X-Men (Vol. 2) #1

TITLE: X-Men (Vol. 2) #1

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER DATE: October 1991

COVER PRICE: $1.50

37 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

I didn't think so at the time, but looking back, this issue can plainly be seen as the downfall of my voracious interest in all things X. It would be years before I would give up on Marvel's mutants all-together, but from this point on there would be only brief snippets of genius intermingled with monthly mediocrity.

I still can recall vividly buying this issue (and all of the different covers) from my comic book store. I also remember laying all the covers out on my floor, to make one big panorama. This was when Jim Lee was king, and at this point he could do no wrong in my book.

Oddly enough, most of my memories of this book deal with my emotional reaction and ties to the issue, and not to the quality of the actual story itself. I don't really have a sense of the story, only that Magneto returns. Although, now that I think about it, this must be where Magneto's Alcolytes are introduced as well. I really didn't care for these jokers as villains or antagonists, so if this is dealing with them in detail, color me bored already.

Still, we'll give it the old college try and see how this issue holds up after close to two decades.

Rubicon

• Writer: Chris Claremont
• Co-Plotters: Chris Claremont, Jim Lee
• Penciler: Jim Lee
• Inker: Scott Williams
• Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
• Colorist: Joe Rosas
• Assistant Editor: Suzanne Gaffney
• Editor: Bob Harras
• Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

In space, a group of mutants in a hi-jacked space shuttle are desperately trying to find Mageneto's old base of operation, Asteroid M. They are just about caught by trailing military personnel, when Magneto makes his presence known.

Demanding only to be left alone, Magneto destroys their ships and is about to hurtle them all back towards Earth when one of the fleeing hijackers appeals to Magneto as a fellow mutant, as it's him they've come looking for.

Back on Earth, the fracas in space does not go unnoticed as both the Soviets and the Americans initiate their own plans to deal with Magneto once again.

The X-Men, meanwhile, are oblivious to what is going on out in space as they are in the midst of one of their ever-present training exercises. Professor Xavier has recently returned from Shi'ar space, and is back in a leadership position among his students. After being gone for so long, however, he looks to re-familiarize himself with their abilities and fighting styles.

What we get is eleven pages of the X-Men divided up into three different teams. Rogue and her group attack the mansion from outside and above, penetrating it's walls, only to fall within feet of the Professor at the mercy of Jean Gray and her psychic powers.

Wolverine and his group take a different tack and try to infiltrate the mansion from the tunnels below. Gambit falls first, as he takes the time to impress the ladies instead of delivering the killing blow. Wolverine proves that he's the real deal and manages to pop his claws mere inches from Professor X's nose...game over.

After the battle has ended, Wolverine and Cyclops have their usual pissing match that typified much of their relationship in this era.

It's not long, however, before they are summoned by Nick Fury and briefed on the recent happenings on Asteroid M. With the Russians and the Americans both on edge, Fury thinks it's best that the X-Men are notified. Cyclops agrees, while Wolverine thinks a man should be allowed to make a mistake first, before you condemn him.

Again with the disagreement...why don't you two get a room already.

Back on Asteroid M, Magneto has saved both the mutant hijackers and the American military that were chasing them, trying to stay neutral in their struggle. All he has done, however, is bring their conflict to his doorstep as one of the mutants is gunned down at his feet.

Using his magnetic powers, he forces the soldier's gun to point itself back at it's bearer and fire. Prodded and goaded on by Fabian Cortez, another of the mutant hijackers, he is once again brought into the struggle for mutant equality. These mutants, who have pledged themselves to his cause, will be his Acolytes.

Realizing that the Americans are unlikely to let this death go by unanswered, he decides to act pre-emptively in his own self defense. Returning to the scene of one of his own greatest tragedies, he raises a Soviet submarine that he was responsible for sinking earlier. He's not here to reminisce, however, as he uses his magnetic powers to salvage the remaining nuclear missiles that are still lodged within.

Unfortunately for him, the X-Men are here to talk him out of it. Its a pitched battle, but Magneto is able to withstand their assault long enough to gather his nuclear missiles and make good his escape.

Rogue is not willing to let Magneto go without hearing a piece of her mind, however, as she tries to draw on their recent time together to reason with him.

During her speech, the two of them have inadvertently flown over Russian airspace and the Russians have decided to take this chance to get their revenge on Magneto for the sinking of their submarine. Their fighter jets open fire, with Rogue caught in the crossfire. A further enraged Magneto reacts, with the closest weapon at his disposal...a nuclear weapon!

Before the rest of the X-Men can mourn Rogue for too long, Professor X sends a psychic communication that he has found her. She has ended up in a hospital on the island nation of Genosha? Now exactly how and why this happened remains a mystery (to me, at least), but it gives the X-Men a chance to go toe to toe against Magneto's Acoyltes because they all happen to be there as well, wreaking havoc on the city streets.

It's all a bit too much, and screams plotting by committee as everyone had to get their favorite location inserted into this issue. The X-Mansion...check. Asteroid M...check. Genosha...check.

It all comes to a head, as Magneto reappears to collect his wayward acolytes and pronounce that Asteroid M shall from this day forward be a sovereign nation for all mutantkind. Any act of violence perpetrated against a mutant, shall now be answered in kind.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

I think the biggest thing we've learned with this issue, is how much the economy of comics have changed in the previous two decades. Thirty-seven pages for a buck-fifty? That's crazy.

What's even crazier, is that all thirty-seven (and a two page centerfold also) are drawn by Jim Lee! I think that pretty much matches his output for the last three years?

As much as I enjoyed looking at all thirty-seven pages of this issue, it was probably twice as long as it needed to be. I mean, I love a good danger room sequence as much as the next fanboy, but a dozen pages worth? That's a bit much.

There's also an interesting kernel of a story in here, but it just gets buried by word balloon after word balloon. Claremont has never been the most terse of writers, but I don't ever remember it being this bad. Maybe it's the fact that Jim Lee co-plots starting with this issue, and it ended up cramping his style somewhat...who knows?

I liked the idea of Magneto being out-crazied by Fabian Cortez, and seeing him essentially being used by him, but it just takes us way to long to get there and did we really need to go to Genosha too? Say what you will about Claremont's meandering, years in the making, simmering plot lines, but they've always at least seemed like Claremont's heart was in it. This time...not so much.

It's too bad that this story ended up being Claremont and Lee's swan song as a team on the X-Men, as they were really put out high-quality work up until this point. Still, it didn't hurt the X-franchise any as they would go on to dominate the market for the better part of the rest of the decade.

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) Marvel Comics

Comic Book Review: The Uncanny X-Men #285

TITLE: The Uncanny X-Men #285

PUBLISHER: Marvel

COVER DATE: February 1992

COVER PRICE: $1.25

22 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

This period of X-Men stories was really the beginning of the end of my obsession with the X-Men. I'd been reading for about 100 issues, and things had been building up to a fevered pitch over the last two years.

Jim Lee came on and took the title by storm and really rejuvenated things. Chris Claremont seemed to be refocused as well, and I was looking forward to the new titles and teams.

The actual execution, however, once everything was underway was underwhelming. After Claremont left, it didn't seem to be a cohesive universe anymore. There were too many people with too many ideas of what they wanted the X-Men to be, and not enough editorial control on what was best for the X-Men. As much flak as he gets for dangling subplots that last for years, you have to give Claremont credit that he kept that train rolling for far longer than it seems logically possible.

So Claremont was gone, with Jim Lee soon afterward, and it was a long time before any creator on the X-Men got me excited again. You can see my review here of an issue from The Age of Apocalypse storyline, which was the last gasp as far as my Marvel Zombie sensibility was concerned.

So yeah, long story short...this issue wouldn't have been on my top ten list of issues to reread, but here we are. Let's man up and see what's in store.

Down The Rabbit Hole

• Plot: Whilce Portacio & Jim Lee
• Script: John Byrne
• Pencils: Whilce Portacio
• Finishes: Art Thibert & Al Milgrom
• Lettering: Tom Orzechowski
• Coloring Joe Rosas
• Editing: Bob Harras
• Editor-In-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins with Jean Grey and Colossus arriving on a different world after going through a portal of some sort. The trip puts the whammy on Jean Grey as well as their travelling companion, the Primate, who originally hails from this world.

As they try to get their bearings, they are set upon by a group of rebels who are desperate to get the primate back. Jean is able to use her psychic blasts on one of the soldiers, but there are just too many of them and it's only a matter of time before she is overrun.

They want her alive, but Colossus is not so lucky. Against a barrage of energy blasts, he falls to the ground, reverting to his human form in the process. The rebels take one look at his human face and stop in their tracks. They recognize his face as the one from the prophecy who shall return.

Elsewhere on this world, Storm has landed alone in the middle of an arid desert. She tries to coax some water from the desert winds, but fails. Weakened and delusional, she is found by a lone nomad in the desert.

He carries her back to his dwelling and offers her food and drink. Feeling she can trust this stranger, she eats and tells the tale of how she got to this world. At the mention of the portal, the stranger grows uneasy and upset. He feels her breach of the portal that brought her from her world will result in the destruction of his!

We now cut to another location on this world where a battle rages between some native soldiers and more rebels. They are all surprised by the sudden appearance of Archangel, who soon makes short order of the rebels.

The soldiers are not the only ones surprised by the ferocity of this winged warrior, as Archangel is not aware of the actions of his wings, which acted as if they were alive. Coming out of his trance like state, he is feted as a savior by the soldiers.

Finally, we turn our attention to find the last of the X-Men to have landed on this world...Iceman and Sunfire. It seems they have landed in the middle of a local tavern. That would all be well and good, but they came through the ceiling and it appears the owner is none to happy with him.

Back to the desert, and it would appear that Storm has regained her strength, at the expense of her outfit. Dressing in more appropriate desert/end-of-the-world armageddon garb, she and her new found companion are heading back to the portal to seal it before it destroys both worlds.

Colossus and Jean Grey, meanwhile, are being led back to the rebels base to spread the word of the "saviors" return.

If I was Colossus, I think I'd be starting to get a complex about going to other dimensions. If he's not being praised as it's world savior, he is being persecuted as it's destroyer.

Back at the tavern, Iceman and Sunfire have solved their problem with a little fire and ice teamwork. How these two never ended up as roommates in a 70's sitcom is a true travesty of justice.

Out in the streets of the town, there is something else that has everyone's attention. A town crier is announcing the return of the savior...a warrior forged of steel!

Archangel has arrived at the palace of the Wordly Avatar of the Triumvirate, who leads the soldiers that he has previously saved. In return for his bravery in battle, he is bestowed the honor of Protector General of the realm.

His coronation is cut short as news of Colossus' arrival is brought to the Avatar's attention. A ceremony of honor is turned to one of duty, as she turns to Archangel to lead her troops against the rebel saviour. I smell some X on X violence coming up.

Back at the rebel camp, Jean and Colossus realize that they must find their other teammates before things get any worse. Ororo beats them to the punch, as she has snuck into the compound to track them down. As surprised as they are to see her, the are even more shocked about the identity of her companion, for it is none other than Colossus' brother!

As if all of the scene changes weren't enough, we have time for one more...this time jumping to our earth where two murdered mutants lie on the street. Trish Tilby is reporting that the murderers appear to be fellow mutants, who are also tattooed with giant M's on their faces.

It would seem that Bishop is determined to stop the his future from happening, and if that means some nasty mutants need to be exterminated, thne he will not shy from his duty.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

If you would've asked me before I started this blog what some of my least favorite X-things were, somewhere on that list would've been Colossus' family and Whilce Portacio. Neither of those two have worn well with me over the years.

With Mikhail and Ilyanna and all of their dimensional and otherworldly adventures, it just seemed to not mesh well with the down to earth personality of Colossus. It was like their situations were wasted on Colossus as a foil. How many times can you go to the "farmboy in the big city" trope? It was cool and all the first time, but enough is enough.

And as for Whilce Portacio, his style seemed new at the time, but hasn't aged well. All his characters and faces seemed to look the same, and he didn't get much of a chance to refine his take on the team as he left within a year of coming onto the title.

But after reading this issue, I may have to revise both assumptions. Mikhail was nowhere near the bore that I was anticipating. Of course, he's not really in this issue too much as it's mostly just the setting of the stage for the coming conflict between rebels, soldiers, and X-Men.

And as far as Whilce Portacio goes, maybe it's Art Thibert on inks, but his pencil work seemed a bit more varied and spontaneous than I remembered. Granted, it's still not really my thing, but I found myself enjoying more panels than I grimaced through.

So there you go, an x-title that I wasn't looking forward to ended up being mildly entertaining. That sounds suspiciously like "damning with faint praise," so I better stop while I'm ahead.

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) Marvel Comics

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Comic Book Review: The Uncanny X-Men #232

TITLE: The Uncanny X-Men #232

PUBLISHER: Marvel

COVER DATE: August 1988

COVER PRICE: $1.00

22 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

I actually don't remember a whole lot about this particular issue. The Brood have never been one of my favorite X-Villains, and I guess I just sorta let this storyline drift from my memory.

I already mentioned previously what I love about the X-Men from this period, so I'll spare you once again.

One thing I do remember vividly about Uncanny X-Men as a title, was that it was the first book where I really paid attention to the credits above and beyond writer and penciler.

Dan Green was probably the first inker that I knew by name. From the day that I started reading the X-Men he was the inker and finisher for Uncanny, and he definitely helped smooth the series over from penciler to penciler.

The other name that will probably stick in my mind until the end of time is Tom Orzechowski. His lettering defined the look of an X-Men book like no one else. So strong was his presence that it was instantly noticeable when absent. I'm not too much of a lettering aficionado, but an X-book just isn't a real X-book if it's not lettered by Orzechowski.

And with that, let's dive in and see what trouble the Marvel mutants have gotten themselves into this time.

Earthfall

• Writer: Chris Claremont
• Penciler: Marc Silvestri
• Dan Green
• Colorist: Glynis Oliver
• Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
• Editors: Ann Nocenti & Bob Harras
• Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

The first page is pretty much what every Chris Claremont book needs...a recap page to bring us up to speed, as Claremont has split the roster up into three teams.

Ororo and Logan are in upstate New York dealing with murderous WWII super heroes turned vigilantes. This here is the version of Storm that I love. The first issues of Uncanny X-Men that I started reading off the racks were from when she returned to the team with the mohawk, leather and no powers. I know people like to poke fun at the punk Storm, but I could never get into the more traditional tiara and half cape.

Wow, two paragraphs in and I'm already waxing nostalgic about the good old days. I'll try to keep it in check a little bit better for the rest of this review.

Over in Scotland, Juggernaut is being given a hard time by Longshot, Rogue, Dazzler and Psylocke. Finally, in New Mexico, we catch up with Havok and Polaris who are enjoying date night at a local fiesta.

Not far from the fiesta, a group of local twentysomething's are camping at the foothills of the Rio Diablo mountains. Unfortunately for them, their peaceful night is shattered by the sudden appearance of a meteor crashing from the heavens and landing right next to them.

Surprised that they're not dead, they rush over to investigate and find a giant shark has crash landed? Yeah, I don't remember that...nor do I really understand it, either.

But wait, it gets even more incomprehensible! The shark is still alive and it eats one of the campers.

But wait, it gets yet even more incomprehensible! The ground turns out to be littered with The Brood, who begin to attack the remaining campers. So wait...The Brood traveled through space in a giant shark!?

On a side note, it turns out they do! I googled Brood Shark and the first web site to pop up was this one. It's truly an interesting read, even more interesting is that I have absolutely no memory of these star sharks, even though the apparently date from the earliest Brood appearances.

Let's just let it slide and move on. The Brood at least look cool, so we'll give their questionable choice of space travel a break this time.

Only one camper lives through the experience, and we catch up with him a couple of days later. He's back on his job as a paramedic in Denver, and is tearing through town in his ambulance on the way to an emergency.

He comes upon the scene of a mutant who has suffered a heart attack. During his cardiac arrest, he lost control of his powers and ended up scorching his office.

Our paramedic camper approaches him alone, but just when you think he's going to help him, it turns out that he's really a Brood now and he unfurls a tentacle to infect the lawyer as well.

We now cut to a scene of one of my favorite X-Men hideouts...the old Reaver base of operations in the Australian outback.

On a mesa in the distance sits Gateway and his bull-roarer. I always liked Gateway, and the idea of the silent, enigmatic teleporter. I wonder if he's still around in any capacity these days? I confess to not being up to date on my Marvel continuity, so he could be a full fledged member of the X-Men for all I know.

But on this day, he uses his powers to teleport Madelyne Pryor back to the outback. She was off doing some shopping, and returns to find the base deserted as the X-Men are all out on mission right now. Madelyne's husband, Cyclops, has left her and the team by this point, but she has stuck around with the X-Men to help assist them.

Relaxing in the base's computer room, she turns on a monitor to find an interview with Cyclops and Jean Gray as part of the newly formed X-Factor. So here, my x-timeline is getting a little shaky. From the dialogue, this is the first time that she has seen Scott in his capacity as leader of X-Force and that his first wife is back from the dead and by his side.

This book is from 1988 and I remember that X-Factor came out in 1986. So that's 2+ years of books where the X-Men were unaware that X-Factor existed? I know that they worked in secret for a while, but this surprised me.

Back to the story, Madelyne overreacts to the images on the screen and punches the monitor. The feedback causes a mini-explosion, which renders her unconscious (and so begins the road to Goblin Queen Madelyne Pryor).

Back in Dallas, Harry Palmer, the brood infected EMT, returns to his apartment after his shift. He is unaware that the Brood is making him infect other mutants, having just a vague feeling that something is not right.

He enters his apartment to find the X-Men, now recently reassembled as a complete team, waiting for him. Thanks to their previous encounter with the Brood, Wolverine was able to track Harry from the crash site in New Mexico to Denver. The X-Men are taken by surprise as Harry summons heretofore unknown strength and takes them down singlehandedly.

The X-Men recover to find that Harry has ditched them once again. Psylocke is concerned that they are chasing an innocent man, as she detected no mental impressions of the Brood within Harry's mind. Wolverine trusts his senses more than Psylocke's mutant powers and heads off to find him once again.

Aboard a bus, hoping to get as far away from the X-Men as possible, Harry is surprised to see Rogue turn around in the seat in front of him. Wolverine has obviously found him, and brought Rogue along for some extra muscle.

Once again, his Brood powers kick in giving him extra speed and strength. Rogue, apparently not learning from the experience just two pages ago, is caught off guard by his quickness. Harry's Brood tentacle emerges again, and just as he is about to infect Rogue he is yanked from the speeding bus by Wolverine.

Trapped in a dead-end alley, Wolverine approaches him to end the Brood threat once and for all. Rogue tries to quell Wolverine's berserk rage until Psylocke can try to learn more with her telepathy. It's all for naught, however, as she is soon interrupted by the arrival of the police, who order Wolverine and Rogue to stand down.

Wolverine lunges at the cops and takes them down in two quick panels. Rogue tries to hold him back, surprised that he would murder two cops in cold blood. The rest of the X-Men catch up, and it's revealed that the cops were actually Brood.

Trapped in the same dead-end alley, the X-Men are now surrounded by a horde of Brood descending from all angles. It appears they are back in full force to turn the X-Men into Brood as well.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

My ennui towards the Brood has not lessened over the years. This was a rather dull story, compared to the high esteem with which I hold this run of books in my memory. I'm not a biggest "X-Men in space" fan, so seeing them go up against a generic alien race never really excited me too much.

Still, it was fun to see some old favorites back in action like I remember them. Even a boring X-Men book from the late 80's is better than what's been going on in the X-world post Morrison/Quitely.

I've always enjoyed the work that Marc Silvestri did on The Uncanny X-Men, even more so when he moved over to Wolverine. I've been hoping that the Randomizer would pick one of his Wolverine issues written by Larry Hama, as I remember enjoying the hell out of that run and am curious to see how it holds up.

This issue was also the downfall for Mohawk Storm, as she starts to grow her hair out and get a costume that looks more like her "all new, all different" debut. Oh well, nothing perfect lasts forever.

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) Marvel Comics