Chronological X-Men - The Demon Bear Review

The Demon\Spirit Bear!

The New Mutants #18 – Death-Hunt

Okay I was really looking forward to coming back to this title – there’s something about it that seems more fresh and new compared to Uncanny X-Men or even Dazzler; it helps that it’s got some of my favorite characters: Sam and Illyana. We do get a few changes with this story arch, it’s the first time we meet Warlock and his father Magus; Rahne appears to be able to connect through her rapport with Dani when she’s in her human form now – although that could be a mistake. We see a young woman who is obviously Rachel Summers from the Days of Future Past storyline, who is now in the past to stop her future from coming true (which doesn’t make sense because I thought that timeline was already wiped out when the older Kitty went back to her timeline after stopping Robert Kelly from being killed. We do get a few pieces of information here, we now know that in Rachel’s timeline Illyana never spent any time in Limbo, instead she stayed on Earth and was allowed to age normally, Charles never regained his ability to walk which implies that in Rachel’s timeline the Brood saga never happened. I do like the idea of the Demon Bear hunting Dani but I would have liked a bit more of a build up to it. We know she’s been preparing for the battle for sometime now but we only see one of her Danger Room sessions. I also would have liked to see more tension between Dani and Illyana they should have played that up a bit more than they did. I don’t know what to think about Warlock yet, I like some of the storylines that he’s tied to in the future, but I don’t really know if I like the character.

The New Mutants #19 – Siege

The New Mutants #20 - Badlands

The New Mutants take Dani’s severely damaged body to the hospital where they desperately try to keep the Demon Bear from finishing off Dani who is barely clinging to life while multiple doctors operate on her. Some aspects of the plot are really interesting, Rahne struggling with her religion and seeing her best friend suffer, plus having to deal with the fact that Illyana is a magical being who basically spent time in what Rahne would view as hell. Sam’s willingness to assume that Illyana would kill Amara because Illyana is truly evil, the changes in the appearance of Illyana’s Soulsword, Rahne’s change in appearance in her wolf form; there are a lot of interesting changes here. Is Rahne changing because of her rapport with Dani and is she succumbing to the Demon Bear’s influence? Are the changes in Illyana’s Soulsword and her willingness to potentially kill Amara in order to exorcise the demon that was possessing her hints that another Bloodstone is about to manifest? And what’s up with the armor that appears on Illyana’s body when she’s injured? I know that they do explain it away in the future but it does need more than ‘it’s an extension of her magicks that she never knew she had and when it becomes spikey it is because her darker side is taking over.’ I don’t know how I feel about the big payoff being that the Demon Bear is this entity (I know that later it gets spelled out that he’s an extension of the Adversary during the whole Forge/Naze/Adversary/Cheyenne storyline that I’ll be reading soon) was worth it and I don’t really understand why the Demon Bear transformed the nurse and police officer into Cheyenne and I don’t get why Dani’s parents (also the first time we see them) William and Peg Lonestar were sort of absorbed into the Demon Bear’s entity. The whole Warlock and Magus plotline is really an after thought in these two issues and I’m actually okay with that. Of course the major thing here isn’t only the return of Dani’s parents but also the fact that her injuries were so severe that even after Storm used the Morlocks’ healer Dani still can’t walk.

The New Mutants #21 – Slumber Party

This fun little issue revolves around the New Mutants having a slumber party with some of the girls from the town. You know, I never really noticed it before but I’m glad that they introduced Warlock and that the team pretty much forces Charles to take him on as a student and Doug makes more appearances (he’ll join the team shortly) – it didn’t dawn on me before that Sam and Roberto are the only men on the team. It finally sunk in when at the party we have Rahne, Illyana, Dani, Amara (and previously Xi’an) and yet there are only Sam and Roberto. Magneto’s Asteroid M being destroyed (either by Warlock or Magus) seems a bit odd and out of place, but I’m willing to over look it and assume it’s building up to something.  I like that they played on Doug feeling upset and betrayed by his friends who knew that he was a mutant and kept it from him, but it would have been a better payoff if they had shown Doug interacting with anyone other than Kitty. I really want to know how they explained away the fact that the girls saw Lockheed move, and all the odd events they saw at the school – it’s safe to assume that Charles simply made them forget. One thing – I really want to know what was up with Illyana and her spacesuit and gun and how she was able to shed the Techno Organic Virus that Warlock gave to her when they touched. One thing that kind of confused me is why Rahne was willing to risk her life to help Warlock, yet at the same time she spends the issue struggling with her spirituality and how she was raised. It is a little odd that Rhane thinks she’s evil, yet she doesn’t understand how the world can turn against her and why God would let it happen, and she’s more than willing to go to bat for Warlock, yet every chance she gets Rahne is more than willing to let everyone know how she feels about Illyana.

The Uncanny X-Men #184 – The Past … Of Future Days

We get the first appearances of Forge (who was mentioned last issue) and Naze as Raven and Valerie Cooper witness a heated argument about how Forge has turned his back on his fellow Cheyenne and how they are in great need of his help (so tie in to Dani and the Demon Bear….) Meanwhile Rachel Summers struggles with the new world she has found herself in. She knows that it’s not the past from her timeline because Illyana is older now than she was when she died in the future, Charles can now walk, Ororo has a completely different look and Rogue is a part of the X-Men. I do find it interesting that they did play a little bit with the fact that Rogue wasn’t on the team in Rachel’s timeline – it’s a nice companion to the internal struggle Rogue has been going through and exactly how far Mystique can go before Rogue is forced to make a decision between the woman who raised her or the X-Men. I like that they’re bringing Selene into the main title now but it seems odd that she would suddenly target Rachel. I mean Rachel had been in the past for a while now (she had already met up with Illyana) and Selene had been in New York for – if you go by the monthly releases – at least a month, why would it take for Selene to feel Rachel’s presence? Also I’m a little confused by when Selene and Rogue make physical contact – Selene feeds off of Rouge but Rogue doesn’t absorb any of Selene’s powers. They clearly don’t cancel each other out, so is it Selene’s magical abilities that keep Rogue from absorbing her powers and memories? Does that mean that Rouge could touch Illyana, or any other character that was touched by the supernatural?

Marvel Fanfare #40 – Deal with the Devil (2^nd story)

The Uncanny X-Men #185 – Public Enemy

I’ll start with the Marvel Fanfare portion of this story first before going into the main issue. This story takes place right after Ororo tells Charles that Rogue is missing but obviously before she finds Rogue. Destiny has seen a potential future that will lead to great problems which forces Mystique to arrange a meeting with Storm so they can save Rogue who is being hunted by the government after a member of the Hellfire Club framed her for the murder of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. The whole point of this meeting is to upset Ororo and leads to Mystique playing both sides of the fence – she wants to help her adoptive daughter, but she won’t tell Ororo that the future Destiny saw shows whoever helps Rogue suffering the fate that was meant for her. We also get the first hints of a relationship between Raven and Irene. The main issue shows Rogue struggling with Carol’s personality taking over and her trying to figure out what her place in the world is, assuming she can survive having another mind trapped within her own. There are a few things here that stand out to me – why did Ororo go to meet Mystique when Charles said that he could simply locate Rogue via Cerebro; is it because Storm doesn’t trust Charles since he’s trying to become the field commander of the team now that he can walk? Why did Gyrich refer to Raven as ‘doctor?’ What’s up with the fact that Destiny suddenly can’t see the future? Does it have anything to do with the Adversary and the Demon Bear and this whole big thing that’s going on with that? All in all this was pretty good, not as good as the past issue but still pretty damn good. It did throw me that Rogue was suddenly the A story and Rachel was the B plot when last month it was all about Rachel, and the issue just before that one was all about Rogue. There could have been a more even blending of the two. *Note, the first feature in Marvel Fanfare deals with an upcoming storyline I'll be reviewing, so I'll cover it then.*

The Uncanny X-Men #186 – Lifedeath

This special double sized issue deals with the outcome of Ororo loosing her powers as a result o Gyrich shooting her with Forge’s gun. I think that this is one of the few characters that this type of story can really be told well. Storm was so defined by her powers and her connection to the Earth that taking them away from her and allowing her to live is worse than dying. I love this story because it’s so obviously what Claremont originally intended to do to Jean after she had been stripped of her powers (but marvel stepped n and said it wasn’t a big enough consequence so he ended up killing Phoenix) so there’s a lot of strength to this plot that make it an interesting read. There was a juxtaposition that effectively showcases Claremont’s two writing strengths: out of this world super hero battles and soap opera style writing. I could have done without the instant ‘love’ between Ororo and Forge but I do like Forge seeing himself in Ororo and his desperate need to save her as a way of saving himself. The other plot with Rogue hunting down Valerie Cooper to find out what happened to Storm (and to get her revenge) was good too especially the internal struggle between Rogue’s old self that would have killed Valerie in a heartbeat and the person she is today that just wants to save Storm. And of course there are magical space aliens running around that eat brains and then become the people they ate.

The Uncanny X-Men #187 – Wraithkill!

The Uncanny X-Men #188 – Legacy of the Lost

There are quite a few big reveals and things we learn and see for the first time as this story wraps up. Remember my theory that Rogue’s power was negated by magic? Yeah, that doesn’t pan out too well because the Dire Wraiths, Deathwings and Hellhounds are all magic based and Rogue can absorb the Dire Wraith’s form and abilities. Piotr learns that Illyana is a mutant and that she is a sorceress – this appears to shock him but no one else which begs the question why if they both live in Xavier’s school he didn’t know she was a mutant and could teleport at the very least. She is a member of the New Mutants and has the codename Magik, and the New Mutants and Charles know of Illyana’s abilities to spellcast, and the New Mutants know about Illyana’s Soulsword – you would think that someone would have mentioned something in passing to her older brother. Rachel finally realizes and admits that she’s been taken back to the wrong timeline when she finds out that her mother Jean Grey is dead. We learn that Naze has been killed and a Dire Wraith has taken his form, but we don’t know exactly when that happened. The Great One that ‘Naze’ tries to conjure outs Naze as a Dire Wraith and kills him, which begs the question what is this mystical force that is moving about the universe that is targeting the Cheyenne people, and is it at all connected to the magical amulet that makes it’s appearance at the end of the issue when a fisherman finds it? Oh yeah, if all that wasn’t enough going on Kurt tries to quit the team, Storm doesn’t feel like she belongs on the team since she is no longer a mutant which she thinks means she has no place on the team and Scott’s sort of ‘ex’ Lee (remember the ship captain?) saves Magneto from drowning in the ocean – he had crashed on earth after Magus destroyed Asteroid M when he was chasing after Warlock.

The New Mutants #18 – Death-Hunt: A

The New Mutants #19 – Siege: A

The New Mutants #20 – Badlands: A

The New Mutants #21 – Slumber Party: A

The Uncanny X-Men #184 – The Past … Of Future Days: A

Marvel Fanfare #40 – Deal with the Devil (2^nd story): B

The Uncanny X-Men #185 – Public Enemy: B

The Uncanny X-Men #186 – Lifedeath: C

The Uncanny X-Men #187 – Wraithkill!: A

The Uncanny X-Men #188 – Legacy of the Lost: A

Chronological X-Men - God Loves, Man Kills Review

God Loves, Man Kills

Marvel Graphic Novel #5 – X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills

Okay this is one of those stories that have been praised for being so strong and so ahead of the times and all that jazz – it’s one of the stories where when you mention the X-Men people know this story. Anyway, it was a little hard for me to place this story because currently Logan isn’t with the X-Men, he’s in Japan and Scott is off in Alaska, yet the X-Men are all together back on Earth so this takes place after the Brood Queen Egg that Charles was carrying had been destroyed.  Kitty has already switched to the Ariel codename (she was currently Sprite – but given that all this is going off of the Purifiers files it’s possible that they only knew her as Ariel – even though that doesn’t make any sense because she only used that codename for like 10 seconds when she first joined the team before switching to Sprite) and Ororo hasn’t gone through her own extreme makeover et. This is one of those stories (much like when Jean died) that you can’t help but go ‘$..! just got real.’ Not only were there quite a few deaths but there was torture, violence, execution style killing of children – and it wasn’t done in a way like the Brood story was where it just happens with this story there is a lot of shock value that makes the story extremely heavy. The plot revolves around the introduction of William Stryker and his Purifiers who believe that they have been commanded by God to purge the world of all mutants and they intend on using Charles own mutant powers as a way to destroy all the mutants. The only other (like there weren’t enough major events going on already) big revelation is that Stryker’s mutant detection device doesn’t know what to make of Illyana she registers as human yet not human, mutant yet not mutant so that’s interesting. I really don’t have anything bad to say about this story I can see why it gets all the hype that it does.

The Uncanny X-Men #168 – Professor Xavier is a Jerk!

I put this story here because it seems to fit after everything that the X-Men recently went through with Stryker it would make sense that Charles would still be hesitant to put Kitty back with the X-Men. Logan has left the X-Men to go to Canada (so this takes place after God Loves, Man Kills) and Scott leaves for Florida to meet up with his kind of former girlfriend Lee before he takes off for Alaska with Alex and Corsair so Scott and Alex can meet their grandparents (we haven’t seen them yet) and meet a pilot Madelyne Pryor who looks identical to Jean. Kurt goes to visit his girlfriend Amanda and Kitty tries her best to prove to Charles that she deserves to be an X-Man. Unfortunately that leads Kitty into a not so pleasant encounter with a nest of Sidri hatchlings that have just been born – the good news is somehow the dragon (that kitty names Lockheed) managed to follow her back to Earth and he destroys most of the nest.

Dazzler #25 – The Jagged Edge

This is another story that felt like it belonged in this plot line simply because of the story matter. Alison continues her rise to stardom and fame only to gain a brand new fan that turns out to be a psychopathic stalker army vet who lost his grip on his sanity and reality once he heard that his father had died. It was a good story when you lump it in with the current plotlines and I actually think it was almost strong enough to stand on it’s own too which is saying a lot because there aren’t that many issues of this book that I would ever read again but not only is this an issue that I can picture myself reading a second time – it’s actually a story that I would want to read again and for this book that is a huge deal. There isn’t really anything negative that I can say about this issue which is a good thing. The only downside I can think of is that this is the final issue of the series before it switches from monthly to bimonthly. And given certain plots this book has had in the past even this could almost be considered a good thing.

Marvel Graphic Novel #5 – X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills: A

The Uncanny X-Men #168 – Professor Xavier is a Jerk!: A

Dazzler #25 – The Jagged Edge: A

Chronological X-Men - The Brood Part 4 Review

The Brood.

Dazzler #18 – The Absorbing Man Wants You!

Dazzler #19 – Creel… and Inhuman Treatment!

Like with almost every Dazzler issue we have a bunch of guest stars, in present time as well as flashbacks. Alison visits the Fantastic Four for an impromptu jam session with Ben and Johnny, while Reed works on a device that Alison can use to augment her powers into a better defensive weapon and Sue and Reed lecture Alison on why she should become a fulltime hero and stop running from it. Warren continues to dig into Alison’s past and tries to find out what happened to her mother by questioning Alison’s grandmother Bella. Meanwhile Carter begins to have a nervous breakdown, Vanessa rants and raves about her vocal coach and The Absorbing man tries to capture Dazzler and use her as a hostage to call out the Avengers and get his revenge on them. Alison tries to get away and uses Reed’s weapon which augments her powers too much and actually causes The Absorbing Man to turn into a giant being of light. Alison breaks into the Baxter Building to try to get the Fantastic Four’s help in saving the Avengers, after learning that they aren’t there she ends up contacting Black Bolt, Lockjaw and Medusa of the Inhumans for help. Carter continues his descent into madness and is focusing on Alison and his wife Katherine’s ‘betrayal;’ and Vanessa stumbles onto a room that holds something shocking at her vocal coach’s home. We get the first appearance of Barbara London – the vocal coach; and we see Medusa, Black Bolt and Lockjaw for the first time in an X-book. This story was alright I guess, it was better than usual but I can’t help but think that Carter’s nervous breakdown was rather sudden and could have benefited with a more drawn out build-up. I do hope that they bring Black Bolt back into Alison’s life, they do make for an interesting duo and their powers play well off of each other. There was actually very little to complain about with this storyline so that’s always a plus.

Dazzler #20 – Out of the Past!

Carter is now completely delusional – living in his mind where he is attacked and killed by Alison who does it for her mother. Warren and Bella go against the psychiatrist’s wishes and refuse to put him in a hospital and agree that they need to find Alison because they both believe that she can help bring Carter out of his current state. We get new characters Johnny Guitar and Doctor Sax who have an old score to settle with Alison’s band, and now that they’re both out of prison and have received special weapons from Techmaster they’re more than ready to get their revenge. We also meet Hunch’s wife Dora and their son Justin for the first time. The secret of Barbara London’s room is that it’s sort of a shrine to Dazzler’s career. She claims that it’s her daughter’s room and she is a huge Dazzler fan but soon Barbara breaks down and admits to Vanessa that the clippings are hers and that she’s Alison’s mother and that the girl in the picture is her other daughter (which would make her Alison’s half sister.)

Dazzler #21 – Alison Blaire, This Is Your Life!

There’s a whole lot going on here – almost too much to talk about. There are tons of guest stars this issue: Human Torch, Invisible Girl, Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, Daredevil (first time in an X-book – I’m pretty sure, it’s been a while since I did reading other issues because I was sick for a while;) Spider-Man, Beast, Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Thor, Wasp, Wonder-Man, Iron Fist, Power Man, Misty Knight, Quasar and Harmony Young. Angel has become a staple of this book now so he doesn’t really count as ‘guest star’ anymore – on top of that all the usual suspects are back. In a series of flashbacks we meet Nick Brown and Lois London for the first time. So the big secret of Alison’s mother is that she was a singer, she had an affair with Nick while she was married to Carter, she ended up leaving Carter for Nick who ‘let’ her continue her music career but he basically turned Katherine into an alcoholic and a drug addict in addition to beating her on a regular basis. She got pregnant by Nick and had another girl (Lois) and one day simply had enough of Nick and left him – this time taking her child with her instead of leaving her behind (like she did with Alison and Carter.) Alison is able to reach her father and pull him out of his catatonic state and the duo fight more. Alison holds a charity concert for a local hospital – which is why all of the guest stars (the X-Men didn’t show up because they’re still making their way back to Earth) and Vanessa blackmails Barbara/Katherine into going. Alison decides to quit showbiz after being offered drugs – but she quickly changes her mind and decides to continue her career. Alison, her mother and her father all reconnect and all seems well by the end of the issue. Oh this issue also features another first… this time we have a photographed cover instead of a drawn one, the photograph was taken by Eliot. R. Brown and is of a Canadian model named June MacDonald. The story was good, a little over packed and there were a few clichés I could have lived without them using. I like what the did with Alison’s mother because it makes sense for the character and fits the storyline but I would rather have had her been a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent or some criminal or a spy or something instead. The leaving her husband for another man and getting pregnant by both of them is a little bit too soap opera-y for my tastes.

Dazzler #22 – The Sisterhood

Mystique, Destiny and Rogue have managed to escape from prison (Mystique was taken away at the Pentagon the last time we saw her) and are now after the X-Men for revenge. Since the trio doesn’t know how to get to the X-Men on their own they target Angel (who is still hanging out in Dazzler’s book) so Rogue can absorb his memories and they can learn the location of the X-Men. The girl that Alison saves from being hit in traffic ends up being Lois London – her half sister that she hasn’t met yet – so that’s kind of interesting; actually it’s the most interesting thing to happen the entire issue. There are two mistakes one very odd and noticeable – on page three two of the panels are printed out of order – which is weird, the other mistake is that it seems that Angel and Rogue have encountered each other before, but this is actually the first time they’ve ever met. The story wasn’t bad per-say but it would have made more sense if the female members of the Brotherhood went after Dazzler since she has times to the X-Men and the Avengers instead of just going after Angel.

Dazzler #23 – Fire in the Night!

Alison is now living scared that the ‘sisterhood’ will target her since she stopped their plan to learn the location of the X-Men. So naturally when Alison’s apartment building catches fire and then later her recording studio  she begins to panic, meanwhile Angel is on the run and has no one to turn to (Charles is still too depressed after the X-Men were kidnapped by Deathbird and ‘killed,’) so he just sits and mopes for no real reason - he could go to the Avengers or anyone really for help but he chooses not to. Barbara (formerly Katherine) tells her daughter Lois all about her older half sister Alison and Lois decides it’s time she get to know her new sister. We get the first appearance of Flame – an arsonist hired by the owner of Alison’s building. He’s the one that has been setting the fires, not Rogue, Mystique or Destiny- because he wants to force the renters into buying their units and converting them to condos. This is kind of an odd issue, we’ve never been given the impression that Alison’s landlord is really a slumlord, if anything he’s been portrayed as freakishly nice because Alison has almost always been more than one month behind on rent and he’s never kicked her out. Speaking of money, I know Alison’s career is taking off but less than twenty issues ago this girl was eating ketchup for dinner because she couldn’t even afford a can of soup and now she can afford to pay for superhero body guards that are costing her a hundred dollars a day?

Dazzler #24 – A Rogue in the House

Well, the title pretty much says it all; Rogue finds out where Alison lives and then trashes her apartment and waits to attack her to get revenge on Alison for stopping the Sisterhood’s most recent quest for vengeance. Alison is still using Power Man and Iron First for protection; Angel is still running around scared – only he’s not too scared anymore because he’s renting out entire gyms just so he can fly around indoors; and Lois is still trying to get to know her sister. This issue was a little odd, mostly because while it serves as the end of the current storyline it feels like it’s mostly filler. We didn’t need shots of Warren flying around or really need any of Alison and Ken’s date but its there. There’s a little mistake, Alison asks her neighbor Frank if the woman in her apartment had red hair with white streaks and he says yes. I never really considered Rogue to have red hair… so that’s kind of odd. I didn’t really care for this issue but I do like that they’re starting to build this headache/passing out thing with Lois hopefully that will have a better and less soapy (– translation Lois better not have a tumor or be pregnant) payoff than the secret of Alison’s mother.

Marvel Graphic Novel #4 – The New Mutants - Renewal

Okay this story obviously takes place before Uncanny X-Men #167 so this fits in around 165-166. We get many new characters – Roberto DaCosta, and his father Emmanuel DaCosta (who is a member of the Hellfire Club;) Samuel Guthrie (Cannonball,) Danielle Moonstar and her grandfather Black Eagle; we get the first published appearances of Rahne Sinclar and her guardian Reverend Craig (they were both retconned later to have been introduced at earlier points of their lives but this is Rahne’s first actual appearance. Xi’an “Shan” Coy Manh/Karma also appears and it is revealed that she’s actually the oldest of this new group coming in at 19; we also see the return of Moira MacTaggert, Donald Pierce and Tessa. Donald has taken Tessa captive and is planning on taking out all of the mutants on Earth. So it’s a race of sorts between Charles, Moira and Pierce to make contact with the mutants before the others can. Sam ends up joining the Hellfire Club, Roberto is almost taken captive but escapes unfortunately not before his girlfriend Juliana is murdered, Moira saves Rahne from angry townspeople who believe that she is possessed by the devil, Xi’an meets with Charles willingly and Danielle ends up teaming up with Charles so she can avenge her grandfather’s murder by Donald Pierce’s crew. Honestly I’ve got nothing bad to say about this story at all – I’ve always thought Dani’s powers were cool, Sam’s been one of my favorite characters for years, and I’ve always been partial to Tessa even if I haven’t liked certain things that they’ve done with her character My only wish is that this story were longer because I wasn’t ready for the story to end when it did.

The New Mutants #1 – Initiation!

The New Mutants #2 – Sentinels

This story takes place roughly two weeks after the end of Marvel Graphic Novel #4. Danielle has taken on the codename ‘Psyche,’ Roberto now goes by ‘Sunspot,’ Rahne has chosen ‘Wolfsbane,’ Sam and Xi’an have chosen to go by their previous names: Cannonball and Karma. Stevie Hunter – Kitty’s friend and dance instructor has apparently gotten a teaching job at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, serving mostly as their gym coach Charles is of course teaching these new students how to use their powers and the basic school stuff. Moira has been called away to London (and has taken Illyana with her) to meet with an Israeli Ambassador who turns out to be Gabrielle Haller who needs Moira’s help dealing with her autistic son who has telepathic and telekinetic powers. The big shocker here is of course the reveal that her son’s father is none other than Charles himself. Back in the states Dani is having trouble being around so many people and controlling her powers which leads to her accidentally using her abilities on Xi’an. Stevie decides to take everyone out to see a movie but Charles and Dani decline. Dani crashes the Danger Room and tried to complete a session on her own since she feels like she failed when she became scared during the earlier training session – unfortunately something goes horribly wrong and she ends up trapped in one of the X-Men’s training sessions and ends up encountering one of the Brood’s Queens. The Brood Queen deems Dani to big of a threat to be allowed to continue to live, or to risk implanting her with a Brood egg so the Brood Queen throws Dani off of a cliff. At the mall Sam, Xi’an, Rahne, Roberto are attacked by Sentinels and Stevie is taken by Colonel Mike Rossi – who it turns out didn’t die back in Uncanny X-Men #99 he simply used his presumed death to his advantage. Sebastian Shaw continues to plot to turn against Henry Peter Gyrich so there’s some progress there with the whole Project Widewake plot. A shot of the screen shows the ages of most of the New Mutants – Rahne -14 years old (though later retconned into her being only 13,) Roberto 13, Sam 16, and Xi’an is 19. Oh and there’s an official statement about Roberto’s father being a member of the Hellfire Club although not so involved in it to be part of the Inner Circle. The team returns to the school to find Dani unconscious on the floor of the Danger Room. Much like before I don’t really have anything negative to say at all about this story. The only weird thing for me was it didn’t really make sense why Illyana was with Moira – but given all that’s going on that’s not that big of a deal. My only real complaint is the art, I know it’s the style of the book and all but Sam looks goofy and Xi’an… uhh yeah half the time she looks older than Charles – just saying.

The New Mutants #3 – Nightmare

The Uncanny X-Men #167 – The Goldilocks Syndrome! (or: Who’s Been Sleeping in My Head?)

This story obviously takes place roughly at the same time as Uncanny X-Men #166 since Illyana is honoring the memory of her best friend on her birthday (Sean reveals that it is currently Kitty’s birthday.) Dani is trapped in what amounts to a living hell for her, she is constantly tormented by ‘The Demon Bear’ that killed her parents and Charles believes that she is going mad. It turns out though that Dani isn’t insane – she’s actually being tormented by the Brood Queen who alternates between trying to get Dani to kill herself, die, leave the team and access her powers to the extent where she pretty much creates an alternate reality. There are a few things here that seemed a bit off Charles behavior for one – but that’s because he’s been taken over by a Brood Queen. I wish they would explain why Illyana was with Moira first in London and now she’s on Muir Island…. For the love of God why hasn’t anyone taken the girl home? Or at least mention that she had been home at some point – it’s just odd. The story concludes in the Uncanny X-Men with the team arriving back home right after the New Mutants have fought the Brood Queen and are watching TV. The X-Men try to stop the Brood Queen Egg from hatching but it’s too late and Charles transforms – that’s when we learn that Charles while possessed specifically gathered the New Mutants to implant them with Brood Queen Eggs as well. There are a few things here that just felt odd – Kitty can suddenly phase objects with her. Piotr states that Sam looks to be the same age Piotr was when he joined the X-Men but recently he said that he’s 18 – so that means that he’s been with the team for 2 years which doesn’t really track since Kitty joined the team when she was 13 ½ but is now 15. I’m assuming that Illyana was sent with Moira because the Brood Queen didn’t want to risk implanting someone who has been touched by magic. Lilandra’s threatening the Fantastic Four seemed out of place and not really required – given how quickly the whole idea of cloning Charles’ body and transferring his mind into the new body so his old one can be killed/destroyed now that the Brood Queen has hatched within him literally came out of nowhere and so late in the game you almost couldn’t even call it the eleventh hour anymore and everything just gets this big old happy ending – except for Kitty who has now been kicked off the X-Men and is a part of the New Mutants. It seemed like a really cheap payoff to a story that had been going on for some time now it was like the writer just got bored with it too. I could have done without the SORASING (it’s a term used mostly with soap operas or TV shows ‘soap opera rapid aging syndrome’ where a character literally ages years over night) of Kitty (Illyana makes sense) and the de-aging of Piotr just so they can legally pair them up and there needed to be a stronger payoff.

Dazzler #18 – The Absorbing Man Wants You!: B

Dazzler #19 – Creel… and Inhuman Treatment!: A

Dazzler #20 – Out of the Past!: B

Dazzler #21 – Alison Blaire, This Is Your Life!: B

Dazzler #22 – The Sisterhood: C

Dazzler #23 – Fire in the Night!: B

Dazzler #24 – A Rogue in the House: C

Marvel Graphic Novel #4 – The New Mutants – Renewal: A

The New Mutants #1 – Initiation!:A

The New Mutants #2 – Sentinels: A

The New Mutants #3 – Nightmare: A

The Uncanny X-Men #167 – The Goldilocks Syndrome! (or: Who’s Been Sleeping in My Head?): C

Chronological X-Men - Days of Future Past Part 3 Review

Days of Future Past.

Spider-Woman #37 – Who Am I?

Spider-Woman #38 – Criminal At Large

You know I’ve never read a single issue of Spider-Woman before so I don’t know what’s going on with pretty much every character involved with this story that aren’t X-Men centric. This would be a problem except for the fact that there’s a large portion of the book is devoted to flashbacks and exposition. We see what Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut have been up to ever since they contracted Arcade to kill the X-Men. We do get the first appearance of Siryn which actually works for me because it’s one more character that I’m already familiar with but I do wish that they had spent a little more time introducing her. Granted I needed the backstory for Spider-Woman but at the same time it’s odd that so much of the issue was devoted to exposing new readers to the exploits of Jessica Drew but Siryn has apparently working and training with her uncle Black Tom off of any book. Black Tom framing Spider-Woman for the treasury robbery he committed is nothing new (the villains are always trying to portray the hero as a bad guy) so there’s nothing much to talk about there. The X-Men go off to investigate what set Cerebro off (obviously it ends up being Siryn since Tom and Cain have already been established as characters) and end up working with Spider-Woman to clear her name and to take down the trio of villains. One thing I didn’t really like was a bit odd. I know that Tom’s identity is pretty much publicly known so by default relative would be exposed but was it really Tom’s best move to tell the X-Men in front of police to take care of his niece Theresa. It would be too easy to just track the activity of a ‘Theresa Cassidy’ and her locations at any given point could lead to the revelation of who is really an X-Man. But... maybe that was Tom’s plan all along? When I was done with this story I actually wanted to start reading all of Jessica Drew's exploits - so I guess that's a sign of good story telling.

The Uncanny X-Men #148 – Cry, Mutant

This issue takes place right after the recent Spider-Woman story. Sean, Illyana and Moira haven’t returned to their respective homes (yet Alex, Lorna, Bobby and Amanda have-,) Magneto makes his reappearance in the city that has suddenly appeared near the island that Scott and Lee have washed up on when their ship capsized. Sean meets Theresa for the first time (so first time Siryn appears in an X-book) and their instant bond bothers Moira because she’s afraid of ever having another child after what happened with her son Kevin. Jessica Drew arrives at the mansion (I’m assuming that she took Theresa there) and she, Kitty, Ororo and Stevie all go to a club to watch Dazzler perform. We get the first appearance of Caliban who is so desperate for a friend that he tries to kidnap Kitty, thankfully Storm, Spider-Woman and Dazzler manage to save Kitty and try to convince Caliban to join the X-Men. Scott and Lee bump heads when she tries to kiss him and the two fight and end up making up – oh well. One thing that’s interesting is that Illyana’s middle name is ‘Natalyanovna’ but later they end up changing it to: Nikolaevna.

The Uncanny X-Men #149 – And The Dead Shall Bury The Living

We get a series of flashbacks showing the X-Men’s various battles with Magneto over the years. Kitty tries to debut a new version of her costume which – is colorful to say the least. Charles is upset and yells at her for interrupting his ‘research’ and that she hasn’t earned an individualized costume that it comes when she graduates the school. I think that’s kind of odd because Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Banshee, Sunfire, Warpath and Wolverine never got the ‘school uniforms’ (they do use them later in the years as training uniforms… so I guess that counts for something) the strange thing I find about this is you can’t even argue that Kurt couldn’t wear one because of his tail hands and feet because Warren had an altered costume for his wings. Speaking of Warren – he’s still acting like a brat and won’t be an X-Man if Logan is, real convenient when Ororo is thrown down into a pit and the only ones who can save her are Kitty and Kurt. Garokk is back, he didn’t die when he and Ororo last fought, instead he was wounded and Magneto found him and he is now guarding Magneto’s old base. Kitty phases to keep Garokk from killing Ororo but it causes him to go falling over the ledge and plummeting to his death. Okay so they fixed Ororo having killed Garokk, but Kurt, Jean, Piotr, Kitty and Logan have all killed someone – it seems odd for Warren to take a stand against Logan. You can argue that Kitty was self defense, Kurt was an accident, and Piotr because he felt badly for Moira’s son dying but Jean still killed willingly and gleefully yet Warren seems to have no problem when he worked with her. Another odd thing is hearing Charles say he doesn’t know about Magneto’s origins, the history the two of them have is so intertwined that they’re almost two sides of the same character so it’s odd seeing it without the context of the retcon. Don’t get me wrong.. the issue individually is a good issue, and it’s a good starting off point for new readers – I just found it a little hard to swallow all the contextual errors that actually don’t even exist yet.

The Uncanny X-Men #150 – I, Magneto…

Okay we get some revelations with this one, we see Carol Danvers for the first time in an X-book (she’ll play a major role with certain things later on) and it was kind of odd because of the reason for her spending time with the X-Men hasn’t actually happened yet – it’s funny because there’s a blurb that basically says ‘hey this hasn’t happened yet but be sure to read it when it does’ type of thing. We learn that Ororo has indeed killed someone before when she was younger and this is something that weighs with her heavily to this day. So much so that she hesitates in slitting Magneto’s throat long enough for him to wake up and attack her. We officially learn that Magneto was a Holocaust victim after he believes that he has killed Kitty. That’s something I thought was odd too, this is a double sized issue, yet the ending is still rushed. One panel Kitty is dead and Ororo is grieving over her dead body and then the next panel Kitty is alive and well on the beach hanging out with the rest of the X-Men while they wait for their transportation to be fixed. And what makes this odd isn’t that they didn’t have room for exposition but in a double-sized issue the only room they allotted for that particular scene was a blurb that said and I quote: ‘miraculously – because she was phasing at the time – Kitty survived Magneto’s energy blast.’ Really they couldn’t have done a better job with that? Really?

Bizarre Adventures #27 Phoenix/Iceman: Winter Carnival/Nightcrawler: Show Me The Way To Go Home

This particular book gives us three full length stories each focusing on an untold tale of the X-Men. The first story starts off with Jean’s sister Sara visiting Jean’s grave and flashes back on an adventure the two of them shared shortly after Jean revealed herself as Phoenix and a mutant to Sara. We learn how Jean’s telepathic powers initially grew out of control when her childhood best friend Annie died in her arms. This then sets it up that Charles visited Jean when she became too withdrawn. We learn that Sara is afraid that her children will end up being mutants. There is a little mistake; Sara keeps talking about her son ‘Tommy’ yet Sara’s children’s names are later established as being Joey and Gailyn. Jean and Sara get abducted by Attuma – a water dweller who wants revenge on the surface world and Namor by taking mutant women from above water and  umm.. basically breed them with his people to create a super powered army. The story was good, but I really didn’t need to read it at all, it was interesting to see that Jean’s mind wipe she performed on her sister to make her forget these things happened was undone when she died – I just wish that this was something that was followed up on like how she wiped Kitty’s parents minds when Emma Frost abducted the X-Men and Kitty. The next story shows us Bobby’s during his college years. He’s spending the winter break with some of his old friends (I’m not sure where they came from considering Bobby was with the X-Men since he was around 15 and stayed with the team until after he had turned 18. But the next time we see Bobby in an X-book he’s drinking beer – now assuming that he’s not doing it illegally- so it’s possible that Bobby could have met his friends in the three year gap. Bobby gets a taste of freedom and the spotlight when he’s forced to act as Iceman after someone tries to steal one of the computers from the school. He stops the thieves and participates in the winter carnival. Later Bobby learns that one of the professors staged the robbery to cover up for a real robbery later, Bobby finds out and takes the man down. I actually liked this story, probably more than Jean’s but it just seems kind of weird. The final story shows the X-Men encountering ‘half a mutant’ it turns out to be Vanisher who has only half teleported back to this world – the other half of him is trapped in another dimension. Kurt gets mixed up in it and the two of them travel through multiple realities (one of which has both of them as women, another reality has the two of them as animals) before landing in another dimension where the two of them are regarded as ‘Gods’ simply because they are men. Ultimately they end up back on Earth and whole so this isn’t really anything big – at least I don’t think so – but there was one thing I found interesting. One of the three women who declare Kurt and Vanisher ‘gods’ seems to look an awful lot like Roma – a character who is tied very closely to Excalibur down the road and is connected to Captain Britain. For me this was by far the best story out of all three, and it’s the first time that Kurt has actually felt like the version of him that I enjoyed so much as a child (he’s still not up to that point in the main book) the one thing that I could consider it to be a downside is that this story is essentially comic relief and I don’t usually go for that in comics but it really works here. And I can’t get the image and conversation Kurt has when he tries to teleport for the first time in this new dimension. All in all these stories are good, I think the only one that could be considered even remotely strong enough to stand on it’s own would be Kurt’s story but the entire issue is really a case of the sum being much greater than it’s parts.

Spider-Woman #37 – Who Am I?: A

Spider-Woman #38 – Criminal At Large: A

The Uncanny X-Men #148 – Cry, Mutant: B

The Uncanny X-Men #149 – And The Dead Shall Bury The Living: C

The Uncanny X-Men #150 – I, Magneto…: B

Bizarre Adventures #27 Phoenix/Iceman: Winter Carnival/Nightcrawler: Show Me The Way To Go Home: A

Chronological X-Men - Days of Future Past Part 1 Review

Days of Future Past.

Wolverine: Days of Future Past #1 Ill Winds

Wolverine: Days of Future Past #2 Uneasy Alliances

Wolverine: Days of Future Past #3 Chain Reactions

This three part story takes place directly before the events of Uncanny X-Men #141-142 – this issue serves as sort of a prequel as well as a retcon to throw in all the new characters that have appeared long after the original story was first told. The retcon part I’ll deal with first.. the Sentinels are no longer the regular version but they are mass produced versions of Bastion’s Prime Sentinels. Wolverine is off on his quest to find Amiko (although she wasn’t introduced until roughly forty issues after the original Days of Future Past), the story now includes Emma Frost, Synch, Jubilee, Leech, and Psylocke – who has joined Shinobi Shaw and taken up the position of The Red Queen within the new Inner Circle. We see that Pietro, Sam (Cannonball) died along with Kurt and Archangel (which prompts Betsy to go bad and turn traitor.) Something happened on Genosha which is never revealed happened, something so bad that Magneto becomes unhinged if anyone even mentions ‘Genosha’ to him. We see Wanda being tortured by Shinobi and Betsy in order to use her Hex powers to destroy what little is left of civilization so they can take over. Eventually Wanda dies, but not before Magneto is crippled trying to save her. Emma restructures Betsy’s mind and sends her off for ‘rehabilitation’ that will involve her spending time with her brother Brian. The main thing about this story is it shows how and why Magneto joined the few X-Men that are left and how he was crippled – so in that respect it’s a prequel, plus the fact that it happens directly before the events of the main storyline. I haven’t read the Days of Future Past storyline yet so I don’t know how difficult it will be to deal with the retcon aspect when all of these characters that were in this particular miniseries aren’t around and since they don’t exist yet aren’t mentioned at all.

The Uncanny X-Men #141 Days Of Future Past

The Uncanny X-Men #142 Mind Out Of Time!

Alright, we’re in to the main story here… We see a lot of new things, but we get some resolutions as well. Blob meets the new Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants – consisting of Mystique (she had already appeared in Ms. Marvel’s book but this story right here begins her long standing reign of terror in the X-books) the rest of the Brotherhood is made up of Avalanche, Destiny and Pyro – this is the first time they appear anywhere. Mystique plans on killing off Senator Kelly, Moira MacTaggert and Charles Xavier to teach the world to be afraid of mutants. Initially she succeeds which sends the world spiraling into a dark and twisted world where Sentinels rule, mutants are either killed off or kept in concentration camps and the entire world is on the verge of nuclear war. In the future the only ‘X-Men’ that are left are Ororo, Piotr, Kitty – who now goes by Kate and is married to Piotr, the two had children that were at some point murdered by the Sentinels- Magneto – for the first time he is called Magnus, and is crippled, Franklin Richards – the mutant child of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, and his wife a redheaded telepathic/telekinetic mutant named Rachel. (We know from Wolverine: Days of Future Past that Jubilee, Psylocke, White Queen, Synch and Leech are all still alive too) Logan is alive, and ‘free;’ he’s been feeding Kate pieces of equipment that will disable the collars that cripple their mutant powers which then allows Rachel to send Kate back in time switching her mind with her younger self Kitty. Back in the past the X-Men battle the Brotherhood, only to find themselves evenly matched, Kurt squares off against Mystique and is taken aback by how much they look alike. Mystique doesn’t reveal too much, only that Kurt should seek out his ‘mother’ Margali for the truth. Kate in the past is able to stop Destiny from killing Senator Kelly which drastically changes this future timeline (which is a good thing because by this point in the future Ororo, Logan, Magneto, Franklin and Piotr have all died leaving just Kate/Kitty and Rachel. Kate returns to the future bringing Kitty back to the past with no memory of anything that has happened. Kelly and the newly elected president (we don’t see his face, just a shadowed outline) have teamed up with Sebastian Shaw to contract Henry Peter Gyrich to create a new breed of Sentinels to control mutant kind.

Dazzler #1 So Bright This Star

Dazzler #2 Where Demons Fear To Dwell!

Well… this as published around the same time and mentions of it lead us to believe that it takes place directly after Uncanny X-Men #142. We learn Dazzler’s real name is Alison Blaire, of course considering this is the first issue we get a bunch of new characters: Stevie Wildfire (the owner of the club Alison and Enchantress are auditioning for,) Joseph R. Ercoli (who essentially introduces Alison to her new agent,) Harry S. Osgood – her new agent, Cassandra Ferlenghetti – Harry’s secretary, Alison’s father Judge Carter Blaire, and her Nana. Since Alison appeared in Uncanny X-Men, and is a mutant this is essentially the first X-book spinoff so it’s the first time we see The Enchantress in and X-title. There are a TON of characters in this first story which almost makes this book more of a ‘Team-Up’ title rather than a ‘real’ book. So for guest stars we get: (aside from Enchantress) Human Torch, The Thing, Spider-Man, Angel, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Professor Xavier, Sprite, Storm, Wolverine, Beast, Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron-Man, Wasp, Jarvis and Spider-Man. I’ve got to be honest this is going to be a hard book for me to get through, while I’ve always liked the idea of Dazzler, I’ve never been a fan of what they had done with her character over the years and I think that’s going to drag the book down for me. Part of me hopes I’m just remembering how she was portrayed in the 80s wrong because I was only a child then, but I’m not hopeful that the book will contain anything that will want to make me come back to the book and read the stories over again. I don't mean to bash the book - there are elements that are good but I don't really need to see parts of the book devoted to Alison putting on her make up, or running around on roller skates, or even really talk about how hard it is to sing because she can't get paying gigs, but she doesn't want to quit because it's her passion. Okay sure the struggle with her life choices should be touched on, but they don't need to be brought up every single issue- and unfortunately I think they'll keep it up for a while.

Dazzler #3 The Jewels of Doom!

Dazzler #4 Here Nightmares Abide!

So here we have the second story... Carter Blaire, Allison’s Nana Bella, The Human Torch, The Thing, Cassandra and Harry are all back. We met Lancelot Steele who is acting as Harry’s field representative so I guess that makes him Alison’s manager. We continue the floating in and out of characters from other books which brings us Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, Dr. Arturo Frazen and Dr. Doom. Alison is scheduled to perform at the United Nations benefit concert and she’s so excited about it that she tries one more time to reach out to her father – it doesn’t go well. Of course just before it’s time for Alison to perform as Dazzler comes the Latverian jewels are in the process of being stolen, Alison tries to stop them only to end up being captured by Dr. Doom. Seeking a second Merlin Stone Doom transports Dazzler to the dimension he has tracked it down to in order to use her as a pawn to draw out whoever is guarding the second stone. Allison enters a stand off with her anti-self who feeds off of darkness. Alison outwits her dark self and then has to battle the real guardian of the stone. Thankfully he is also afraid of light and she quickly bests him and takes the stone and is transported back to Doom’s lair. She manages to escape the prison Dom is holding her in and uses her powers to destroy both Merlin Stones, a furious Doom destroys the building, crushing Alison underneath it and when Johnny Storm finds her he can’t revive her. Okay this story was actually more my speed than the first one but the series still has a long way to go before it becomes a good book (in my eyes at least.) One thing I think that the second issue had going for it was I remember having it as a kid. I have distinct memories of the cover, yet I don't remember reading it at all so it did bring back memories of when I was younger (I still hadn't been born when this issue was published but I remember going to the 'Giant Comic Book Warehouse' and spending like 3 hours digging through the back issue boxes with my older brother and finding this one on clearance for 30 cents so I grabbed it up.

Wolverine: Days of Future Past #1 Ill Winds: A

Wolverine: Days of Future Past #2 Uneasy Alliances: B

Wolverine: Days of Future Past #3 Chain Reactions: A

The Uncanny X-Men #141 Days Of Future Past: A

The Uncanny X-Men #142Mind Out Of Time!: A

Dazzler #1 So Bright This Star: C

Dazzler #2 Where Demons Fear To Dwell!: B

Dazzler #3 The Jewels of Doom!: B

Dazzler #4 Here Nightmares Abide!: A

Chronological X-Men - Wendigo Review

Wendigo – short, sweet and to the point.

 The Uncanny X-Men #139 … Something Wicked This Way Comes!

Okay we get a few new things here, first of all we see the first appearance of Heather MacNeil Hudson, who is married to James Hudson and we also meet a woman named Stevie Hunter. Warren is officially back with the X-Men now, and Kitty has joined the team. Charles wants to give her the codename Ariel but that doesn’t go over well with Kitty and she decides on Sprite instead. Ororo takes Kitty off to dance classes so she can have some sense of a regular life. Stevie and Ororo don’t seem to get along well, but I don’t know if anything will ever come of that. Logan returns to Canada to deal with the fact that the Canadian government is after him. He takes Kurt along with him and after they spend some time with Heather Kurt learns Wolverine’s real name. Logan, Kurt and the remaining members of Alpha Flight (half of the team is busy off book fighting someone else): Vindicator, Snowbird and Shaman team up to fight Wendigo who has taken a woman and a baby after apparently killing a man and reducing a boy to a catatonic state. The issue ends with Kurt being ambushed by Wendigo. I don’t know what to think about this particular story… it is nice to see the things switched up a bit and focus on different characters but it did feel a little odd. Especially since Ororo’s attitude has completely changed since the issue before.

The Uncanny X-Men #140 Rage!

This issue picks up right where the last one left off. Kurt is struggling to get away from Wendigo, Kitty is still in dance classes, Stevie and Ororo still don’t get along…. Kitty tells Ororo how much fun she has using her powers, which doesn’t go over well with Ororo because she’s afraid that someone will see Kitty using her powers. Piotr and Warren bond a bit but other than that we don’t see too much of any of the X-Men who are still in the US. Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Vindicator, Shaman and Snowbird hunt the Wendigo in the woods and eventually track him down. Logan beats the beast into a bloody pulp but it doesn’t end up being enough which forces Snowbird to transform into a real wolverine and give in to it’s animal instincts and wound the Wendigo enough to leave him unconscious long enough for shaman to perform a spell that will turn him back into a human being. The issue ends with Logan being cleared and no longer hunted by the Canadian government (according to Vindicator,) Wendigo (who is now simply Georges Baptiste) being taken to prison and the government pulling the plug on Alpha Flight forcing the team to disband. Finally we see Blob escape from the maximum security prison he has been in ever since he was taken into custody (I’m assuming that it was when the Mutants were rounded up when the Sentinel program was briefly reinstated (some 50+ issues ago but who knows for sure….) after his lawyer gives him a device that will destroy the cell. The lawyer tells Blob that if he can escape the prison he will officially be accepted into the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

 The Uncanny X-Men #139 … Something Wicked This Way Comes!: B

The Uncanny X-Men #140 Rage!: B

Chronological X-Men - The Dark Phoenix Saga Part 3 Review

The Dark Phoenix Saga!

 Uncanny X-Men Annual #4 Nightcrawler’s Inferno

Well this issue borrows heavily from La Divina Commedia, so it’s basically Dante’s Inferno X-Men style. We do get some things cleared up here – not that they needed being cleared up, because by this point things that I’m aware of haven’t yet happened. Kurt celebrates his 21^st birthday which is odd because the new team is supposed to be older age wise than the first team and Jean was 24, yet Kurt is 21? Anyway this issue takes place directly after Scott leaves the team so it’s still part of The Dark Phoenix Saga. Kitty is struggling to find her place at the Institute – so that only helps to ‘date’ this story. We see Margali Szardos for the first time and learn of ‘The Winding Way’ both of which play larger roles much farther down the line. We learn that Margali had a biological son Stefan and daughter Jimaine in addition to taking in Kurt as a baby. Stefan had become corrupt and in a heated battle with Kurt Stefan ended up breaking his neck and Kurt takes the blame for his death. We find out that all of this happens prior to Charles finding Kurt, and that’s why the villagers were chasing Kurt. It turns out that Jimaine is actually Amanda Sefton – the girl Kurt has been dating. They explain the reason why Kurt couldn’t recognize her was because she had used a spell to mask her identity. One thing that isn’t explained though is why Charles couldn’t sense that Amanda wasn’t who she had claimed to be. Granted he didn’t have much interaction with her (or any on panel at all) but Jean did, she should have been able to tell even without the additional power of Phoenix. Another thing that seems odd is that Margali mentions finding a newborn Kurt who was laying next to his dying biological mother.. granted this gets retconned out when they reveal that Mystique is Kurt’s mother.

What If? #27 What If The Phoenix Had Not Died?

Well this is interesting, mostly because part of this ‘What If’ stems from the original end to The Dark Phoenix Saga in which Jean doesn’t commit suicide but instead is basically lobotomized by the Shi-ar. Jean stays with the X-Men, struggling with her place within the team (so is Kitty, who since Jean is alive Ororo has a friendship with her instead of her friendship with Kitty) eventually becoming the person who runs the danger room programs and sort of acts as the teams pilot. The team goes off to battle Galactus and his herald Terrax the Tamer. Jean witnesses Scott get hurt and that unleashes Phoenix yet again. She depowers Terrax and is offered the position of Gelactus’ new herald she turns him down and the team returns to Earth. Jean struggles with her power and eventually ventures out into space and starts feeding off of asteroids eventually working her way up to a small star. Meanwhile Kitty has been spending all her time with Charles and the two form a close bond – especially when Charles begins to suffer bouts of illness, during a monitoring exercise Kitty and Charles watch Jean feed off of the star and kitty confronts Phoenix when she returns to Earth. This is where it all goes to hell… Phoenix quickly turns to Dark Phoenix when confronted with what just happened and incinerates Kitty in front of the X-Men’s eyes. Next Dark Phoenix destroys Charles’ mind leaving his body nothing but a vegetable, she telekinetically crushes Warren’s skull, buries Ororo alive, crushes Bobby, sets Kurt on fire, uses Logan’s claws to puncture Piotr’s heart and then burns Logan to death,  she also incinerates Lorna, she uses Scott’s powers to kill Alex. Finally she uses her powers to kill Scott but that proves too much for Jean and she regains control over Phoenix and in her grief destroys the entire world.

What If? #33 What If The Phoenix Had Not Died?

This ‘what if’ also comes from the original plot of Phoenix not committing suicide but instead had been lobotomized. However unlike the story before this one we see yet another scenario. This time Scott stays with the X-Men, only he divides his time with his new wife Jean. Jean hasn’t been doing well at all, she feels as if part of her soul had been ripped from her and relives the time she ate a star leading to the deaths of over five billion people. This leads Jean to a suicide attempt that fails, partly because Scott stops her and partly because Magneto crashes their honeymoon and takes Jean to Asteroid M. He tempts Jean with the offer to bring back her powers as Phoenix. While the X-Men battle Magneto Jean almost gives in to temptation but destroys his machine. Later back on Earth Jean returns to the mansion only to find it empty, and shortly after she is confronted by Mastermind who wants his revenge on Jean. Only it’s not Mastermind it is in fact the Shadow King who has sensed that The Phoenix Force will be more than enough to sustain him. He kills Jean and takes her newborn daughter Rachel.  The physical death of Jean’s body leads her to discover that she isn’t Jean at all; she is in fact Phoenix and always has been. She goes to the underwater location where she had stored the real Jean’s body. Afraid that Phoenix will lose Scott forever she simply wishes that she didn’t exist and Jean dies.

What If? #34 What If Phoenix Rose Again?

While this story basically picks up right where the last issue left off it could also stand as a singular issue given the basis of this series. Phoenix battles Shadow King who now possesses an aged version of her daughter Rachel who also contains the Phoenix Force. Phoenix finds that her own ability cannot work against her daughter because she is a ‘chosen heir.’ Phoenix changes her tactics and focuses strictly on Shadow King and expels him from Rachel’s body. After de-aging Rachel Phoenix finds that Mastermind has killed himself rather than have to fight Phoenix again. Phoenix and Rachel return to the mansion only to be surprised by all the X-Men, she lies to Scott about what happened. Phoenix struggles to be as human as possible; Robert Kelly is elected president and begins his anti-mutant hysteria. Phoenix mind wipes the president and forces him to take a pro-mutant stance. Shortly after Kelly is assassinated on live TV, this leads to the reinstatement of the Sentinels who have been programmed to kill all super heroes – mutant or not. While the super powered population shrinks Rachel begins to have memories of what happened when she was possessed by the Shadow King and had to fight her mother and tells Logan about it. Logan goes to confront ‘Jean’ and after becoming enraged Phoenix reveals her true self. It turns out this was all a set up between Scott and Logan and after being ‘outted’ Phoenix leaves seemingly for good. The mansion becomes a haven for all mutants while the world is falling apart. The Sentinels soon ambush the mansion and kill several mutants in the process, after going on the run Phoenix arrives yet again and works out a plan where she will destroy all of the Sentinels with the X-Men’s help. Once destroyed Phoenix asks Destiny what her possible futures hold, once Destiny reveals that all of the paths of Phoenix’s future lead to death and destruction Phoenix leaves for the deep end of space wondering if it would be best if she had just allowed Jean to die.

Marvel Treasury Edition #27 Joyride Into Jeopardy!

The final leg of this journey is a brief back up feature in the Marvel Treasury Edition showing Warren just before he rejoins the X-Men. This isn’t really anything major, and it’s not supposed to be. He’s flying around and is attacked by a man who lost everything he had once Warren’s father shut down his company. It’s just a quick battle, there’s not room for much of anything considering it is only six pages long so before you can even get really into it the story is over. While I probably never will read this particular story again I wouldn’t be opposed to them going back and telling an extended version of this tale. With it being as short as it is it suffers from of a case of ‘what it lacks in plot it makes up for in lack of plot;’ this could easily be fixed by fleshing it out and making it a bit longer. Personally I wouldn't have chosen to close out this storyline with this particular story, but it is the final time we see Warren before he rejoins the X-Men so this is the only place that it would have fit.

 

Uncanny X-Men Annual #4 Nightcrawler’s Inferno: B

What If? #27 What If The Phoenix Had Not Died?: A

What If? #33 What If The Phoenix Had Not Died?: A

What If? #34 What If Phoenix Rose Again?: A

Marvel Treasury Edition #27 Joyride Into Jeopardy!: C