X-Men from the Beginning

[Goshin]

In the meantime, to whet your appetites, here is the inside cover for the Deluxe Edition of X-Men #1 (this version has been re-colored for the reprint):

http://www.comiclist.com/media/blogs/news/X-Men_JimLee_DoorPoster.jpg

The REAL X-Men! Fuck all that black and yellow leather shit.

[AstonishingXMan]

No less than three X-people are SMOKING during their team photo.

I love that recoloring a lot.

Sorry to hear that, Geoff. It's a lesson I too have learned. Save, post, delete! At least it's a GOOD issue to re-read, though!

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

And just in case your wallets weren't empty enough from TRADING CARDS, CROSSOVERS, and putting money aside for FIVE COVERS of X-Men #1...

1991 saw the release of WOLVERINE on the Nintendo Entertainment Center!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Wolverine_Cover.jpg

And it's by LJN so unfortunately it's not very good, much like the mutants debut in X-MEN in 1990.

http://www.videogametrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/NES-Archives-Wolverine-screen1.png

http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Wolverine_NES_ScreenShot4.jpg

DAMN! I haven't seen the graphics for that game in 18 years!!

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Well, it's summer 1991...

Time to check out some trading cards featuring The Uncanny X-Men courtesy of Marvel Universe Series 2!

http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/content/resized/46100797466d10b5dfbbb08b323062b6.jpg

http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/content/resized/5618d05dacb33819f23e8b278b2c6dd5.jpg

http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/content/resized/ff43ac80109615fda0d41674c9960d44.jpg

http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/content/resized/9a10bce7ce2b7661dbae3654e7cedd2a.jpg

Oh boy...the trading cards era. *shakes head* All the wasted $$$.
Probably the most worthwhile card set I bought during that time was the set done entirely by Jim Lee.

[CallMeGeoff]

The REAL X-Men! Fuck all that black and yellow leather shit.

While I love the black and yellow leather shit, I have to admit that when I think of the X-Men, this is what comes to mind. It was my first exposure to them, and thus will always be the most special to me.


No less than three X-people are SMOKING during their team photo.

I love that recoloring a lot.

Sorry to hear that, Geoff. It's a lesson I too have learned. Save, post, delete! At least it's a GOOD issue to re-read, though!

Thanks, man. Yeah, it was a bummer, but you're right, there could be worse issues to have to re-read. This one is so long and dense, though!! ARGH!

Totally agreed about the recoloring. I almost went with the original colors because they have a more 90s feel to them, but the recolored one just looked so good!! And to be fair, one of the smokers is Lockheed, and he breathes fire anyway. :wink:


Oh boy...the trading cards era. *shakes head* All the wasted $$$.
Probably the most worthwhile card set I bought during that time was the set done entirely by Jim Lee.

I was just thinking about those when I was reading through X-Men #1. That's a great set of cards! I was also partial to the painted Fleer Ultra ones from a couple years later. I liked that they came with the action figures, which I was also obsessed with. We're really diving head-first into my childhood here, and that excites me.

[CallMeGeoff]

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/magnetoiconic3.jpg

X-Men #1….October 1991

Claremont/Lee

"Rubicon"

In outer space, a ship is being pursued and fired upon by three other ships. Inside the fugitive ship, three people are trying to locate Asteroid M, but haven't had much luck. They manage to take out one of the three pursuing ships, but shortly thereafter, the remaining ships are blinded by a bright flash of light and massive electromagnetic spikes. The ships are torn apart and the people inside, protected by their spacesuits, are confronted by Magneto! He just wants to be left alone and is about to send them all back to Earth when one of the fugitives tells him that they are mutants who have come to serve his cause.

Back on Earth, the Russians have picked up Magneto's energy signature and have subsequently dookied their pants. They are expecting an attack and prepare the Magneto Protocols! In Washington, Nick Fury is in a meeting with the President, where we learn that the mutants we just met in space had stolen their ship, which is why they were being pursued by SHIELD agents. Fury is worried that the Russians will make things worse by confronting Magneto, and the President asks if Fury has a better idea. The look in Fury's eyes--er, eye...says that he does!

Meanwhile, at the newly rebuilt X-Mansion, Cyclops, Storm, Banshee, Forge, and Beast are monitoring a training exercise, the object of which is to locate and "capture" Professor X. On the viewscreen is Assault Group A, consisting of Rogue, Iceman, Archangel, and Colossus. Elsewhere, Charles explains to Jean that the reason for this exercise is to see how the new team functions together. He wonders if he had never left, would so many have lost their lives? Jean assures him that if his dream were no longer valid, then none of the others would be there.

Back to the action, Group A is attacking from outside when they are fired upon by some heat-seeking missiles. The missiles destroy Iceman's ice slide, but Rogue cleverly gets them to chase her back toward the launchers, destroying them. Archangel then throws Colossus toward the Mansion. He transforms into steel in midair, crashing through the window into Xavier's room. He doesn't get far, though, before Jean takes him out with a telepathic attack. Banshee then gets a lock on Group B (Wolverine, Psylocke, and Gambit), who are sneaking in below from the sewers. Cyclops is impressed by their sneakiness and sends in some robot guards to attack them. Wolverine and Psylocke deal with the robots, but Gambit is nowhere to be seen. As it turns out, he has made his way to Xavier's room. He throws a card behind Jean, and the explosion throws her into his arms. He declares himself the winner and claims his prize (a kiss), but Jean EXPLODES, sending Gambit to the floor! These are decoys, and the real Jean and Charles have made their way to the observation area with Cyclops and the gang. They're all looking very proud of themselves, but Charles reminds them all that the exercise is far from over. At that moment, Wolverine busts up through the floor, clothing torn up, pieces of robot hanging off of him. He extends his claws within an inch of Charles' face, prompting Cyclops to chastise his reckless behavior. Wolvie tells him to relax and that he won the game. With the exercise concluded, we see that the entire event has taken place inside the Danger Room!

Later, the X-Men get a call from Fury explaining the situation with Magneto. Rogue, Storm, and Wolverine come to Magneto's defense, giving him the benefit of the doubt, but Cyclops isn't convinced Mags hasn't gone back to his villainous ways. Charles hopes that Cyclops is wrong, but says they must be prepared in the event that he's right.

Meanwhile, on Asteroid M, the fugitives and SHIELD agents wake up on the floor confused. It seems that Magneto has brought them all into his home as guests. Delgado is pissed about the loss of his friends in the destroyed ship and attacks one of the mutants. Another mutant tries to use her powers to help, but finds that they're gone. Delgado's friend Deke takes the opportunity to grab her and put his arm gun to her head. Magneto enters and tells them to be respectful of his hospitality. The woman breaks free of Deke and runs toward Magneto, pledging her life to his cause. Deke, ignoring Delgado's orders to stop, shoots the woman several times in the back. Magneto is PISSED and uses his powers to force Deke to shoot himself in the head. Delgado apologizes for Deke's actions, but Magneto doesn't want to hear it. One of the mutants introduces himself as Fabian Cortez and shares Magneto's grief over Annemarie's (her name revealed) death. Fabian says that the Flatscans (humans) will surely react to the destruction of the spaceships over Soviet space, and urges Magneto to show his strength and deter an attack. Magneto asks Fabian what he has in mind.

Later at Xavier's, the X-Men have broken up into two teams: Cyclops's Blue Team and Storm's Gold Team. Blue Team is preparing to roll out in search of Magneto, while Gold Team will wait in reserve status. Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast, Gambit, Rogue, and Psylocke climb aboard the newly redesigned Blackbird (thanks to Forge), and head out to investigate a lead in the Mid-Atlantic.

Speaking of he Mid-Atlantic, Magneto is hard at work bringing the Soviet submarine Leningrad (sunk by Magneto in Uncanny X-Men #150) to the surface in order to take the surviving nuclear missiles. Rogue, Wolverine, and Psylocke approach him questioning his motives, and Magneto assures them that he is only taking the nukes to ensure that he is left alone. The Blackbird is coming up behind him, but Magneto stops it in the air. Beast and Gambit leap out in attack mode, and Magneto takes out Beast with a metal pillar. Gambit leaps over Magneto's head and throws cards at him, but he misses and is also taken out. While Mags is distracted, Psylocke kicks him in the head, knocking his helmet off. She tries to hit him with her psychic knife, but she is held back by metal coils. Magneto tries to reassure them that he means no harm, but Wolverine viciously attacks him with his claws, slashing his chest. Cyclops sees that Wolvie's berserker rage is coming on, so he hits Magneto with his optic blast to separate them. Magneto is thrown into the submarine, where he is confronted by the skeletons of the crew he killed. He is reminded of the mass grave the Nazis put him and his family in, where he had to crawl his way out.

Wolverine is coming back, but Magneto chooses flight over fight. He is hurt that the X-Men treat him like a villain despite their time together as allies and flies away with the missiles in tow. Rogue goes after him to talk, which she says they should have done from the start. She catches up to him and says that while Cyclops could have handled this situation better, Magneto must realize that stealing a bunch of nukes has people worried. Most people still see him as a terrorist, and taking the nukes looks like it's proving them right. Magneto says that he tried he hero's path and failed, and innocents died as a result. Rogue begins to tell him that it's no reason to give up, but before she can finish, she is attacked from behind by a Soviet fighter jet. Magneto is angry and as he uses his powers to lower Rogue to safety, he detonates one of the nukes in the sky.

Later on Asteroid M, Magneto is injured by Wolverine's claws and is still hurt that the X-Men were so quick to see him as a villain. He wonders why all of his relationships end in blood, and Cortez says it's because there is no room for Magneto's vision and the X-Men's. Cortez offers to use his healing powers on him like he did for his sister Annemarie, and tells him to put his trust in him.

In the Blackbird, the X-Men are searching for Rogue when Professor X informs them that she is in a hospital in Hammer Bay, Genosha. At the hospital, Rogue wakes to see Chief Magistrate Anderson, who tells her that the city is under attack by a band of super-powered terrorists. At that moment, an explosion destroys the hospital, and Rogue is face-to-face with Cortez and the rest of the folks from Asteroid M (including Delgado!). They offer her a place at their side, but she responds with a mean left hook to Delgado's face. He gets up, grows in size, and grabs her. He's about to squish her when he's hit from behind by Cyclops's optic blast. The cavalry's arrived!

It doesn't take long for the X-Men to gain the upper hand. Wolverine grabs Cortez, saying he smells familiar. Cortez seems to know Wolvie too, mentioning the cheap cigars he smokes. Wolvie asks Cortez for one good reason why he shouldn't kill him, but before he can act, a projection of Magneto appears. Mags tells the X-Men that his Acolytes have acted without his knowledge, and that while they were wrong, he will not abandon them. Cyclops questions him about the lives lost, and Magneto says that they were only magistrates, so he considers it retribution. He will take full responsibility for the actions of the Acolytes and will punish them as he sees fit. Wolverine says that Magneto isn't above the law, to which Magneto responds that human laws do not apply to him. He is tired of seeing his people suffer and will make Asteroid M a haven for all mutantkind, including Xavier and the X-Men. But any harm done to a mutant is harm done to him, and he will respond accordingly!

Back at the school, Banshee checks on Moira in her lab. She is sobbing and tells Sean that the horrible things that are happening are all her fault!

TO BE CONTINUED…

[AstonishingXMan]

I think my favorite part is Gambit "acting" like an idiot and taking one for the team by kissing the exploding robot Jean, so he can be scolded by the Professor and thus distract him from sensing Wolverine, who's about to get the drop on him.

[jlmoor]

No less than three X-people are SMOKING during their team photo.

I love that recoloring a lot.

Sorry to hear that, Geoff. It's a lesson I too have learned. Save, post, delete! At least it's a GOOD issue to re-read, though!

OMG this is so pretty. I love that they are smoking. :biggrin:

[jlmoor]

Awesome review!

Loved. This. Issue. One of my absolute favorite Magneto moments ever when he basically tells them to get their @#$# and get the @#%# off his lawn:biggrin:

And Gambit making time with Jean-bot! loved that too.

Wolverine’s line about Magneto being a ‘man’ as opposed to a Leopard totally took me off guard. Especially considering what happens when they meet up. But it made sense considering what Logan is.

They did a good job of leading Magneto back into being an enemy. All the stuff that went down on Asteroid M, and how Cortez and them were able to rile him up with the ‘we’re your people and we need you’ thing made the switch from what we saw in the Savage Land believable. Everything falling apart at the sub, and how both sides were portrayed was really well done. I still didn’t walk away from this issue thinking him a bad guy, just a great depiction of how one person's hero is another person’s villain.

I blamed Cortez for everything from now through Fatal Attractions:wink: And, well I was kinda right.

I’d forgotten about the Cortez/Logan knowing each other thing. Was that ever followed up with?

LOL. Wolverine chastising someone for thinking they are above the law.

Parts of your review made me laugh and nearly got me caught at work.

[Nevets F]

The REAL X-Men! Fuck all that black and yellow leather shit.

Seriously! THAT is the X-Men!

I love that the cards and game were posted! Such a great idea! Man, I LOVED this period in time. So exciting and fun. Absolutely loved it.

[Goshin]

A few more (4 images per post, bah!)

http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/content/st/1098new_storyimage0037121_full.jpg

http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/content/st/1098new_storyimage0038623_full.jpg

I don't seem to remember Forge, Storm, and co. in those uniforms battling Magneto...

http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/content/resized/746bdfe0c3a2201b6509def91401f79d.jpg

http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/content/resized/b5ef45d29ec85277b2fd48f44b3efe39.jpg

That's it for our Uncanny heroes in this card set. Some cool stuff.



HOLY SHIT!!!


my earliest exposure to the x-men was in the 3rd grade when a subsitute teacher gave everybody in class a shitload of packs of these! he also had the original 1990 ones too. i had a shitload of them and wondered who the hell Longshot and Marvel Girl were cuz they looked badass. I didnt pick up my first X-Men comic until like 2 years later, I was still addicted to ninja turtles at the time.

[Goshin]

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/magnetoiconic3.jpg





i swear that must be like the 4th or 5th x-men comic i ever read, those were a dime a dozen at teh comic shop. ive been meaning to buy another copy to hang the poster up in my recording studio.


didnt it seem like Claremont originally wanted Banshee and Forge on the gold team and Jim Lee just pushed them aside?

[MartinRedmond]

The REAL X-Men!

LOL I didn't like those garish costumes at all. I was used to them wearing civilian clothing or modest costumes more often than not. He also got rid of Rogue's arena rock groupie / trashy & easy look.

[jlmoor]

HOLY SHIT!!!


my earliest exposure to the x-men was in the 3rd grade when a subsitute teacher gave everybody in class a shitload of packs of these! he also had the original 1990 ones too. i had a shitload of them and wondered who the hell Longshot and Marvel Girl were cuz they looked badass. I didnt pick up my first X-Men comic until like 2 years later, I was still addicted to ninja turtles at the time.

I love the little diagram for Wolverine's claws.

[Goshin]

I love the little diagram for Wolverine's claws.

yea, i thought that was bad-ass and loved the hell out of his brown costume. when the cartoon came out and he was in the yellow chicken suit i was like "what the fuck?"

[jlmoor]

yea, i thought that was bad-ass and loved the hell out of his brown costume. when the cartoon came out and he was in the yellow chicken suit i was like "what the fuck?"

I grew up on the Blue and Yellow, but it was a great line in the movie:
'What, you'd prefer blue adn yellow spandex?'
:biggrin:

Even though the blue and yellow kind of reigned, the colorists tended to make the blue so dark it looked black anyway.

I did miss the brown. But I LOVED!!!!!!! Gambit's theives guild get up with the coat. And I prefer this on Cyke over the current costume.

[Nevets F]

Geoff, to prevent losing your summaries, you might want to type the entire thing in Word, and then just copy and paste it into CBR. That's what I do for the Alpha thread. I seriously don't trust the boards. They freeze and hiccup (sp?) way too often for me.

:D

[Goshin]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_w0C005QS78A/R1I5F14m76I/AAAAAAAAA94/AMRaNScmvjc/s1600-R/1990MU1.X-MenNew.bmp


anybody remember back in 1990/91 before there was a set team and they put people on the trading cards that werent x-men?

they put strong guy on the card and said it was sunder from the morlocks lmao

[jlmoor]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_w0C005QS78A/R1I5F14m76I/AAAAAAAAA94/AMRaNScmvjc/s1600-R/1990MU1.X-MenNew.bmp


anybody remember back in 1990/91 before there was a set team and they put people on the trading cards that werent x-men?

they put strong guy on the card and said it was sunder from the morlocks lmao

All pre-fan-boy-internet-rage:biggrin:

There were all kinds of screw ups that I found pretty funny. Back when they had to wait for the snail mail to deliver the fan catches. Now it's instantanious and a million posters strong.

[WWWD]

Shameless (desperate?) plug time!

I'm trying to keep the New Mutants (soon to be X-Force...hopefully) and X-Factor threads alive, but interest seems to be low (it has pretty much just been me talking to myself).

If you would like to see those threads continue, please please please please post!!!!!

Parts 1 and 2 of "Kings of Pain" have already been reviewed in the New Mutants thread, and I'm going to try to do a lightning round in the X-Factor thread in order to catch up to the Muir Island Saga. And the stories leading up to that are the big showdown with Apocalypse and the fate of young Nathan Christopher Summers! It's exciting stuff, so PLEASE POST!!!!!!

Okay, that's all. Thanks for listening!!

I'm almost completely caught up with X-Factor, and will be starting X-Force sometime this weekend... so I'll join you when I catch up :P

[CallMeGeoff]

Awesome review!

Loved. This. Issue. One of my absolute favorite Magneto moments ever when he basically tells them to get their @#$# and get the @#%# off his lawn:biggrin:

And Gambit making time with Jean-bot! loved that too.

Wolverine’s line about Magneto being a ‘man’ as opposed to a Leopard totally took me off guard. Especially considering what happens when they meet up. But it made sense considering what Logan is.

They did a good job of leading Magneto back into being an enemy. All the stuff that went down on Asteroid M, and how Cortez and them were able to rile him up with the ‘we’re your people and we need you’ thing made the switch from what we saw in the Savage Land believable. Everything falling apart at the sub, and how both sides were portrayed was really well done. I still didn’t walk away from this issue thinking him a bad guy, just a great depiction of how one person's hero is another person’s villain.

I blamed Cortez for everything from now through Fatal Attractions:wink: And, well I was kinda right.

I’d forgotten about the Cortez/Logan knowing each other thing. Was that ever followed up with?

LOL. Wolverine chastising someone for thinking they are above the law.

Parts of your review made me laugh and nearly got me caught at work.

Thanks!!

I totally agree, Magneto's progression back to nemesis is very natural. I'd prefer that it never happened at all (I love Magneto as a struggling good guy), but it was done in a way that was very in-character and made sense. I really love the moment when he is forced to confront the the people he killed in the submarine, and it reminds him of what the Nazis did to him and his family. Claremont's Magneto is the best!!!

As far as I can remember, the Cortez/Logan connection was never followed up on. I'm not sure if that was a Claremont or Lee plot seed, but neither were on the book for too much longer. I guess it was just forgotten.


Geoff, to prevent losing your summaries, you might want to type the entire thing in Word, and then just copy and paste it into CBR. That's what I do for the Alpha thread. I seriously don't trust the boards. They freeze and hiccup (sp?) way too often for me.

:D

Oh, lesson definitely learned! That's exactly what I did the second time around. Thanks! :smile:


I'm almost completely caught up with X-Factor, and will be starting X-Force sometime this weekend... so I'll join you when I catch up :P

Hell yeah!! The threads are running pretty strong now, so join in any time!

[AstonishingXMan]

Uncanny #281 tonight as we continue the "relaunch" of the X-Men into the dominant #1 comic smash of the 1990's.

But since you guys liked the trading card overview, why not tap into another huge launch in 1991?

http://www.marveltoys.net/line/s1.jpg

Noticeably absent from the couple of Marvel Super Heroes toy lines of 1990 and early 1991 were the X-Men!

But then came one of the most popular and long-lasting toy lines of the 1990's

X-MEN Series 1

With this series we saw...

WOLVERINE
NIGHTCRAWLER
STORM
COLOSSUS
CYCLOPS
ARACHANGEL
JUGGERNAUT
MAGNETO
APOCALYPSE

Obviously, all of these figures would be greatly improved upon, but it was certainly a diverse group for a launch series and I was very happy with them. For Toy Biz to so quickly make the figures bigger, more articulate, and just BETTER so soon after explains how quickly this toy line took off.

Series 1 Thoughts:

Only one of these figures was originally supposed to have elbows and knees that bent, and that was Nightcrawler. Eventually, all of the figures (except Juggernaut, Colossus, and the arms of Wolverine) were designed to have elbow/knee articulation.

I don't recall Storm wearing that full body black costume with long hair like that. Anyone? Also, a big thing for the early Marvel Toy Biz toys was how difficult the FEMALE figures were to acquire. Storm was very difficult to find because there just weren't as much of her made as Wolverine, who Marvel saw more appealing to young males. This Storm would be repainted years later and easier to find, but Marvel's "girl figures don't sell" X-Men policy would be evident, as the next female made was made three years later - Rogue.

Nightcrawler is a pretty cool figure, but the suction cups are a little annoying.

Colossus is a huge disappointment. Kids think "punch and smash" when they think of Colossus. With no articulation and his arms turned upside down to lift the weight, all Colossus could do was work out. Lame.

As we'll see in the reviews, Wolverine's days in the brown costume are numbered, so I remember there was a "where's the yellow costume?" question amongst fans. Oh, it's comin'...

Cyclops is in his X-Factor suit and instantly is outdated. I wasn't happy they released him in this attire. Fans really wanted the new Jim Lee design.

I like Magneto's "magnet" feature a lot. It was pretty cool in 1991. He's just a little small. Juggernaut is also a bit small but Toy Biz was still learning.

Apocalypse's look is a bit outdated. He'd be improved shortly.

[jlmoor]

I totally agree, Magneto's progression back to nemesis is very natural. I'd prefer that it never happened at all (I love Magneto as a struggling good guy), but it was done in a way that was very in-character and made sense. I really love the moment when he is forced to confront the the people he killed in the submarine, and it reminds him of what the Nazis did to him and his family. Claremont's Magneto is the best!!!

As far as I can remember, the Cortez/Logan connection was never followed up on. I'm not sure if that was a Claremont or Lee plot seed, but neither were on the book for too much longer. I guess it was just forgotten.

!

Yes yes and oh. I always like Magneto as struggling with not wanting to be a villain, but also not want to comprimise his goals. The scene with the sub was great, until the X-Men showed and totally screwed up his cathartic
moment:wink:

Writers seem to have a hard time finding the happy medium with him between evil tyrant and being kinda 'too' good IMO. On one end you get Xorn, the other end Joseph. Both retconned by Marvel. I'm very happy with his current treatment in the books as he is not a 'bad guy' but still kind of a badass. At least under Carey.

I never would have noticed/remembered the Cortez/Logan thing. But I guess we can chalk it up to Logan knows everyone. :biggrin:

[jlmoor]

Apocalypse's look is a bit outdated. He'd be improved shortly.

He looks like he is weilding a mighty bendy straw:biggrin:

[Nevets F]

Uncanny #281 tonight as we continue the "relaunch" of the X-Men into the dominant #1 comic smash of the 1990's.

But since you guys liked the trading card overview, why not tap into another huge launch in 1991?

http://www.marveltoys.net/line/s1.jpg

Noticeably absent from the couple of Marvel Super Heroes toy lines of 1990 and early 1991 were the X-Men!

But then came one of the most popular and long-lasting toy lines of the 1990's

X-MEN Series 1

With this series we saw...

WOLVERINE
NIGHTCRAWLER
STORM
COLOSSUS
CYCLOPS
ARACHANGEL
JUGGERNAUT
MAGNETO
APOCALYPSE

Obviously, all of these figures would be greatly improved upon, but it was certainly a diverse group for a launch series and I was very happy with them. For Toy Biz to so quickly make the figures bigger, more articulate, and just BETTER so soon after explains how quickly this toy line took off.

Series 1 Thoughts:

Only one of these figures was originally supposed to have elbows and knees that bent, and that was Nightcrawler. Eventually, all of the figures (except Juggernaut, Colossus, and the arms of Wolverine) were designed to have elbow/knee articulation.

I don't recall Storm wearing that full body black costume with long hair like that. Anyone? Also, a big thing for the early Marvel Toy Biz toys was how difficult the FEMALE figures were to acquire. Storm was very difficult to find because there just weren't as much of her made as Wolverine, who Marvel saw more appealing to young males. This Storm would be repainted years later and easier to find, but Marvel's "girl figures don't sell" X-Men policy would be evident, as the next female made was made three years later - Rogue.

Nightcrawler is a pretty cool figure, but the suction cups are a little annoying.

Colossus is a huge disappointment. Kids think "punch and smash" when they think of Colossus. With no articulation and his arms turned upside down to lift the weight, all Colossus could do was work out. Lame.

As we'll see in the reviews, Wolverine's days in the brown costume are numbered, so I remember there was a "where's the yellow costume?" question amongst fans. Oh, it's comin'...

Cyclops is in his X-Factor suit and instantly is outdated. I wasn't happy they released him in this attire. Fans really wanted the new Jim Lee design.

I like Magneto's "magnet" feature a lot. It was pretty cool in 1991. He's just a little small. Juggernaut is also a bit small but Toy Biz was still learning.

Apocalypse's look is a bit outdated. He'd be improved shortly.

Great idea! You're good at this! :D

Oh these figures. I loved my action figures (I still have all of mine in the basement). I also liked that they made less Storm figures, thinking people wouldn't buy female figures. But that just made her figure rare and more sought after. Or at least...that's what I heard back then...not sure if it's true, lol.

[Nevets F]

Oh...and I hope you don't mind, I am totally going to steal your idea and posts figures and cards when it comes to the Alpha thread...of course, I won't have NEARLY as much to worry about, lol. I think they have one card in MU series 1 cards and no toys at this point either.

[CallMeGeoff]

I had every single one of those action figures!! I loved Wolvie's removable mask that you could wear as a ring (when I was 9, I could...not with my current hotdog fingers).

The Cyclops costume was an odd choice, but I can only assume that Toy Biz had this planned before the costume changes.

What's that thing that comes with Juggernaut supposed to be?

I had no trouble finding that Storm figure. I always heard it was a tough one to find, but I feel like I saw it every time I went into the store. Maybe it's because no one was buying it because she's a woman? And that's her Outback era costume, right?

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/catfishhunterfan2711/comic%20books/comic%20books%20for%20trade/01xmen244.jpg

[AstonishingXMan]

Yep, totally that costume. Slipped my mind. Since we just covered the era where she wears the black costume with the short/ponytail look I blanked!!


What's that thing that comes with Juggernaut supposed to be?

It's a battering ram! Because an unstoppable force needs that extra bit to get through your door!


Yes yes and oh. I always like Magneto as struggling with not wanting to be a villain, but also not want to comprimise his goals. The scene with the sub was great, until the X-Men showed and totally screwed up his cathartic moment

I've always found:

1) the BEST villains are the ones who truly believe their evil deeds are for the better
2) you can actually see why they believe this way and it makes you think

[AstonishingXMan]

http://cdn2.ioffer.com/img/item/109/600/471/o_Y65tWR2hppzGKcQ.jpg

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/229/76757-3092-34779-2-uncanny-x-men-the_super.jpg

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/uncanny-x-men/281-18.jpg

The Uncanny X-Men #281

"Fresh Upstart"
by
Jim Lee & Whilce Portacio (Plot), John Byrne (Script), and Whilce Portacio (Art)

The Reavers are attending their own funeral in the Australian Outback, as suddenly a smaller and slightly different looking model of Sentinels ambush their hideout. They never had a chance!

Meanwhile, the new "Gold Team" of X-Men, consisting of Storm, Marvel Girl, Archangel, Colossus, and Iceman have accepted an invitation to a party at the Hellfire Club. The Hellions are not happy to see them, but Emma Frost, having just dispatched a would-be assassin, is pleased to discuss with them the recent attempts on her life.

Elsewhere in New York, the mutants Shinobi Shaw and Trevor Fitzroy are lounging at a party of their own, watching the Sentinels obliterate the Reavers. Having just joined "The Upstarts" group, Fitzroy has literally scored points for having the Reavers wiped out! But Shaw had his own father killed, which commanded a much higher score. Fitzroy has next targeted the White Queen to keep pace!

As Emma Frost tortures her earlier attacker, Frost's psychic backlash is harming Jean Grey. Storm commands Emma to stop, which causes a big battle between the X-Men and the Hellions. Jean orders both teams to end the fight and keep their concentration on whoever is out to kill powerful mutants. And sure enough, Fitzroy appears wearing some impressive crystal armor. He quickly kills Jetstream of the Hellions and isn't here to mess around!

Back in Australia, the Sentinels (who can repair themselves!) hunt Donald Pierce, who runs for his life in search of Gateway. Lady Deathstrike and Cylla Markham survive and watch the Sentinels pursue him. Pierce commands Gateway to teleport him to whoever sent the Sentinels. Pierce jumps into the portal, but several of the Sentinels follow...

Fitzroy kills Beef of the Hellions with a powerful blow, sending him through several walls and falling onto the New York streets. The X-Men are barely able to contain Fitzroy when more trouble arrives. It's Pierce and the Sentinels coming through the portal right into the Hellfire Club! The Sentinels immediately kill Pierce and the White Queen, unprepared for this attack, is the next to fall! Tarot of the Hellions is the next to die! It's a bloodbath!

The Hellfire Club has been ravaged as the X-Men fail to take out these advanced Sentinels. Jean Grey senses she is near death, and has a desperate idea, but is then quickly blasted and killed by the robots!

Senator Robert Kelly, a guest at the club, is horrified by what has happened and blames the X-Men, swearing vengeance. But as Colossus holds the deas body of Jean Grey, it seems they've already paid the price.

THOUGHTS:

WOW. Some pretty awesome art and a full scale war in the first issue of the new direction for the franchise. Enjoyed this issue tremendously!

Trevor Fitzroy tells Shinobi Shaw that he has a particular hatred for Emma Frost. We didn't hear why. Bad first date?

Jean Grey (or the Phoenix) should really stay away from the Hellfire Club. She's bad luck.

When the Sentinels update themselves on Jean Grey's condition as terminated, they refer to her as "Marvel Girl" which I guess means Fitzroy didn't get the memo on her dropping that name.

Portacio draws a pretty good Emma Frost, possibly the best she's ever been drawn. She looks seductive and powerful.

This issue gets one of the rare and impressive 2nd printing covers for the time, considering just how many copies Marvel was printing back then.

MILESTONES:

DEATHS: Reese, Pretty Boy, Cole, Macon, Bonebreaker, Donald Pierce, Beef, Jetstream, Tarot

FIRST APPEARANCES: Trevor Fitzroy, The Upstarts

This is the last issue in which Emma Frost appears as The White Queen of the Hellfire Club. This is her last appearance as a villain.

REPRINTED IN:

Not reprinted! Except for the 2nd printing.

FINAL CALL:

A "must-own" issue, a new direction, new creative team, exciting story, and major deaths.

[adamthered]

I had forgotten how much carnage actually happened in Uncanny 281 because all of my focus back then was on the Blue Team.

Remember how big of a deal having a new creative team on Uncanny was? Now there seems to be a new creative team every 1-2 years, which is lame.

[Nevets F]

I LOVED this issue.

[MartinRedmond]

The Hellions and the Reavers massacred for no reason. Hated this. Whilce even drew Senator Kelly's deceased girlfriend.

[Darth Pipes]

Oh boy...the trading cards era. *shakes head* All the wasted $$$.
Probably the most worthwhile card set I bought during that time was the set done entirely by Jim Lee.

I'm not going to knock them. It was my cousin showing me these cards when I was in the sixth grade that first got me hooked into comics.

[CallMeGeoff]

This is a fun issue. It's cool to see John Byrne back on the book, even if it's just as scripter. Portacio's art is pretty stellar throughout!

Wasn't Empath still in Nova Roma last time we saw him, or am I forgetting something? I kind of feel like the death of the Hellions is the final nail in the coffin for the New Mutants series. The team is gone, most of the members are in story limbo (or dead), and now their main antagonists have been massacred. A new era indeed!

[MartinRedmond]

This is a fun issue. It's cool to see John Byrne back on the book, even if it's just as scripter. Portacio's art is pretty stellar throughout!

Wasn't Empath still in Nova Roma last time we saw him, or am I forgetting something? I kind of feel like the death of the Hellions is the final nail in the coffin for the New Mutants series. The team is gone, most of the members are in story limbo (or dead), and now their main antagonists have been massacred. A new era indeed!

I can't recall any links, but basically afaik Byrne had very little to do with any of this and quit within a few days of work.

[CallMeGeoff]

I can't recall any links, but basically afaik Byrne had very little to do with any of this and quit within a few days of work.

Yeah, he's gone in a few months. Although his presence is barely felt (I often forget entirely that he scripted these issues), I just like seeing his name in Uncanny X-Men again.

[MartinRedmond]

I mean, literraly, I'm probably exagerating but I recall something like he barely lasted 24 hours total.

[AstonishingXMan]

John Byrne is credited as having scripted Uncanny X-Men #281-285 and 288 in each of those issues' credit boxes.

[AstonishingXMan]

The Uncanny X-Men #282

http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/files/2009/09/282uncanny-x-men-.jpg
http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/uncanny-x-men/282-6.jpg

"Payback"
by
Whilce Portacio (Plot, Pencils) / John Byrne (Script) / Art Thibert (Inks)

Professor Xavier and Forge are playing chess at the Mansion when the "Gold Team" arrives with the remains of a Sentinel head and the body of their fallen teammate, Jean Grey. Storm explains what happened last issue with some odd revisions: The Gold Team defeated Fitzroy & his new Sentinels (not true, the X-Men, Reavers, and Hellions were all thrashed last issue!) and apparently the White Queen was taken somewhere by Fitzroy (never shown, she was just reported dead). An editor's note explains that this isn't exactly what happened. Professor X's mindscan reveals Jean Grey's psyche is still alive...just not in her own body!

Meanwhile, Fitzroy, his Sentinels & trophies (the head of Donald Pierce, the body of the White Queen) arrive at Shinobi Shaw's penthouse where Fitzroy announces he is now King of the Upstarts. Shaw thinks otherwise and tells Fitzroy he'll have to take the royal ring off of his hand. We're led to believe Fitzroy cuts it right off! During this scene, we discover that Jean Grey's psyche is now alive in the White Queen's body!

We're introduced to Bantam, who is Fitzroy's lowly record keeper for previously opened time portals. Fitzroy treats him like a slave and is unhappy to find one of his old portals is still opened. Fitzroy's mutant ability is to drain a person's life force and use that energy to open these one-way time portals.

The Gold Team (along with Professor X & Forge) fly towards the Arctic Circle base of Fitzroy's Sentinels, as Xavier explains that Jean transferred her psyche to the mind of the nearest telepath - the dead Emma Frost. Xavier finds it odd that he did not detect Frost's death.

Inside the base, Fitzroy has no less than 16 Hellions (including Tarot, who the Sentinels reported to have killed last issue) held captive. Tarot is the only one we can identify. Fitzroy drains the life out of Tarot, then opens a time portal and from it come three of his acquaintances - Burke, Kroeger, and Stylles. Kroeger wants out of the "deal" these criminals made with Fitzroy, and is torn apart after trying to re-enterthe time portal.

Jean Grey (in Emma's body) throws up a telekinetic shield and this alerts Professor X to her location. The Gold Team attacks and is able to fair well against Fitzroy's mercenaries. Fitzroy basically throws a whiny tantrum when things aren't going his way and assaults Bantam.

Fitzroy sends his remaining Sentinels after the X-Men, who now have a strategy to deal with them. As the Gold Team takes the robots down, Fitzroy is free to drain the life energy out of all the remaining Hellions and open his largest time portal ever, which brings over a dozen of Fitzroy's evil buddies from a different time to the present!

The X-Men deal with these new threats as a number of powerful blasts come through the portal and finish off the Sentinels. Three men, each with an "M" on the right side of their face from forehead to cheek, wearing some type of blue & gold uniform with X-Men badges, come through the portal. The leader is called Bishop, and he grabs Fitzroy by the neck, having apprehended him at last.

End.

THOUGHTS:

There seems to be hostility between Forge & Storm when Forge says he's joining the X-Men on their rescue of Jean Grey/White Queen's body. As if Storm believes he doesn't belong on field missions.

The editor even note the confusion between the end of #281 and what Storm explains happened. Storm's explanation that the Gold Team defeated Fitzroy & his Sentinels is laughable considering how overwhelmed they were. Hmmm...maybe she just lied and didn't want her squad to look bad during their first outing!

This issue also receives a rare 2nd printing. The 2nd printing cover has an entirely gold background.

Fitzroy doesn't seem so "young" but is called such by Bishop & his group at the end of the issue. He also throws a temper tantrum when the X-Men defeat his forces.

So...is Fitzroy now the Upstarts leader? Did he cut the ring off Shaw's finger? It's not really touched on after we hear the scream from Shaw's penthouse. You'd think this would be important.

Where did all these Hellions come from? There's fifteen of them plus Tarot, another error from last issue as the Sentinels were shown blasting her and reported she was dead. Beef and Jetstream were killed on panel in #281, but we never see the fate of Bevatron, Roulette, Empath, or Catseye.

NEWS FLASH:

In the Uncanny X-Men #282 letters page, Chris Claremont is announced to have left the scripting chores of X-Men, with more information to come in X-Men #3.

And the letters page is filled with people gushing over how cool Gambit is.

MILESTONES:

First appearance of Bishop and his fellow officers Malcolm & Randall.

Death of Tarot (yes, again...) as well as at least 15 other never-before-seen Hellions.

[Category1Games]

Was it Tarot that later ended up in X-Force ( I want to say around issues 80/90 ish) or was it Roulette. I want to say it was Tarot and it was just never explained how she lived and then she showed up again in Necrosha as a dead/reborn mutant, which really makes no sense.

Maybe her secondary power was not to die in an X-Book, since she died in 281 and 282 and even if that was her power - Necrosha doesn't make sense.


Second problem with this issue is if Shinobi was going to have his finger cut off, couldn't he just phase through the blade? I mean that is his power and he just lived through a Blast killing his father, yet a blade could cut through him? Yikes, someone messed up there. He could just phase through and let the ring drop off of his finger and not get cut at all.

[CallMeGeoff]

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/97794297722.2.GIF

X-Men #2...........November 1991

"Firestorm"

Chris Claremont/Jim Lee

(Okay, did I miss something? I could swear that the Magneto that appears at the end of issue 1 is some sort of projection or something. But as we begin issue 2, it's definitely the real deal! Okay, well, move along, nothing to see here…)

So anyway, the REAL Magneto is standing before the Blue Team, all of whom look royally pissed (except Gambit, who is smiling). Magneto reiterates that he will not abandon his Acolytes, regardless of the fact that they acted without his approval. Rogue once again tries to reason with him, but Cyclops tells her she's wasting her breath. Magneto accuses Cyclops of seeing him how he chooses to see him, and that no one should be defending the Genoshans of all people. Beast says the Genoshans are working toward changing their old ways, while Magneto seems to be reverting to them.

At that moment, a Genoshan military helicopter attacks, and Magneto can't fight it because it (and the missiles it is firing) is made of plastic and ceramics. But Magneto gets around this by launching steel I-beams at it, destroying it. He then destroys the ground beneath the X-Men's feet, sending them to the lower levels of the facility. He tells them he wishes them no harm, but he can't let them interfere. Rogue flies after him to stop him, but Mags swats her away with an energy blast, knocking her far into Hammer Bay. Psylocke climbs out of the ditch and attacks Cortez, but he kisses her, taking her by surprise. She is thrown back in agony from what I'm assuming is some kind of psychic backlash (and Kirby dots!).

Meanwhile, in a U.N. war room, Colonel Nick Fury, Dr. Valerie Cooper, and some foreign dignitaries are debating which action to take. The Chinese wish to welcome Magneto as a sovereign ruler, but the Russians (who last issue were nuked by Magneto) are not so eager, and are demanding the implementation of the Magneto Protocols.

Back in Genosha, Psylocke is bombarded by the thoughts of the Genoshans all around, and an angry anti-mutant mob attacks her. Beast jumps in and rescues her, scaring the mob off with his looks alone. Cortez explains that he used his mutant power to amplify Psylocke's to its fullest extent, which put her in contact with ever living mind on the island. Gambit then hits Cortez in the head with his quarterstaff. Magneto descends upon them all, with Wolverine and Cyclops bound by metal coils, and orders everyone to stop fighting. He says they should all be working together to protect mutantkind, and tells the X-Men to yield.

Over at Xavier's, Forge is amping up security in case Magneto attacks the school. Charles asks him what he knows about the Magneto Protocols, but Forge says those files are top secret, so he doesn’t know much. Charles is worries that they will lead to all-out war. He notices that Moira is gone, and asks where she went. Banshee says she ran off when the alarm sounded, so Charles leaves to find her, ignoring Forge's warning not to leave the secure area, and ordering Banshee to stay put.

In Genosha, Rogue is calling B.S. on Magneto's goodwill message, citing the fact that he has his hands at Wolvie and Cyclops' throats as evidence. Magneto tells her she's seen him at this best, and now she's choosing to believe she's seing his worst. He asks her to show him a fraction of the trust she gives Xavier, and he'll prove to her that his cause is legit. Rogue seems to consider it, but before she can say anything, Psylocke uses her amplified powers to hit Magneto with the biggest psychic knife ever. Magneto collapses, and Rogue is about to finish the job, but she and the rest of the X-Men are suddenly encased in chrome! It turns out this is the mutant power of an Acolyte named (you guessed it!) Chrome! They're alive, but frozen in stasis. Mags says to leave them and return to Asteroid M, where he will decide their fate later. He scolds Cortez for orchestrating this entire situation, telling him he has neither proven his worthiness or capabilities. Cortez tells him that he may be interested in learning some information he has recently uncovered. Back on Asteroid M, Cortez explains that while he was healing his wounds before, he noticed a discrepancy in the genetic codes in the master files and what he actually saw in his body. Magneto recognizes it as an artificial alteration of his genetic codes, and he knows only one person who could be responsible.

Meanwhile, from a launch base in Central Asia, the Soviets have launched a giant plasma cannon and are sending it toward Asteroid M.

Back at Xavier's Charles has found Moira in the boathouse. She is weeping, and says that she knows Charles is afraid she's made the same mistake she made with Proteus again. Magneto arrives suddenly, saying he was thinking the same thing. He lifts the entire boathouse off the ground and takes it back with him into space. On the ground, Forge and Banshee are left with their thumbs in their rears. Traveling through space, Magneto tells Moira and Charles about the abnormalities he discovered in his DNA. Charles doesn't know what he's talking about, and Magneto hopes he's telling the truth. He's not so sure about Moira, though. He mentions the time he was reduced to infancy by another mutant (Defenders #16) and was entrusted to Moira's care, before being restored by Erik the Red (Uncanny X-Men #104). He wants to know what Moira did to him during his stay at Muir Island as an infant. Moira plays dumb, but Magneto isn't having it. He sends Charles outside the oxygen bubble in the boathouse into the void of space. To save Charles from suffocation, Moira says she will reveal everything.

Later, on Asteroid M, Moira explains herself to an audience of Magneto, the Acolytes, and the X-Men. She says that she discovered an instability in Magento's central nervous system that indicated his awesome power had literally corrupted his mind. Moira had hoped if she could eliminate the instability in Magneto, she could give him a second chance, and possibly do the same thing to her son. Magneto is furious that Moira played God with his soul, and now he thinks that every choice he made since being restored could have been the result of Moira's tampering. He orders her to replicate the process on the X-Men before encasing her in metal. He wants the X-Men to follow his path willingly, and if he refuses, he will kill them all.

Elsewhere, on the Sakhalin Islands, between the Soviet Union and Japan, Soviet General Akhronayev is handing over a coffin-shaped case to Matsuo Tsurayaba. The case contains something called Omega, but we don’t learn anything else about it. Akhronayev receives his payment, but he doesn't get to enjoy it long before he's double-crossed by Matsuo, who orders a group of ninjas to kill him. Matsuo watches with a smile.

Back on Asteroid M, the X-Men visit Charles in his quarters. Charles thinks they've escaped, but they've actually come to tell him that they've joined Magneto. They think Charles' dream is outdated, and Magneto's is the right way now.

Meanwhile, at Xavier's, the Gold Team has been running simulations in the Danger Room for a rescue operation, but all of them have ended in defeat. They don't have the manpower to take on Magneto, the Acolytes, AND the Blue Team (Jean knows they've switched sides through her psychic rapport with Scott). Forge shows up and says they're getting a call from Nick Fury on a secure channel. Fury tells them that the Americans and Soviets have initiated the Magneto Protocols and plan to blast Asteroid M into smithereens. If the X-Men have any hope of saving their teammates, they have to act fast! Storm says that even though they face certain defeat, they must at least try.

TO BE CONCLUDED…

[Category1Games]

Geoff did you miss Issue #1 or did you mean to post issue #2 here? Not that I'm complaining but I thought a new X-Men thread would be created for it.

[CallMeGeoff]

Geoff did you miss Issue #1 or did you mean to post issue #2 here? Not that I'm complaining but I thought a new X-Men thread would be created for it.

Heyo! It was posted about a week ago. We decided to keep the new series in this thread since the two books intertwine so much. Sorry you missed issue 1, but here's the link to the post:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=10926510&postcount=3507

Feel free to comment on either or both!!! :smile:

[WWWD]

So this is the end of Claremont's legendary run? :(

Can anyone elaborate why he leaves? I'm not exactly familiar with the story. The man is my favorite writer, and I'd like to know.

Also, when do we next see him in the X-Universe? (Too many questions.)

[worstblogever]

So this is the end of Claremont's legendary run? :(

Can anyone elaborate why he leaves? I'm not exactly familiar with the story. The man is my favorite writer, and I'd like to know.

Also, when do we next see him in the X-Universe? (Too many questions.)

Hoo boy... short version?

Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and all the star artists started scripting books and scenes more and more, and the vision of Claremont and Louise Simonson started to fall to the background a bit more. Then, Marvel editor Bob Harras made a choice to give the artists the creative control over the longtime scribe to help make them feel more important. What happened was... it got to the point where Lee or Liefeld were plotting scenes, and would ship their art to Claremont late, at the last minute, without any time for edits, for dialogue to be filled in. Claremont complained to Harras about it, and eventually was so frustrated by the state of affairs he left. Harras got John Byrne to replace CC, but he only lasted about 5 issues on Uncanny and 2 on X-Men, regular, before he got frustrated with the same antics by the artists and left.

And the artists, of course, all bailed on Marvel to go found Image within a few years of that, anyway.

Here's a whole great tale of what happened at Marvel's X-Offices in the early 90s, if you're curious. (http://stason.org/TULARC/art/comics-xbooks/65-Why-did-Chris-Claremont-leave-the-X-titles-Why-did-Peter.html)

[ProfeZZor X]

Hoo boy... short version?

Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and all the star artists started scripting books and scenes more and more, and the vision of Claremont and Louise Simonson started to fall to the background a bit more. Then, Marvel editor Bob Harras made a choice to give the artists the creative control over the longtime scribe to help make them feel more important. What happened was... it got to the point where Lee or Liefeld were plotting scenes, and would ship their art to Claremont late, at the last minute, without any time for edits, for dialogue to be filled in. Claremont complained to Harras about it, and eventually was so frustrated by the state of affairs he left. Harras got John Byrne to replace CC, but he only lasted about 5 issues on Uncanny and 2 on X-Men, regular, before he got frustrated with the same antics by the artists and left.

And the artists, of course, all bailed on Marvel to go found Image within a few years of that, anyway.

Here's a whole great tale of what happened at Marvel's X-Offices in the early 90s, if you're curious. (http://stason.org/TULARC/art/comics-xbooks/65-Why-did-Chris-Claremont-leave-the-X-titles-Why-did-Peter.html)

I've always wondered about that over the years... Thanks for sharing.

[WWWD]

Hoo boy... short version?

Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and all the star artists started scripting books and scenes more and more, and the vision of Claremont and Louise Simonson started to fall to the background a bit more. Then, Marvel editor Bob Harras made a choice to give the artists the creative control over the longtime scribe to help make them feel more important. What happened was... it got to the point where Lee or Liefeld were plotting scenes, and would ship their art to Claremont late, at the last minute, without any time for edits, for dialogue to be filled in. Claremont complained to Harras about it, and eventually was so frustrated by the state of affairs he left. Harras got John Byrne to replace CC, but he only lasted about 5 issues on Uncanny and 2 on X-Men, regular, before he got frustrated with the same antics by the artists and left.

And the artists, of course, all bailed on Marvel to go found Image within a few years of that, anyway.

Here's a whole great tale of what happened at Marvel's X-Offices in the early 90s, if you're curious. (http://stason.org/TULARC/art/comics-xbooks/65-Why-did-Chris-Claremont-leave-the-X-titles-Why-did-Peter.html)

Thanks for that. I love Claremont, but it kinda makes me point and laugh at him for celebrating Shooter's firing the way he did.

[jlmoor]

Heyo! It was posted about a week ago. We decided to keep the new series in this thread since the two books intertwine so much. Sorry you missed issue 1, but here's the link to the post:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=10926510&postcount=3507

Feel free to comment on either or both!!! :smile:

So. Busy. Can't re-read. :frown::frown:
Loved this arc.

[Sockpuppet]

Love these threads! I was devastated when Chris left the book. It was a different age and I didn't understand why nobody seemed to care. :confused:

[MartinRedmond]

I remember when I couldn't find anyone that disliked Rob Liefeld. I kept being called a nutcase cause "his art ruled and the proportions were right", even from adults. :}

[limerick]

I remember when I couldn't find anyone that disliked Rob Liefeld. I kept being called a nutcase cause "his art ruled and the proportions were right", even from adults. :}
I remember not being over keen on his style when he joined New Mutants.....I mean he was adequate but not exceptional......But I began to dislike his work after the first 5 or 6 issues of X-Force.....There was a very quick drop off in the quality of his work.

[Darth Pipes]

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/97794297722.2.GIF

X-Men #2...........November 1991

"Firestorm"

Chris Claremont/Jim Lee

(Okay, did I miss something? I could swear that the Magneto that appears at the end of issue 1 is some sort of projection or something. But as we begin issue 2, it's definitely the real deal! Okay, well, move along, nothing to see here…)

So anyway, the REAL Magneto is standing before the Blue Team, all of whom look royally pissed (except Gambit, who is smiling). Magneto reiterates that he will not abandon his Acolytes, regardless of the fact that they acted without his approval. Rogue once again tries to reason with him, but Cyclops tells her she's wasting her breath. Magneto accuses Cyclops of seeing him how he chooses to see him, and that no one should be defending the Genoshans of all people. Beast says the Genoshans are working toward changing their old ways, while Magneto seems to be reverting to them.

At that moment, a Genoshan military helicopter attacks, and Magneto can't fight it because it (and the missiles it is firing) is made of plastic and ceramics. But Magneto gets around this by launching steel I-beams at it, destroying it. He then destroys the ground beneath the X-Men's feet, sending them to the lower levels of the facility. He tells them he wishes them no harm, but he can't let them interfere. Rogue flies after him to stop him, but Mags swats her away with an energy blast, knocking her far into Hammer Bay. Psylocke climbs out of the ditch and attacks Cortez, but he kisses her, taking her by surprise. She is thrown back in agony from what I'm assuming is some kind of psychic backlash (and Kirby dots!).

Meanwhile, in a U.N. war room, Colonel Nick Fury, Dr. Valerie Cooper, and some foreign dignitaries are debating which action to take. The Chinese wish to welcome Magneto as a sovereign ruler, but the Russians (who last issue were nuked by Magneto) are not so eager, and are demanding the implementation of the Magneto Protocols.

Back in Genosha, Psylocke is bombarded by the thoughts of the Genoshans all around, and an angry anti-mutant mob attacks her. Beast jumps in and rescues her, scaring the mob off with his looks alone. Cortez explains that he used his mutant power to amplify Psylocke's to its fullest extent, which put her in contact with ever living mind on the island. Gambit then hits Cortez in the head with his quarterstaff. Magneto descends upon them all, with Wolverine and Cyclops bound by metal coils, and orders everyone to stop fighting. He says they should all be working together to protect mutantkind, and tells the X-Men to yield.

Over at Xavier's, Forge is amping up security in case Magneto attacks the school. Charles asks him what he knows about the Magneto Protocols, but Forge says those files are top secret, so he doesn’t know much. Charles is worries that they will lead to all-out war. He notices that Moira is gone, and asks where she went. Banshee says she ran off when the alarm sounded, so Charles leaves to find her, ignoring Forge's warning not to leave the secure area, and ordering Banshee to stay put.

In Genosha, Rogue is calling B.S. on Magneto's goodwill message, citing the fact that he has his hands at Wolvie and Cyclops' throats as evidence. Magneto tells her she's seen him at this best, and now she's choosing to believe she's seing his worst. He asks her to show him a fraction of the trust she gives Xavier, and he'll prove to her that his cause is legit. Rogue seems to consider it, but before she can say anything, Psylocke uses her amplified powers to hit Magneto with the biggest psychic knife ever. Magneto collapses, and Rogue is about to finish the job, but she and the rest of the X-Men are suddenly encased in chrome! It turns out this is the mutant power of an Acolyte named (you guessed it!) Chrome! They're alive, but frozen in stasis. Mags says to leave them and return to Asteroid M, where he will decide their fate later. He scolds Cortez for orchestrating this entire situation, telling him he has neither proven his worthiness or capabilities. Cortez tells him that he may be interested in learning some information he has recently uncovered. Back on Asteroid M, Cortez explains that while he was healing his wounds before, he noticed a discrepancy in the genetic codes in the master files and what he actually saw in his body. Magneto recognizes it as an artificial alteration of his genetic codes, and he knows only one person who could be responsible.

Meanwhile, from a launch base in Central Asia, the Soviets have launched a giant plasma cannon and are sending it toward Asteroid M.

Back at Xavier's Charles has found Moira in the boathouse. She is weeping, and says that she knows Charles is afraid she's made the same mistake she made with Proteus again. Magneto arrives suddenly, saying he was thinking the same thing. He lifts the entire boathouse off the ground and takes it back with him into space. On the ground, Forge and Banshee are left with their thumbs in their rears. Traveling through space, Magneto tells Moira and Charles about the abnormalities he discovered in his DNA. Charles doesn't know what he's talking about, and Magneto hopes he's telling the truth. He's not so sure about Moira, though. He mentions the time he was reduced to infancy by another mutant (Defenders #16) and was entrusted to Moira's care, before being restored by Erik the Red (Uncanny X-Men #104). He wants to know what Moira did to him during his stay at Muir Island as an infant. Moira plays dumb, but Magneto isn't having it. He sends Charles outside the oxygen bubble in the boathouse into the void of space. To save Charles from suffocation, Moira says she will reveal everything.

Later, on Asteroid M, Moira explains herself to an audience of Magneto, the Acolytes, and the X-Men. She says that she discovered an instability in Magento's central nervous system that indicated his awesome power had literally corrupted his mind. Moira had hoped if she could eliminate the instability in Magneto, she could give him a second chance, and possibly do the same thing to her son. Magneto is furious that Moira played God with his soul, and now he thinks that every choice he made since being restored could have been the result of Moira's tampering. He orders her to replicate the process on the X-Men before encasing her in metal. He wants the X-Men to follow his path willingly, and if he refuses, he will kill them all.

Elsewhere, on the Sakhalin Islands, between the Soviet Union and Japan, Soviet General Akhronayev is handing over a coffin-shaped case to Matsuo Tsurayaba. The case contains something called Omega, but we don’t learn anything else about it. Akhronayev receives his payment, but he doesn't get to enjoy it long before he's double-crossed by Matsuo, who orders a group of ninjas to kill him. Matsuo watches with a smile.

Back on Asteroid M, the X-Men visit Charles in his quarters. Charles thinks they've escaped, but they've actually come to tell him that they've joined Magneto. They think Charles' dream is outdated, and Magneto's is the right way now.

Meanwhile, at Xavier's, the Gold Team has been running simulations in the Danger Room for a rescue operation, but all of them have ended in defeat. They don't have the manpower to take on Magneto, the Acolytes, AND the Blue Team (Jean knows they've switched sides through her psychic rapport with Scott). Forge shows up and says they're getting a call from Nick Fury on a secure channel. Fury tells them that the Americans and Soviets have initiated the Magneto Protocols and plan to blast Asteroid M into smithereens. If the X-Men have any hope of saving their teammates, they have to act fast! Storm says that even though they face certain defeat, they must at least try.

TO BE CONCLUDED…

Re-read these recently and I enjoyed them. Maybe even more now than before. Though they were dialogue heavy to say the least and there's something off-putting about the art. But I like the way Magneto was portrayed her and you really get the impression people are picking a fight with him for no reason.


Elsewhere, on the Sakhalin Islands, between the Soviet Union and Japan, Soviet General Akhronayev is handing over a coffin-shaped case to Matsuo Tsurayaba. The case contains something called Omega, but we don’t learn anything else about it. Akhronayev receives his payment, but he doesn't get to enjoy it long before he's double-crossed by Matsuo, who orders a group of ninjas to kill him. Matsuo watches with a smile.


Was this Omega Red? X-Men was always good at setting up villains a few issues ahead of time.

Interesting about how Claremont was forced out. I know writer and artist work together but giving the artist all the authority over Claremont just seems wrong.

[CallMeGeoff]

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/97794297722.3.GIF

X-Men #3...........December 1991

"Fallout"

Chris Claremont/Jim Lee

The rescue mission begins! Forge has created a transparent glider to carry the Gold Team through space. It has no engines or anything to make it detectable by Magneto, and it is propelled by Storm's winds. Once it gets to space, momentum carries it the rest of the way. Back on Earth, the powers that be are moving forward with their plan to destroy Asteroid M, so the Gold Team is working against the clock to save the brainwashed Blue Team, Professor X, and Moira.

On Asteroid M, Fabian Cortez questions why Magneto didn't have Xavier's mind changed like he did with the rest of the X-Men, and Magneto says he doesn't want Charles changed, he wants him BROKEN. He wants Charles to witness the X-Men joining his cause as payment for the attempt to alter his own mind. Moira insists Charles had nothing to do with that, but just the sound of her voice makes him furious. He covers her mouth with a metallic gag and yells at her, but the excitement is too much for him. He's still weak from Wolverine's attack and Cortez's "healing" and collapses. Moira tries to help, but Magneto blasts her across the room. Cortez helps him up and takes him to his quarters for another session. Moira can tell that Cortez is the real reason for Magneto's weakness, but she can't say anything about it.

Elsewhere on the asteroid, the brainwashed X-Men and the Acolytes are enjoying a nice swim together. Rogue cannonballs into the water, impressing Gambit with her sizeable splash. As she surfaces, Gambit extends his hand out to her face, willing to take the risk of being absorbed. Rogue panics and flies up above, knocking Gambit into the water. From above, Rogue's brainwashing momentarily lapses, and she is confused for a moment. Gambit shows concern, but Wolverine says she'll come to her senses. Wolvie then slips away, unnoticed by everyone except Beast, who wonders what he's up to.

Outside, Jean uses a telekinetic grappling hook to pull the glider toward Asteroid M. Moira barely notices it from inside, as does Wolverine who is standing right behind her. Wolvie pops his claws and pledges to give the new visitors a warm welcome. The glider attaches to the wall outside Xavier's quarters, and Iceman freezes it, making it brittle enough for Colossus to smash through. Colossus picks up Xavier and they head off to find the rest of the X-Men. Suddenly, Cyclops grabs Jean and gives her a surprise kiss (similar to the one Wolvie gave her during Inferno). Cyclops asks if his kiss is as good as Wolverine's and then slams her with an optic blast. The rest of the Blue Team and the Acolytes then attack. Delgado pummels Colossus, but Beast immediately snaps out of his brainwashing and takes Delgado out. Psylocke hits Iceman with her psychic knife, which causes Iceman to cover everything around him in ice. Cyclops is about to nail Jean again (heh), but Rogue leaps in and takes the blast instead. This causes Cyclops to come around as well, and it is clear the brainwashing didn't stick.

At this point, Magneto shows up and is very disappointed his plan failed. He grabs Charles, who tells Magneto that his dream will always be tainted by the people he has sacrificed along the way. Before Magneto can respond, he collapses on the floor and is discorporating. Wolverine and Moira show up while he's down, and Magneto tells Wolvie to finish him off. Wolvie says he's tempted but won't because he's a hero. Moira then explains that her process was a failure, and that the brainwashing only sticks as long as the subject doesn't use their mutant power. All of Magneto's actions and decisions have been his own. The only betrayal Moira sees is the one enacted by Cortez. He has clearly been goading Magneto into actions that have only made him out to be an enemy, all the while sapping Magneto of his strength and energy. Magneto doesn't believe it at first, but then he sees that Cortez has left in an escape pod. Cortez says Magneto's death will inspire mutants everywhere to rise up. He then takes control of the plasma cannon and fires it on Asteroid M, hitting one of the nukes. Magneto disables the nukes, but the place is still coming down around them.

Charles tries to get Magneto to come with them, but Magneto says he must stay to ensure the stability of the asteroid while they escape. Charles won't listen and tries to stay behind with him, but Rogue pulls him away. As they escape, Magneto opens his mind to Charles. He saved the X-Men because that is his purpose, to save mutantkind. He said it's probably best that his dream is dying in a blaze of glory because if they were to ever meet again, it would be as enemies. Charles says that Magneto was born from a life of violence, and that it's the X-Men's job to break that cycle. It may be an impossible dream, but it's their duty to try.

THE END.

(CSC 1976-1991)

[Goshin]

The end of the x-men's greatest era ever, and sixteen issues from my very first x-men comic!Next issue:Battle with Cortez! Shocking Revelations! The death of an X-MAN!?! STAY TUNED!Somebody should start an x-men forever thread to go alongside this one and you can compare the two alternate paths. I know it'll take awhile to get thru the first twentyfive issues and once we get to the current issue we just put updates with the latest issue on there too. Come on, I bet a half dozen or so cc fans wouldn't mind...

[CallMeGeoff]

This was a great story, and a great way for Claremont to end his run. I don't like Magneto being a villain again, but if it had to happen, this is the way to do it. He has a legitimate reason for being pissed, and I love that Moira's brainwashing attempt didn't work. It would have irritated me if they had said all of his good deeds were the result of genetic tampering. It's great to know that his actions were his own, for better or worse.

The X-Men vs. X-Men battle seemed a little anti-climactic, but considering the brainwashing wares off when they use their powers, it makes sense why the fight didn't last long.

Cortez's motivations are a little unclear at this point. He basically says he wants Magneto to be a martyr to inspire mutantkind, but that feels kind of tacked on. I believe we'll learn more about him soon (although nothing about his past with Wolverine, sadly).

Anyway, it's the end of an era! Things will definitely be different from now on!

[limerick]

Hi,Geoff....I'm far behind,I'm afraid,but that was a great review.....I remember reading this issue for the first time and being blown away by Claremont's protrayal of Magneto.....Truely,Magneto's turnaround was the highlight of his years on the X-Men in my humble opinion.....I feel he found it hardest to hand that character over,knowing it was inevitable Mags would be returned to the typical cliched,snarling madman of yesteryear--How right he was!

[MartinRedmond]

I dunno, limerick, I don't remember him telling Moira:"Sorry I misjudged you." or "Sorry I threw you around and handled you violently!":tongue: But it's true he seemed less of a randomly motivated person.

[AstonishingXMan]

283 (and maybe 284 if I'm feelin' crazy) LATE TONIGHT!

Been away for a week on a casino adventure, time to focus on building to what's really important: Sunfire's crappy new costume (spoilerz) !

[AstonishingXMan]

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/uncanny-x-men/283-3.jpg

The Uncanny X-Men #283

Bishop's Crossing
by
Whilce Portacio (Plot & Pencils) and John Byrne (Script)

Bishop, Randall, and Malcolm, the three X-clad officers who appeared last issue, learn the awful truth - Fitzroy's portals are one-way and they're now stuck in the 20th century! Bummer!

As Fitzroy laughs at their misfortune, Bishop orders a termination sweep of the entire area! Storm overhears the talk of Bishop's future and wonders if it's the same future the X-Men encountered in the "Days of Future Past" epic. Bishop uses his energy absorbing powers to rechannel powerful blasts that kill several of the criminals, so Colossus slugs him in the face. Bishop is skeptical of the Gold Team's claim that they're the true X-Men, but part of him still wonders...

Meanwhile, as Fitzroy tries to escape, he is shackled and abducted by Shinobi Shaw's guards. Looks like he has some explaining to do.

Bishop slaps a mutant power inhibitor on Colossus' arm and Piotr reverts to his flesh form, which leads Bishop to believe he can't be the real thing. The real Colossus wouldn't be so easily subdued! Storm orders Iceman and Arachangel to take Bishop down as we get an interesting comment from Iceman that Storm might not be quite the leader that Cyclops is. What a doomed team this Gold Team squad is. Bishop, on the other hand, seems almost starstruck by Storm's beauty and leadership, though he "knows" she can't be the real deal.

Bishop's squad and the Gold Team duke it out with Storm pinning Bishop against the wall, his own rifle pointed as his chest. Storm isn't happy that Bishop may have cost them a chance to save Jean. She asks if his absorption power includes bullets!

Meanwhile, aboard the Blackbird, Forge & Professor Xavier attempt to restore Jean's psyche from out of Emma Frost's body and into her own. Xavier begins the psychic transfer, but Forge's shield dampeners blow and he says that the presence of another psychic would go undetected! Xavier himself says he briefly felt the presence of another psychic, but completes his task and Jean is back in her own body! Still, I wonder who else was floating around...

On Shinobi Shaw's jet, we learn that Fitzroy did indeed cut the Hellfire Club's "King" ring off his finger. Shaw's Sentinels acted quickly to reaattach it, and Shaw takes back his ring from Fitzroy. Fitzroy demands a ruling be made from the mysterious "Gamesmaster"...who sends a text message and finds in favor of Shaw. Just for fun, Shaw's armored goons have also trigged Fitzroy's Arctic base to explode within the minute, and with it he toasts the impending death of the X-Men!

At the base, Storm holds Bishop at gunpoint and wants to know who he is, and why he wears the X-Men's "X" emblem. He says he earned it and his fought for Xavier's dream his entire life. Just then, the explosive charges go "BOOM!" and the X-Men are seperated from Bishop and his lackeys. Colossus is in bad shape from the power inhibitor that Bishop attached to him, so the Gold Team returns to the Blackbird. Storm seems obsessed with learning the truth about Bishop and what his connection to the X-Men is.

Our story closes with our first look at The Gamesmaster, a bald, red-eyed man somewhat resembling Xavier, and a woman who appears to be Selene. She hints at the importance of the true prize for the Upstarts, a prize which will make their game very interesting.

END.

THOUGHTS:

Lots of action here. We learn that Bishop is one of the good guys but his methods, killing to be specific, are rather questionable. Shaw puts Fitzroy back in his place. Jean is Jean again but we're left to wonder what other psychic force Xavier encountered. Is Emma still alive? Could the Phoenix be back? Shadow King lurking? Emma was reported as "dead" but maybe she pulled the same trick Jean did.

Gamesmaster is a rather little fellow but so was Tony Montana and look what kind of an empire he built.

What's the "ultimate prize" for these Upstarts? Hmmm.

Art was hit-or-miss at times.

When Storm orders Bishop to be apprehended by the Gold Team, I definitely didn't remember Iceman basically saying "Sure Storm, but Cyclops would've already have caught him." I wonder if we get a Storm/Bobby argument or if this ever comes up again.

MILESTONES:

First appearance of The Gamesmaster

BONUS:

Teasers from Bob Harras in the "X-MAIL" Letters Pages:

- Healer (of the Morlocks) can NOT fix Professor X's crippled body.
- Harras reminds us that Fabian Nicieza, not Chris Claremont, wrote the last part of the "Muir Island Saga" after they were "left in a pinch"...hmmm.
- There will be a new member of the X-Men and we just met him.
- They listened to the fans demand for a new African American mutant character.
- Forge & Storm might see a jumpstart in their relationship.

[MartinRedmond]

I missed that you read UXM 282. My thoughts were WOW the colouring was terrific. I love the palette choices so much. It's rockin' ass the entire issue. Idk if it was a mistake or intentional.

[jlmoor]

This was a great story, and a great way for Claremont to end his run. I don't like Magneto being a villain again, but if it had to happen, this is the way to do it. He has a legitimate reason for being pissed, and I love that Moira's brainwashing attempt didn't work. It would have irritated me if they had said all of his good deeds were the result of genetic tampering. It's great to know that his actions were his own, for better or worse.

The X-Men vs. X-Men battle seemed a little anti-climactic, but considering the brainwashing wares off when they use their powers, it makes sense why the fight didn't last long.

Cortez's motivations are a little unclear at this point. He basically says he wants Magneto to be a martyr to inspire mutantkind, but that feels kind of tacked on. I believe we'll learn more about him soon (although nothing about his past with Wolverine, sadly).

Anyway, it's the end of an era! Things will definitely be different from now on!
Agreed.

Hi,Geoff....I'm far behind,I'm afraid,but that was a great review.....I remember reading this issue for the first time and being blown away by Claremont's protrayal of Magneto.....Truely,Magneto's turnaround was the highlight of his years on the X-Men in my humble opinion.....I feel he found it hardest to hand that character over,knowing it was inevitable Mags would be returned to the typical cliched,snarling madman of yesteryear--How right he was!

Agreed.


I'm way behind.

I think this story flowed well with roots even back to #274 (which was kind of my jumping on point). However where it went after this as far as Magneto was hit and miss. But we'll get to that in about, what, 13 issues? :wink: And his Moira hate stayed pretty strong and for good reason (from his POV) she mucked around in his brain when he was helpless. Seems to be a hot button for him......as Wanda and Pietro would find out in about 15 years.

The next big cross over he goes from semi-sympathetic guy with a cause, to a mustache twirling lunatic tying little girls to railroad tracks from one issue to the next. But, we'll get there eventually.

#283: BISHOP!!!!!! Loved Bishop when he showed. At this point I was much for interested in adjectiveless, but there was an arc or two in here that was pretty entertaining. Gamemaster was a pretty interesting character that I lost track of after this arc.

[AstonishingXMan]

Gamemaster was a pretty interesting character that I lost track of after this arc.

Well the Upstarts were Portacio's babies, so when he went, them being the top villain went.

[jlmoor]

Well the Upstarts were Portacio's babies, so when he went, them being the top villain went.

he shows in X-Force at some point doesn't he? I remember something involving deadpool and terry, but I don't remember it ever being followed up on .

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

I'm kinda torn on these issues because Whilce is hit and miss for me sometimes. Those faces get a little funky...
Also, after reading Claremont's writing for so long, it was a bit of a shock reading Byrne's dialogue (which didn't seem like his at all). I also tend to think that the Gold Team got the shaft as far as popular characters go.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

X-Men #3...........December 1991

"Fallout"

Chris Claremont/Jim Lee

THE END.

(CSC 1976-1991)

I probably love these three issues over classic stories like "Dark Phoenix Saga", "From the Ashes", or "Asgardian Wars".
Jim Lee was at the top of his game for these issues (Scott Williams as Lee's inker is tops, no slight to Art Tibert, but Williams gives it that...that Jim Lee look! Lol!) and Claremont was writing his swan-song and going out with a bang with the whole Magneto heel turn.

[CallMeGeoff]

Hi,Geoff....I'm far behind,I'm afraid,but that was a great review.....I remember reading this issue for the first time and being blown away by Claremont's protrayal of Magneto.....Truely,Magneto's turnaround was the highlight of his years on the X-Men in my humble opinion.....I feel he found it hardest to hand that character over,knowing it was inevitable Mags would be returned to the typical cliched,snarling madman of yesteryear--How right he was!

Take your time, buddy! It's not like we're going to run out of issues any time soon!

Claremont's Magneto is so good I can't even stand it. There have been a couple times when I thought Magneto has been written well since then (I will get flack for this, but I dig Morrison and Fraction's takes on the character [please don't hate me, I'll explain when the time comes]), but nothing has ever compared to Claremont's portrayal. I don't even consider him a villain because Claremont made his motivations so relatable and understandable that I just see him as a good man with a troubled soul. He really is one of my favorite characters in any medium, and it's only because of Claremont.


he shows in X-Force at some point doesn't he? I remember something involving deadpool and terry, but I don't remember it ever being followed up on .

True, and even before that, I think the Upstarts story comes to a head in an X-Force/New Warriors crossover. I have the issues but have never read them, so I don't know any deets. But I think I read that somewhere...


I probably love these three issues over classic stories like "Dark Phoenix Saga", "From the Ashes", or "Asgardian Wars".
Jim Lee was at the top of his game for these issues (Scott Williams as Lee's inker is tops, no slight to Art Tibert, but Williams gives it that...that Jim Lee look! Lol!) and Claremont was writing his swan-song and going out with a bang with the whole Magneto heel turn.

Definitely one of my favorite X-Men stories (I personally wouldn't put it above the Dark Phoenix Saga, but I appreciate your chutzpah). I totally agree with this story being a great send-off for Claremont. Good times.

[WWWD]

Iceman's burn on Storm was awesome, lol... I kinda wondered why the majority of the O5 were with Storm, when they've followed Cyclops most of their lives... and if it would be a problem.

[jlmoor]

Claremont's Magneto is so good I can't even stand it. There have been a couple times when I thought Magneto has been written well since then (I will get flack for this, but I dig Morrison and Fraction's takes on the character [please don't hate me, I'll explain when the time comes]), but nothing has ever compared to Claremont's portrayal. I don't even consider him a villain because Claremont made his motivations so relatable and understandable that I just see him as a good man with a troubled soul. He really is one of my favorite characters in any medium, and it's only because of Claremont.

.

lol me too. I have some reasons for digging Morrison's take even being an uber-massive-possibly-inappropriate Magneto fan. However my take on his run is pretty out of the box all the way around :redface: Although I have to say I think Carey has done the best job with Magneto since Claremont. At times I felt Claremont made him too.......okay can't think of the right word, but I prefer Carey's take over what Claremont did in Excalibur vol. 3 which kind of wavered between sucking up to Xavier to pseudo foaming at the mouth. Fraction's been fine. Even considering 'the incident' in #516:wink: and he's been really vocal about how he views the character in interviews and I like his take. I don't think I could have picked a better time to get back into comics. I know the x-books are getting a lot of internet hate, but I think a lot of that is just it's more 'fun' to bash something than to praise it.

[jlmoor]

I was just assigned to protor the AP exam for today for Physics C.....the Electricity and Magnetism Exam:biggrin:
made me kind of giggle. IMA dork.

[MartinRedmond]

Well the Upstarts were Portacio's babies, so when he went, them being the top villain went.

Can you confirm that? By the way Shinobi was introduced in X-Factor, I thought they were Chris' idea. I loved the designs for them, much like Dark Riders.

[AstonishingXMan]

Well, the Upstarts first appear as Whilce plots, and their being the underlying #1 bad guy team disappears as soon as he leaves, so one can assume as much. And all the people they "killed" come back. They're still around, but you can tell the priorities shifted when the guys all went to Image.

Shaw did indeed first appear in X-Factor. The Upstarts idea doesn't start until Portacio starts writing (just not dialoguing) Uncanny.


I was just assigned to protor the AP exam for today for Physics C.....the Electricity and Magnetism Exam
made me kind of giggle. IMA dork.

Question 1: "Do you know what happens to a toad when it is struck by lightning?"

[jlmoor]

Well, the Upstarts first appear as Whilce plots, and their being the underlying #1 bad guy team disappears as soon as he leaves, so one can assume as much. And all the people they "killed" come back. They're still around, but you can tell the priorities shifted when the guys all went to Image.

Shaw did indeed first appear in X-Factor. The Upstarts idea doesn't start until Portacio starts writing (just not dialoguing) Uncanny.



Question 1: "Do you know what happens to a toad when it is struck by lightning?"

I should petition to have that included as one of the short answer. Instead I was thinking 'In Excalibur vol. 3 # 11 Magneto uses the forces of magnetism to create a wormhole. In no less than 1000 words, explain why this would or would not be possible'

There's a reason they only let me proctor the exams, and not actually let me teach children :biggrin:

[WWWD]

If you guys ever need help with summaries, I am now caught up... so I would be more than happy to participate :)

[CallMeGeoff]

If you guys ever need help with summaries, I am now caught up... so I would be more than happy to participate :)

If you would like to contribute to Adjectiveless, please do!!! Juggling two series at a time is trickier than I thought it would be. And on top of it all, I'm quite the social butterfly. :wink:

I mean, no worries, I'm more than happy to do them as long as you're willing to wait for them. But any assistance is appreciated!!

[CallMeGeoff]

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/97794297722.4.GIF

X-Men #4...........January 1992

"The Resurrection and the Flesh"

Jim Lee & John Byrne/Jim Lee

On an island in the South Pacific, a group of ninjas from The Hand are laying their, um…hands on a corpse. Some mystic something-or-other occurs, and the ninjas all rot away to skeletons, bringing the corpse back to life. Some scientists are watching nearby in special containment suits. One of them mentions that the mutant "Death Factor" is tolerable, but they're famous last words, as every single scientists then dies. The newly-reborn corpse wonders aloud who brought Omega Red back to life. He is answered by Matsuo, who shows Omega a photograph of Logan. Omega recognizes Logan immediately, and is none too happy…

Meanwhile, at Xavier's, Logan and Rogue are playing basketball against Gambit and Jubilee (where the Hell has she been, anyway?). Gambit is leaping all over the place and scoring points left and right. Rogue gets fed up because the rules were no powers, but one of Gambit's powers is natural agility, so he's been cheating the whole time. Gambit tries to sink another shot, but the goal suddenly slants to the side, causing the shot to miss. Logan, who has cut on side of the post, says if you try to reinvent the rules, you better be prepared to have someone do the same to you. Gambit says that since the rules have already been broken, powers are fair game. He then lights up the basketball.

Inside, Moira is dreaming about her son, Kevin (Proteus). He's a normal child and they're playing together. He runs away and falls off a cliff. As she reaches down to him, he turns into Magneto and accuses Moira of dooming him and herself as a result. They both fall, but someone catches Moira and pulls her up. It's the X-Men, but they're bloodthirsty and seeking revenge for betrayal. She wakes up screaming, and Banshee (who's jaw is wired shut after last issue's battle) is by her side. Cyclops and Xavier come in to help, and Charles links their minds so Banshee can speak. Moira doesn't think she can be trusted after the truth has come out about what she did to Magneto, and she wants to leave the school. The other almost convince her to stay, when Rogue crashes through the wall from outside after being hit with Gambit's charged basketball. This startles Moira and she runs off, with Banshee chasing after.

Elsewhere, in Berlin, Andrea and Andreas von Strucker (and Andrea's cleavage) are meeting with Matsuo (that guy gets around!), where it is revealed that they have orchestrated the resurrection of Omega Red in order to become the Upstart Dominant. This prize apparently means immortality.

Back at Xavier's, Gambit is "helping" Rogue up by cradling her all sexy-like. He moves in for a kiss, and Rogue almost lets him do it before she comes to her senses and swats him away. Jubilee then talks some trash about how Logan and Rogue didn't have much of a shot at winning anyway, and Logan says she's probably right. He then throws the ball back behind him and makes it in the crooked basket without even looking.

Inside, Sean is trying to console Moira, but she says she has let Charles down, and she can no longer face him. Sean tries again to convince her to stay, but Moira is in hysterics.

Later that evening, Gambit is waiting outside on his motorcycle for Rogue to finish getting ready for their first date. She walks out in her bonerific evening gown (according to Gambit, anyway), followed immediately by Jubilee and Logan, who plan on tagging along to make sure Gambit behaves himself. Gambit says there's no more room on the bike, but Beast solves that problem when he shows up in his Jeep. He's using one of Nightcrawler's old image inducers to appear more human.

Inside again, Moira has made her final decision to leave. She doesn't allow Sean to say anything as she walks outside to the waiting taxi cab. The taxi drives off leaving Sean upset and alone.

Meanwhile, Gambit and Rogue are speeding off trying to lose the Jeep. Gambit notices a wire stretched across the road and barely has time to duck under it. Unfortunately, Rogue didn't see it and she's knocked off the bike. Some cyber ninjas with big guns open fire and destroy Gambit's bike. As the two mutants get up from their crash, they are grabbed by two tentacles and black out. More cyber ninjas then attack the Jeep. It crashes into a tree in a fiery explosion that definitely should have killed Jubilee and probably Beast too, but hooray! They're all fine and ready for action! They don't make it far, though, before Beast and Jubilee feel sick and pass out. Wolverine recognizes a familiar sent and turns to see Omega Red. Wolvie calls him Arkady as he is picked up by a tentacle. Omega Red says Arkady is dead, and Omega Red is all that remains. Wolverine then passes out like the others. The ninjas disguise themselves as EMTs and are loading the X-Men into an ambulance when Moira's taxi drives by. The driver wonders if they should stop to help with the "accident", but Moira doesn't look and just wants to get as far away as possible.

TO BE CONTINUED…

[Foon4000]

My abiding memory of this issue is picking it up at a horribly inflated price at a local records fare and being shocked because one panel of Gambit sinking a basketball was reproduced (without permission) in my Maths textbook. I think the question was about speed.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

This wasn't a bad issue, but after associating CC and his writing style with anything X-related for so long, the writing felt...off. (Of course, back then I had no idea how much influence over plots and scripting Jim Lee had.)
The main beef I had with this issue, was the return of the yellow & blue suit on Wolverine. Never cared for it before, still don't like it now...and I loved this quote from John Byrne, courtesy of his website Q&A, concerning the change:

I always wondered,was it your choice to give Wolverine a new costume in X-MEN 139?And was there any meaning behind it, i.e. the "death" of Jean Grey maybe causing Wolverine to desire a fresh start and thus the new costume?

JB: I wanted to change Wolverine's duds from the first moment I set eyes on him. Yellow and blue? That's a football team, not a wild animal! And an AMERICAN football team, no less! So as soon as I could, I gave Wolverine the brown-on-brown costume. (I still remember Jim Lee telling me proudly that he had given Wolverine his "real" costume [the yellow and blue one] back. And I remember the long pause on the other end of the phone when I mentioned I was the one who had changed the costume.) (5/5/1998)

[WWWD]

lol that quote is incredible. Having said that, I actually like the blue and yellow

[WWWD]

All right... I'm off work today... so I can do a review. Would you like me to do Uncanny or Adjectiveless?

[AstonishingXMan]

I've read the next few Uncanny issues, just had some personal issues over the past few weeks so I haven't been around. I'll likely get two of them up before the week ends to try to catch up.

[CallMeGeoff]

All right... I'm off work today... so I can do a review. Would you like me to do Uncanny or Adjectiveless?

Feel free to do Adjectiveless. I'm doing X-Factor next, and I'm not even sure when I'll get to that. Thanks!

[WWWD]

X-Men #5 (February 1992)

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/x-men/5-1.jpg

Jim Lee/John Byrne


And so the issue begins with an attention-grabbing scene, as Cerebro throws a tantrum until it gets attention (much like my ex-girlfriend.... who was also a computer.) Forge is the first to run to it's calls... and then the cavalry arrives. Cyclops, Colossus, and Psylocke (who spends the entire year of 1992 in a bathing suit.) Cerebro has detected an unidentified mutant within 5 miles of the mansion!

Change the scene to the back of an ambulnce, where Beast, Gambit, Jubilee and Rogue are chained up. Gambit has an ace up his sleeve (literally), and charges a card that blows their way out of the ambulnce. We then get an awesome scene of Beast bursting through the back of the vehicle, and grabbing his capturer by the throat. Rogue takes a nasty blast, and goes "Outback" style, getting her outfit destroyed, like old times. The man who calls the shots says "Blow the witch out of the air!" (HOW DARE HE?!?!) The action starts to shift back into the baddies' favor, when... "Oh My Stars and Garters! " The rest of the blue team are swinging low, sweet chariot, hovering just above the ambulance, in the Blackbird. Piotr drops down into the ambulance, while Cyclops has a blast, taking out the driver. The sneaky villains blow the place up, just as Psylocke is detecting it and Colossus is left in the explosion. He emerges... being he's a badass and all. But wait... he has Wolverine's mask. The X-Men's awesomeness comes to an end, when Cyclops utters the phrase "Let's head back to the mansion, troops. We need Professor X!

Meanwhile, we cut to Omega Red and the man who is the best at what he does. And what he does is find unique ways to be nude. Jim Lee is not a fan of clothes.But who cares? The showdown between Wolvie & Red is going down. The battle is being viewed by an audience. This audience includes The von Strucker twins, Matsuo, Cornelius. Not an audience I could imagine viewing anything else... well, except maybe a snuff film. Andrea is the cruelest, wanting it to continue. Cornelius is obviously "that guy" who says it's enough... and Matsuo taunts him about his past with Weapon X. Just as Omega Red is about to deliver the finishing blow, Wolverine picks the perfect time for nostalgia. 30 years ago (?), in Berlin, Wolverine is on a mission with Creed .... and then the pain snaps him out of it.

He's being bound in a familiar room. A mysterious figure is reporting in to say that they have Logan, and there's no sign of Creed. Hmmmmmmm.... Wolverine is on display in front of this motley crew, and they're discussing something called a "Carbonadium Synthesizer" which Fenris wants for some reason. Oh... that's the reason. Immortaily and a new reich. How "90's" of you, Fraulein Strucker. And we learn that they are in competition with the Upstarts. But Why?

That question will have to wait, WWWD, because we cut back to the mansion, where a giant c.f. of muties gather together in the War Room. Xavier says he'll stay in psilink, while the Gold Team continues on their scheduled meeting with Emma Frost at the Hellfire Club. (I heard that went well, btw.) Everyone else says some stuff, but we don't notice because of what Jean Grey is wearing. But I think this is when the team is officially divided into Blue & Gold? Not sure if I missed it prior. But Storm smells a set up! Jubilee isn't on a team, which makes her say "paf," but Psylocke vouches for her. Xavier approves because of her experience with the Hand from before. Banshee says his goodbyes to Professor... well, he thinks them anyway. He agrees to go after Moira, and then Cyclops and Jean share a steamy kiss, before Jean says "We gots to talk about our future... (which wouldn't exist if Claremont was still here)" That's not verbatim. Charles is looking at a file that reads "Project Xavier" which intrigues me. I'm not familiar with this bit. Forge comes in, and the Prof quickly hides the file, much like he does Jean's picture, when she comes walking into his office unannounced.

Back in Berlin, the drugs are waring off on Logan... and he's starting to forget again. Omega Red is suggesting the two have a nasty past. The mysterious figure from earlier, reveals to himself as "Maverick" and says it's time to remix this party! The lights go out, and a couple of comic book sounds are made... and they come back on, Wolvie has the Carbonadium synthesizer in hand... and he's free. To quote Billy Madison... "Now You're all in big trouble." Omega Red suggests he surrender... and Wolverine does what we expect of him, and DOESN'T surrender. Wolverine runs into the hallway, where he bumps into a flashback of himself and Creed again. This time, we have a third member. And a lady. His memory of someone suggesting they jump ten stories... it applies to his present situation, and Logan escapes by pulling off some Evil Kaneivel stunts. Matsuo then shows who the balls of this outfit is... by getting in Omega Red's grill, and telling it like it is. Red grabs a hold of him, and his attitude is unwavering. Man, that Matsuo is hardcore.

Maverick gives Wolvie a breather, but he won't take it. He suggests Wolverine heal it off... but that Logan is always trying to get into more hijinks! An alarm goes off, as Remy, Rogue, and Betsy come down the halls. Maverick refers to them as the junior league... ouch. Yet Jubilee is on the 'heavy hitters'? Whatever... Cyclops and Beast are coming too.

This story had everything... action, some fleshing out of Wolverine's legendary past.... and Jean's dress. The only thing missing is....

Random Ending: Allison Blaire is moping about not remembering herself to Lila Cheney. Suddenly, Longshot crashes through the window, and gives her a smooch. Spiral is quick to follow, and from there on... just confusion. Lila teleports them out of there, and we end it with the World's most handsome spineless one on a television. Mojo! To Be Continued...

[nate-grey]

Lila teleports them out of there, and we end it with the World's most handsome spineless one on a television.

I'd really hate to see the least handsome spineless one then. :frown:

[WWWD]

I'd really hate to see the least handsome spineless one then. :frown:

I have a unique review style... you get use to it... or maybe you won't, because I think I killed the thread.

[nate-grey]

I have a unique review style... you get use to it... or maybe you won't, because I think I killed the thread.

No worries, it's not you, I just really hate Mojo. I mean reeaallyy.

[NickFury90]

Aw man, I LOOOOVE Mojo. His zany dialog, his crazy ass Mojoverse, his assistant that insults him through verbose ten dollar words, all the movie references. Definitely one of my favorite X-Villains.

[CallMeGeoff]

Everyone else says some stuff, but we don't notice because of what Jean Grey is wearing.

HA!!!!

I, for one, loved the review. Thanks for helping!!!!


Aw man, I LOOOOVE Mojo. His zany dialog, his crazy ass Mojoverse, his assistant that insults him through verbose ten dollar words, all the movie references. Definitely one of my favorite X-Villains.

I have to agree, I love a good Mojo story. He's a great satire of spineless media moguls who just want the highest ratings. There are some god-awful Mojo stories, but the good ones are some of my favorites.

[WWWD]

Mojo's insanity is pure genius... especially in the original Longshot mini-series... his dialogue was so off the wall. I imagine all big wig TV executives to be like Mojo.

[Category1Games]

Man WWWD you did a great job with that review. The comedy in it just added to it, especially the Jean picture. It's a good thing Charles was sitting down when Jean was in the room.

[AstonishingXMan]

I broke my foot this weekend. :(

I love the current reviews!

Uncanny #284 tonight, we'll be caught up for the crossover. :)

WWWD - Good stuff! I hate Mojo. Every TV episode/comic with him feels like a childish cartoon. I mean, even in the X-Men Animated episode where he pairs of the X-Men, and Rogue & Beast fly into the sun, they don't "really" die so it's all a big clown joke of a story. Arcade is the same to me, although he seems to actually TRY to kill people. They just lack credibility.

The art is brilliant.

[WWWD]

I think they make for really fun villains. Arcade especially... I always get excited when there's a Murderworld issue.

[CallMeGeoff]

I broke my foot this weekend. :(

Sorry to hear that, man! Get well soon!!!!!

[Goshin]

I think they make for really fun villains. Arcade especially... I always get excited when there's a Murderworld issue.


What happened to those fun murderworld and mojoverse issues? Arcade showed up in the early issues of X-Factor. With Longshot and Shatterstar on that team I expect Mojo to show up within the next year or two down the road on some wild crazy PAD-style shit....... :cool:

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

X-Men #5 (February 1992)

Jim Lee/John Byrne

And so the issue begins with an attention-grabbing scene, as Cerebro throws a tantrum until it gets attention (much like my ex-girlfriend.... who was also a computer.) Forge is the first to run to it's calls... and then the cavalry arrives. Cyclops, Colossus, and Psylocke (who spends the entire year of 1992 in a bathing suit.) Cerebro has detected an unidentified mutant within 5 miles of the mansion!

Change the scene to the back of an ambulnce, where Beast, Gambit, Jubilee and Rogue are chained up. Gambit has an ace up his sleeve (literally), and charges a card that blows their way out of the ambulnce. We then get an awesome scene of Beast bursting through the back of the vehicle, and grabbing his capturer by the throat. Rogue takes a nasty blast, and goes "Outback" style, getting her outfit destroyed, like old times. The man who calls the shots says "Blow the witch out of the air!" (HOW DARE HE?!?!) The action starts to shift back into the baddies' favor, when... "Oh My Stars and Garters! " The rest of the blue team are swinging low, sweet chariot, hovering just above the ambulance, in the Blackbird. Piotr drops down into the ambulance, while Cyclops has a blast, taking out the driver. The sneaky villains blow the place up, just as Psylocke is detecting it and Colossus is left in the explosion. He emerges... being he's a badass and all. But wait... he has Wolverine's mask. The X-Men's awesomeness comes to an end, when Cyclops utters the phrase "Let's head back to the mansion, troops. We need Professor X!

Meanwhile, we cut to Omega Red and the man who is the best at what he does. And what he does is find unique ways to be nude. Jim Lee is not a fan of clothes.But who cares? The showdown between Wolvie & Red is going down. The battle is being viewed by an audience. This audience includes The von Strucker twins, Matsuo, Cornelius. Not an audience I could imagine viewing anything else... well, except maybe a snuff film. Andrea is the cruelest, wanting it to continue. Cornelius is obviously "that guy" who says it's enough... and Matsuo taunts him about his past with Weapon X. Just as Omega Red is about to deliver the finishing blow, Wolverine picks the perfect time for nostalgia. 30 years ago (?), in Berlin, Wolverine is on a mission with Creed .... and then the pain snaps him out of it.

He's being bound in a familiar room. A mysterious figure is reporting in to say that they have Logan, and there's no sign of Creed. Hmmmmmmm.... Wolverine is on display in front of this motley crew, and they're discussing something called a "Carbonadium Synthesizer" which Fenris wants for some reason. Oh... that's the reason. Immortaily and a new reich. How "90's" of you, Fraulein Strucker. And we learn that they are in competition with the Upstarts. But Why?

That question will have to wait, WWWD, because we cut back to the mansion, where a giant c.f. of muties gather together in the War Room. Xavier says he'll stay in psilink, while the Gold Team continues on their scheduled meeting with Emma Frost at the Hellfire Club. (I heard that went well, btw.) Everyone else says some stuff, but we don't notice because of what Jean Grey is wearing. But I think this is when the team is officially divided into Blue & Gold? Not sure if I missed it prior. But Storm smells a set up! Jubilee isn't on a team, which makes her say "paf," but Psylocke vouches for her. Xavier approves because of her experience with the Hand from before. Banshee says his goodbyes to Professor... well, he thinks them anyway. He agrees to go after Moira, and then Cyclops and Jean share a steamy kiss, before Jean says "We gots to talk about our future... (which wouldn't exist if Claremont was still here)" That's not verbatim. Charles is looking at a file that reads "Project Xavier" which intrigues me. I'm not familiar with this bit. Forge comes in, and the Prof quickly hides the file, much like he does Jean's picture, when she comes walking into his office unannounced.

Back in Berlin, the drugs are waring off on Logan... and he's starting to forget again. Omega Red is suggesting the two have a nasty past. The mysterious figure from earlier, reveals to himself as "Maverick" and says it's time to remix this party! The lights go out, and a couple of comic book sounds are made... and they come back on, Wolvie has the Carbonadium synthesizer in hand... and he's free. To quote Billy Madison... "Now You're all in big trouble." Omega Red suggests he surrender... and Wolverine does what we expect of him, and DOESN'T surrender. Wolverine runs into the hallway, where he bumps into a flashback of himself and Creed again. This time, we have a third member. And a lady. His memory of someone suggesting they jump ten stories... it applies to his present situation, and Logan escapes by pulling off some Evil Kaneivel stunts. Matsuo then shows who the balls of this outfit is... by getting in Omega Red's grill, and telling it like it is. Red grabs a hold of him, and his attitude is unwavering. Man, that Matsuo is hardcore.

Maverick gives Wolvie a breather, but he won't take it. He suggests Wolverine heal it off... but that Logan is always trying to get into more hijinks! An alarm goes off, as Remy, Rogue, and Betsy come down the halls. Maverick refers to them as the junior league... ouch. Yet Jubilee is on the 'heavy hitters'? Whatever... Cyclops and Beast are coming too.

This story had everything... action, some fleshing out of Wolverine's legendary past.... and Jean's dress. The only thing missing is....

Random Ending: Allison Blaire is moping about not remembering herself to Lila Cheney. Suddenly, Longshot crashes through the window, and gives her a smooch. Spiral is quick to follow, and from there on... just confusion. Lila teleports them out of there, and we end it with the World's most handsome spineless one on a television. Mojo! To Be Continued...

This was a pretty good issue. I liked the flashback sequences and was blown away to see that Logan and Sabretooth had worked together in the past. (Although the whole Logan/memory implants hadn't hit their peak.)

[Goshin]

i miss all those old pre-claws logan stories in comics, now that he's had the bone claws since he was 12....:mad:

[WWWD]

Post-Limerick X-Men From the Beginning is not going well....

I have to dig out the next issue, and kick myself to do another.

[Darth Pipes]

Question...was the Uncanny X-Men/New Teen Titans crossover from 1982 ever reviewed here?

[inferno]

Love these threads! I was devastated when Chris left the book. It was a different age and I didn't understand why nobody seemed to care. :confused:

Yeah, I began reading around issue 240 and collected back to 140 by this time.. had read most of the other earliest CC issues by then too... these just weren't my real x-men anymore... I think I finally gave up before X-MenV2 had reached the double digits... I had more copies of number 1 than issues 2-10 combined

[Darth Pipes]

The 140s seems to be a good starting point for X-Men as I recall. When I started collecting older X-Men issues, they seemed to get a little cheaper after the Dark Phoenix Saga.

[inferno]

I'm only now finally going back and getting copies of the "Classic X-Men" series from the 80s to fill in the pre-FuturePast stuff. Its like the DVD edition, with the extra scenes and back-up stories. Was any of that material covered in this thread?

[Darth Pipes]

I didn't read a lot of X-Men past #200 but I'm meaning to fix that. I've read 202, 204, 206, and 219 recently. Seems like an interesting time in X-Men history.

[Daniel Mengsk]

Post-Limerick X-Men From the Beginning is not going well....


Yeah! Were is that lazy bum anyway??

I might even do a review soon if he doesn't show up.

[limerick]

Ha,ha....smart-ass!I'm way behind on X-men.....I'll catch up in a few weeks --until then you're on your own!

[ECMAN88]

If nobody minds and posts that they mind by noon tomorrow....I'm gonna do a review of 284...just to get the ball rollin again

[ECMAN88]

If nobody minds I'd like to take over just uncanny x-men...would someone else like to handle adjectiveless X-men...that is until Limerick gets back into gea :)

[ECMAN88]

The Uncanny X-men vol.1 # 284: Into the Void

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/uncanny-x-men/284-20.jpg

Plot and Penciled by-Whilce Portacio
Inked by Art Thibert
Scripted by John Bryne
Lettered by Michael Heisler
Colored by Oliver/Rosas
Edited by Bob Harras
Editor-In-Chief- Tom DeFalco
Assisted by Scott Williams and Karl Alstaetter

1st Appearance: Predators, Sunfire's new costume

This issue begins at the Sakhalin Islands off the eastern coast of Siberia, Russia. Hiro Yashida, Sunfire, is present with some people under his employ. Talking to the man behind him Sunfire complains that the new suit he has on is considerably less comfortable than his previous attire, and asks whether it will work as planned. The man, Kobiashi, assures Sunfire that his powers will be enhanced by the new suit, but that he will need to test it to be sure. Sunfire turns to the rest of his audience which includes basically a Sunfire groupie, and some Russian men.

We learn that the Russians sent for the Japanese because of a local anomaly on the island, which at the time looks to be just a big crater in the ground. After some petty nationalistic fighting with the Russians, Sunfire vamps up his new suit and everyone learns that it truly does work, for even with suits designed to keep out the energy he gives off…the rest of the team is blinded.

Sunfire then blasts 100 percent of his energy into the crater/void, and as his men are watching they realize that the void is creating an energy frequency that matches Sunfire’s. Seconds later the void returns fire on Yashida and sends him flying into the air. Yashida’s men make the prophetic observation that the void is still gaining power…and changing shape!!!

We now switch our scene to the Blackbird, where the X-men: Gold Team members, Forge, and Professor Xavier, along with a comatose Emma Frost, are currently meeting after the events from last issue. They discuss the wounds the Colossus had taken (including a voice altering nose injury), and the ordeal that Jean went through when she escaped into the White Queen’s mind. The Prof is worried and wants to analyze the situation more, but Jean explains that she can’t be any clearer about what happened (using an analogy of describing color to a blind person).

Storm interrupts with some dialogue wondering whether Frost could have pulled the same maneuver. Prof X says that he didn’t feel Frost die on the psychic plane, and that she very well may have. This gives Forge and Iceman some disconcerting thoughts as they realize that there were hundreds of people at the convention where the Sentinels attacked, any one of them being possible hosts to the White Queen. Jean and Xavier scan the White Queen’s body to double check, when all of a sudden the X-men receive Sunfire’s distress call.

Back at the Sakhalin Islands, we find Sunfire lamenting the fact that his powers were turned against him, but he then claims that it will not happen a second time. Once again putting all his power into the void, he gets blasted again, and coming out of the void are three creatures who look very similar to the predator in the movie Predator. One of the “Predators” captures and contains a weakened Sunfire, about to go for the kill. Suddenly the creature stops appearing to be hit by some unknown force as Archangel, Storm, and Jean fly onto the scene.

Archangel is the first to take on a “Predator”, warning the villain not to judge his powers until after taking him on. The Predator clamps his legs on the ground to ruin Warren’s advantage of flight, and throws the shocked Angel onto the ground. Before he can do Archangel any harm however, Jean interferes psychically saving Warren, but is then blasted by a Predator from behind. The Blackbird enters the scene, firing wildly as a distraction to the Predators as Colossus drops down from above. Falling and hitting the Predator on target, while another Predator blasts Colossus unawares, catching him by surprise. The Predators decide to retreat while Sunfire flies in and rescues Colossus from the fray.

Not wanting the Predators to push forward after their retreat, Storm commands Iceman to create a wall to keep them back, speculating that there are many questions to be answered.

Professor Xavier, and Forge do another flyby in the Blackbird and shoot out non-lethal concussive missiles at the void. The Predators in an effort to protect the void even at the cost of their own lives shoot at the missiles until they explode close by.

One of the Predators suits begin to act up, and blows up before the Predator can turn on the cooling dampers. Revealed to be a teenage girl, the Predator collapses on the ground. The X-men and Sunfire quickly come to the aid of the girl, with Jean trying to read her complex alien mind. The girl quickly warns the team that they created the mechanism for Earth’s destruction, and explains that they weren’t trying to protect the void from the X-men, but that she was protecting the X-men from the void. As the void implodes, a suction force seemingly sucks in all the X-men, taking Storm in last to an unknown fate.

The scene shifts to the Blackbird where Professor X and Forge watch the implosion unfold. Forge reveals that the void is a black hole and asks Xavier for confirmation of the X-men being alive, which Xavier cannot give.

The scene shifts to an unknown place…possibly Canada…where three prisoner refugees from the future enter a cabin house. The three had apparently killed the inhabitants of the cabin. Bishop, Randall, and Malcolm finally catch up to the three targeting them from afar. After watching them for a while, Bishop and his men confront them face-to-face asking them to surrender, which they do not. Bishop and his team end up having to kill the lawbreakers by firing their laser guns from the future.

Afterwards Bishop and his men investigate the cabin to find a ton of dead bodies like they found at the Harmony Base, with no discrimination in killing whatsoever…men, women and children are found. Bishop then states that they have not idea how many Fitzroy let out of prison, into the past, but that he, Malcolm, and Randall must be as cold as they are in order to find and destroy the threat to Earth’s current time period.

FIN

[limerick]

Nice!!....Good summary,ECMAN88......'X-Men from the beginning' is back up and running......I'm finding it hard to catch up because my life in the 'real' world is so busy right now but thanks for keeping this baby going!

[limerick]

If nobody minds I'd like to take over just uncanny x-men...would someone else like to handle adjectiveless X-men...that is until Limerick gets back into gea :)


Ha,ha.....I'm back on Wolverine and Alpha Flight,Nate Grey's on X-Force,now you've picked up Uncanny......Maybe some brave soul could tackle Adjective-less.....(And Excalibur!)

[nate-grey]

Ha,ha.....I'm back on Wolverine and Alpha Flight,Nate Grey's on X-Force,now you've picked up Uncanny......Maybe some brave soul could tackle Adjective-less.....(And Excalibur!)

It takes a village sometimes :tongue:

[ECMAN88]

I will probably only review one comic a week (probably on Wednesday)then, and after I review Uncanny X-men # 186 I'll probably start reviewing adjectiveless X-men # 6 and alternate from there unless someone else volunteers to do it...so untill wednesday...excelsior!!!

[ECMAN88]

The Uncanny X-men vol.1 # 285: “Down the Rabbit Hole”




http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/uncanny-x-men/285-1.jpg



Presented by Stan Lee
Plot and Pencils by Whilce Portacio
Co-Plotting by Jim Lee
Script by John Bryne
Finishing by Art Thibert
Lettering by Tom Orzechowski
Coloring by Joe Rosas
Editing by Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief- Tom DeFalco

The issue starts off with some narrative dialogue, while showing the current plight of only Jean Grey, the “alien girl” and Colossus, with the gravitational force of the void separating the other X-men GT and Sunfire to whereabouts unknown....which is verbalized by Colossus. Colossus sees that they have landed in a tropical jungle, and at once asks the girl who originally came from this side of the void where they are. Using her telepathy, Jean senses that the girl is totally unconscious, and also senses an attack squad surrounding them. The squad of people notes that the two have “killed the primate” (the girl) and decide that Jean and Colossus are to be destroyed. Jean notes that the squad’s weapons seem particularly nasty, but that they can’t stop her from using her psychic blasts from taking down the soldiers. One soldier notes that she can only attack them one at a time and punches her lights out from behind. The soldiers the try to take the primate girl back to their base for medical attention. Colossus goes in to save Jean, but the soldiers quickly take note and blast him stating that they want to keep Jean alive, but that Colossus is to big of a risk and must be killed. Colossus is blasted by the four soldiers’ weapons, and in his already weakened state, is easily taken down. Exhausted Colossus begins to change back into his human form, and the soldiers, shocked that his metallic form is composed of human skin, suddenly look at Peter’s face with even greater shock. Supposedly Colossus’s arrival inside the void seems to fulfill one of the prophecies the people inside the void have.

We shift our scene over to a desert region of the void where we find Storm passed out. After some narration, we see a stranger walk up to Storm, pick her up, and cradle her back to his hut. After returning to his hut, the man offers Storm some food and drink, Storm takes it reluctantly assuming that it has been drugged. The man then says that if he wanted Storm dead it would have been more efficient to leave her out in the desert. Storm notes that the man’s food is delicious yet foreign to her, to which he then offers her some wine. The man then goes into detail about how he acquires the fruit for the wine, while then asking Storm how she came to the desert, asking whether she had been a part of a caravan. After hearing her answer about being sucked through the portal, the man becomes noticeably agitated exclaiming that breaching the portal could bring destruction from people on both sides of the portal.

Our scene shifts once more to a battle between the indigenous peoples who live on the other side of the void. After some narrative dialogue describing that the reasons for this war should not be judged by us, nor should we choose a side between these alien races, we suddenly see Archangel appear among the soldiers of one side. One soldier exclaims that the “angel of death” is upon them, while another thinks that its some kind of tricks and orders several others to blow him from the sky. We then see Archangel attack all of the soldiers and murder them all with his wings, and the knife darts that shoot out of his wings. We then view Archangels face up close and learn that he was unconscious the whole time, and that his metallic wings acted of their own accord while he was asleep. Waking up Archangel finds the dead bodies and recants what happened with the portal and wonders what happened to the dead soldiers surrounding him. The soldiers from the other side of the battle approach him with shouts of his being their savior. Confused, Warren is then told that although he is currently but a stranger to the soldiers, he will be forever known as the author of that days victory. Warren asks how this can be, but deep down he knows…and fears that the wings of Apocalypse have a mind of their own.

We then turn to the fate of Bobby Drake, and Sunfire who appear to have crashed through the roof of somebody’s bar. The owner of the bar runs up to them and starts interrogating them as to what is going on. Making a jest remark Bobby comments that they apparently didn’t land in an X-Men fan club meeting, to which Sunfire says Drake has understated the obvious. One of the angry patrons then grabs Bobby and threatens to patch the roof with his hid to which Drake makes another snide remark regarding the patrons breath being bad enough to tan his hide, also stating that it would take more than that patron has to make good on his threat. The patron then takes out a night calling what he thinks is Bobby’s bluff.

We then turn back to the desert where we find Storm talking about how the heat is beyond even her power to manipulate the weather, and asks the man who helped her if it would not be better if they waited for nightfall. The begins to explain the dire circumstances that they are in by telling her that the fact that she landed so far away from the portal means that the void is growing in size, which also means that they must take quick action in order to seal the portal. Storm then suggests that they find the rest of her team of X-men, since they would be better able to deal with the portal’s threat together. The man then tells her that the Earth’s getting sucked in with this new world would be cataclysmic since the mutual gravitational attraction would destroy both worlds entirely. Storm pridefully tells the man of the X-Men’s past menaces, and the man replies that if pride alone could stop the seal than Storm wouldn’t even need the rest of the team. Storm then asks the man’s origins to which he tells her that he is both known as a legend and a curse depending on who she asks. She then proceeds to tell him that she will find out for herself since she has also been known to be both.

Back in the tropical area of this world, we find Jean and Colossus being taken to the soldiers’ lair. The soldiers rush the two in hopes the Colossus, their “savior”, will be able to rescue them from the portal. Peter and Jean have a psychic conversation with Peter stating that he is uncomfortable with the peoples talk of his being their savior, and the great amount of hope placed in him can easily be turned. Jean then makes the observation that being the savior is all they have in their favor, and sees that the people who greet them also seem to find Peter to be more than just flesh. Peter is surprised to get a heroes welcome by the group of people they meet up with. Jean then tells Peter not to say anything until she scans the people’s minds to figure out the kinds of words, phrases, and actions that they expect from him, and tells him that if he goes along with it, he might come to like the favor of the crowd. Peter then tells her that he finds that he already does.

Back at the tavern we find that Bobby and Shiro (Sunfire) have dealt with the angry patron and their gang with ease, stating that it was good to deal with a fightable threat after their ordeal with the void. Sunfire then states that it was better to fight with Bobby then against him like during his first encounter with the X-men, to which Bobby reminds him that Sunfire was an X-men for a short while in the past. They then hear the town crier talk about the return of the savior, and that the savior has returned to not be just mere flesh, but is also said to have a metallic armor form as well. The two men easily deduce this to be Colossus.

We then switch gears to see Archangel being greeted by the Princess of the other side of the wars soldiers at their lair. They call themselves the Triumvirate, and the Princess congratulates Archangel on his conduct in battle. Warren then tries to tell her that it wasn’t all that she thinks it was, to which she says she is proud of the reports she heard of the ferocity that Archangel had shown against her enemies. The princess then goes on to say that that Warren is the new protector general of her lands and people, and talks about how Archangel came from the same world as the man known as the great betrayer who had slain both of her parents. A man comes running into the room with news from the south that the great betrayer has returned, the princess then gives Archangel the task of leading her men in this war against the great betrayer and his people.

Jean is shown to be in conversation with the primate girl who is explaining the other side of the same war and that it has been a war that has lasted generations. She explains to Jean that Peter is their champion who has posed under many names including messiah. Jean then explains that if the Primate’s cause is truly just then she has allies who would be willing to help. Jean then finds herself blocked on her visit to Colossus’ headquarters where he is surrounded by at least six different women. After an embarrassing dialogue between Jean and Peter about his Hugh Hefner bit, they go on to talk about hunting the rest of the missing X-Men down. It is at this time that Ororo and the mystery man walk into the room, the mystery man instantly recognizes Jean from Storm’s description, but also recognizes Colossus as well, saying that his face has changed since last they met. The man then unveils his hood and says that there should be remnant enough of his face left for Peter to recognize his own brother…TBC.

[ECMAN88]

The scene then switches to Trish Tilby’s new reporting a “mutant massacre” from the dead inmates that Bishop and his team were hunting from the future. The crowd however thinks that the dead gang members killers were actually the X-men rather than Bishop’s team, since their outfits have X’s on them which are supposed to show that they are Xavier’s Security Enforcers ( I think). Bishop and his men are surprised to see the Xenophobia that the crowd shows towards all mutantkind and Bishop states that although they didn’t plan on being trapped in the past, this is their opportunity to make sure that their super dystopian future never truly happens.

[nate-grey]

I just read the past two issues for the first time. I somehow seemed to have missed them when growing up, probably because I always found the Blue Team to be cooler. However, I think I may have made a mistake after reading these because I really enjoyed them. Silvestri's art was incredible and very fun. His Storm is probably the best I've seen (he even makes that getup with the blue cape look cool). For the first time in years I actually find myself liking Jean; she has a dry wit and attitude in these issues that is great. She's not just Cyclops arm candy anymore! I actually feel really bad for Archangel, it's like he's slipping slowly toward madness and can do nothing to stop it. Hell, even Sunfire is cool in these issues. Can't wait to read more and see how this story ends.

[ECMAN88]

I don't know if its just me, but everytime I read this current storyarc, I always think that it has a lot in common with the "Judegement Day" original X-Factor storyarc. The team gets seperated, and the local people put different team members on different sides, so they end up clashing eventually.

[AstonishingXMan]

I'm gonna drop an in issue summary for Uncanny. I think after I did the mid 200's and the Jim Lee run I got burned out from being spoiled with Lee's art.

Glad to see this thing being kept alive!

[MartinRedmond]

Here are my reviews:

UXM 281-283

Dozens of teenagers are murdered in cold blood in front of the X-Men. The X-Men never express any concern or intervene because they're total assholes. Storm gets very upset once a new mutant called Bishop doesn't obey her.

Grade: D-

UXM 284-87

The X-Men go through a portal in what is the crappiest saturday morning crap plot imaginable.

Grade: Absolute Trash

[AstonishingXMan]

Pretty accurate!

As a kid, the Uncanny team couldn't be more unlikeable to me.

- Jean and Storm both came off as "moms"
- Colossus was a crybaby
- Iceman was cool
- Archangel didn't relate to anyone and just brooded.

I'd grow to like the characters more but when you compare that to Cyclops, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, etc. all being on ONE TEAM, I think it was a little too one-sided.

[MartinRedmond]

I wondered if there was some editorial mandate against Storm and Jean at the time. They came off as moms but not the good kind of moms. The ones who did everything wrong to get on my nerves.

Jean was this annoying chastity enforcer. 9___9 Colossus nearly got some action so Jean intervened for no good reason. 9__9 and then she broke off Storm and Forge so they wouldn't have any.

She let Tarot be murdered twice before her. :/ She fainted all the time. 9____9

[AstonishingXMan]

http://cache.coverbrowser.com/image/uncanny-x-men/286-17.jpg

The Uncanny X-Men #286

Close Call!
by
Whilce Portacio (Plot & Pencils) and Jim Lee (Plot & Covert Art)

Colossus is shocked and overjoyed at the sight of his long thought dead brother - Mikhail Rasputin. Mikhail explains that his "space launch death" was staged to keep his status as a mutant cosmonaut a secret from the United States. Mikhail, who can warp energy and reality, went to the Sakhalin Islands on a mission to enter The Void and barely survived. He found the world inside The Void ruled by a powerful family and he was nursed to health by Tra-Mai-A-Zath, the beautiful daughter of The Avatar, the ruler of Mikhail's new world. Mikhail married her and things seemed great...

Until Mikhail found a graveyard of ships and submarines, past victims of the Void (and subsequently, The Avatar). Mikhail led a revolt and set forth to close The Void, but in doing so released the portal's energy and killed everyone - including his beloved wife. Now, Mikhail carries that burden and won't use his powers to close the reopened Void!

A government dude sucked into a new world where he falls in love with one of their own but leads to dying and wait...and the king is called The AVATAR? James Cameron reading this issue?

Professor X and Forge are flying over the Sakhalin Islands back on Earth. The Void is growing and little "Voids" are popping up all over Earth! Oh no.

Colossus and Mikhail argue as Piotr explains the true pain and suffering that he has endured in life as an X-Man, and is sick of Mikhail's cowardice. Jean has never seen Piotr act this way before.

Meanwhile, at The (NEW) Avatar's fortress, the mind-controlled Archangel easily overwhelms her Posse Comitatus (that sounded really dirty) in a training session. Warren can tell that something is "off" in his mind as he kills the Avatar's entire guard. The beautiful woman kisses Warren, strengthening her mind control over him, with Warren being her ultimate weapon to take down Mikhail Rasputin for killing her family. The new Avatar is the daughter of the first.

Storm consoles Colossus, whose home country is crumbling and brother has proved a coward. He doesn't know what to believe in anymore.

It's time for the big battle as The Avatar's Posse Comitatus, led by Archangel, comes to blows with the Rebel Army, helped by Jean Grey, Storm, and Colossus. Colossus is particularly brutal in his attacks. Archangel takes out Jean Grey, but he himself is caught off-guard by Iceman & Sunfire, who seem to jar his mind free of The Avatar's mind control.

When Colossus is shot down, Mikhail springs into action, but the mental attack of The Avatar is too much for him. The battle is interrupted by The Void, which is massively growing in size! Mikhail knows he must once again try to close the portal. This time, however, he has the combined abilities of the X-Men to aid him in his attempt. Finally, the Void is closed and the team is spit back on Earth, with Mikhail barely surviving the process. Colossus tells him they have a sister, and Mikhail wonders how often they have these sort of adventures.

END.

THOUGHTS:

This was drawn very nicely but yikes, to me the story was very dull, the result of the most generic "alternate world" story possible and little to no chemistry between the X-Men Gold Team.

Sunfire and Iceman teamed up a bit. Again, rather pedestrian/cliche "fire and ice / opposites working together" lines here.

We get the first full story of Mikhail Rasputin and where he's been.

Colossus fall from grace and lack of faith in humanity begins here. The return of Mikhail to his life will be both a blessing and then one of several major catalysts in his change of attitude.

BONUS:

Teasers from Bob Harras in the "X-MAIL" Letters Pages:

- Forge & Storm's relationship could be tested by Bishop's arrival.
- Bishop is joining the team.
- Archangel still lacks total control of his wings.

Okay, not the best of hints this month.

REPRINTED IN:

X-Men: The Coming of Bishop TPB.

[AstonishingXMan]

The next issue, #287, is arguably one of the most important and BEST "X-Men" issues for several years, sparking a question that would rage on during the height of the X-Men's popularity...

WHO IS THE X-TRAITOR?

Oh, and John Romita Jr. is back! Well, just for one issue but he HAD to do this issue.

[AstonishingXMan]

The Uncanny X-Men #287

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/4/31937-3092-35583-1-uncanny-x-men-the_super.jpg

"Bishop To King's Five!"
by
Jim Lee (Plot)
Scott Lobdell (Script)
John Romita, Jr. (Pencils)

The time-displaced X.S.E. trio of Bishop, Malcolm, and Randall wage a full-on assault against the criminals who jumped to the past with them back in issue #282. Wait...is that JUBILEE running from the club on Page 3? Check it out. The media has a field day with these "X-Men" brutally shooting down their foes, who are led by Styglut. The X-Men Gold Team take action and head to the local night club where all the action is, unhappy with Bishop's methods. Mikhail Rasputin is said to be recovering at the Mansion from last issue's injuries.

Malcolm & Randall are overwhelmed with fire from the future criminals and killed in action. Just then, the Gold Team shows up and gets into a fight with Bishop, complete with Colossus delivering a KO punch when sends him flying into another room! Bishop is impaled by a piece of debris, but still persues Styglut into the night to avenge his fallen partners. Critically wounded, Bishop blacks out. The Gold Team notices that Bishop was actually trying to protect them, not fight them.

Bishop has flashbacks about the night he was lost in time. Complete with the line "I don't give a FLYING SNIKT about politics, Randall!" We learn that the X.S.E. was formed after an emancipation (of mutants & humans, likely) as a way for mutants to police themselves. As they chase him, Trevor Fitzroy stumbles upon a trap door and climbs down into a large chamber of a rather familiar looking area. Malcolm dispatches a power-neutralizing collar (called the "Forge-3000") and the X.S.E. have caught their man.

But the X.S.E. stand speechless as the image of Jean Grey appears on a giant overhead screen. In the pursuit of Fitzroy, they've stumbled upon the War Room of the legendary X-Men! Jean Grey is desperate for help, proclaiming the X-Men have been betrayed by one of their own and that Professor X was the first to die. She is the only one left and her powers have been shut down. Her transmission ends as she is burned up in a pink energy blast by the unseen traitor, one the X-Men "knew so little about" and "should never have trusted." Hmmm. Only one person currently on the team fits that description.

Bishop's next memory is a visit to The Pool, a security prison in the future Manhattan. He has come to see The Witness, once called LeBeau, an aged mutant who is rumored to be the last person to see the X-Men alive. The Witness already knows why Bishop is here. And he does not answer the question of who betrayed the X-Men, nor whether the person was ever brought to justice. Bishop is forced to leave by his bodyguard, Shackle.

Bishop returns to the X.S.E. prison, where Fitzroy has siphoned the life force of a rat and then numerous X.S.E. officers to open a gigantic time portal! He has freed hundreds of criminals, who are all escaping through the portal with him. The X.S.E. trio enter the portal, and we saw what happened in issue #282-283 because of it.

Meanwhile, back in the present, Bishop awakens at the X-Men Mansion, surrounded by the Gold Team. His injuries have been dressed and Charles Xavier speaks with him privately. Twenty minutes later, Charles and Bishop greet the Gold Team, with Xavier introducing Bishop as the newest member of the X-Men!

END.

THOUGHTS:

Now THIS is Uncanny X-Men. Probably the best issue of the book since #275, if not better.

I really enjoyed the dialogue provided by Scott Lobdell. It felt witty, fresh, and less dull & cliche than many issues prior.

John Romita, Jr. is back! From the very first page, where he draws THE definitive image of Bishop (to me, at least) his artwork is absolutely mesmorizing. He was born to draw this book. Whilce Portacio's artwork had a lot to live up to with his replacing Jim Lee, and while it was okay to me, guys like Lee and Romita, Jr. are just in a different level. This book was such a major step up from the past several issues. Outstanding writing and amazing art. A+.

MILESTONES:

Bishop officially joins the X-Men.

And so begins the long saga of "The X-Traitor"...with all clues seemingly pointing to Gambit. Pink energy blast? Check. A mysterious person the team knows little about? Check. And a guy in a trench coat named "LeBeau" that is the last to see them? Check. This story would heat up big-time and be a MAJOR overhanging storyline for years to come. The "don't trust Gambit" bandwagon would get huge soon after this issue.

Malcolm and Randall, Bishop's two X.S.E. partners from the future, are killed.

REPRINTED IN:

X-Men: The Coming of Bishop TPB.

[nate-grey]

Just finished reading the last two issues and had some thoughts:

286
-I loved the interactions between Colossus and Mikhail. It was a very cathartic reunion starting with joy/relief, then anger and dissapointment, followed by remorse and guilt, ending with pride and redemption. Very well written and a lot to fit in one issue.
-With that out of the way, the alternate reality story was a little bland. It was well suited for Portacio and probably wouldn't have worked without his art (which seemed to be less characteristic toward the second half, I think he was only doing breakdowns with Thibert doing finishes).
-I love the line about Illyana at the end. It's always fun when the X-Men poke fun at their own convulted history.

287
-Where was Mikhail this issue? I thought he would at least be acknowledged.
-Love issues set in the future, wish there were more Bishop timeline issues. Never read any of the Bishop and XSE mini-series. Anybody know if they were worth picking up?
-So Malcolm's mutant power is the ability to detect the presence of humans? Strange.
-What was up with the two scantly clad women in front of Gambit in the future, and why did they look so shamed? What was "Old Man Gambit up to? Hey, that could be a mini-series, somebody call Mark Millar!
-While the idea of the X-Men rising to almost religious standards in the future is cool, I cannot endorse any religion that has a book of proverbs based on the rantings of Hank McCoy.
-Most people always assumed that all the signs pointed toward Gambit being the X-Traitor, however I always assumed it was Bishop. A new member sporting energy blasts that they didn't know much about? Given Bishop's violent tendencies and disenfranchisement with the X-Men of legend, he could easily match this description as well. That would also explain Gambit's reluctance to discuss the issue with him. I do love their confrontation in X-Men #8.

[AstonishingXMan]

Where was Mikhail this issue? I thought he would at least be acknowledged.

He was. It was said he was at mansion recovering from his injuries.


-Love issues set in the future, wish there were more Bishop timeline issues. Never read any of the Bishop and XSE mini-series. Anybody know if they were worth picking up?

I enjoyed the first BISHOP series (with DELUXE, cardstock cover! Oooh! Foil logo! Wow! And slick, glossy paper!). He tracks down Mountjoy, the last survivor of the future criminals, and it's got wonderful artwork by Carlos Pacheco.

Agreed, Bishop becoming what he swears to protect (The X-Traitor) was to me, the only other option besides Gambit. It was what I was hoping for, Bishop going NUTS after Age of Apocalypse. Sigh.

[AstonishingXMan]

Last issue:

Bishop’s two partners Malcolm & Randall were gunned down & killed. Professor X welcomed Bishop to the X-Men, as the time-displaced X.S.E. member recalled memories of his future, including a mysterious traitor that destroys the team…

And now...

THE UNCANNY X-MEN #288

http://www.comicmegastore.com/images/uncanny-x-men-1981/the-uncanny-x-men-comic-288.jpg

“Time and Place”
by
Jim Lee & Whilce Portacio (Plot)
John Byrne & Scott Lobdell (Script)
Andy Kubert (Penciller)

Uh oh, “fill in issue” time…by eventual X-Men artist Andy Kubert, so that works. And this is a total "nothing happens" issue in every sense of the word, except for a few, tiny plots hinted at.

Archangel, Colossus, and Iceman goof around by tackling Cyclops and Beast when they’re offguard. Cyclops reacts like a cold leader and gets called out for it. He needs to lighten up. Jean Grey overhears Cyclops stuttering when Iceman mentions Psylocke’s good looks, maybe a clue…by the way, this has taken place just after the Omega Red storyline of X-Men vol.2

Professor X puts Bishop through a Danger Room session, one which Bishop has trouble hanging with. He is still in awe to be meeting and shaking hands with the X-Men, the legends of his timeline. Bishop wants Storm to take him to New York, to help him fit in. His whole life has been a “Danger Room” session, afterall.

In New Jersey, Opal Tanaka is a letter written in Japanese as she is surprised by Iceman, who brings her flowers. Who could be writing her…

Meanwhile, Archangel listens to messages on his answering machine from Charlotte Jones, who misses her boyfriend. He repeats to himself that he is Warren, not an Angel of Death.

It’s a night on the town for: Colossus, Jean Grey, Mikhail Rasputin (or is that Forge?), Storm, Bishop, Iceman, Jubilee, and Opal Tanaka.

Bishop explains that Fitzroy freed 93 prisoners from his timeline, all who have been killed except for Styglut, who is walking right in front of him with two women! Styglut kills the women and drains them to power his bio-electric blasts, and a battle with Bishop ensues. Styglut was a convicted killer in Bishop’s time (killing 300 humans & a dozen X.S.E. officers) and Bishop plans to execute him. Storm and the X-Men stop Bishop from dealing a death blow, as Storm makes it clear that the rules in this time are different:

“THE X-MEN DO NOT KILL!”

Storm explains that the X-Men are protectors whose first priority is the safety of those involved in dangerous situations. All of the damage and civilian injury ‘caused in New York City tonight is because of Bishop’s intent to kill Styglut.

Back at the Mansion, Bishop has a Danger Room session and thinks about the differences in his timeline and this one. He then enters Storm’s bedroom and admits she was right. Bishop tosses his X.S.E. command insignia to Storm, as he is no longer a leader and has much to learn from her.

END.

THOUGHTS:

Is that Forge or Mikhail Rasputin with the team when they go to New York? It's a BIG dude, which makes me think Mikhail. Also, he is standing next to Storm & Bishop who have their arms locked...Forge certainly wouldn't be apart of that scene!

We never really see what happens to Styglut, just that he isn't killed.

Andy Kubert, some people think he's okay, some people LOVE his work. I am in the "It's okay" boat, myself. For a "fill in" he is far-and-away over the usual slop that a one-off artist often delivers. I grew up with his art on X-Men vol.2 and liked it a lot. But following Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, and John Romita Jr. I have to say that Kubert's art here is certainly a contrast in styles.

Let's get Bishop's head into the "floating head" box, Marvel!

Archangel is brooding a lot. Didn't go out with the team and is convincing himself that he is a man. Dude has some issues.

MILESTONES:

Nothing really.

[nate-grey]

Last issue:
Andy Kubert, some people think he's okay, some people LOVE his work. I am in the "It's okay" boat, myself. For a "fill in" he is far-and-away over the usual slop that a one-off artist often delivers. I grew up with his art on X-Men vol.2 and liked it a lot. But following Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, and John Romita Jr. I have to say that Kubert's art here is certainly a contrast in styles.

It was interesting to see Andy's art with Bill S. inking. I'm not normally an Andy Kubert fan, but I did like the combination.

[MartinRedmond]

This is a total "nothing happens" issue in every sense of the word

You should've kept your review at that.


“THE X-MEN DO NOT KILL!”
Right! They just stand by doing jack until another X-Man tries to intervene. THEN it's time to do something. 9___9

[AstonishingXMan]

Storm in SUPER MOM mode, totally. Maybe she isn't getting any from Forge. Actually, I think that sort-of plays into the next couple of issues...

And Jean Grey playing the "Is he cheating on me?" mom role.

Ugh. As I said before, when I was a kid and started reading X-Men at this time totally viewed Storm and Jean as the "old ladies" on the team.

[AstonishingXMan]

PREVIOUSLY:
The X-Men and newbie Bishop go out on the town! Bishop kills the last criminal from his future! Storm yells at Bishop!

http://www.comicmegastore.com/images/uncanny-x-men-1981/the-uncanny-x-men-comic-289.jpg

The Uncanny X-Men #289

"Knots"
by
Scott Lobdell (Writer)
and
Whilce Portacio (Penciller)

Storm gives Bishop his official X-Men orientation and finds that Bishop's conversation skills are quite lackluster. Bishop seems to be quite smitten, in fact, with the "goddess" who is now his team leader.

Meanwhile, Iceman tells Forge, who is burying himself in work, that he needs to get out more. Outside the Mansion, Jean Grey and Professor X have a talk about their sacrifices to follow Xavier's dream.

Meanwhile, outside the home of Iceman's parents, Hiro (the guy that kidnapped Iceman's girlfriend about 16 issues ago in X-Factor) is staking out the place by hiding in a tree. He knocks out a police officer when he is spotted. There is an urgent matter he is here to address...

Archangel continues to brood about his transformation into a blue-skinned angel of death, until he sees the old-version of himself! The retro-Angel actually gives Warren some good advice, to get over his transformation and live his life the way he once did. Archangel is enraged and attacks...as the retro-Angel shape shifts to reveal it was really Mystique, who has been staying at the Mansion since Wolverine #52.

We learn that Forge is jealous of the attention Storm has been paying to Bishop. There's a major coloring mistake as Storm is depicted in black & white on Page 17. Come on! Storm & Bishop scold Mystique for trying to play psychiatrist with Warren, which leads Forge to come to her defense. We get a GREAT scene as Bishop refers to Forge (who is an inactive X-Man) as an "underling" and Forge flips out, explaining he is here to help Xavier, not be an X-Men hanger-on.

Forge then flips out on Storm and calls her selfish. Mystique just looks on and the carnage she has inadvertently unleashed on the team. Forge and Storm talk, with Forge expressing his frustrations at not having alone time with her since the X-Men reformed. He questions whether she truly loves him and quite frankly, comes off as pretty annoying boyfriend here. Forge then tells Storm he knows of the woman inside of her, apart from the hero she feels entitled to be. He wants to take her away from the superheroics and then, to her surprise, Forge proposes!

Meanwhile, Iceman is taking Opal Tanaka out to meet his parents for the first time. Problem is, one of those parents is Bobby's racist father! Things start out horribly and to make things worse, we have the arrival of Hiro. But he's not here to fight, rather to rescue the Drakes and Opal? Just then, five Cyburai warriors (like the ones from the X-Factor story) teleport into mid-air and declare that Iceman's parents must die!

END.

THOUGHTS:
For the second straight month, a major "downtime" issue as nothing happens. At all. Some talking at the mansion... some talking at a restaurant... the end. I suppose Forge's proposal and glaring unhappiness are the key issues here.

The end of this issue read like a parody of a superhero comic. "IN ORDER FOR VENGEANCE TO BE EXACTED --- ROBERT DRAKE'S PARENTS MUST DIE!" Really, Lobdell? That's the cliffhanger here.

I believe this would be Scott Lobdell's first issue scripting the book, and other than the cheesy conclusion I thought it was pretty good. Bishop's accidental rude comment to Forge was funny (and set up well with Bishop's people skills being questioned), and he definitely gave Forge a voice, albeit a rather whiny one.

I thought the art here was unique and pretty cool. The panels jumped all over the page. To me, it was a step up from Andy Kubert's art the month before.

MILESTONES:
None.

REPRINTED IN:
None.

NEXT ISSUE:
The fate of Iceman's parents! Some news on Mikhail Rasputin!

[AstonishingXMan]

PREVIOUSLY:

Forge proposed to Storm! Iceman introduced Opal Tanaka to his folks...but the Cyburai show up!

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/uncanny-x-men/290-1.jpg

The Uncanny X-Men #290

"Frayed"
by
Scott Lobdell (Writer)
and
Whilce Portacio (Penciller)

Colossus and his headache-plagued brother Mikhail Rasputin prepare for an upcoming trip to Russia to visit their family. Mikhail is bothered by flashbacks of how his mutant powers killed everyone inside the world of The Void. Mikhail seems to have a dark side...as he secretly transforms an innocent man into a tree!

A jubilant Storm flies in the air, wondering if she should take Jean Grey's advice to accept Forge's proposal.

Meanwhile, as Forge finishes repairing the Blackbird, he lashes out at Jean Grey, begging her to use her telepathic powers to read Storm's thoughts and reveal her decision on the proposal. Forge must know if Storm truly loves him, but Jean says it isn't her place to say. Forge takes Jean's refusal to answer as all he needs to know...

Iceman & Hiro continue to battle the Cyburai, who reveals Tatsuo has sent them to kill Iceman's parents in revenge for the clan being trashed 30 issues ago in X-Factor. During the fight, Hiro reveals that his feelings for Opal Tanaka caused him to change his ways. Iceman takes Opal away to safety, but not before Hiro, in Japanese, tells her his feelings.

Outside the Mansion, Bishop and Mystique have a heated debate in the rain. Bishop brings up Mystique's odd behavior since Destiny died. Mystique shape shifts into Bishop's fallen X.S.E. partner Randall and taunts him. Forge comes to Mystique's aid before a fight ensues, explaining how she is mentally unstable and slowly losing her very identity.

As Iceman and Opal flee the restaurant, Hiro initiates a self-destruct mechanism that incinerates the building, the Cyburai, and himself. Opal, in tears, says Iceman doesn't understand the honor in Hiro's sacrifice.

Storm finds Forge...who is packed and announces he is leaving with Mystique. Forge then emotionally cripples Storm, calmly revealing that she is still a child inside and has replaced the debris that once buried her with a new weight - the responsibilities of being the leader of the X-Men. Wow. As Forge walks away, Storm, on the ground & in tears, sobs that she was going to accept his proposal. Bishop looks on.

END.

THOUGHTS:

I'm guessing Scott Lobdell was digging Beverly Hills 90210 back in 1992. Forge may well be the biggest asshole in X-Men history here! He politely tears Storm in half here, telling her she'll forever be a cold, emotionless child who is no more mature than Jubilee. Damn! And then he walks out with the insane Mystique as a rebound. This is both awesome and quite frankly, a shocking twist for Forge, who has always been written as very honorable and loyal.

Bishop (shirtless, of course) looks on at the crying Storm, suggesting we'll get a romance there in the future.

Meanwhile, we continue to tie up old X-Factor plot lines as the cracks in the ice are there for Bobby Drake and Opal Tanaka, and we learn that Hiro's sacrifice may have sealed the fate in their relationship.

Mikhail Rasputin is not mentally well. Poor Colossus.

A third straight month of little happening. It's as if a deep freeze was put on advancing any major plotlines for awhile. Or maybe they just couldn't come up with any. This is Uncanny X-Men...where are the villains? Seriously, since #281 we've gotten, what? The Cyburai? The Avatar? Styglut? This is pathetic. D-List at best.

So long Whilce Portacio. I liked your art for the most part (really liked #282 and #289).

MILESTONES:

Ah...Forge (who really isn't an X-Men member) officially leaves the X-Men.

Whilce Portacio's last art on Uncanny X-Men ...until 2010!

REPRINTED IN:

None.

Seeya in a week.

[MartinRedmond]

Hey fyi, Jean broke up Forge Storm on purpose cause she's possessive. Jean being dead's the only reason the BP marriage is still going.

[nate-grey]

Hey fyi, Jean broke up Forge Storm on purpose cause she's possessive. Jean being dead's the only reason the BP marriage is still going.

She probably didn't want to detract attention away from her and Scott's impending wedding. Can you say Bridezilla?

[MartinRedmond]

That's another good motive! Go Jean! :smile:
If Jean, Storm and Kitty had all ever been on the same team, things would've gotten ugly...

[nate-grey]

UXN #290 was the first non-classic issue of X-Men I got as a kid. My mom got it for me on my 9th or 10th birthday but hated it because the cover seemed to focus too much on Storm's breasts. I kid you not.

These last two issues were a good send-off for Portacio. I'm not terribly familiar with the Cyberai, but I gather that they were involved with Portacio's run on X-Factor, so it's nice that he finished up with them. I'll have to go back and read some summaries on them.

Is it wrong for me to say that I love Bobby's dad. He reminds me of Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. It's funny that he seems to be ok with Bobby being a mutant just not dating out of his race. Wow.

I never really got the Forge/Storm relationship as a kid, not until I read the Life-Death issues a few years ago. It's funny how the relationship gets primarily ignored until these issues, then just ends so abruptly. The end was pretty heartbraking though.

I can't get that crazy look Mystique gave the camera during #290 out of my head. Very creepy.

[Nevets F]

290 was my very first issue of Uncanny X-Men. I totally hated it at the time, I hated the art and thought Jean was a bitch to break up Forge and Storm.

Before too long though, Jean ended up being my favorite character of all time, and I grew to love the art.

[nate-grey]

290 was my very first issue of Uncanny X-Men. I totally hated it at the time, I hated the art and thought Jean was a bitch to break up Forge and Storm.

Before too long though, Jean ended up being my favorite character of all time, and I grew to love the art.

290 five!!

[Darth Pipes]

I first started reading the old X-Men in 1990 and I believe my first issue of the current X-Men (for me) was either Uncanny X-Men 278, 279 or 280. I enjoyed reading those comics but I find that unlike the classic issues from Claremont's run, I have a hard time remembering them. They don't hold up well in my mind. I do remember the Bishop storyline though and the first appear of Colossus's brother. But it just doesn't seem to be the same without Claremont.

I did love the later Grant Morrison and Joss Whedon runs on New X-Men and Astonishing X-Men.

[AstonishingXMan]

Definitely the Madylene Pryor personality that Jean Grey was forced to absorb during "Inferno" that led to her jealously ruining Forge and Storm's potential engagement. I wonder if (probably not) Storm ever learned that it was Jean who pretty much made Forge leave her?

[nate-grey]

AstonishingXman, are you going to continue doing Uncanny summaries? Pleeeeease. :redface:

[rescura]

Yay! Let's get this thing going again! I LOVE this topic! :smile:

[Ex_]

Thoughts on 289 and 290

I like brooding Warren for now. I realize that it gets overdone after a while, but I don't think he has moped enough yet. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth--of course he's going to be bitching about his new predicament.

I hate everything about Opal Tanaka's family, and I consider it pretty racist too.

I hated how Mystique was acting at first, because it's not even self-serving...it's just obnoxious. When we find out that she's reeling from the death of Destiny, I felt bad for her and accepted her obnoxious tendencies as fallout from her loss.

As easy as it would be to call Forge whiny, I think he has some sort of right to question Ororo. How long did they spend in the Adversary's World? It was at least a year, wasn't it?

Tree-Man was pretty freaking creepy, but this Mikhail stuff still isn't doing much for me. I hope they make this worth reading about soon.

Wow. Jean. I've never hated you like I hate you now. STOP PRYING. JUST MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! They could have been happy. Man. I've got to hand it to Lobdell--he's given us a couple heartfelt moments now. The final three pages of 290 were heartrending. They reminded me of the first few pages of Uncanny 183 between Piotr and Kitty.

Besides the Tanaka nonsense, solid two issues.

[jlmoor]

Thoughts on 289 and 290

Tree-Man was pretty freaking creepy, but this Mikhail stuff still isn't doing much for me. I hope they make this worth reading about soon.

.

This freaked me the hell out as a kid.

[Darth Pipes]

Cub,I probably won't revisit the VS. The Avengers series as it has passed chronologically now.I would reccommend the last issue particularly.The series as a whole ,though ,is much weaker than the recently discussed Vs. The F.F..

Just finished reading X-Men vs The Fantastic Four, which was great. Claremont did a great job with both teams there. I'm reading X-Men vs Avengers now. It reminds me that despite some of Claremont's flaws as a writer (constantly restating powers and occassionally arkward dialogue), I will still take any X-Men he wrote from 75-91 over just about anyone else.

Although I started reading the "present" X-Men at teh very tail end of Claremont's run, I find I'm not that interested in them after the fact. Not until the Grant Morrison/Joss Whedon runs. I've been going outside the X-Men titles now (New Mutants, Uncanny X-Force, X-Factor).

[Darth Pipes]

Well, late to the party as always but I finally got the latest Marvel Masterworks Trade Paperback on the Uncanny X-Men, covering issues #111-121. I had never really read these issues so it was an opportunity for me to finally catch up. From the X-Men's battle with Magneto to the trip around the world to return to Westchester, I found the whole thing to be a blast.

I always enjoyed Claremont's take on Magneto in later issues, with him become an ally of the X-Men. That being said, he's fantastic as the utterly ruthless villain he is from #111-113. Even if Claremont likes to have him narrate everything that goes on during the battle. I enjoyed the trip around the word and finishing up with Alpha Flight was a lot of fun. Reminds me a lot of the times that the X-Men couldn't just give Professor X a call on the cell phone to let them know they were all right. Though I did find it a little silly that they spent all that time with Misty Knight and not once was Jean's "death" brought up.

It definitely represents a fun, exciting, and simpler era of the team. No multiple titles, no crossovers. Just one team that wasn't much liked by humanity, moving from one adventure to the other.

[david r]

I must say...VERY IMPRESSED with the work on this little thread here. Especially want to give a big man hug to LIMERICK!! Dude, you are the MAN!! You picked up the torch and kept rolling for quite awhile on UNCANNY X-MEN and I want to thank you for doing a superlative job!!

I truly wished I could have continued, but "LIFE" stepped in the way. Things happen, sadly, sometimes outside our control. I sure had more I wanted to say on the later Claremont issues, but alas, maybe next time!

:smile:

[Darth Pipes]

The newest Master Masterworks The Uncanny X-Men came out. #8, containing my all-time favorite storyline where the X-Men are abducted by the Brood. That storyline did have some far-reaching effects.

[Hawkeye66]

Any chance that anyone plans on continuing this thread???

[nate-grey]

Any chance that anyone plans on continuing this thread???

It's been close to two years, so I doubt it. Would you like to? That would be pretty awesome.

[MartinRedmond]

Styglut was a convicted killer in Bishop’s time (killing 300 humans & a dozen X.S.E. officers) and Bishop plans to execute him. Storm and the X-Men stop Bishop from dealing a death blow, as Storm makes it clear that the rules in this time are different:

“THE X-MEN DO NOT KILL!”

Storm explains that the X-Men are protectors whose first priority is the safety of those involved in dangerous situations. All of the damage and civilian injury ‘caused in New York City tonight is because of Bishop’s intent to kill Styglut.

Yet, many people died from the X-Men sitting on their asses in 281-283. Then, for some reason, Storm decided Bishop was the team's main target. I thought she was such an idiot.

And there was 5 pages wasted on the boring 05 bros tackling each other "hey man! Remember college?! XD And how we originally got the book cancelled?"

[Hawkeye66]

Uncanny X-men #291
“Underbelly”
Scene 1: X-mansion-Living Room/Front Door Area
Apparently the X-men are watching Jay Leno, but few laughs are had by all when Colossus answers the front door to find a beautiful woman with words of warning after having been attacked. Most of the other X-men not having scene the Post-Masque transformed Callisto are confused by the scene. Carrying her from the front door Colossus explains who he is holding and is then told that the person who have attacked Callisto is her own people the Morlocks. Bishop and Iceman have an interesting joke scene throughout this point, but as they look into the yard the Gold Team sees that the Morlock Healer has also been assaulted and is laying in the yard as well.

Scene 2:
The issue cuts to Mikhail Rasputin waking up from a vivid nightmare, and while he hears the commotion downstairs, he also sees the dead visions of the portal inhabitants laying across his bedroom. Talking to the Princess from that world she tells him that although those people were slaves at least they were alive, whereas now they are all dead with the blood being on Mikhail's hands. Mikhail replies that he's been doing his best since returning to earth

End of Part 1-Part 2 coming soon

[MartinRedmond]

I was glad they killed off all of those new characters we hadn't seen for years, to bring back Mikhail from those 2 panels published 40 years before that. They were trully tying up loose ends that mattered.

[Hawkeye66]

Scene 3: X-men Infirmiry
After stabilizing both Callisto and the Healer the Gold Team (Storm, Bishop, Archangel, Jean Grey, Iceman, and Colossus) confer about what to do next, Jean thinks they should leave them undisturbed while the Professor believes that time is of the essence if the Morlocks truly are going on a rampage attacking even their own brethren. Callisto then tells to Prof to mind scan her in order to learn what happened.

Scene 4: Callisto's Memory/ Her Apartment

Callisto walks into the apartment noticing that the Healer has broken in and asks why she shouldn't kill him for breaking into her home. The Healer then tells her that he risked much to enlist her aid, since Masque had usurped the leadership of the Morlocks from Storm she turned the Morlocks into an even uglier more insane group of vigilantes. Callisto denies taking any responsibility for the Morlocks now that she is beautiful and goes as far to call them “pathetic monstrosities”. As she yells this the rest of the Morlocks invade her home feeling that their old leader no longer cares even though she used to lead /love them. Callisto then fights her former people stating that she wants to be normal and live among the people who once scorned her for being an ugly mutant. The leaderless Morlocks are then shocked to hear that she refuses to give up her new life for the likes of them and that she can destroy them as easily as she created them and then bloodily defeats the Morlock invasion.

Scene 5: X-men Infirmiry

The Prof puts the pieces together knowing that Callisto expected a second wave of Morlocks to attack her than therefore sought refuge in the home of the X-men. The Prof believes that the X-men must break the cycle of violence in order to save the Morlocks from themselves, but is then interrupted by Mikhail coming into the room. Mikhail adamantly disagrees with Prof X and believes he is overreacting to the situation at hand and stands up for Callisto stating that she is like a shepherd who has lost their flock. Jean and the Prof both note that somehow Mikhail was able to hear the Prof's psionic loop meant only for the X-men, but they then decide to focus on the task at hand away from Callisto and the Healer. Storm then feels that she is responsible for what is happening since she is the Morlocks' leader and wants to handle them by herself. Archangel interjects stating that his evil transformation was caused by those very same people, and that they are the reason he lost his wings, thereby shocking Storm thinking she is to blame. While all this is happening there are panels of the Healer getting out of his bed. Archangel goes off on a rant about the Morlocks to Storm and how the X-men never gave them enough attention and how they are now horribly mutated people scavenging off others, Storm tries to defend herself but is interrupted by the Professor who has seen what has transpired w/ the Healer and Callisto. Side panels show the Healer walking up to Callisto and “healing” her.

End Part II