Chronological X-Men - Secret Wars II Part 1 Review

Secret Wars II (review part 1)

Dazzler #37 – The Girl in the Machine

Alison gets a call from an old friend of hers asking for help and Alison jumps at the chance to reconnect with her. The only problem is when she reaches Diana’s home she is told that Diana died over six months ago! We see the return of Revenge Inc which was nice but between their return, Diana’s involvement and the whole story behind Revenge Inc using Diana and giving her those operations that eventually caused her to be absorbed into this machine that apparently only she could use and then turn against them was a bit too much and it made it seem forced. This story could have easily been more than one issue, or they should have had a few things here and there that led up to it. Sure there’s the Revenge Inc thing, but we’ve never even heard of Diana Simon before this particular issue. It didn’t need to be a B or C plot in other issues, but at least one page or 2-3 panels here and there would have made this story better than it was.

Dazzler #38 – Challenge

See this right here – the few pages with O.Z. Chase and that mysterious man that we don’t see who suddenly turns to a pile of dust is exactly what I was talking about in the previous issue. There needs to be some kind of build up to the plots – it doesn’t need to have the bulk of an issue devoted to it, but it’s a perfect thing to put in to beef up stand alone stories, or filler issues. I was actually much more interested in the whole bounty hunter thing and that mysterious figure than I was about the main plot. It jumps around too much First Logan and Piotr are fighting Alison then it flashes back to Alison going to the X-Men wanting to train her new powers. There were just too many weird things. I understand Logan’s disgust at Alison wanting to train when she has no interest in being a super hero. I don’t understand why Piotr is all gaga over Alison when he’s busy ‘not loving’ Kitty. Rogue being all pro Alison is odd considering the two of them despise each other and I have no idea why Scott shows up out of the blue.

The New Mutants #29 – Meanwhile, Back at the Mansion…

Roberto and Amara are kidnapped by members of the Gladiators and it’s up to Sam and Illyana to save them. We see the return of the Gladiators from the Beauty and the Beast miniseries as well as Lila Cheney, Dazzler (obviously), Magneto and Lee Forrester. We have the first appearance of Guido Carosella AKA Strong Guy. Charles and the rest of the New Mutants are still on Muir Island so we basically only get Amara, Roberto, Sam and Illyana this time. There isn’t really much to say about this issue, Roberto and Amara stay with the Gladiators to save a bunch of runaway children; Charles contacts Magneto to let him know that the Beyonder has returned and charges Magneto to assemble a team to go up against him to save the world (Illyana and Sam join).

The Uncanny X-Men #195 – It Was A Dark And Stormy Night

We meet The Power Pack for the first time which I guess is okay – honestly I don’t feel one way or another about their appearance here. The X-Men are a little too old to be dealing with kids that young, it would have fit a bit better if this happened in The New Mutants title instead of Uncanny X-men but what can you do? The Morlocks are back: Annalee is still suffering from the murder of her children (they were killed in Uncanny X-Men #193), Leech, Callisto, Masque and Sunder we’ve seen before, I think this is the first time we’ve seen Ape or at the very least the first time Ape has had more than just a group shot in the X-Books I mean. Beautiful Dreamer, Erg and Tar Baby show up for the first time in this book. I’m not really sure where Kurt or Piotr are or why their absence means that Kitty is running point on this mission, especially over a tracker like Logan or a telepath like Rachel. It was a good issue though which is fine by me. Of course we have the build up to Secret Wars II here too because Rachel is summoned telepathically by Magneto ordering that she (how he knows about her I have no idea) and the rest of the X-Men return to the mansion immediately.

Secret Wars II #1 – Earthfall!

You know, I thought that the first Secret Wars series was packed with characters but this one takes the cake. This is just the first issue and we’ve got: The Beyonder, Molecule Man, Volcana, Wolfsbane, Warlock, Mirage, Cannonball, Magik, Captain America, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Shadowcat, Magneto, Rogue, Rachel Summers, Iron Man (James), Tony Stark, Professor X, Moria MacTaggert, David Haller (Legion) Dazzler, Lila Cheney and Doug Ramsey *who for some reason is colored with black hair that makes him look like Roberto. We get a new character ‘Thundersword’ who is a TV writer who obtains a portion of the Beyonder’s power and pretty much goes crazy. I do like the idea of a potential inside joke looking back on it. The writer is sick of having to play by everyone’s rules and just wants to write what he wants to write. It’s funny once you consider that many X-book writers expressed their dislike of having to throw away their own plots to fit in with massive title wide crossovers and events. I like the concept of The Beyonder wanting to learn and grow but I think I need to see more of it before I can really judge it.

The New Mutants #30 – The Singer & Her Song

The New Mutants #31 – Saturday Night Fight

After having the evil portion of her soul pulled out into the open and becoming the demonic Darkchilde by the Beyonder Illyana transports herself, Rachel, Sam, Kitty and Dazzler to Limbo. Kitty manages to take Illyana’s Soulsword and use it on Illyana which effectively causes Darkchilde’s essence to retreat back into Illyana’s soul. From there the group returns to LA where they find that the Beyonder, X-Men, Captain America, Iron Man and Lila Cheney have all vanished. Kitty steps up as the leader of the group and they make their way back to the Gladiators to try once again to free Roberto and Amara. The big reveal here is that the mysterious person that has been running the Gladiators is really Xi’an Coy Manh! Obviously they can’t give out all the details of her sudden resurrection or why she has changed not only in behavior but drastically in the looks department as well. What is kind of explained is why the sudden change in the Gladiators mindset; while it’s not expressly said I’m choosing to believe that is why they returned to their old ways. Ultimately Xi’an gets away and Kitty decides that the New Mutants need to go on their own and track down Karma while she, Rachel, and Alison reconnect with the X-Men.

Dazzler #37 – The Girl in the Machine: B

Dazzler #38 – Challenge: C

The New Mutants #29 – Meanwhile, Back at the Mansion…: B

The Uncanny X-Men #195 – It Was A Dark And Stormy Night: A

Secret Wars II #1 – Earthfall!: B

The New Mutants #30 – The Singer & Her Song: A

The New Mutants #31 – Saturday Night Fight: B

Chronological X-Men - Legion Review

Legion!

The New Mutants #26 – Legion

The New Mutants #27 – Into the Abyss

The New Mutants #28 - Soulwar

This is a small little story but it’s a pretty big one so that’s why I decided to separate it into its own little section. We do get a draw on some recent history as well as a few things that up until this point had seemed to have been forgotten. The most recent events that are covered are the fact that Thunderbird (II) kidnapped Banshee to exact revenge on Charles Xavier, Charles getting jumped and beaten nearly to death only to be saved by Callisto and Emma Frost not being happy with Empath’s recent actions which played a role in ruining Emma’s plans to use Firestar to assassinate Selene. The stories that seemed long forgotten were Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander being transformed by the Demon Bear and Moira and Gabrielle keeping the fact that David Haller is autistic and Charles’ son. The little things really helped to fill out the story - it was nice to see Jamie Madrox show up, he has been MIA for quite some time now. The aftermath of Empath’s actions was surprising because of Emma shutting down his powers. She has always been ruthless but to take away someone’s powers like that is a new level of sadistic even for Emma. Of course this leads to Empath reaching out to a mysterious group to seek revenge on Sunspot and Magma – although I’m not sure why he didn’t go after Emma, Thunderbird (II) and Angelica instead. We touch bases briefly with Magneto and Lee who have started up a romance that appears to end within this particular storyline. The cast is pretty full as it is but it would have been a nice touch to have Illyana present for this story because she was with Moira when they first met Gabrielle. We finally see David Haller for the first time and meet three of his stronger personalities: Jack Wayne – who is a telekinetic, Cyndi who is pyrokinetic and Jemail Karami the telepath who was part of an assassination team sent to kill Daniel Shomron (David’s godfather,) Gabrielle and David. Unfortunately Gabrielle wasn’t there and David’s psychic powers manifested after he witnessed Jemail murder Daniel. David killed the assassination team and unintentionally managed to absorb (at the very least) Jemail’s mind. The main story revolves around Charles and the New Mutants trying to help cure David similar to the way that Charles cured Gabrielle years ago but in the process: Charles, Gabrielle, Dani, Rahne, Doug, Moira, Tom and Sharon all get pulled into David’s mind which is a battlefield. At first we’re led to believe that Jemail has taken over David’s mind and is trying to destroy the boy and take over his body but we learn that Jemail actually wants to help knit David’s fractured mind back together and that Jack Wayne is the one who is trying to keep everything the way it is. Ultimately Jemail and Dani combine their powers to return all of her friends to their physical bodies and Jemail and Jack (under Dani’s threats) piece together David’s mind. However after Dani returns to her physical body Jack built in a failsafe that kept himself, Cyndi and Jemail all separate personalities within David who is now awake and finally comes face to face with the father he thought had abandoned him and Charles remembering that he felt the Beyonder probing David’s mind while they were all trapped in there. It was a good story, nothing really to pick on – there was one little mistake where there’s an image of Gabrielle and Moira with David as a little child but that’s easy to over look. I do wish that they had more time to play up the betrayal factor of the two women he loved the most keeping such a thing from him. Once again the art really suited the story, but I wish it was a bit darker and I’m not really a fan of David’s overall look in the ‘real’ world.

Marvel Graphic Novel #50 – The Scorpio Connection

I put this one in here mostly because I didn’t feel comfortable just doing three issues here and Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection was the easiest to place. Sure it happens a bit further in the continuity since Dazzler is an X-Man, however she’s only really in one panel so it’s very easy to ignore. Plus Kurt and Ororo aren’t around and that makes sense since Ororo lost her powers and since Nightcrawler is about to go off on his own little adventure thanks to Kitty (who is also not present) and Illyana. The story itself is all about Wolverine and Nick Fury teaming up to take down a man who killed a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents and left a calling card in the shape of the Scorpio Zodiac sign. Logan wants revenge because one of the men that Scorpio killed was an old friend of his that once saved his life; Nick wants in on this not because of the dead agents but because the original Scorpio was Nick’s younger brother. Now the big problem for Nick is that he witnessed his brother killing himself so there’s no way it’s possible for Scorpio to be back. Through the story we have the first appearance of Mikel Fury – Nick’s nephew but we find out that he’s actually Nick’s son. We have the first and only appearance of Amber D’Alexis – Mikel’s mother and an outright ruthless woman who manipulated her son into thinking another man was his father just so she could secretly train him to kill his actual father. I really liked the story despite me not being familiar with the bulk of the characters within the story; the only problem I had was the art and coloring. It just wasn’t my thing and all those red panels kind of hurt my eyes with how they’d pop in and out.

The New Mutants #26 – Legion: A

The New Mutants #27 – Into the Abyss: A

The New Mutants #28 – Soulwar: A

Marvel Graphic Novel #50 – The Scorpio Connection: B

Chronological X-Men - Dazzler The Movie Review

Dazzler – The Movie!

The New Mutants #22 – The Shadow Within

Sam is still trying to learn how to control his abilities and is undergoing training sessions with Kurt which doesn’t go over well with Rahne. The main plot of the story revolves around Rahne writing a story in which she’s a beautiful princess who needs to defeat an evil sorceress. In the story Rahne ends up stopping the sorceress and taking a necklace from her and when the issue actually ends we see Rahne asleep in her bed holding the very necklace. The sub plot introduces us to a new character: Friedrich von Roehm who is one of Selene’s High Priests. Speaking of Selene she has decided to take up a permanent residence in New York and uses Friedrich to find her a suitable place to establish a new power base that would allow her to continue her human sacrifices and feeding off of people. Naturally Friedrich suggests the Hellfire Club and arranges a meeting between Sebastian Shaw and Selene in order to put a bid in for her to become the new Black Queen – it’s as good of a time as any considering Roberto’s father Emanuel DaCosta is about to undergo his initiation into the Inner Circle. It was a good issue I just wish that they would have focused a little bit more on Selene and less on Rahne’s storytelling.

The Uncanny X-Men #189 – Two Girls Out To Have Fun

Okay I just need to get this out of the way – how sad and creepy was it seeing a book that was published in 1985 have a character who traveled back from the 21^st century and one of the things she remembers is the destruction of the Twin Towers. That was just… wow. Okay beyond that the story picks up right where The New Mutants #22 left off with Selene going to Sebastian Shaw to apply for membership to the Hellfire Club and the Inner Circle. She offers to give Sebastian a gift so it would help put her in better standing and of course she decides to give him Rachel and Amara. The two of them are in the city basically bonding and they end up crashing the Hellfire Club when they see Selene. After a heated battle Amara and Rachel are let go and the X-Men and the Inner Circle come to an agreement and the X-Men leave Selene in Sebastian’s hands. The other plots that run through this book is the fact that Alison Blaire has just been publically outted as a mutant (I’ll get in to that later since all of these issues in this review take place during the events of Dazzler – The Movie so they run concurrently); Ororo decides to leave the X-Men since she feels that she can no longer lead the team after the lose of her mutant abilities, and finally the magical necklace that the dock worker found a few issues ago ends up releasing an evil warlock – Kulan Gath -  who intends on exacting his revenge on the world.

The New Mutants #23 – Shadowman

The New Mutants #24 – The Hollow Heart

The New Mutants #25 – The Only Thing To Fear…

Well this set of issues manages to tie up some old plotlines so that’s good. We find out that Rahne wasn’t exactly dreaming her story but it was an interpretation of events that happened while she transformed into her wolf state and attacked two people – who are later recognized by Sam and Dani to be none other than Cloak and Dagger. Roberto ends up loosing control of his abilities and attacks Piotr and later Charles and Moira. It turns out that Roberto and Rahne are suffering from lingering side effects from the time Cloak and Dagger used their abilities to purge the drug from their system back in Marvel Team-Up Annual #6. Piotr comes to the realization finally that he actually didn’t love Zsaji and he figures out that he lost her and Kitty. We touch base with Father Michael Bowen who had been taking care of Leong and Nga Coy Manh ever since Xi’an had died. In a nice little twist he’s revealed to be the uncle of Dagger. I liked how Sam and Dani played off of each other and it was nice to see the little Star Wars reference. Charles learns of the magical armor Illyana and he and Rogue visit Limbo for the first time. The whole internal Illyana is going through while being in the church is a nice touch and a good little nod to exactly what would be going on with her considering half of her soul has been corrupted and given away to black magic in order to create the bloodstones. The other plot with Magneto and Lee was good, but it felt kind of off. This was one of those types of stories that I really liked, but I don’t really picture myself ever going back and reading it a second time. I've got to say though that I'm really digging the art. On some stories it seems a bit choppy but combined with this type of plot (or The Demon Bear plot) the style of the art really helps to set the tone of the book.

Marvel Graphic Novel #12 – Dazzler the Movie

Well eve get a whole hell of a lot of characters here Alison, Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Storm, Wolverine, Roman Nekoboh, Ziggy (roman’s butler) Mr. Witwicky and new characters Eric Beale and Freddy Stanacheck. It’s kind of hard to explain what happens here but I’ll try. Alison ends up having to quit her job after Eric buys the club and makes sexual advances on her. Roman continues to pursue Alison and the two of them eventually pretend to date in order to garner publicity and create a name for Alison. The duo eventually finds out that they do care for each other which is really cliché but oh well. Roman decides to make a movie that stars Alison and himself. Anti mutant hysteria continues to rise, so much so that Ororo calls up Alison and offers to let her come stay with the X-men so she can stay safe but she refuses. Roman decides to reveal to the world that Alison is a mutant (a fact he just recently found out himself) so it would help generate publicity and bring in more money. There’s a new aspect to Alison’s powers, originally she needed to hear sound in order to transmute it into light but now she can also apparently store up sound as well. It turns out that the person financing the movie is none other than Eric who as it turns out orchestrated this entire series of events just to get Roman on contract and to ruin Alison’s life because she turned down his sexual advances. So by the time all is said and done the movie doesn’t get released because Alison destroys the only copy left because she refuses to be Eric’s ‘slave’ (for lack of a better word) and leaving her alone in a world in which she can no longer hide. I wanted this story to be a lot better than it was, but at the same time it wasn’t bad – even with all the clichés.

The Uncanny X-Men #190 – An Age Undreamed Of

The Uncanny X-Men #191 – Raiders of the Lost Temple!

Yeah I don’t really know where to start with this one. Kulan Gath has transformed all of New York into a barbarian era and has essentially brainwashed everyone. It turns out that he has clashed with Selene in the past and she gathers the X-Men, a few Avengers, Callisto and Amara and Illyana to storm Kulan Gath’s palace to stop him. Since the way to fix this is a form of mystical time travel – thanks to Doctor Strange and Illyana it’s hard to tell who really died because the events end up never having happened. I do like that we get the continuation of Selene trying to make Amara and Rachel her slaves, and I’m glad that Charles FINALLY spoke to Doctor Strange about Illyana and I enjoyed the interaction between Ororo and Callisto. Overall though – I’m not really a fan of this story. It seems random and out of place and like it was a very large event that had already been plotted out and then they pulled the idea but had to use a condensed version of it for two filler issues. The big thing here obviously is the fact that we get the first appearance of Nimrod and he’s been a staple in the X-Men mythos for some time now. I guess aside form the book time devoted to Illyana that was the saving grace. I never have read the first few sets of Nimrod storylines so I never fully understood why all of the mutants seem to be more afraid of him/it than all the other villains combined so it will be nice to see if after reading those stories I still think he’s really overrated.

The New Mutants #22 – The Shadow Within: B

The Uncanny X-Men #189 – Two Girls Out To Have Fun: B

The New Mutants #23 – Shadowman: B

The New Mutants #24 – The Hollow Heart: B

The New Mutants #25 – The Only Thing To Fear…: B

Marvel Graphic Novel #12 – Dazzler the Movie: B+

The Uncanny X-Men #190 – An Age Undreamed Of: D

The Uncanny X-Men #191 – Raiders of the Lost Temple!: D

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

X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men

So I stumbled upon this and decided to give it a watch. X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men first aired back in the 80s as what was intended to be a pilot for an animated series for X-Men. Like with almost every single X-Men cartoon out there the lineup is kind of odd. You have Charles Xavier, Cyclops, Storm and Wolverine – all of them have been staples of the various X-Men cartoons over the years; the rest of the lineup is what always changes. The team is fleshed out by Nightcrawler, Colossus, Dazzler and we’re introduced to their world via the arrival of Kitty Pryde. The villains are also a little random: Pyro, Blob, Toad, Juggernaut, Magneto, the White Queen and Lockheed the dragon.

Some of the casting choices are odd due to their lack of explanation. Obviously they included Lockheed because he is Kitty’s pet/friend in the comics, but why is he with Magneto up until the very end? Dazzler, who at the time in the comics loved being a mutant as long as she could perform her music and have nothing to do with the X-Men or super heroics in general is suddenly an active member of the X-Men. Scott is around yet there’s no Jean or hints of the original X-Men so who knows if they would have dealt with the whole Phoenix/Dark Phoenix thing. The Brotherhood of ‘Terrorist’ Mutants (I’m not sure why ‘terrorist’ was less harsh of a word for children in the 80s than ‘evil’) seems to be a smash up of the original incarnation of the Brotherhood: Magneto, Toad; and Mystique’s incarnation of the Brotherhood by using Blob and Pyro. Juggernaut was never a member of the Brotherhood, but considering he was a frequent rival for the X-Men I can see why they included him.

There were two things that I had huge problems with and if the show did get turned into a series it would have wrecked the ability to rewatch the show. The first one wouldn’t have been too bad, I could have always used fast forward or the mute button to get through the HORRIBLE theme song. The other thing though – that would have really ruined it for me; for some reason Wolverine - you know the Canadian super spy government lab rat who is the best at what he does… and what he does isn’t very nice has an Australian accent for no reason whatsoever. On the other hand the inclusion of Dazzler was a plus because Alison had always gotten the shaft (she was in like 2 episodes of X-Men the Animated Series, I don’t remember if she was in X-Men Evolution, and it’s a shame Wolverine and the X-Men was cancelled before season two since it was supposed to be the Age of Apocalypse arch and Dazzler was very noticeable during that arch. The White Queen also hasn’t had the best luck with her turn in the cartoons, she had an odd accent in Pryde of the X-Men, was only in a handful of episodes (4 max) of X-Men the Animated Series, was completely omitted from X-Men Evolution, she was a huge part of Wolverine and the X-Men but also she’s got an odd accent, for some reason she’s British.

The art, even for the time was really good which surprised me. Another surprise was the actual voice cast. Almost every single voice sounded familiar to me and when I looked up the cast and I could see why. If you watched TV at all from the 80s up until 2000 you have heard almost every single one of the cast’s voices. This first came out in 1989 when I was seven but for some reason I never saw it up until today and I was actually entertained by it today. I can see if this had been turned into a series and I had known about it when I was a kid I totally would have gotten into it.

Rating: C+

Chronological X-Men - Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars Part 1 Review

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars!

The New Mutants #15 – Scaredy Cat!

The New Mutants #16 – Away Game!

The New Mutants #17 – Getaway!

Well this particular story takes place right after the X-Men vanish. Kitty is being held captive by Emma Frost – who has woken up from her coma with no real explanation as to why, and Doug is now at Emma’s Massachusetts Academy and being telepathically controlled by Emma.  Wet get several new characters thanks to Emma’s own team of teenaged mutants The Hellions: Catseye, Empath, Jetstream, Roulette, Tarot and Thunderbird (II) – who is really James Proudstar who has joined Emma’s team to take down the X-Men and Charles Xavier whom he blames for his older brother’s death. Some of the team’s powers act as direct opposition to the New Mutants- Catseye can switch from cat form to human, but she performs her feline form, so she’s their version of Rahne. Jetstream’s abilities are similar to Cannonball’s only Sam is stronger, but Jeatstream has better control over his abilities. Thunderbird is the powerhouse, much like Sunspot is for the New Mutants. Tarot who can create psychic visions based off of her tarot cards is Dani’s counterpart. Empath and Roulette are kind of just extras, and since Emma didn’t know about Amara or Illyana she never recruited counterparts for them. The plot revolves around the New Mutants (which now includes Magik) going after Kitty and Doug to rescue them from Emma Frost once Illyana spies on the Massachusetts Academy while in her astral form and sees what is really going on. There are some interesting things here: Illyana’s ability to use astral projection (so far only a few characters could do this, and with the exception of Magneto they all had telepathic powers,) Dani’s growing ease with using her powers yet they’re taking a toll on her soul – it would be really nice to do some bonding with Illyana and Dani, I always wished the two of them were closer and this would have been the perfect opportunity to do it. I really love Tarot’s powers and I wish she would have had a more visible role over the years. There are a few things though that I wished they cleared up, or explained. Illyana wants to keep her sorceress side hidden from everyone, then maybe she shouldn’t have chosen the codename Magik (the secrets out now though), another odd thing was the fact that Kitty could see Illyana’s astral form, yet Kitty has no psionic powers. How did Emma wake up? Why did she want Doug so badly, when even Charles Xavier didn’t consider him ‘worth’ recruiting? Why did Emma go through all this trouble of taking Doug just to let him go? Why does the team have such a hard time even being in the same room as Magik because they’re afraid of her and what she is and can do, yet the team watched Roberto kill Selene and bury her in her temple? The plot was good, it got us some good new characters and it will provide future material for people to pull from – but there were a lot of unanswered questions that created too many loose ends. One thing I’m really excited for though is to see where they’re going with the whole Demon Bear. It was rather surprising to see him suddenly appear in front of Dani and tell her that he’s coming to claim her soon.

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 – War Begins

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #2 – Prisoners of War!

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #3 – Tempest Without, Crisis Within!

Okay let me get one thing out of the way first: this is a huge massive event that was created back in the 80s in order for Kenner Toys to have a publishing event to help promote the sale of their Marvel properties toys. That being said, the cast is HUGE: Captain America, Captain Marvel II (not the original guy, but a new lady taking the name), Hawkeye, Iron Man, She-Hulk, Thro, Wasp, Human Torch, Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Rogue, Storm, Wolverine, Lockeed, The Hulk, Spider-Man, Magneto, Dr. Doom, Dr. Octopus, Enchantress, Galactus, Kang, Lizard, Molecule Man, Ultron, Absorbing Man, Bulldozer, Piledriver, Thunderball, and Wrecker. That being said we get (so far) three new characters introduced: The Beyonder, Titania and Volcana. All this and I’m only on issue three. It turns out that The Beyonder has been responsible for the recent disappearances on Earth and he has also been the one who was behind the psychic probing of various characters over recent months. There’s a lot going on here which at times makes the series a bit hard to follow, but I don’t know if it would be easier if I was up to date on the books of the non X-characters. I’m going to try to be more objective about this story until I read all of it. I mean the storyline is pretty popular, but at the same time it was created just to sell toys so it’s either going to be awesome or awful.

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #4 – Situation: Hopeless!

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #5 – The Battle of Four Armies!

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #6 – A Little Death…

As the first half of this story closes out we get two apparent deaths – Doom kills Kang for questioning his orders and in the process of trying to bring Lizard back into the villain’s fold it appears that the Wasp was killed trying to save him. We get the introduction of new characters in the form of Spider-Woman II aka Julia Carpenter – but it’s just a cameo, and we meet Zsaji – a healer who fixes Johnny’s broken arm, heals up Spider-Man and saves Colossus. I did find it a little odd that Johnny and Peter have apparently fallen in love with her after she healed them. It’s not odd, but it would make more sense if Spider-Man was also affected by this weird love obsession – especially if it is caused by Zsaji’s healing abilities. Speaking of odd, Piotr’s love for Kitty comes off a little like he’s obsessed with her. It definitely amps up the creepy factor that was always there because of their age differences. We also get the resurrection of Klaw (who had been killed by Dazzler) – honestly I don’t mind this one at all. I know that over the years quite a few of the X-Men have had to kill people but still. I mean out of all the ‘active’ mutants pretty much the only ones who hasn’t killed someone are Sam and Rahne. I do find it a little odd that Charles is so upset that he manipulated Spider-Man’s mind only because over the years he has done that to quite a few people. His guilt over it starts to ring a little hollow when he keeps doing it. So the story has really picked up: why does the Thing keep changing from human to ‘thing,’ is Wasp really dead, is Kang really dead, who is in the shadows watching everyone, is Galactus really about to eat the planet?

The New Mutants #15 – Scaredy Cat!: A

The New Mutants #16 – Away Game!: A

The New Mutants #17 – Getaway!: A

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 – War Begins: C

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #2 – Prisoners of War!: B

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #3 – Tempest Without, Crisis Within!: B

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #4 – Situation: Hopeless!: A

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #5 – The Battle of Four Armies!: B

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #6 – A Little Death…: A