus turns Doom's attention to Galactus, they pull the world devourer up on a monitor screen revealing him to be standing at the top of a peak glowing with energy. Doom assures Octopus that plans are in motion so that they will triumph and orders Octavius to rest. Octopus complies but is suspects that Doom will eventually betray them. At that moment Magneto infiltrates the heroes base while his opponents are trying to relax. She-Hulk and the Wasp discuss all the things left behind on Earth, while Cyclops and Mister Fantastic lament about being separated from their wives, while Spider-Man and the Torch spend time together. Suddenly, Spider-Man's Spider-Sense goes off warning him that Magneto is in the power core of their headquarters. While he web-slings off to confront him, the Torch fires off a Fantasti-Flare to summon the others. When the other heroes arrive Spider-Man has been subdued and they are less than a match for Magneto either. As the Master of Magnetism dumps machinery on them and escapes, the Wasp tries to chase after him. Magneto responds by wrapping her up in metal and taking her prisoner. Getting free the Thing tries to chase after their foe but suddenly changes back into human form, much to everyone's surprise. Before they can go after Magneto, Captain America calls them all over to the monitor room where he and the Hulk have pulled up an image of Galactus. Cap warns the others that they have bigger concerns to deal with right now. Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: We're into the second issue of this mini series, and we already have our first battle, granted, it's a sneak attack of most of the villains (other than Dr. Doom, Ultron, and Galactus, who are....indisposed after the events of last issue....well, Doom isn't, but he's got grander plans than just taking out the heroes for The Beyonder's amusement....at least for now. As for Ultron and Galactus, Ultron was deactivated by Galactus near the beginning of the last issue, and Galactus was smacked down by The Beyonder shortly after that, and is basically unconscious for now.), led by Kang the Conqueror. The battle goes pretty good at first for the Bad Guys, but under the leadership of Captain America, they quickly turn the tides, and kick the villains' asses, even taking a portion of their forces hostage. This was pretty cool, as it shows, like in real war, things are not settled in one battle, but rather multiple conflicts, with each sides often losing and winning various battles until a final victor emerges. Once that is done, the Heroes go back to a ready-made base, and start to relax (while many of them complaining, and rightfully so, about being pulled away from their respective lives to fight in this meaningless war. However, while they let their guard down, Magneto sneaks in and tries to steal the power core to their base to power his own. The heroes try to stop him, but Magneto winds up encasing Spider-Man and The Wasp in metal balls, and winds up kidnapping Wasp, due to The Thing suddenly turning back into Ben Grimm at the wrong moment (A cool re-occurring story arc for him, as he transforms back and forth at times). Meanwhile, Doom decides to play The Beyonder's game long enough to learn how to steal his power (Gotta admit, the dude is driven as hell, especially when it comes to stealing cosmic power for his own usages). This was a pretty decent issue, and really there's only minor things to complain about in this one. So..... THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Well, it's minor gripes, but being that Lockheed the Dragon kind of vanishes after this initial battle, only to show up at the very end with another dragon (Sorry, spoiler), it's kind of a wonder as to why he was included in this in the first place (especially as there is no rhyme or reason as to why he was grabbed by The Beyonder, when Kitty Pryde was just kind of left at the mercy of The White Queen.....I mean, what? The Beyonder couldn't have easily just snatched her out from under Emma Frost's grasp?). Very confusing, and just not very well thought out on Shooter's behalf. Another kind of annoying thing is the inconsistent way he writes the Banner Hulk losing his intelligence and becoming savage again. There seems to be no path of losing his intellect, as sometimes he's speaking perfectly intelligent, and a few pages later, he's all, "Bah! I want to smash something!" I mean, I imagine had Mantlo written this, at least the Hulk's perspective of things, he would slowly lose his intelligence over the course of the 12 issues, rather than bouncing back and forth until the very end of the series....and don't even get me started on how Shooter wrote some of the X-Men. Ugh. Shooter also had the tendency to throw some bad 80's references in there to try to make himself/the characters come off as being "Hep and Cool," like She Hulk uncharacteristically stating, "That was totally tubular. Like to the Max!," after knocking out The Enchantress. Sounds like a precursor to some of Rob Leifield's horrible dialogue in the early YOUNGBLOOD issues for IMAGE...."I gotta admit....this gets me PUMPED!!!" Reminds me of the bad "EXTREME" Bro-Dudes in HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE. Lame. Of course, nothing would be worse than a few issues from now, when the Human Torch tells an alien girl that he'd "Tumble For Her," not even realizing (and I'm sure Shooter had no idea of this either) that "Tumbling For" someone.....is kind of stating that you're willing to play bottom for someone. I'm sure Shooter was just taking off of the Culture Club song, which was probably popular at the time, but, yeah.....it makes the Torch look even lamer than he would have been otherwise, in his attempts to woo women, alien or no. Of course, maybe that was the point. Who knows. GRADE: B
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 18, 2017 2:37:32 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #3"Tempest Without, Crisis Within"Cover Date: July, 1984 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Mike Zeck Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto & Galactus Villains: Dr. Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Kang, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer), Titania & Volcana Official Plot:A powerful storm rages across Battleworld and Magneto watches it from his hideout before releasing his prisoner the Wasp. When the Wasp threatens to bring the hideout down around them, Magneto suggests that it would be a bad idea with the storm raging outside and suggests that they call a truce for the time being. Magneto then tries to charm the Wasp as well as try to convince her that he is not the monster she thinks he is. While at the heroes base, Ban Grimm and the Torch watch as the storm looses some massive rocks that come crashing down toward them before being destroyed by Thor. This has Hawkeye and She-Hulk on guard for the moment. When they realize there is no danger, Hawkeye confides that he wants to get home to his new wife. Elsewhere Iron Man and Captain Marvel also take pause to notice Thor. When Iron Man questions why Thor just doesn't stop the storm, Captain Marvel figures he enjoys it too much. In the communications room the Hulk, Captain America and Mister Fantastic are overseeing things after the damage done to their temporary headquarters after Magneto attacked as well as keeping tabs on Galactus who is still standing atop a nearby mountain. Reed expresses his concern for his wife who is pregnant and is about to give birth soon. The Hulk pipes in about what he will do to the villain who kidnapped his girl back home as well. With the repairs Reed excuses himself from the others so he can have some time alone. Reed's departure is observed by Spider-Man who remarks on how depressed Reed looks. web-swinging through the facility Spider-Man feels as though it was specially designed for him to do so, and briefly wonders if that was intentional before ultimately dismissing the idea. He happens to come upon the X-Men who are holding private council with their leader. While they discuss the distrust they are receiving from the other heroes. Xavier has decided that his team is going to leave to join up with Magneto. Just as he is saying, Professor X detects Spider-Man's presence and tells his X-Men to stop him before he can warn the others. Spider-Man fights back and easily trips up the X-Men and flees the scene. Spider-Man tries to warn Reed about what's going on, but Xavier uses his telepathic abilities to make Spider-Man forget what he heard and Cyclops smooths things over with Mister Fantastic, making it seem as though Spider-Man is probably just cracking up under the pressure of being kidnapped by the Beyonder. The two heroes share a moment where they express their distress of being taken away from their respective wives before Xavier telepathically calls Cyclops back to the group. Commandeering a shuttle, Xavier tells his students to set a course of Magneto's citadel. At that moment, Magneto is in a teleconference with Doctor Doom and refuses his offer to join sides. Doom warns him that he will live to regret that decision, Magneto terminates the call and sees to his guest the Wasp who appears to be warming up to the Master of Magnetism in spite of herself and the two suddenly get into the throws of passion. While at Doombase, Doctor Doom has two test subjects: Skeeter MacPherran and Marsha Rosenberg. Utilizing the devices within the lab, Doom endows them with super-human powers. As Volcana, Rosenberg has the power to channel volcanic plasma and Skeeter -- now calling herself Titania -- has been given enhanced strength. Doom then brings his newly empowered minions to meet the other villains gathered. There Titania intends to prove that she is no longer the scrawny woman she used to be by trying to pick a fight with the Absorbing Man. With nothing to prove, Absorbing Man brushes off her insults and Titania storms off in a fury when the Wrecker begins making lewd offers to her. Volcana meanwhile seems to find a bond with the soft-spoken and uncertain Molecule Man, who opens up to her about what his therapist might think about him using his powers to help Doctor Doom. Meanwhile, Thor has returned inside the heroes base and come down to the prisoner hold. Passing the stasis units containing the members of the Wrecking Crew and Kang, he stops at the medi-chamber containing the Enchantress who was injured in the battle. He frees her to discuss things that are "not meant" for mortal ears. She agrees and opens a portal to take them elsewhere to discuss matters. Soon it is dawn and the heroes realize that they have overslept leaving them open for attack. No sooner is this realized do the forces of Doctor Doom launch their attack. With the added numbers of Titania and Volcana, the villains manage to not only gain the element of surprise but the upper hand as well. Caught off guard, the heroes are forced to retreat, allowing Doom and his minions to rescue their captive allies. Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: Well, one of the biggest loads of BS in this mini series happens in this issue, but I'll get to that in the negative section. I'll talk about the Good Things first, as always. We do get to see some nice character development between both the heroes and the villains, and we get two new villains created by Dr. Doom to help make for the loss of Galactus and the bag guys captured in the last issue, although, as we'll find, his next order of business is to stage another surprise attack while the heroes have been lulled into a false sense of security, and rescue their captured comrades at the very least. Part of the patchwork planet the Beyonder has created contains, for some reason, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, and Doom recuits two women to be given experimental powers, which ends up making one into a super strong woman named Titania, and the other, the power to turn into a lava-like form, and blast things with that lava power, who re-names herself Volcana (who quickly takes a liking to another villain.....you guessed it, The Molecule Man). Meanwhile, on the Good Guy side of things, we get some character development between the heroes, as they continue to adjust to this "New Normal," which leads to Spider-Man eavesdropping on the X-Men, who look to split from the heroes and join up with Magneto (which is kind of strange in the first place, but I'll once again get to all that in the negative section). Speaking of Mags, he winds up freeing the Wasp, and basically macking on her to try and win her to his side. He also turns down Doom's offer to join his side, basically stating that he'd rather stay on his own side, which does kind of go with his character, especially at the time. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Really it's just one thing, but it's a frickin' doozy. Hell, it's what's on the cover of the book itself. Now, don't get me wrong....I love Spider-Man. He's actually my favorite character, but let's be real here. In this issue, we basically get Spider-Man observing the X-Men planning to split, and he jumps down, stating that he's going to rat them out. What happens next is the most petty bullshit I've ever seen....well, it would be certainly be in the Top 5 of shittiest things ever done by a comic writer to piss on another one, or the work he's done with certain characters. Spider-Man basically whoops off on the X-Men.....yes, ALL OF THEM, save for Xaiver, who erases the memory of what just happened before Spidey can reach anyone to squeal. He bitchslaps Wolverine (which is kind of funny, as Spidey should have broken his hand doing that, due to Wolvie's Adamantium Skeleton), and just kind of clowns all the other members of the team.....yes, that's right, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Colossus just weren't good enough to take down Spider-Man. Now, once again, this isn't to diss on Spider-Man.....he's a tough guy, and one on one, I could see him potentially scoring a win on some of the X-Men, but f**king ALL OF THEM?!? Bullshit. All I can think is that Jim Shooter had some sort of grudge against Chris Claremont, and decided to make the team he kind of Owned, creatively, at that point, look like the biggest bitches he could, and he isn't done yet.....in the next issue, they get their asses kicked again, and by somebody that Spider-Man could whoop off of (Nothing against the character, but it's true). Even 8 year old me thought this was BS, and 40 year old me sees this whole deal for what it is, a Editor in Chief deciding to use his power to say "F**k Yo Couch!!!" (Sorry, this was the only pic I could find from this issue) Grade: C+ (Good issue otherwise, but that whole deal was pure Bull Shit, and sinks the grade)
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 18, 2017 22:04:11 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #4 "Situation: Hopeless"Cover Date: August, 1984 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Bob Layton Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto & Galactus Villains: Dr. Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Kang, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer), Titania & Volcana Official Plot:The forces of Doctor Doom have forced the gathered heroes to flee and destroyed their headquarters, a victory for Doom and his minions in Beyonder's on going Secret War. Spotting their foes fleeing the scene, Titania and the Wrecking Crew begin tossing debris at the heroes. Goaded on by Volcana, the Molecule Man one ups them all by using his powers to raise a mountain from nearby and dropping it on their enemies, seemingly killing them all in one fell swoop. While the others cheer, Doctor Doom is not entirely convinced that was the end of their foes. Elsewhere on Battleworld, Thor and the Enchantress are still having their private council about the Beyonder. Recalling the Beyonder's offer to grant them their fondest desires if they slay their enemies, Thor asks what the Enchantress could want. When she specifies Thor's love, he tells her that love is not an object that can just be taken. Their discussion is suddenly interrupted by a massive earthquake. They quickly teleport back to the heroes base to see what is going on and appear in the middle of Doctor Doom's army. When Doom demands the Enchantress choose a side, she hesitantly sides with Doom and the others attack Thor. While the villains keep Thor on the ropes, Doom commands Ultron to use his disintigrator ray to destroy Thor. Ultron seemingly succeeds in atomizing Thor, leaving nothing by his helmet and a scrap of his cape behind. After this second seeming victory, Doom recounts that the X-Men were not among the heroes and that their work is not yet done. However he pauses to deal with some more pressing business first. Recalling how Kang tried to kill him when they first arrived on Battleworld, Doctor Doom orders Ultron to kill Kang. The time traveler tries to beg for his life, but it is of no avail and Ultron slays him. Elsewhere, the X-Men are flying across Battleworld, seeking out Magneto. En route, Colossus takes the time to think about his girlfriend back home, the youthful X-Man known as Sprite and wonders if he will ever see her again. Rogue is also deep in thought, thinking of how not too long ago she would have been on Doom's side of the Secret War. As the X-Men prepare for whatever their encounter with Magneto will bring, the Master of Magnetism is using his powers to create a mental comb for his guest the Wasp to comb her hair with. Suddenly the pair are interrupted by the arrival of the X-Men. Xavier asks Magneto to join him, telling him of the good they can do if they operate as a third force outside of Captain America's group. Magneto agrees, suggesting that they use the Beyonder's offer to create a golden age where mutants rule over humans. Hearing this, the Wasp drops her pretense in being interested in Magneto and attacks. She then manages to slip past the X-Men and get to their ship, but finds it incredibly difficult to control. When Magneto tries to stop her from escaping with his powers, Xavier stops him, recounting how he made a grave error erasing Spider-Man's memories earlier and that they should not interfere with the others, that using evil means does not justify their good intentions. Meanwhile, buried under tons of rock are the heroes, who have survived thanks to the Hulk holding up the rock with his strength. However with a number of them injured and a limited supply of air, time is running out before they either suffocate or get crushed to death. Quick thinking Mister Fantastic cannibalizes some of Hawkeye's trick arrows, Iron Man's spare power pack and one of Spider-Man's web-shooters into a device that allows the Human Torch and Captain Marvel to channel their powers through Iron Man's armor. The device works and boosts Iron Man's armor significantly to blast their way free from the mountain. Upon getting free, the heroes find Thor alive and well, and he explains he escaped a certain death by temporarily blinding their foes and making a hasty retreat. Needing medical attention for some of their allies, Captain America sends Captain Marvel off on a recon mission to find someplace for them to go. Marvel finds a village at the base of the mountain where Galactus is standing. Soon the other heroes arrive and the locals prove friendly and immediately take in the wounded champions. They quickly discover that one of these aliens, Zsaji, can heal with a touch. When she heals the Human Torch he is instantly attracted to her. Later Ben Grimm goes to Reed to express his concerns about being so close to Galactus when suddenly he transforms into the Thing again. When Ben asks why this is happening, Reed hesitantly tells him that he'll think about it, however he knows more than he is letting on. Reed then turns his attentions to Galactus and is horrified when he sees the world devourer raising his hands to the sky. Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: And we go from one of the shittiest issues of the series (well, at least with one of the main things that happens) to one of the best (although, there is another thing that happens that pisses me off), and it was depicting the heroes (Minus the X-Men, who split last issue to join up with Magneto, the Wasp, who was kidnapped by Magneto, and Thor, who was off in some sort of Asgardian Limbo chatting with The Enchantress) at one of their lowest points, as Doom and the Bad Guys (Minus Galactus and a few of the other villains who were captured in #2) catch them with their pants down (figuratively) and mess them and their base up to the point that they start this issue on the run. A few of the villains decide to try and finish them off, so, they end up tossing chunks of their destroyed base at them, and then Molecule Man (Of Course) tries to impress Volcana by dropping AN ENTIRE MOUNTAIN on them. The villains (Other than Doom) celebrate their deaths, and then Doom decides to get his receipt on Kang by having Ultron kill him (Poor Kang, he wouldn't have his moment in the sun again until Kurt Busick's late 90's mini series, AVENGERS FOREVER, which builds Kang up to the point where one could almost root for him). Thor then reappears, only to find himself surrounded by enemies, and while he tries to fight them off, the numbers overwhelm him, and he has to fake his death to escape. Meanwhile, inside the mountain, and this is really the best part of the issue, the conscious heroes try to work out a way out of their mountain "grave," and we get to see how Mr. Fantastic earned his name, as he winds up using Spider-Man's web shooters and Captain Marvel's energy powers to funnel through Iron Man's repulser blasters in order to blow a hole through the mountain before The Hulk loses his grip on it (as he alone, as the cover states, is holding it up). This was really a kick ass scene, and shows the heroes at their lowest point. Of course, they escape, and they eventually find a village of aliens (one of which is a healer named Zsaji, who becomes kind of important to certain subplots as we go along). On the X-Men side of things, the mutant team joins up with Magneto, and decide to act as a independent force against the villains, which....is kind of stupid, but that leads to my Negative section, so..... THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: The X-Men get made to look like total chumps once again, this time at the hands of The Wasp, who plays like she's down with Magneto's plan to finish off the villains, and then use the Beyonder's reward to end mutant persecution on Earth (which the X-Men are AOK with, despite the fact that Xaiver/Phoenix could have really done that themselves, but had always considered it beyond the pale to use their powers on a mass scale like that). Waspie then swerves the mutants, calls Magneto a psycho, and blasts her way out of Maggie's HQ, making the X-Men look like bitches once again in the process. One just kind of wonders what's next for the mutant team.....do we bring Rick Jones in and have him whoop off on them? Once again, Jim Shooter showing his pettiness by making the X-Men look like the bottom rung team he always saw them as. Now, he would kind of rebuild them somewhat over the next few issues, but after seeing them get their asses handed to them by first Spider-Man, and then The Friggin' Wasp (Which, I'm not slamming her because she's a woman, as there are definitely female heroes that could have done a better job against the X-Men, but....c'mon.....The Wasp? Really??? ), it really just makes the X-Men look like chump asses. Luckily, once the heroes got back from SECRET WARS, Claremont would move ahead like none of this ever happened, and we should all just do the same. GRADE: B+ (Even though the whole Wasp kicking off on the X-Men thing makes me want to drop it a bit, the good does outweigh the bad here)
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 19, 2017 0:47:21 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #5 "The Battle of the Four Armies"Cover Date: September, 1984 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Bob Layton Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto & Galactus Villains: Dr. Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Kang, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer), Titania & Volcana Official Plot:Mister Fantastic's worse fears have been realized: trapped on Battleworld by the Beyonder, Galactus has summoned his worldship so that he can consume this patchwork world and sate his hunger. Although this is awesome sight, the assembled heroes try to figure out what to do next. The healer named Zsaji is in a panic, so the Human Torch tries to calm her down, however there is a language barrier between the two of them. In order to break past them, Zsaji takes Johnny to her home where she opens a bottle containing a strange gas that allows them to meld minds so Johnny can tell her what's going on. He recounts how they were gathered by the Beyonder to battle to the death and obtain their heart's desire, leading to a clash with super-villains being led by Doctor Doom, this resulted in the injuries the heroes sustained before seeking Zsaji's help. Elsewhere, the X-Man known as Colossus tries to sleep but cannot help but think about his girlfriend Kitty Pryde whom he left at home. His thoughts about her are quickly cut off by the telepathic summons of Professor X. Colossus joins the rest of the X-Men in meeting with Xavier and Magneto. With the threat of Galactus becoming apparent, Magneto orders the X-Men to attack him in order to distract the world devourer long enough for Magneto and Xavier to take a more subtle attack. When Wolverine balks at taking orders from Magneto, the Professor tells his team to follow Magneto's orders. Meanwhile, the Molecule Man and Volcano are bonding and growing closer together. As they walk past the Wrecking Crew and the Absorbing Man, Pile Driver decides to pick on the Molecule Man. When none of his friends back him up in bullying the Molecule Man, Pile Driver learns why that it is not a good idea to make him angry: Owen Reece channels his powers to change Pile Driver's costume into into an ultra hard metal causing him to fall over. Adding insult to injury, Pile Driver has his face pushed into the mud by Volcana and they leave him to be ripped out of his costume by the others. As the others just begin to notice Galactus' worldship hovering over Battleworld, Doctor Doom has long since been aware of its arrival and is busy working on a plan to use this to his advantage. His work is interrupted by the Enchantress who tries to seduce Doom by offering to repair the damage done to his face. Doom resists her offers and tells her to begone. Frustrated by being rejected by a mere mortal, the Enchantress teleports away. As Magneto and Xavier channel their powers together to try and establish telepathic contact with Galactus, the heroes gathered at the base of his mountain decide what to do next. Mister Fantastic figures he can try to reach out to Galactus as he had recently saved the world devourer's life. However neither ploy works, and Galactus rebuffs telepathic contact and causes a section of Magneto's base to explode while also blasting Reed aside. Seeing the heroes as pests, Galactus unleashes a robot to keep them busy while he begins forming the device he needs to consume Battleworld. Although the heroes manage to destroy the robot set upon them, they are suddenly attacked by Doctor Doom's villains. While the battle rages, Doom watches from a distance. When it appears that his minions are going to succeed, the heroes are saved thank to the timely intervention of the X-Men. The sheer force of the battle is enough to temporarily distract Galactus from his work and while the world devourer's head is turned, Doctor Doom quickly pilots his ship in to the Worldship of Galactus. Doom's minions are forced to flee, but not before seriously wounding Colossus. With the battle over the X-Men pull back but are forced to leave their comrade behind. Although Wolverine protests this, Xavier points out that Colossus' injuries were serious enough that to move him would have killed him and that the heroes have a healer on their side who can save his life. In the aftermath of the battle, the heroes find Colossus and see that he needs medical attention. When they get Zsaji to heal him, Colossus is taken by how beautiful she is and grows instantly jealous that she happens to be interested in the Human Torch. Colossus then pretends to be in even more pain in order to get more of her healing touch. Meanwhile, as Mister Fantastic and Captain America fear the worst about Galactus, they are unaware that Doctor Doom has gained access to his ship. From within, Doom hopes to find the tools he needs to defeat both Galactus and then the Beyonder. Suddenly his attention is drawn toward something of great interest on one of the walls of the ship. Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: Honestly, this is pretty solid issue, as we get the various heroes trying to stop Galactus from eating Battleworld. The X-Men also get a bit of redemption after getting their asses handed to them the last few issues, although, there is a bit of conflict within the team, as Professor X basically pulls rank over them, and tells them to listen to Magneto, which doesn't sit well at all with the team, but kind of sets up what will soon happen in the X-Men's actual book, as they come to rely on Magneto for a brief time as an ally. We also get some bonding between The Molecule Man (Told ya. Shooter loves the guy) and Volcana, as Owen winds up standing up to Pile Driver from the Wrecking Crew, and makes him look like a chump in front of the other villains (which isn't too hard, as it is the Wrecking Crew.....I mean, Spider-Man pretty much has done that on his own). As previously stated, we get quite a bit of the other heroes trying to defeat Galactus' various protector robots, and then being jumped on by Doom's forces. However, the X-Men roll in and act as the calvary, sending Doom's forces running (although wounding Colossus, who they are forced to leave behind....we'll get back to that in a second), however, the whole thing was meant as a distraction for Doom, as the heroes (and Galactus) are paying attention to the main battle, Doom makes his play to try to gain power from Galactus in order to take on The Beyonder. Oh, and Johnny Storm, and then Colossus, try to mack on Alien Healer Hottie, Zsaji, with Johnny being corny as shit, while Colossus kind of tosses Kitty Pryde aside like a used piece of toilet paper (The Dick!!!) in order to try to get Zsaji's attention. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Not really anything serious. I mean, it's the same one dimensional writing with a few attempts at complexity that Shooter has done throughout, so, it's hard to really criticize it. Shooter doesn't really do anything to embarrass any of the characters in this one (well, save for Pile Driver, but f**k him), and really advances quite a few stories here. I mean, I guess you could say Colossus kind of being a cock, and tossing away his "love" for Kitty like a used rubber, but as I said in the last X-MEN review, I think something like that had to happen, as I'm sure there were quite a few nervous parents that probably wrote into Marvel over the whole Adult/Teenager romantic relationship, as it did kind of border on the creepy at times. So, it's not that far out of character to have Colossus kind of fall for Zsaji, and the same with the Torch (who later kind of tosses Zsaji aside, much like Colossus tossed Kitty aside, but, then again, that's always kind of been Johnny Storm, at least until he was made to kind of "Grow Up"). But, yeah.....nothing much to bitch about here. This was a decent issue. GRADE: B+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 19, 2017 2:46:23 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #6"A Little Death....." Cover Date: October, 1984 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Mike Zech Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto & Galactus Villains: Dr. Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Klaw, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer), Titania & Volcana Official Plot:After trying to escape the X-Men, the Wasp finds herself trying to get her escape ship under control. Unable to figure out the strange controls, the Wasp ends up crashing the ship. Unsure of where to go, she finds a holographic projector that shows her a nearby dome and she decides to shrink down to wasp size to try and locate it. On her way out, she turns and uses one of her bio-stings to destroy the ship. Flying into a nearby swamp she fights off some aggressive insects and finds the dome that the ship showed her earlier. Returning to human size the Wasp figures out what to do next when she is suddenly attacked by the Lizard. Meanwhile, aboard the Worldship of Galactus, Doctor Doom uses a device there to draw a strange energy he detected within the walls of the ship. To his surprise this energy reforms into Klaw, the so-called master of sound. Much to Doom's dismay, Klaw's mind has been affected by the ordeal, but Doom learns that Klaw got trapped during a battle with Dazzler. The mutant used her powers to convert his sound form into light energy that she then absorbed into her body. Later when she was abducted by Galactus, she used that energy to try and attack him, but the energy did nothing and Klaw's form became trapped in the wall. Finding Klaw of no use to him, Doom then continues to find something that will help him stop Galactus and then the Beyonder. Finding a control monitor, Doom views the events on Battleworld. He sees the gathered heroes regrouping after their battle with his minions who have now fled back to Doombase while Galactus himself continues to prepare the device that will help him consume Battleworld. Doom quickly formulates a plan to spoil Galactus' plan and uses a teleporter to send Klaw down to the planet to deliver a message to his minions. When Klaw materializes in Doombase, he recites a code word that convinces Ultron that he was sent by their mutual master, prompting the gathered villains to listen to what Klaw has to say. Back in the swamp, the Wasp realizes that the Lizard has attacked her out of fear due to the fact that he has been injured. Convincing the Lizard that she means no harm, the Wasp manages to get close enough to him to treat his wound. While back at Magneto's base, the X-Men have returned to salvage what they can after it was blasted by Galactus. Feeling weak, Xavier decides to take a moment to rest. He then reaches out with his mind telepathically to see what the villains are up to. Before the Enchantress detects his presence and uses her magics to block him out, Xavier learns how the villains are planning to cause a volcanic eruption on the other side of the planet and summons his X-Men to venture out and stop them. When he puts Cyclops in charge this angers Storm as she is leader of the X-Men. But when she confronts Charles with this, he warns her that if she refuses to follow his orders he will not be against using his mental powers to force her to follow his bidding. Storm concedes but still believes that he is leading the X-Men into defeat. Meanwhile at the heroes camp in the alien village, Colossus continues to recover from the injuries he incurred in the last battle. He finds himself torn between his feelings for his girlfriend Kitty Pryde back home and these new feelings he has for Zsaji the alien healer who saved his life. When she comes to heal him again he tries to open up his feelings for her, but the language barrier prevents her from doing so. When she goes to depart, she is picked up by the Human Torch who does some areal tricks with her before kissing her and taking her away, making Colossus grow even more jealous. Elsewhere Captain America is planning strategies with Mister Fantastic, the Hulk, the Thing and She-Hulk. When She-Hulk demands that they go looking for the Wasp, who is still missing, Cap assures her that Captain Marvel is searching for them. All this talk begins to get on the Hulk's nerves who demands that they go out and smash their enemies. Not far away, Hawkeye is preparing some traditional arrows after the last of his trick arrows were used to boost Iron Man's armor. Iron Man meanwhile tries to his on Captain Marvel who is uninterested and confused -- unaware that the man inside the armor is not the Iron Man she has previously known. For himself, James Rhodes wonders what has come over him and complains about his head hurting, which has been happening a lot recently since he took over the mantle of Iron Man. At that moment the X-Men attack the villains at the volcano in an attempt to foil their plans. During the ensuing battle, Wolverine manages to get close enough to the Molecule Man to slash him across the chest with his Adamantium claws, although Cyclops blasts Wolverine's arm to prevent him from striking a fatal blow. Although the villains retreat with their injured comrade, the X-Men were too late to stop them from their appointed task and are forced to flee themselves when the volcanoes begin to erupt. While back at the swamp the Wasp finishes binding the Lizard's wounds when she is suddenly shot through the chest with a laser beam fired by a massive vehicle piloted by the Wrecking Crew. When the Lizard tries to attack them, they immobilize the creature wit a stasis beam and take the two prisoner even though they believe the Wasp is dead. Back at the heroes camp, things appear even more grim when they see that Galactus is almost completed his planet devouring device. As they contemplate what to do next they are unaware that a shadowy figure is observing their movements. Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: We kind of have a character/subplot issue in this one, and the return of a classic Marvel villain (well, semi-classic), but one who obvious must have made an impact, as he exists in the MCU (AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON). This would be the master of sound, Klaw, who is an unexpected side effect of Dr. Doom harnessing energy from Galactus (as we get the reason for this explained: In short, Klaw fought Dazzler, who absorbed him within herself, and then later blasted Galactus with a sound/light blast that ended up being Klaw, which Galactus absorbed into himself until now), but Klaw has been driven insane from the experience. However, Doom puts him to work as a lackey (well, let's face it.....other than Galactus, 99% of the other villains are now pretty much nothing more than lackeys to Doom, even though they might not think of themselves as such. Speaking of villains, we also get The Lizard (who had broke off from Doom's group at some point), who comes across The Wasp (who is trying to make her way back to the Heroes), and after a tense moment, she kind of takes pity on him (as The Lizard, for some reason, is written as a simple minded creature, but we'll get to that in the Negative Part), and helps him with some injuries. However, this meeting is cut short, as the Villains come across them, and apparently kills the Wasp. (Of course, it's amazing that the villains were able to get the drop on her like that, as this is the character that whooped off on all of the X-Men a couple of issues ago ) We also get some storyline development from the Heroes side of the fence as well, as the whole Zsaji/Human Torch/Colossus love triangle continues, but it looks like the current advantage is on Team Torch, as she definitely seemed more into Johnny Storm than poor dumb Pitor (Serves you right, F**ker!) We also get the X-Men fighting a small team of the villains, led by The Molecule Man, who Wolverine slices open, causing the villains to retreat in panic (as the other Bad Guys realize that MM is very important to Doom, and worry what he will do once he knows one of his hidden weapons has been severely wounded). Finally, we get a bit of storyline development between Good Guy characters that will kind of play out in their own respective books. With the X-Men, it's Storm being upset with Xaiver pulling rank on her, and her confronting him about it. We get a bit of follow up with this in the normal X-MEN book before things take an interesting turn for Storm. We get a little more deterioration of the Hulk's intellect, which obviously play out in his own book. We finally get a bit of development with Iron Man, as we find out that James Rhodes (who has taken over the Iron Man armor for Tony Stark, who is lying in a gutter in a drunken haze at about this point) is starting to suffer from head aches from wearing the Iron Man armor. This would, once again, play out in the IRON MAN book, as eventually a now sober Tony would be forced to don a new suit of armor to take on Rhodes, who was slowly being driven insane from the armor, which had been calibrated to Tony's mental waves. We get hints of this here. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Not much, but I just wonder where Shooter's idea of how to write The Lizard came from, as I always saw him as being more the evil side of Curt Conners, rather than a simple Hulk-like creature. Maybe he had been that way around the time this was written, and Shooter was just going off of that, but it just seems weird to see The Lizard portrayed as such a simple creature. The same with Klaw being a goofy being, repeating his words like a record that is stuck in a particular groove, but at least that could be explained by his being driven crazy by the whole Dazzler/Galactus thing. The Lizard thing struck me strange, though. GRADE: B
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 19, 2017 22:48:50 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #7"Berserker!" Cover Date: November, 1984 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Mike Zech Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto & Galactus Villains: Dr. Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Klaw, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer), Titania & Volcana Official Plot:The heroes gathered on Battleworld by the Beyonder have discovered someone spying on them at their camp. When the Torch corners her, the mystery woman introduces herself as Spider-Woman. When the other heroes question how another human they haven't previously met could be on Battleworld, Mister Fantastic theorizes that since the Beyonder constructed Battleworld from planetary fragments a portion of Earth must have been used as well. Spider-Woman confirms this by explaining that the entire city of Denver has been brought to Battleworld. When she explains that she has come to help, she shows that she is more than capable by demonstrating her enhanced strength. The other heroes decide to trust her considering the fact that Dr. Doom has too much raw power to need to plant a spy among them. Suddenly they are attacked by a giant vehicle. When the Wrecker pops out of the port hole he tosses out the seemingly deceased body of the Wasp before the villains take off. Some of the heroes try to chase after them but the vehicle is too fast. Quickly, She-Hulk picks up the Wasp's body and hands it over to their healer, the alien woman known as Zsaji, who tries to use her powers to revive the Wasp but to no avail. The Avengers are furious at the death of their comrade and are ready to rush off and get revenge when Captain America stops them and reminds them of the threat of Galactus who is still preparing to consume Battleworld. Convincing the other to stay their hand, they begin to plan their next course of action, all save for She-Hulk who storms off on her own. Elsewhere, the X-Men retreat from the active volcanic region, and although they failed to stop a group of villains Xavier is impressed that they were able to send Titania, Molecule Man, Absorbing Man, and Doctor Octopus packing. However instead of returning to base, Xavier tells them to follow after their foes while he, Magneto, Storm and Nightcrawler rendezvous with them. Meanwhile, aboard the villains craft, they cares for the Molecule Man who was seriously wounded by Wolverine's claws. Seeing Owen's condition from the monitors at Doombase, Volcana rushes to the Enchantress and asks the Asgardian sorceress to teleport her to Owen's side. When Volcana tells Amora that she is willing to do anything, the Enchantress teleports her away, satisfied by this offer. Volcana appears within the ship just as the two containing the X-Men and Magneto attack. During the course of the ensuing battle, Wolverine manages to chop off the Absorbing Man's arm while he is in the form of stone, but is burned badly by Volcana. Outnumbered and outgunned, Volcana calls a strategic withdrawal and uses her powers to cover their escape. At that moment aboard Galactus' ship, Doctor Doom continues to search for something that will allow him to defeat Galactus and the Beyonder. However, his plan to create a distraction by creating volcanic eruptions on the other side of Battleworld has backfired and has succeeded only in alerting Galactus to Doom's presence. Locating the intruder, Galactus uses his power to violently eject Doom from his ship. Back at Doombase, Doctor Octopus and his crew return and Volcana begs the Enchantress to save the Molecule Man's life. At first Amora refuses, but Titania warns her that if Owen Reece dies she will rip out his throat. Elsewhere the Absorbing Man wonders what to do about his severed arm. By holding it in place where it was cut, he risks changing back to human form and is surprised when his gambit pays off and his arm reattaches itself. While down below in the dungeon the members of the Wrecking Crew lock the Lizard in a cell since he cannot be controlled after they seemingly killed the Wasp. Leaving the Lizard to rot, the Wrecking Crew are unaware that Klaw has been secretly watching the entire situation unfold. When Bulldozer retires to his room he notices that the wall has been ripped open from inside. Suddenly he is ambushed by She-Hulk who begins to pummel on him for his part in the Wasp's death. Hearing the commotion, Titania enters the room and sees that the She-Hulk has defeated every member of the Wrecking Crew in a fight. She gets the jump on She-Hulk just as Doctor Octopus and Absorbing Man enter the fray. In yet another part of Doombase, the Enchantress laments over her current situation and pines for the love of Thor. Her thoughts are distracted by the return of Doctor Doom who has just barely survived being ejected from the Worldship of Galactus. He stumbles into his room and passes out, proclaiming that the battle is over. As the other villains are pummeling She-Hulk, the other heroes have discovered that she is missing. When Hulk and Hawkeye tell this to Cap and try to get him to mobilize a searching party, Captain America denies their request. When Cap sees that others want to go out and rescue her, he reminds them all that the stakes are too high to make decisions of the heart. Elsewhere in the village, Colossus is finally up and about after recovering from his injuries. He goes looking for Zsaji and finds her as she is leaving her hut. When she suddenly collapses he is there to catch her. Suddenly, Captain America is contacted by Professor X who tells him that he and his team can go after She-Hulk while the X-Men take their place watching over Galactus. With this bit of news, Captain America orders everyone to get ready to move out. Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: We get fall out and lead up to the next battle, which is caused by the Bad Guys being stupid enough to gloat about killing The Wasp last issue. The fall out comes from the mini battle last issue, where some of the X-Men battled some of Doom's men, and Wolverine critically wounded The Molecule Man. This causes a panicked Volcana to make a deal with The Enchantress to heal him, which she finally agrees to, for a price that will be named later. Meanwhile, the X-Men are hot on their tails, which leads to another battle, and Wolverine slices off The Absorbing Man's arm this time (which he is able to re-attached, but not without some pain). Meanwhile, Doom is focused on getting Galactus' (who is still busy building his world eating machine above where the heroes are stationed) power in order to take on and defeat The Beyonder, and get his power. He tries to invade Galactus' ship, but Galactus pretty much tosses him out of there faster than a homeless person would get tossed out of a fancy hotel, which leaves Doom a wreck. On the other end of things, once the body of The Wasp is tossed at their feet, most of the heroes want nothing more than to go mess up the people who did this to her. They try to get Zsaji (the alien healer that both The Human Torch and Colossus has feelings for) to heal her, but she is unable to do so at the time. Enraged, The Hulk and others state their case for attacking Doom's fortress, but Captain America denies this, as he reasons that Galactus is the bigger threat. Little do they know that She Hulk, unwilling to wait, sneaks away, and mounts her own revenge mission on the villains, and ends up f**king some of them up before the numbers game gets to her. Back at the Hero's base, Professor Xaiver telepathically contacts Cap, and states that the X-Men will take over the Galactus watch if it'll help things, which is all Cap needs to hear to rally the troops for an all out attack (this will happen next issue). The final important thing to note this issue as we are introduced to a new Spider-Woman, who, while I've always dug the original Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), this one turns out to be a pretty good substitute, and it's cool to note that her costume resembles the black and white design that Spider-Man would take on in the next issue. Spider-Woman II would actually hold this title for a good decade, before a new SW would emerge, and Jessica Drew would eventually get her powers back as well. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Really not much here.....I think we're out of the truly shitty stuff at this point. Thank God. GRADE: B
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 20, 2017 1:02:39 GMT -5
Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #8"Invasion!"Cover Date: December, 1984 Writer: Jim Shooter Artist: Mike Zech Heroes: (The X-Men) Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, & Rogue (Charles Xaiver & Lockheed), (The Fantastic Four) Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, & The Thing (The Avengers) Captain America, Thor, Iron Man II, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II, The Wasp, & She Hulk----Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, & The Hulk Neutral: Magneto & Galactus Villains: Dr. Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Enchantress, Klaw, The Lizard, Ultron, Absorbing Man, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, & Bulldozer), Titania & Volcana Official Plot:With She-Hulk in danger at Doombase, the heroes gathered on Battleworld rush to her aid. Their attack attract the attention of the Enchantress who has been drinking since she thought Thor was slain by Doom's minions, but sees that he is actually alive and well, however she is too drunk to join the fight. Also hearing the commotion is Volcana who is still caring for the Molecule Man after he was seriously wounded by Wolverine in an earlier battle, she refuses to leave his side. While down below in the dungeon the deranged Klaw frees the Lizard from his cell. Elsewhere still, the rest of the villains are still pounding on the She-Hulk when they hear the attack and rush off to stop it. Before leaving, Doctor Octopus lands one more blow in the hopes of killing She-Hulk. While in his quarters, Doctor Doom continues to try and recover after being expelled from the Worldship of Galactus as his bodyguard Ultron guards from the door. The heroes are ambushed by the villains and during the fight Iron Man's armor is damaged by the Wrecker. The Thing tries to tackle the Absorbing Man but suddenly reverts back to human form, forcing Spider-Woman to come to his aid. While Thor ties up Doctor Octopus, Pile Driver tries to square off against Hawkeye, but cowers away when the bowman manages to strike him with an arrow. The Hulk comes crashing in on the Enchantress but is knocked out by her enchanted charms. When she tries the same thing on Captain America, he resists her long enough to knock her out with his shield. While Spider-Man squares off against Titania, Hawkeye and Ben Grimm run into Klaw and the Lizard and are concerned that they are outmatched. Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, Thor and Spider-Woman later locate Volcana and Molecule Man and try to attack. Molecule Man responds by erecting an indestructible screen around them, but Captain Marvel manages to pass through in her light form, but the heroes cease their hostilities when they find out that Owen has been seriously injured. While not far away, Spider-Man manages to get the best of Titania, delivering her a humiliating defeat and knocking her out of the fortress. Meanwhile, Captain America and the Human Torch are squaring off against Ultron. Ultimately the Torch defeats the robot by unleashing his nova flame, overheating his circuits and rendering the killer robot inert. Captain America then storms into Doom's quarters and seeing the state that Doctor Doom is in, considers Doom no longer a threat and leaves. With the battle over, Mister Fantastic and the others find Hawkeye and Ben Grimm playing patty-cake, thanks to the limited intellect of their foes. Soon She-Hulk is recovered and she is placed in the medical bay along with the defeated members of the Wrecking Crew, while the rest of the villains are contained in the dungeon below. While back in the alien village, Colossus rushes the unconscious Zsaji to her room. There he finds the bottle of mind melding gas and uses it to learn what ills her. He discovers that the constant use of her powers to heal the various heroes have taxed her system and threaten to kill her. Colossus then professes his love to Zsaji. Elsewhere, Hawkeye and Captain Marvel return to discover that Zsaji pushed her powers to the limit so she could revive the Wasp. While from their look out, the members of the X-Men notice that Galactus is getting dangerously close to completing his world devouring device. Back at Doombase, Iron Man is impressed that Mister Fantastic seems unsurprised that an African-American is wearing the Iron Man armor. While elsewhere Spider-Man notices that Thor got a new helmet and cap. When Hulk tells Spider-Man that there is a device that creates costumes by thought, he goes to check it out for himself since his own uniform is in tatters. Finding what he believes to be the machine the Hulk was talking about, Spider-Man thinks into it and a strange black ball comes out and lands in his hand. Spider-Man is surprised when the blackness begins to spread up his arm and envelops his body in a new black and white costume. As Spider-Man begins to wonder why it doesn't look like his old costume suddenly the ground begins to quake. This is followed by a telepathic distress form Professor Xavier warning the heroes that Galactus is about to consume Battleworld. Brodie's View: THINGS I LIKED: "Amid the Chaos, There Comes a Costume!" Of course, this is the, at least as it relates to the long term, the most important (and most expensive) issue in this entire series. The funny thing is that the BIG MOMENT, the moment where Spider-Man gets his black costume, is such a small part of this issue, and it happens at almost the very end of it. Most of this issue is BATTLE, and one of the best of the series, as most of the heroes (Minus the X-Men, who stick behind to keep an eye on Galactus, who is still in the process of building his world eating machine) invade the HQ of the Bad Guys, and after a bit of a heated battle, whoop off on them, and save She Hulk (who is the process of getting her ass stomped by the villains)/get revenge for the apparent killing of The Wasp (who is actually revived by alien healer hottie, Zsaji, although, the task almost kills her). We get some cool moments, as all the heroes get their big moments kicking bad guy ass (Save for The Thing, who is about to thrash the Absorbing Man, when he changes back to Ben Grimm again. Luckily, Spider-Woman steps in and kicks Absorby's Ass for him.). Probably the best part of the battle is Hawkeye (who is out of arrows) and Ben being cornered by The Lizard and Klaw, and "defeating" the villainous duo by engaging them in a rousing game of Patty Cake, distracting them from helping their fellow villains. Finally, Captain America (With the help of The Human Torch, who goes Nova and burns out Ultron, who was watching over Doom) reaches Doctor Doom, and finds him a catatonic mess, after being smacked down once again in his quest to gain Galactus' power/Face the Beyonder. The Villains are all captured, and the heroes return home to find the Wasp alive, which makes things all good in the hood....well, other than the fact that Galactus is almost done with his World Eating machine (which he finishes at the very end of the issue). Before that happens, we see Spider-Man passing a few heroes (with new costumes) out of a room, where he is told that there is a costume making machine inside. Spidey goes in, unsure of which machine it could be. He takes a guess, as there is one with a helmet type device to read one's thoughts, so, Spidey uses the machine, and a black glob manifests on his hand, which then forms over his whole body, creating the famous Black Outfit. Of course, a bit after returning from the SECRET WARS, Spider-Man would eventually figure out that the black costume is a symbiotic creature, which is kind of feeding on him. He gets rid of the costume, which ends up possessing someone nearby, a former Daily Bugle photographer named Eddie Brock, who hated Peter Parker for getting him fired. The result was the original VENOM, who became hugely popular, and, once again, became one of the reasons this issue has become so valuable. Who would have even thought that at the time? THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Nothing....this issue was pretty damn good. Lot of action. GRADE: B+
|
|