Chronological X-Men - Wolverine Part 1 Review

Wolverine! (Also a little bit of 'whose wedding is it anyway?)

Wolverine #1 – I’m Wolverine

Wolverine #2 – Debts and Obligations

Wolverine #3 – Loss

Wolverine #4 – Honor

This particular mini-series shows us what Logan has been up to since he left the X-Men. It starts off with Logan tracking an illegal hunter in Canada and eventually traveling to Japan to see Mariko after she refuses to speak with him or return any of his attempts to contact him. It turns out that the reason why she has cut off all contact with him is because when Mariko’s father Lord Shingen returns and basically forces Mariko into an arranged marriage with Noburu-Hideki. Logan doesn’t take it too well when he finds out that Mariko is physically abused by her husband but Logan doesn’t have much time to deal with it because he is quickly attacked by members of The Hand – it turns out that they are working for Shingen who has gotten the Clan Yashida involved with the Yakuza because he is heavily involved in illegal activity. After being rejected by Mariko Logan meets up with Yukio (her first appearance at all) who is basically the female version of himself. However all is not as it seems, it turns out that Yukio is working with Lord Shingen to kill Logan – unfortunately for her she has fallen in love with him. Once Logan learns that Shingen is behind the attacks from The Hand he confronts him and on their second duel he ends up killing Shingen in front of Mariko – who felt honor bound to kill her father herself if Logan hadn’t. So in the end Mariko ends up leaving her abusive husband and she and Logan become engaged leaving the series to end with the X-Men getting an invitation to Logan and Mariko’s wedding, and Yukio roaming around Japan a woman scorned. I’ve got to be honest, I wasn’t really expecting a lot going into this mini-series. Wolverine isn’t really the type of character that can carry off a plot that doesn’t revolve around nothing but fights but this was a nice mixture of plot and action so it felt very even. There were a few things that didn’t really make any sense Logan mentions that he knows who his father is which is odd considering he isn’t supposed to have any memories of his life prior to working as a secret agent for the Canadian government. When the X-Men get the wedding invitation Scott is present – yet in The Uncanny X-Men he is currently in Alaska becoming involved with Madelyne Pryor. There’s all this turmoil with the Clan Yashida yet Shiro (Sunfire) is no where to be seen and he is Mariko’s cousin.

Marvel Team-Up Annual #6 – The Hunters and the Hunted!

Well now we have Spider-Man who is trying to track down Cloak and Dagger and help them bring the people who killed a bunch of teens to justice. Through a random series of events Cannonball, Psyche, Sunspot and Wolfsbane all become involved which results in Roberto and Rahne getting kidnapped by the drug dealers who are trying to use their drugs on mutants to create a counter part that will help protect them from Cloak and Dagger. There really isn’t much to say about this particular story it was good but I would much rather have had the writer switch out Dani with Xi’an. It would have been a perfect way to play up her history that surrounded around child exploitation and they could have had Spider-Man or cannonball pull her back from going over the edge once Rahne and Roberto where augmented and turned into mindless beasts by the drug dealers.

The New Mutants #5 – Heroes

The New Mutants #6 – Road Warriors!

Well the New Mutants go to the local Fair as a reward for everything that they had been through recently and they encounter Team America – a group of stunt riders that Roberto looks at as heroes; so much so that he even creates a fictional sister just so he can get Team America’s autographs for ‘her.’ The fair is quickly crashed by The Silver Samurai (first time he appears in an X-book) and Viper (I’m pretty sure that this also her first appearance in an X-book) who plan on using Team America to steal a crystal from AIM’s ‘Project Matrix’ unfortunately Dani gets kidnapped by the evil dup and Viper adjusts her plan telling everyone that unless they bring her the crystal she will kill Dani. Charles and Lilandra work with Team America to obtain the crystal while Xi’an, Sam, Rahne and Roberto try to locate Dani. Charles looses contact with everyone when he is struck down with a telepathic blow (that also effects Lilandra and Karma) so he has no idea what’s going on with Xi’an’s team. Unfortunately she has taken the team to meet with her uncle to try to get him to give her information that will help her locate Dani. Finding herself unable to kill her uncle she ends up agreeing to a deal – if he reveals the location of Viper’s headquarters she will work for him no questions asked for a year. Ultimately Charles is able to regain telepathic contact with The New Mutants and shortly after that Xi’an is tormented by a voice only she can hear unfortunately before anyone can do anything about it The Silver Samurai sets off a series of bombs that blow up the island. My only problem with this is that given the current storyline it feels odd that suddenly Charles and Lilandra are in Japan for Logan and Mariko's wedding and that Storm knows the outcome of this particular battle yet there's a whole other storyline that continues in the next issue of the New Mutants that goes on for a few issues actually but the start of it happens just before the rest of this particular overall plot line (Logan and Mariko's wedding) so you could almost read like the first 2-3 pages of the next issue of New Mutants and then jump back to this story and finish it up. It's an odd little thing and it doesn't bug me much which is surprising but oh well.

The Uncanny X-Men #172 – Scarlet in Glory

The Uncanny X-Men #173 – To Have and Have Not

The X-Men (including their newest member Rogue) arrive in Japan for Logan and Mariko’s wedding. Unknown to Logan Yukio is still ‘looking out for’ Logan and encounters The Silver Samurai who has returned to Japan after his recent battle with The New Mutants in an attempt to stop the wedding and take back control of the Clan Yashida (since he is Mariko’s half brother.) Viper manages to poison all of the X-Men except for Rogue, Logan and Storm which causes Logan to try to get revenge on Viper and Keniuchio with Rogue’s help. He doesn’t want anything to do with Rogue at first but she more than proves herself when she risks her life to save Mariko. Storm continues to struggle with her sense of self and lose control of her powers – thankfully she meets up with Yukio and sort of models this new way she’s thinking and behaving after Yukio’s train of thought ‘you only die once.’ Speaking of only dying once… after a heated battle where Ororo loses control of her powers and is flung into the water to keep from burning herself to death she sees a giant flaming Phoenix rising out of the sky. Ororo continues her metamorphosis and ends up shaving her head leaving only a mohawk and donning a brand new all leather outfit. Meanwhile before traveling to Japan with Alex, Lorna, Corsair and Madelyne; Alex catches Scott going through the records of their grandparents business specifically looking at Madelyne’s file because he believes her to be the reincarnation of Phoenix. In Japan though Madelyne’s presence doesn’t go over too well at first, Lilandra tries to kill her, everyone else is shocked to see her and Kitty (possibly on purpose) scares her by making her watch Lockheed. At the wedding Mariko refuses to marry Logan stating that he isn’t, and never will be worthy of him and as she walks away we see a cropped image of Mastermind. Obviously he had gone after her and used his powers, but it remains to be seen how he dug his way out of his mind from his past encounter with Phoenix, why he targeted Mystique, and if he has any thing to do with the recent attack Charles suffered or if he had anything to do with the voices Karma heard before she died (oh yeah, there’s a little error here and it is revealed that Storm knows that Xi’an did in the explosion – there’s a bit of a timeline error her since the next main story Nova Roma takes place after Logan and Mariko’s non-wedding yet Xi’an’s death isn’t revealed until that story, and Charles and Lilandra are still dealing with the New Mutants with Ororo’s help in New Mutants #7 yet they’re over in Japan now – it’s a minor error that I can over look so it’s not too bad) or the giant Phoenix that Ororo and Yukio saw. There is one little change – a cosmetic one that isn’t really explained (but it doesn’t need to be either, I just find it odd) up until this point Rogue has had her white streaks on the side of her head and now it’s suddenly just one streak in the front. You know it’s a pretty good story if all I can nitpick about is someone’s hair.

What If? #43 – What If… Wolverine Had Married Mariko?

Okay much like with almost every single What If… that I’ve read so far this story teaches us that no matter what is different everyone dies and I’m kind of sick of it really, there’s a way to have an alternate reality story that doesn’t involve killing most of the characters involved. In this particular story Logan does indeed marry Mariko and the two of them stay in Japan (which is a major cause of disappointment for Kitty) to regain the honor of Clan Yoshida and dissolve any and all involvement with the Yakuza. Eventually Mariko’s half brother The Silver Samurai betrays the person he is working for claiming he wants to regain his own personal honor and become a member of Clan Yoshida once again. Logan learns that the leader of the Yakuza is none other than Wilson Fisk… the Kingpin. After a series of battles Logan and Mariko almost die but are saved by her cousin Shiro (Sunfire) and he joins up in the battle as well. Logan agrees to a duel to the death with Kingpin and manages to defeat Kingpin and then it is revealed that Silver Samurai has been working as a double agent for Fisk and kills Mariko. Logan goes crazy and ends up killing The Silver Samurai by extending his claws into the man’s head. Fisk takes off vowing that he will one day seize control of the Clan Yoshida, Logan refuses to stay in Japan and returns to the X-Men after turning over Clan Yoshida to Mariko’s cousin Shiro. Like I said before, I don’t like the idea of alternate realities where one thing is different and it leads to many deaths. There is a way to do an alternate story that doesn’t kill most people off and I’d rather see stories like that instead of the usual – one thing different, everyone dies, this teaches us that if something different happens everyone dies….

Wolverine #1 – I’m Wolverine: B

Wolverine #2 – Debts and Obligations: B

Wolverine #3 – Loss: A

Wolverine #4 – Honor: A

Marvel Team-Up Annual #6 – The Hunters and the Hunted!: B

The New Mutants #5 – Heroes: A

The New Mutants #6 – Road Warriors!: A

The Uncanny X-Men #172 – Scarlet in Glory: A

The Uncanny X-Men #173 – To Have and Have Not: A

What If? #43 – What If… Wolverine Had Married Mariko?: C

Chronological X-Men - The Brood Part 2 Review

The Brood.

Dazzler #14 – Without Getting Killed or Caught…!

Harry gets Alison and her band a gig opening up for Bruce Harris in LA so Alison, Beefer, Hunch, Marx and Lance all head out for the gig. Meanwhile the mob hires LaFarge; an assassin, to take out Joe Cartelli who is also in LA at the time at Dazzler’s concert. Naturally Alison stops the hit and creates enough of a distraction for Joe to leave and come back as Blue Shield. There’s some confusion and the mob in LA actually thinks Lance is Blue Shield since he was seen running around shortly before the hero arrives, so Lance and Alison are taken hostage. It turns out that the mob has She-Hulk (her first appearance in this book) under a form of mob control and is using her to try to kill Lance. We basically see a retelling of the time Alison fought Hulk but this time with She-Hulk. The issue is a fun little story and I’d probably read it again, its fun for what it was because it didn’t really try to be anything but what it was. One thing I’m sick of is the whole ‘Alison could have been a lawyer’ thing, does it have to be mentioned practically every page? I can’t really complain though because She-Hulk had a similar struggle so at least this time it makes sense.

Dazzler #15 – Private Eyes

Alison and her band continue to open for Bruce Harris, this time the tour takes them to San Francisco which just so happens to be the home base of Spider-Woman. Alison sees a truck that has the same symbol of the piece of her mother’s jewelry she recently found and decides to investigate. After a rough start she contacts Jessica Drew and hires her to look into her missing mother. It’s a little odd that Alison didn’t know that Jessica was Spider-Woman, but that could be just me. I assumed that since the X-Men know Jessica’s secret and Alison’s, and that Jessica knew the X-Men’s secrets, and Alison’s, and that Alison knew the X-Men’s secret that she’d naturally know Jessica’s as well. The animosity between Jessica and Alison, and later Alison and Spider-Woman is a bit odd considering they didn’t fight the last time they met up. Anyway, it turns out that the truck leads to a S.H.I.E.L.D. training facility that Alison and Spider-Woman barely get out of unscathed. So Alison’s mom might have had government ties… that fits in with her father being a lawyer, and it might explain the distaste he has if he thought his wife operated outside of ‘normal’ laws – but I’m not sure how that would translate to Carter hating Alison picking music over being a lawyer….

Dazzler #16 – Black Magic Woman!

Alison meets up with Ken (I guess those two are on their way to being a couple now) after Bruce has Dazzler and her band fired (from upstaging him) and make their way back to New York. On the plane Alison gets kidnapped and taken to Asgard where the Enchantress has been plotting her revenge. It makes sense that Alison pretty much held her own in the physical combat between herself and Enchantress since she is powerful enough for Galactus to use her for his own needs. And I like the idea of Alison battling Gods, it kind of puts her on a whole different power level and takes away a rather large chunk of the cheesiness that comes with her character – but my problem is that the epic battle between an evil God and a mortal suddenly turns into a sing-off. This is just as bad as Alison defeating the Techmaster by beating him senseless with her purse, this time she won a battle against a God by singing. What’s next, Alison besting Dark Phoenix in a roller skating competition?

The Uncanny X-Men #158 – The Life That Late I Led…

The X-Men are back on Earth now, along with Lilandra, Oracle and the Starjammers. Charles is still out of it and Oracle tries to wake him unsuccessfully. Scott and Corsair have taken off and gone to visit Alex and Lorna to tell them everything that has happened and that Corsair is Alex’s father. The remaining Starjammers go toe to toe with Carol and Senator Robert Kelly officially declares the X-Men outlaws. Logan and Carol use their military clout to get themselves (and Ororo) into the Pentagon so they can erase all the files the government has on the X-Men and set loose a computer virus that Kitty designed. At the Pentagon the three of them bump into Rogue (I’m not sure why she’s there, but she is) and they fight which draws the attention of Mystique (who works there under her Raven Darkholme identity) who then follows Carol and attempts to kill her. The issue is good, but it does raise more questions than it answers. Why was Rogue at the Pentagon? Why did Carol only erase her files and not the X-Men (she does implant the virus though)? With Mystique in custody how will it be explained that Raven isn’t around? Why has no one still returned Illyana to her home? – Yes, that still bothers me.

The Uncanny X-Men #159 – Night Screams!

Well for this issue we see the first (X-book) appearances of Harmony Young (Misty Knight’s roommate) and Dracula – though I’m not entirely sure why. The title has felt very disjointed lately and I’ve found myself often looking back at the issue numbers to make sure that I hadn’t inadvertently skipped an issue without knowing. Last issue the X-Men were on Magneto’s island and then they were in the Pentagon and now all of a sudden the issue starts with them at Misty’s apartment while Kitty goes to visit her parents. I don’t know why Dracula was chosen to be the villain of the piece here but he is. It’s interesting because for the first time we really see how important God and religion is to Kurt (and Kitty, although as the series progresses that particular plot obviously is more Kurt-centric) and how Logan doesn’t really have faith in anything. Dracula tries to turn Storm so most of the issue is about Ororo slowly recovering from her attack and then her humanity slowly being eaten away. One thing I found interesting was the mention of Ororo’s age, the paramedics state that she’s in her mid twenties which makes sense sort of – if you forget that  through the years various titles (I’ve covered here already) alternate between Ororo being younger than Bobby and her being older than all of the original X-Men. We get a continuation of sorts with Scott, Lorna, Alex and Corsair reconnecting but that’s not really the focal point of the story and honestly it’s barely the ‘c’ plot. What makes this issue feel even stranger for me is that it wasn’t even an October issue, so I can’t even just wrap this up to being a Halloween issue. I know I don’t talk much about the art of these books – mostly because I am so far behind that I choose to ignore it, but some times something just sticks out for me. I spoke about it briefly before with the whole Nightcrawler teleporting and not going ‘bamf’ scene before so this isn’t unheard of, I guess I’ll keep it up if something really grabs me. Like this image here... the art over the course of the book seems to go from being good to looking weird, but this image here – to me I looked at that and was stunned. I don’t know what it is about it, but it’s breathtaking and it really pops on the page for me.

The Uncanny X-Men Annual #6 – Blood Feud!

Well this particular annual features a sort of follow up to the recent encounter between the X-Men and Dracula. We see Rachel van Helsing and Dracula’s daughter Lilith for the first time in an x-book and we learn that Kitty’s parents are planning on getting a divorce. The plot is pretty straightforward Rachel has a book that contains a spell which will destroy all vampires so Dracula turns her in order to force her into giving him the book. Once he learns that Rachel has placed safeguards around the book which will prevent a vampire from getting it Dracula uses his bond with Storm to compel her into doing his bidding, and once she breaks herself of his spell he simply threatens her into doing his work. Meanwhile Kitty starts acting very strangely, and it turns out she has been possessed by Lilith, Dracula’s daughter who exists to destroy him. The X-Men eventually slay Dracula and Lilith leaves Kitty’s body and soul intact, the only loose end is Rachel who is now a vampire. Ororo tries to kill her, but Logan spares her from carrying the weight of that on her shoulders. Now free of Dracula’s power Ororo and Logan (who was also bitten) are left to wonder if the battle is truly over.

What If? #24 – What If… Wolverine Was Lord of The Vampires?

This issue brings us an alternate universe in which Ororo was turned into a vampire when she met Dracula the first time and didn’t turn on him which allowed Dracula to turn Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler into vampires. To make a long story incredibly short, Logan doesn’t like taking orders from Dracula so he challenges him for the position of Lord of the Vampires, after a heated battle Logan wins and begins his reign of terror. Pretty much this entire story can be summed up by saying: “in this story everybody dies… which teaches us that everybody dies.” It would take way too long to list all the characters that were killed, turned, and staked so I won’t get into that. The resolve of the issue is a little too quick, Punisher dies and the spirit of Doctor Strange convinces Logan that part of himself is still human and uses the spell to destroy all vampires.

Dazzler #14 – Without Getting Killed or Caught…!: B

Dazzler #15 – Private Eyes: A

Dazzler #16 – Black Magic Woman!: B

The Uncanny X-Men #158 – The Life That Late I Led…: B

The Uncanny X-Men #159 – Night Screams!: B

The Uncanny X-Men Annual #6 – Blood Feud!: B

What If? #24 – What If… Wolverine Was Lord of The Vampires?: B

Chronological X-Men - Days of Future Past Part 5 Review

Days of Future Past.

The Uncanny X-Men #151 – X-Men Minus One

The Uncanny X-Men #152 – The Hellfire Gambit

It appears that some time has passed since the last issue because Carol isn’t hanging around the mansion (more of a plot device because it works best if she’s not here for this) on top of that Scott appears to be back with the team and now Kitty’s parents have withdrawn her from Xavier’s school and now placed her in the Massachusetts Academy that Emma Frost runs. There’s a little hiccup though, why didn’t the X-Men ever bother to check and see if Emma was truly dead after their last encounter? On top of that Kitty’s parents… Jean mindwiped them into thinking that being at Xavier’s was the best for her, so did this wear off once Phoenix died? Charles said that he could sense no psychic altering on Emma’s part to their minds, but could that be because of what Phoenix did to them altered them so drastically that anything Emma did would be over shadowed by it? The main plot revolves around Emma bringing Kitty to the Academy in order to come in contact with Storm to switch bodies with her so she can defeat the X-Men once they’ve been beaten down by Sentinels. This itself has a few problems, Emma had to know in advance that someone would come with Kitty to her new school, I suppose that Emma could have switched with anyone, but given Emma and Ororo’s history it seems a little too easy that it be her she switches with. On top of that, I know the Sentinels can be programmed, but we would have to assume that Emma mindwiped Henry or whoever programmed them into leaving out the Inner Circle’s distinct DNA code so they wouldn’t be attacked, that becomes an issue because like I said Emma would had to have known in advance who she would be switching bodies with. The idea that Emma didn’t brainwash Kitty’s parents goes out the window when at the very end Emma says that since the X-Men won they can have Kitty. All in all it was good, I’m glad to see Emma back but this entire story seemed to come out of nowhere and it left a lot of unanswered questions.

Dazzler #8 – Hell… Hell Is For Harry!

Dazzler #9 – The Sound and The Fury!

Well we learn the reason why the Techmaster hired The Enforcers to kill Harry. It turns out that years before Harry took Alison on as a client Harry worked with Billy Bitzer (now Techmaster) who created light shows for his clients. One night things went horribly wrong and ultimately Billy was struck with a bolt of electricity so strong that it melted a large portion of his face and caused him to have to have both of his hands amputated. I guess this is why Harry has been so intent on finding out all about Alison’s light show and how she causes them. Alison ends up having to get involved and fight the Enforcers after they break into her apartment and take Harry the end result is Harry learns that Alison is a mutant. I could say it’s odd that he’s okay with it, but he sees it as a huge marketing potential, and on the other end he probably assumes that since the light show is a part of her because of her mutant powers that she can’t hurt herself with them. Alison doesn’t have any time to rest after convincing Harry not to publically out her as a mutant because she is soon taken hostage by Mr. Meeker and his assistant who had been following her around for some time now. Meeker takes her to a government facility to test her energy abilities under the guise of creating alternative energy recourses. We meet Quasar, Solarr, Nuklo and Klaw for the first time (in an X-book, not their first actual appearances) and Klaw takes advantage of Alison and manipulates her into allowing him to escape. The two battle and unfortunately Klaw gets too close to Alison and she absorbs all of him, Quasar tries to talk Alison down but he’s unsuccessful when the rest of Project Pegasus insists on running more tests on Alison. Meanwhile a mysterious figure watches the events on a monitor screen. I actually liked these two issues, my only problem was that they both are plots that have been done to death (especially in this genre) and other than Alison’s uniquely specific mutant powers nothing new is brought to the table.

Dazzler #10 – In the Darkness… a Light!

Dazzler #11 - …Lest Ye Be Judged!

Okay here we have what is possibly the strangest crossover that we’ve had so far. Galactus (the first time he’s been featured in an X-book) abducts Alison after monitoring her for some time now. He and his robot servant Drone R-11 believe that she alone contains the power to stop Galactus’ current herald Terrax the Tamer. It turns out Terrax’s lust for power took over him and he took over a planet of his own that he was supposed to feed to Galactus, this didn’t go over too well with his boss and Terrax fled into a black hole in order to save himself from his master’s wrath. Being that Dazzler’s mutant power involves light she can fend off the effects of the black hole without causing it to self destruct. Galactus infuses her with his power and pretty much shoots her into the black hole with the vague promise that if Dazzler succeeds he might consider not devouring Earth. After some not so subtle help from Drone R-11 Dazzler is able to overpower and knock out Terrax, she plans to leave him there but thinks better of it when it dawns on her that Galactus will just send someone after her for failing him too. Back on Earth everyone connected to Alison is wondering just what the heck has happened to her. I get the point of this but it’s way too odd that all of Alison’s band, her manager, Harry, Paul and her father all show up at the exact same time at her apartment. And it was a little odd that instead of assuming that Alison was sick her father just assumed that she was strung out on drugs and walked out. There were a few interesting things that I wish they'd touch on more, the idea of Alison not needing music to use her powers. I get that she's a singer and that music will always be a part of the character, but it was nice for it not to be the central focus of what she's doing, and on top of that we get to see how truly powerful the character can be once you strip her away from all her gimmicks.

What If? #33 – What If Dazzler Had Become The Herald Of Galactus?

So now it’s time to see what would have happened if Galactus killed Terrax and appointed Dazzler his new herald. The same deal as before is on the table, Alison helps Galactus and he’ll leave Earth alone. She goes from planet to planet searching for suitable ones for him to eat and the entire time Alison has been feeding him planets that aren’t capable of sustaining life. Eventually she comes across a planet that seems to be deserted and she sends for her master, unfortunately Dazzler quickly discovers that the plant life can actually speak. Somehow Galactus’ deems that his machines were wrong and that it turns out this planet isn’t suitable for consumption at all. It seems like Alison is getting through to the planet eater – unfortunately she’s soon ambushed by an alien armada and attacked. This sends Galactus over the edge and he obliterates them all. Feeling sorry for what has happened he offers Alison a way out of her deal if she wants it. She returns to Earth only to find that so much time has passed since she left that there is no longer any life left on her home planet. This particular story ends with Alison returning to Galactus willingly and continues to feed him planets without any life on them.

Marvel Fanfare #1 –Fast Descent into Hell!

Marvel Fanfare #2 – To Sacrifice My Soul!

Marvel Fanfare #3 – Into the Land of Death!

Marvel Fanfare #4 – Lost Souls!

This next four part story sends us back into the Savage Land and introduces us to Vertigo – a Savage Land mutate, she doesn’t actually speak in this story but she makes multiple appearances over the years. We learn that Zaladane didn’t die the last time the X-Men encountered her. Karl/Sauron, Tanya and Candy are all back and Warren teams up with Spider-Man and Ka-Zar to try to stop the Neo-Mutants from taking over the Savage Land. I’m only guessing at the placement of this particular story, but I assume that this happened while Angel had departed from the X-Men because he refused to work with Logan – this fits not only because for most of the story Warren acts alone, but when he does mention Logan it’s clear that he doesn’t like him. The story also takes place after Scott rejoins the X-Men and Kitty has re-enrolled at the Xavier Institute. Both aren’t in this story but Kurt mentions that Scott is ill, I guess he caught whatever bug Kitty had a few issues ago in the Uncanny X-Men. I think this particular story would have worked better as a giant sized special or an annual instead of a story spread out over four issues – it wasn’t that it was a bad story it’s just that the Savage Land is always a mixed bag. I do like Zaladane and Vertigo, but I really didn’t need a lot of the other characters. Brainchild devolving the X-Men and Karl feeding off of them to return them to normal was good, but it was expected that he’d eventually turn into Sauron. Zaladane didn’t really do anything to move the plot along, and honestly she could have been left out of the story altogether. It was a nice touch to team up Peter and Warren, but Peter didn’t spend enough time as Spider-Man for it to even make sense, devolving Warren I guess is going to serve as a bridge to start to get him to come around and not hating Logan so much – so I guess that’s okay. I think it would have been better if this story was done a little later in the time line. They could have done Warren, Carol and Rogue and had a devolved Carol come face to face with Rogue, and maybe have Logan pull Carol back which also would have allowed Warren to see that Logan isn’t that bad of a guy and how easily it is to go over that ledge. I guess at the end of the day what I’m trying to say is the story is good, but it would have been better with a few different characters switched out and condensed.

The Uncanny X-Men #151 – X-Men Minus One: B

The Uncanny X-Men #152 – The Hellfire Gambit: B

Dazzler #8 – Hell… Hell Is For Harry!: A

Dazzler #9 – The Sound and The Fury!: A

Dazzler #10 – In the Darkness… a Light!: A

Dazzler #11 - …Lest Ye Be Judged!: A

What If? #33 – What If Dazzler Had Become The Herald Of Galactus?: B

Marvel Fanfare #1 –Fast Descent into Hell!: C

Marvel Fanfare #2 – To Sacrifice My Soul!: B

Marvel Fanfare #3 – Into the Land of Death!: C

Marvel Fanfare #4 – Lost Souls!: 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

Chronological X-Men - (Part 20) Second Genesis What If Review

If ‘if’ were a fifth we’d all be drunk.

What If #9 … The New X-Men Had Died on Their Very First Mission

The whole ‘second genesis’ arch ends with a few ‘what if’ stories, the first we have ‘What if the new X-Men had died on their very first mission’ in which we see the deaths of quite a few X-Men: Sean, Scott, Jean, Lorna, Alex, Bobby, Warren, John, Ororo, Kurt, Piotr, Shiro and Logan all die on the mutant island of Krakoa when it gets sent into space. Charles is devastated which causes Hank to leave the Avengers and return to the Xavier Institute in order to take care of Charles. Hank ends up reaching out to Moira for help and she brings along Rahne. In this reality Count Nefaria still takes over the weapons base with his Ani-Men and Hank uses Cerebro to reach out to a new set of mutants to help him take Nefaria down. Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver join the battle (but leave afterwards in order to return to their respective spouses) Namor’s cousin Namorita, Thunderbird II – John’s brother James, Banshee II – Sean’s daughter Theresa and Wolfsbane – Rahne once Charles activates her latent mutant abilities. It was kind of a fun read for what it was, so I don’t really have anything against it.

What If #23 … The All-New All-Different X-Men Had Never Existed

Okay, basically this one is just what it says it is- only it covers a lot of storylines. Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Havok, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Lorna (know known as Polaris) and Charles are all still X-Men. We see the Shi-ar empire and it’s princess Lilandra, we get the Hellfire Club, Mesmero, the Phoenix Force, Thunderbird (who is a villain in this reality) Nightcrawler (who is a villain in this one too) the Sentinels, Eric the Red II (so the Shi-ar version not Scott in disguise) Alpha Flight, Sean Cassidy, Dr. Corbeau, Dazzler, Dragonfly (of the Ani-Men) The (Shi-ar) Imperial Guard, Moira MacTaggart, Magneto, Mutant X, Storm, Kitty Pryde, the Starjammers and Sunfire. Okay so very quickly the X-Men don’t get captured by Krakoa, Eric the Red brainwashes Thunderbird and Nightcrawler, Lorna goes on the mission in space so Jean doesn’t have to sacrifice herself and get possessed by the Phoenix Force, Lilandra is still branded a traitor by her brother and run off of her home world, the Phoenix Force still goes batshizz and it is Kurt who sacrifices himself in order to make up for being so misguided by Eric the Red’s manipulation. The story is good, but it covers a whole hell of a lot of other plots within this one issue and there are a crap load of characters here so there isn’t too much individualized focus for anyone in particular.

What If #23 … The All-New All-Different X-Men Had Never Existed: B

What If #9 … The New X-Men Had Died on Their Very First Mission: B