I got it for the excellent David Finch sketch covers for the first chapter.
There are other features such as a short story. Lists of trades. Also a Phoenix brief history.
Review
Written by Chris Yost
Penciled by Harvey Tolibao
Inked by Sandu Florea
Colored by Jay David Ramos
Lettered by VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover Dated July 2010
Cover by Marko Djurdjevic
The solicit for this miniseries was not promoted as Magik stuck in Limbo and needs rescuing. So I didn’t get the series pulled for me until issue two. Issue one was impossible to find anywhere, for me.
I’m just reviewing this issue as I got it for Father’s Day.
This miniseries takes place during the events of New Mutants Volume Three Issue 12, part three of Second Coming. The storyline that brought Hope and Cable back to the present day.
Magik is only on the first two pages, setting up the miniseries.
New York. Yesterday.
One of the cool things the villains did in this crossover was that they made a huge attack on all of the teleporters.
Magik was about to teleport the team away. Once her stepping disc opens up, demons grab her and pull her in.
Colossus freaks out!
Utopia. Now.
Colossus tells Cyclops that he is going after his sister. He will not lose her and poor dead Nightcrawler, on the same day.
Cyclops tells him that he can’t spare him. Hope is what matters now. I simply love Colossus throwing Cyclops against the window, cracking it. Colossus is leaving.
Scott tells him that he isn’t going but he is sending an away team to rescue Illyana.
The Infirmary.
Cannonball is gathering a team. He must have gone to Cyclops first. During New Mutants, Karma lost her leg on Sam’s watch. He isn’t going to leave Magik behind.
Pixie is on the team, as she can get them to Limbo. She doesn’t want to, as Magik took a piece of her soul. She makes a mistake of calling her a monster. Colossus almost kills her!
Anole is on the team to try to convince Pixie to go. He isn’t sure if Magik should be saved. Last time he was in Limbo, he lost his arm. So he now has a massive arm.
Dazzler is on the team. She’s cool about it.
Northstar is on the team. I like how these two are X-Men, you tell them they are on a mission, they are on a mission.
Trance is going, but she isn’t bringing her body. Her name is Hope, that isn’t good.
Gambit is the big name on this team. This is right after he was an Horseman of Apocalypse, as we are going to see in this story.
Anole convinces Pixie to go on the mission.
The Hangar. Cannonball goes over the best case scenario. Northstar wants to go over the worst but Cannonball doesn’t think that will be necessary.
Of course, in an incredible double splash page, it is the worst case. Pixie has instant regret.
The team starts fighting off a horde of demons.
Gambit disappears and we see his eyes as his Horseman persona is coming out.
Issue ends with who I thought was Blackheath, but the Internet has told me it is N’astirh. Whoever that is.
There is a bonus back up of the origin of Magik’s soulsword – from the excellent fourth issue of Magik’s miniseries from the 80s.
Cover Artist Olivier Coipel
Cover Dated November 2008
To promote X-Infernus, Marvel released this one shot, collecting –
X-Men Divided We Stand 2
Dying Inside
Writer CB Cebulski
Artist David Aja
Colorist Frank D’Armata
Letterer Dave Sharpe
Cover Dated June 2006
Before Magik came back, this was basically the type of story us fans had to hope for.
This story takes place soon after Colossus returned from the dead, and before Magik did. He is visiting both of grave statues that the X-Men created.
I really love Aja’s art style and D’Armata’s coloring gives it a nice painted style.
Cebulski, I feel, is a super fan who got to write his favorite characters.
The flashback sequence is from right after the Mutant Massacre. Magik wants to try to save the dead Morlocks.
There are two little continuity mishaps that took me out of the story for a page. With only eleven pages, I had to bounce back quickly. Colossus reverts back to his flesh form, but after the story, he was stuck in his steel form. The other, Illyana mentions how calm Kitty is being, but how could she be calm as she is stuck in her phasing ability, and may never become solid again.
Magik realizes she can travel back in time to save the Morlocks.
Colossus makes comments about how final death is. Even though the two Rasputin siblings know people who have died and returned from death.
Magik sees one of the Morlocks getting brutally murdered. She realizes that death should be final.
Magik came back, has her brother promise to always be there for her. Issue ends with him at her statue, asking for forgiveness – as even in death, he has left her alone.
How to be an Artist
Writer Neil Kleid
Artist Mike Oeming
Colorist Pete Pantazis
Letterer Dave Sharpe
Colossus is in an art class that is having a gallery showing that evening. He can’t be inspired to paint anything.
Issue starts with a quote by Matisse, Creativity takes courage.
A classmate offers the advice to look back on his life for some pain and torment, as that is where the best inspiration comes from.
Which gives us our story as Colossus reviews his life and questions if he is an artist or warrior.
I like how Oeming, like most artists, has Colossus’ art being simple. He is not meant to be an uncanny artist, it is a hobby he enjoys but he couldn’t make a living doing it.
Colossus thinks back to Serbia, how the harsh winters would cover the beauty of Mother Russia. We get Oeming drawing a young Illyana, when she was happy.
I like the excellent observation that his torment didn’t start until he came to America.
How awesome is that drawing of Lockheed?
If you were going to paint an image of your (kid) sister, would you draw her with big ol’ boobs?
We also get recreations of Uncanny X-Men 137’s cover and Colossus’ sweet death.
There are a lot of preliminary drawings of Kitty, which I like, and it makes sense as they are together again.
Now that I think if it, every time we saw Kitty and Colossus together – outside of Astonishing X-Men – must have been between Danger and Torn, as Torn leads directly into Unstoppable. Kitty doesn’t return from that story, so that must be the timeline. That is a lot of appearances squeezed between those stories.
Cyclops, Wolverine and Kitty are at the gallery with Colossus, as the story ends. They like his painting – a warrior standing by a tree with no fight nor purpose.
Writer Danny Fingeroth
Penciler Ron Lim
Inker Keith Williams
Colorist Tom Vincent
Letterer Gary Fields
Cover Dated Mid November 1989
Splintered From Inferno
There is something about this issue that makes it feel epic and important.
Issue opens with how this a quick recap of how we came here, a full two pages will fully explain it but we get a crash course right off the bat. The X-Men and X-Factor were able to defeat N’astirh but S’ym was waiting close by and absorbed all of N’astirh’s power. Combined with the help of the Goblin Queen, they were able to overpower the mutants, killing most of them.
Wolverine tried to save Jean but Madelyn kills her and S’ym turns Wolverine into their demon pet.
In classic What If fashion, a bunch of dark shit happens in this issue but nothing as truly horrible and tragic as what happens next. Madelyn puts poor sweet baby Nathaniel on a slab and S’ym sacrifices the baby! Which, I’m sure I read as a young boy and just flipped the page to the story but as an adult and father of an almost three year old, that nonsense takes me out of a story and I have to just sit there thinking about that act. With his death, S’ym and Madelyn have permanently left a giant portal open between Limbo and Earth, so they are all powerful.
Uatu the Watcher sets up the question, What If The X-Men had Lost Inferno?
Demon Wolverine is standing on the cart that has Alicia Masters (who I’m pretty sure should be secretly Lyja the Skrull IF she’s dating Johnny Storm – which she is) in it and a few others. These humans are going to be feed to some demons. We see Diamon Hellstrom and Alpha Flight’s Shaman are on their way to a meeting.
Before we get into the crux of the story, Uatu the Watcher tells us what happened in the original timeline and uses the next page to set up what was different.
Magik had originally opened a portal from Limbo to Earth and demons started flooding out of t. Rachel Summers and Excalibur came across the pond to help but Rachel was turned into a mannequin. Doctor Strange was trying to reclaim his body from Dormammu (that we covered already earlier this month) and Spider-Man helped fight some inanimate objects turned demonic.
In this timeline, Magik put all of her dark magic into sealing the portal, ending it by throwing her soulsword through the closing portal. S’ym grabbed the soulsword, opened a small portal and came back to Earth.
S’ym and the Goblin Queen are a couple, at least in the early days. S’ym straight up gives Demon Wolverine a baby to eat and he totally enjoys it.
Meanwhile, in the Federal Reserve Bank (that is abandoned now that gold isn’t respected anymore) the humans are trying to come up with a rebellion.
The mages are using a cloaking spell to keep the demons away. They are – Doctor Strange, Margai Szardos, Jennifer Kale, Doctor Druid, Hellstrom, Dakimh, Baron Mordo and Shaman. I’m not sure who Dakimh is but I recognize everyone else. Who knew his whole name was – Baron Karl Amadeus Mordo? Baron, of course, is his sweet title.
The human characters, or the non-demonic heroes are – Spider-Man, She-Hulk, Human Torch, Thor, The Captain (America) and Shadowcat! It is an odd group of characters. She-Hulk wants to punch someone, she’s not one for hiding.
Demons Hulk & Wolverine kill Doctor Druid and Jennifer Kale, in the first wave. Next, Demon Hulk kills Shaman as the heroes try to fight back. Demon Hulk kills his cousin, She-Hulk, as Demon Wolverine kills the Captain.
Human Torch is holding his own, while Spider-Man gets clawed from behind. The mages try to work on an escape plan but S’ym arrives and shuts most of the mages down. Thor gets into the fight.
Thor sacrifices himself as Doctor Strange, Shadowcat, Human Torch and Baron Mordo escape.
The four heroes make it to the Daily Bugle, an odd choice now that Spider-Man is dead.
Meanwhile over at the Baxter Building, Demon Doctor Doom and Demon Reed Richards are working for S’ym and Madelyn. The two geniuses are working on a way for the two superpowers to take over the multiverse. Which is an awesome motivation that I’m surprise isn’t always brought up in the What If issues.
An hour later. Strange detects a great power and leaves, while not telling Mordo which causes resentment in the lesser magician. The power source is Rachel, still in that wedding dress and still smiling.
Rachel shakes off the effects and together with Doctor Strange kill some demons and teleport away.
Kitty and Rachel are reunited, like the great friends that they are. Mordo is acting like a jilted lover towards Strange. Strange reveals that his fear is that the Living Tribunal is going to take notice of Earth and the unbalance scales of mysticalism and wipe the Earth clean and start over. If these heroes can stop the demons on their own, life as they know it can continue – instead of a completely fresh start.
Strange wants to use Rachel’s connection to the Phoenix Force to bring the cosmic entity to Earth to balance the scales – without wiping out everyone in the process.
Kitty is the one to bring up that the purge of demons means that everyone who has been taken over the demons will be dead. But those characters are so far removed from who they were, they are essentially other people now, wearing their friends’ old faces and clothes. Kitty, of course, is against genocide – for several reasons.
Once again – S’ym, Madelyn and Demon Wolverine – come crashing into the building. Baron Mordo is a traitor and revealed their location – surely that will backfire on him later. Human Torch tries to fight everyone back but Mordo strikes him down.
Human Torch tries to go super nova, or as close to as possible but not to burst Strange’s force field that is keeping him, Kitty and Rachel safe. Poor Kitty feels pretty useless in this fight, all she can do is watch.
Rachel gets the Phoenix Force’s attention. S’ym is able to strike at Strange, so Strange goes off to fight S’ym.
Madelyn Pryor and Rachel start fighting over the Phoenix Force, as neither has a full connection to it. Demon Wolverine tries to murder Strange, from behind! Kitty tackles her old mentor.
Look at that truly horrific panel at the top! Demon Wolverine straight kills Kitty! Mordo tries to kill S’ym.
Mordo tries to kill Strange next and is able to pick up Magik’s soulsword to claim complete victory. With the death Kitty, Demon Wolverine sort of comes to his senses. He kills Mordo, the same way he killed Spider-Man, claws to the back.
With Mordo’s dying breath, he burns Demon Wolverine down to his adamantium skeleton. Poor Rachel has to keep note of the room around her and is shock to see her dear friend Kitty’s dead body. Madelyn tries to take advantage of the shock.
Madelyn is taken out by the adamantium skeleton’s final action. Rachel calls out to the Phoenix Force. The Phoenix Force confronts the Living Tribunal and all of the demons are purged.
Issue ends with Alicia Masters delivering her son, Jonathan Storm, with the aid of Doctor Strange and Rachel Summers. So everything should work out, most What Ifs don’t try to end on such an upswing.
What Now?~ letters from – Tod Preece of Austin, TX / Craig Lloyd of Canada / Dom Beaudoin of Montreal Quebec, Canada / Joe Decker of Lynn, IN / Robert Kowaiski of Detroit, MI / Jon Trouten of Harmony, MN / Hurricane Heeran of Van Nuys, CA / Shane Hutchison of Dickinson, TX / Rudy Mangual of Gardena, CA / David Moran of Elk Grove, CA / Jeff Lewonczyk of Newington, CT.
Next issue, What If Wolverine was an Agent of SHIELD? I don’t own it so it won’t be for us.
. . .
With this, we end Doctor Strange Month!
Writer Chris Claremont
Guest Pencilers Stephen Platt and Angel Unzueta
Guest Inkers Matt Banning / Jaime Mendoza / Harry Candelario Rob Hunter / Jason Martin
Colors Wayne Robinson
Letters RS/ComiCraft/Emerson Miranda
Cover Dated September 1998
I wonder if something happened between issues 127 & 128, like did Claremont change his mind and was going to do more than four issues but decided to only do four? It feels like two issues were skipped, at least one for sure.
This issue starts with Wolverine, Shadowcat and Sabretooth already being taken prisoner by the combined forces of the Hand and Hydra. Last issue ended with them about to make their attack, knowing it was a trap. So we are definitely skipping scenes, and we are not given a flashback sequence so time is being saved here.
Hydra wants to just kill the three intruders but typical Hand wants to brainwash them. Since the Hand is more involved in this mission, Hydra allows them to attempt to corrupt their souls.
The Hand leader, Matsuo Tsurayaba – who has Logan’s very distinct hair style, points out to Hydra Commander how the Hand is more committed, manpower wise, to this operation. I’m not sure how Kitty can be phased and unconscious. Since Claremont is writing this that means Kitty’s natural state is to be phased so that’s probably the rationale. Most other writers either don’t know that part of her history or just have her being in a traditional state of being. The Hand plans on corrupting their souls and turning them into Hand agents.
We see Kitty’s mindscape first. This isn’t a bad outfit for her, except that besides the mask, it is essentially just a black unitard. Kitty sees Logan and slits his throat, killing him (somehow).
There is an ad for Wesley Snipes’ first Blade film, the anti-Howard the Duck. Such a good film.
Now that Kitty is a killer, she shreds the one outfit into a new more appropriate one. But shouldn’t it be red, or would it look too much like Elektra’s? So instead, it is purple so it looks too much like Psylocke’s. It could have stayed blue but still revealing and at least be in her color scheme, or black & yellow.
Dream Kitty has adamantium claws too but Sabretooth really has those and still didn’t kill Wolverine.
Hand and Hydra leaders are still bickering over the right course of action. Hydra didn’t want to be part of this and this is exactly why.
Bullpen Bulletins. On Sale July 29 –
Amazing Spider-Man 439
Avengers 8
Conan : The Return of Styrm 1 of 3
Marvel 4
Nighthawk 1 of 3
Quicksilver 11
Silver Surfer 143
Spider-Man The Manga 19
Squadron Supreme : New World Order 1
X-Force 81
We catch up to what Hydra is planning. Just good old fashion brainwashing as they have – Viper, Tyger Tiger and Jessica Drew – all still in green. So Tyger and Drew were taken after issue 125 and Viper after 126. Viper and Drew are former agents of Hydra, so their brain patterns are already on file.
Thanks to editor Mark Powers, we learn that Tyger has extensive modification, as seen in Uncanny X-Men 229, Page 13, at the hands of Marauder, Pretty Boy. I own issues 225 – 227 and then 230, so I’ll have to take his word for it. I like having the page marked, that’s pretty handy.
Wolverine’s mindscape, is back to the days of the All New All Different X-Men, this is post Krakoa as Beast, Angel and Iceman are still around. They turn on Wolverine and he has to fight for his life.
There is an ad for the upcoming X-Men 35th Anniversary –
This was in 1998, my first San Diego Comic Con and I was obsessed with these images. The printed ad includes Mutant X, which I was also nuts for. I had asked the Marvel guy (I wish I knew his name) but he said I couldn’t have them. If I was older, I would have offered to buy them, but I approached it like I was doing him a favor for not having to pack the big posters away. I was 16 so I wasn’t thinking in a way to outsmart a grown adult. My last SDCC was in 2004, when Spider-Man 2 was coming out. I still remember seeing that footage of Doc Ock waking up and the arms going on a murder spree, I was so hyped for the film after that. Still the best Spider-Man film, for my money though the costumes have gotten so much bigger since they moved to the white eyes for Spider-Man’s mask.
Jean is about to kill Logan when Sabretooth interrupts the sequence.
Meanwhile, Kitty saves Viper. Kitty is in yet another outfit, she’s getting as good as Jan van Dyne. Kitty isn’t holding anything back in this fight against Hydra.
Wolverine wakes up and Sabretooth agrees to save Kitty and Viper but not after they fight about it.
Kitty is in super killer mode, though she hasn’t killed any of these drones yet. Viper knocks Kitty out, before Kitty can kill anyone.
Once Logan and Sabretooth are done fighting, though it mostly looks like odd hugging, but they’re just going through the paces. Sabretooth is taken out by Tyger Tiger
Tyger is about to kill Sabretooth, somehow, when Kitty phases Sabretooth at the last moment. Viper wants to kill Sabretooth for starting this entire adventure. Kitty phases the boyz out of there and Viper swears vengeance.
Issue ends with Kitty and Logan recapping the adventure. They are wanted fugitives on Madripoor, and Logan & Viper are still married.
I believe that this whole time, Viper is being mind controlled by Ogun, but we’ll get to that in a later issue.
Cutting Edge, letters from Michael Boyce of East Cleveland, OH / Wonda Rackard / Brian Campos of Ontario, Toronto, Canada / Wayne Chilcott of London, England / Hannah Page of Jackson, MS.
Next issue promises Wolverine against Wendigo, which I do own and will eventually review.
. . .
Happy eighth wedding anniversary to my wife and best friend! Thanks for the continued best years of me life.
. . .
Also, this is Post 1,250!!!
Writer Kieron Gillen
Artist Billy Tan
Colorist Andres Mossa
Letterer Rob Steen
Cover Dated December 2011
Cover by Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend
The issue that directly follows the end of Schism. Who goes with Cyclops? Who went with Wolverine?
At this point, I was already super turn as the covers of the next issues were already being teased. I already knew that Kitty and Lockheed were joining Wolverine at the Jean Grey School in the pages of Wolverine and the X-Men. I also knew that Magik was joining Cyclops’ team in Uncanny X-Men.
It was all just a fancy way of bringing back the Gold Team / Blue Team that people just love to reference of the 90s.
Besides Kitty, I don’t believe there are that many others who have switched sides. Which is pretty impressive after three years.
Nick Bradshaw did the covers for the Gold Side and Dale Keown did the Blue Side. Shame those are all variant covers.
This is also known as the Caveman issue as that’s how the story is told. There is the conversations and then we see people as cavemen, to show how primal the story is, perhaps?
Cavepeople : Cyclops and Wolverine are circling each other around a fire.
Utopia, island home of the X-Men. Wolverine goes to Iceman first. Bobby is honored by that.
Next, Psylocke and Wolverine have a mental conversation, as they practice fight. She will remain with him in X-Force but isn’t following him to the East Coast. Which must be awkward, but I have no clue where X-Force met up at. I want to say they met in a secret cave base.
Cyclops enters the room and offers Psylocke to lead his Security Team. She starts talking about being a spy for him, he doesn’t understand why she is talking about that. She is meant to be the first line of defense, not really a secret mission. Of course, we know that her thought process is that she’s going to end up telling Wolverine some hot Utopian gossip.
It is important to remember that, at this time, Colossus has the power of the Juggernaut, on top of his power. It is driving him a tad mad. He doesn’t feel like he should be around children.
Colossus will stay on Utopia, where his sister is still being held as a prisoner / on probation.
I like how Gillen sets up the Kitty / Iceman relationship. Jason Aaron must have asked him to subtly hint at that.
Kitty is heading to the school to be the Headmistress. I also like how we don’t have to see the scene of Wolverine asking her to join him.
Beast, maybe at Agent Brand’s apartment?, gets an email. While Brand is telling him to come back to bed, she wants more loving. I really miss Brand.
Beast makes two calls. First to Wolverine accepting a position and the second to Cyclops which is essentially him continually what he has been doing to Scott for the past four years – just being a jerk.
Beast finally makes it back to Brand. He updates her about his new position. She asks if this means he isn’t going to whine about Cyclops, as much. He tells her that it will probably be the opposite. I imagine listening to complaints about Cyclops, gets old real fast.
Magneto and Rogue. There is no question, Magneto is staying on Utopia as Rogue debated going to the school, but that is where she is going.
I really like the trust Gillen has with Tan to . . . actually, is it Steen’s decision? There are two silent panels, after Rogue asks if Magneto will consider leaving Utopia, where the two of them just burst out in laughter. There are no ha ha has or heh heh hehs or even a good ol’ fashion har har har. I like that we don’t have to see the laughter, they are clearly laughing. Plus, do we really want to see how Magneto’s laugh looks like? I bet its more of a, ho ho ho, situation.
Wolverine, being the busy guy that he is, has made a lunch appointment with Havok and Polaris, who just got back (along with Rachel) from space where Ed Brubaker left them. The two of them don’t really want to pick a side, they just got back. Wolverine tips them to X-Factor Investigations, which is Madrox’s team. Which seems super awkward, to suggest they go join a third person’s group. Just because Havok and Polaris have X-Factor experience but no real detective experience.
Cut to Generation Hope. Hope doesn’t want to lose Oya. Oya had to kill people to protect Utopia. She’s the entire reason Wolverine wants to make students and not soldiers.
Transonic puts a gun to Hope’s head. Hope begins telling her about her father, Cable – not caring about the gun, at all.
Afterwards, Hope accepts the decision to lose Oya.
Outside, Husk is ending a conversation with her brother, Cannonball. Both of them are going to the school. Her powers are flaky and he still hasn’t come around after the events of Fall and Rise of the New Mutants.
Dani Moonstar walks up to Sam as Husk walks away. She is about to sit down where Husk was sitting but Sam stops her. Husk is losing control over her powers and is literally leaving flakes where ever she goes or sits.
Sam tells Dani that both Guthries are heading out East (not an expression) and this surprises Dani. Dani doesn’t want to go back to school, there are a bunch of butts that still need to be kicked. She kisses him and walks off.
Cyclops is trying to recruit Dazzler. Dazzler makes a great point about how she doesn’t really feel like a solider but she doesn’t really feel like a teacher either. Which is a great point of how silly this is. Are those really the only options for X-Men, in this scenario. They could just go off on their own and be completely forgotten about in a year. Soldiers or Teachers? Frontlines or a Classroom? It just begs for a third choice.
What Cyclops would like, as Dazzler is still planning to live in San Francisco, is to have a team that just protects their adopted home. So his plan is to lead the Global Team. Have Psylocke protect the island nation and have Dazzler on shore, protecting the city proper. Dazzler’s team will be more street and with a younger stand, Dazzler and the X-Kids, a title I would have considered buying over X-Treme X-Men Volume Two.
Cyclops really should have came up with a better name than the one he did. He’s not the most creative fella.
Meanwhile, in an awkward scene, a bunch of students are talking. Seems like they are divided, to go off and learn or to stay and live. Sure they have to get in fights from time to time but really, is Cyclops going to make any of them main team members? No, they will be off with Dazzler trying to be stars. Might as well stay.
If it was up to me, I would be patiently waiting to see which X-Men made up the staff and then make my decision. I would be a total fanboy student.
The two squads are lead by Prodigy and Hellion. Prodigy is for staying with Utopia, along with Pixie, Surge, Armor, Crosta, Primal and Zero. Pixie will later go to the School. Hellion has behind him – Anole, Mercury, Dust, Rockslide, Blindfold, Bling!, Match, Graymalkin, Trance, Indra and Glob Herman. I know Glob goes to the school and eventually heads to the Hellfire Academy. I’m pretty sure all of them eventually make it to be background characters of the Jean Grey School. (thanks to UncannyXMen.net for knowing which students are which – I know a few of them but I’m never a hundred percent sure. Mostly, I recognize their faces but I’m suppose to really remember Indra?)
Hellion makes a great point, by lifting a bat with his metal hands (he lost his real ones during Second Coming, the same event where Karma lost her leg. He wouldn’t have lost his hands if he was at a school. Prodigy counters that argument with, even if you are at a school, the world won’t let you just learn.
Then we get a fun two page spread of various characters expressing where they are going. I’ve included the second one for obvious reasons.
Namor is staying
Rachel is going, as she just came back from space and didn’t even know they left the school. Which is very amazing and telling of how long they were just left in space for. Shame Nightcrawler was too popular to stay in space as he would still be alive right now.
Danger is staying, her job is to look over the prisoners of the X-Brig, so she has to stay where the prisoners are. Plus, she was a prisoner of the Xavier School for decades, why would she even want to go back there?
Quentin Quire wants to stay but is being carted off to the school. Where Marvel will keep trying to make him happen but he will never be streets ahead.
Doctor Nemesis is staying and he’s not sure why he’s even being asked as he’s busy. I love his “science stalks the night” oh if only he wasn’t given over to Cable and the X-Force after AvX.
X23 states, is there any other choice? She ends up going to the Avengers Academy (everyone was starting schools back then, the Fantastic Four even had the Future Foundation).
Magik makes an appearance! She’s staying but because she’s a prisoner. But even if she wasn’t, she would probably still stay.
Martha Johannson continues to be voiceless. It isn’t easy being a brain in a box.
The Cuckoos were split, or at least, Phoebe and Irma were. Celeste has to make the deciding vote. It was probably Irma who wanted to go, as she’s always trying to break away. Also, Celeste was the known Cuckoo at this time, so it makes sense to have her be the face of the group.
Frenzy is leaving as she can’t have a relationship with Cyclops as Emma is still around, so she heads East. This was Post-Age of X.
Gambit has gotten into all the trouble he could on the West Coast, so he’s willing to go to the East Coast now. Which is silly as he was based on the East Coast for years, and barely has gotten comfortable in San Francisco. Unless he heard that Rogue was leaving and Magneto wasn’t, so he might as well stay wherever Rogue is.
Avalanche, poor Avalanche, decides to stay as his bar is in San Francisco. If only he left, he would not have been around to have Red Skull take out his brain and use his body to commit murders and mass destruction.
Toad really wants to leave, Wolverine doesn’t want him. Toad is even willing to be a janitor, which gives Wolverine pause. Oh Toad, if only you had a third choice as well.
Scott comes to Storm and she quickly tells him to not embarrass himself. Storm’s upset over Cyclops’ decision to have X-Force be a hit squad. I’m sure she didn’t give Wolverine any grief about this once she came around to joining the school.
Cyclops tells her that he needs her. Storm corrects him, that he only wants her power.
Poor Scott has to make an awesome but insulting observation. He’s align himself with Magneto, Namor, Danger, Doctor Nemesis, Emma, even Colossus and his sister – not the traditional good guy faces people assoriate the X-Men with. In fact, almost all of them are known for being villains. Colossus is heading that way and Magik was always on that fun line of being a bad girl surrounded by good teenagers.
He wants, no needs Storm to be on his side to balance that. There is an awesome image from Gillen’s first issue of Uncanny X-Men Volume Two, where Storm asks who hasn’t been known to be a villain. Cyclops raises his hands and Storm asks if he should be. Emma states that Scott is working on his villain turn. At the time, it was awesome but now I feel like Marvel has been trying to cast him in the role for a while.
I forgot that Hope raises her hand as well, so cute!
I also like how casual the others are about not having their hands raised. There is no shame in that room. Nor should there be.
I can completely understand Cyclops’ side of the issue. Especially after he mentions who Wolverine was able to get on his side – Beast, Kitty and Iceman. I mean, Beast and Iceman are pretty lousy but Kitty is pretty much a steal for whichever side. Since, when Kitty joins Cyclops’ side, that smirk on his face, so awesome.
Cyclops tells Storm that Wolverine doesn’t need her, Cyclops needs her. Such a real and honest moment.
Cyclops finally gets around to talking to Emma. Emma is insulted that he just took for granted that she was going to join him. She loves teaching, she would be a perfect fit over at the new school. Cyclops tries to tell her that they teach at the island. Emma corrects him that they mostly train here.
Cyclops gets a whiff of Emma maybe leaving him and the island and starts preparing to grovel. She can tell that’s where he is heading and tells him to stop.
Emma, for some fans out there I suppose, reveals that Warren is gone and so Utopia needs some funding. She sold most of her holdings, so she can fund their efforts for quite some time. She just hopes that they don’t crash too many X-Jets. Some fans worry about where all the money comes from. I mean, after the X-Mansion was destroyed the third time, how rich could Xavier really be after those rebuilds?
Scott owes Emna many back rubs.
So the sides are shown as the cavefolk.
I sort of wish that the two sides were switched so it was Wolverine’s side coming toward us, the reader.
So the two sides are –
Cyclops’ Side
Colossus / Hope Summers / Madison Jeffries / Namor / Dazzler / Magik / Storm / Domino / Magma / Emma Frost / Warpath / Sunspot / Magneto / Dr. Nemesis / X-Man / Psylocke / Cypher / Dani Moonstar
Wolverine’s Side
Gambit / Toad / Iceman / Cannonball / Kitty Pryde / Chamber / Beast / Husk / Rachel Summers / Dust
Not sure how they picked the order to list them.
Writer Chris Claremont
Pencilers Leinil Francis Yu / Carlos Pacheco / Jeff Matsuda / Melvin Rubi / Mike S. Miller
Inkers Edgar Tadeo / Jon Holdredge / Marlo Alquiza / Mike S. Miller
Colors Jason Wright & Tom Smith
Letters Richard Starkings & ComiCraft / em (which stands for Emerson Miranda
Cover Dated August 1998
Thanks to comicbookdb for having the full names of the creators, instead of just last names.
http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=14703
I wonder if the four art teams adds to my memory of these last two issues not being very good.
Issue opens with Sabretooth shouting that he is the king of the world – as Titanic came out a year earlier. Claremont must have thought it was safe to evoke the phrase but it is 18 years later and that film is still the only thing I associate that phrase with.
I’m not sure who is narrating the issue, I believe it has to be Kitty as it isn’t the two savages in this issue.
Kitty is unconscious and Sabretooth threatens to rape her but she’s underage so I guess he has limits. Except, that she has to be at least 18 by now, by the time Excalibur 120, she would have been at least 18 to 21. But if it prevents Sabretooth from doing anything physically to her, then fine, she’s 17.
Lowtown, Madripoor. Hand ninjas and Hydra goons are making their way through the city. They get attacked by someone who looks suspiciously like Captain America.
Wolverine is in the sewers, he’s here to interrupt whatever scheme the two fractions have. It feels like we skipped an issue between 126 and 127. I get that he fell into the ocean but then he came back up and into another plot.
Hydra and Hand are concern as now it seems like the Hulk’s Mr. Fixit is also on Madripoor.
Wolverine, while smoking and drinking (as he’s super kewl) is the one to posted the story of Mr. Fixit being on the island nation. His neck wound hasn’t healed yet, from Sabretooth so the smoking isn’t great for him.
Wolverine, who was also Captain America earlier, is now pretending to be the Hulk. I could have sworn this issue was in the Erik Larsen run of Wolverine – which I super enjoyed. Wolverine pretends to be the Human Torch next.
Hightown, Madripoor. An elevator opens in front of a slew of guys with guns.
Shadowcat confronts Bao Tien.
Bao Tien has helped get Viper captured, when she reached out to him for help.
Kitty and Sabretooth are working together, we’re definitely missing pages. This is definitely the most these two have hung out together. In Exiles, versions of these two will be on the same team but they barely spent much time together there too.
Wolverine does his best impression of Storm, Cyclops and Beast – which is odd as if someone was doing things like Beast, I would think they were just doing a claw-less Wolverine impression. Wolverine is doing all of this, so that those who are holding Viper know that Wolverine has friends and they are going to free Mrs. Wolverine. Wolverine has reached out to his friend, The Police Chief Tai. Tai isn’t able to provide any help, as he wants to live to see tomorrow. Tai offers the helpful advice that Madripoor needs a new prince at the seat of power.
Later, Wolverine smells Sabretooth and is ready to attack.
Bullpen Bulletins. On sale July 1 –
Cable 58
Captain America : The Classic Years TPB
Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty 1
Daredevil 379
Fantastic Four 9
Ka-Zar 17
Rampaging Hulk 2
Sensational Spider-Man 31
Sunfire & Big Hero 6 1 of 3
Thor 3
Uncanny X-Men 359
X-Men The Manga 12
Wolverine sees that Sabretooth and Shadowcat are working together. Sabretooth likes the idea of having the next leader of Madripoor being a friend of his.
Issue ends with the Hand leader, Matsuo and Hydra leader, Hydra Comrade (I guess?) are set up a trap for our heroes.
Cutting Edge, letters from – Michael Bronnenberg of Fortuna, CA / Wendy Gonzalez of San Jose, CA / James Jones of Davenport, IA / Parnell L. Fleming of Brooklyn, NY / Julian Castro of Austin, TX
By Chris Claremont & Leinil Francis Yu
Inks Edgar Tadeo & Gerry Alanguilan
Colors Jason Wright
Letters Richard Starkings & ComiCraft/em
Cover Dated July 1998
Issue opens with Logan restating that Viper is his wife. Or more precisely, that she is his fiance but it will be a very short engagement.
Logan’s lady friends are super upset, he’s going to marry a woman who just tried to kill them all. Except that Viper wasn’t going to kill them, just set up Wolverine to maybe do it. Kitty does seem to be taking it in good spirits. Jubilee seems to be the most upset about the news. Which is odd as she got off the easiest. Though I guess she was hunted for the better part of the night so she is entitled to be upset.
Viper offers to have Jean and Psylocke prove that Logan isn’t being tricked into the agreement. Since Viper is done answering questions, she begins to walk out of the room. Kitty and Lockheed try to block her path but Viper keeps walking through the pair.
Jean is upset as no one can marry Logan but her, I suppose. She likes having him be her safety if her current marriage doesn’t work out – which it won’t but we’re still years away from that.
Everyone goes home as they are horrible friends and don’t want to be there for Logan’s marriage. All but Kitty ends up leaving, as she’s his best friend. Lockheed left with Jubilee, there’s a story I wouldn’t mind reading.
Wolverine explains the story of how he owed Viper a blood debt. Seraph built the bar they are currently in. A mission went south and Seraph allowed Sabretooth to kill her so that a Pre-Madame Hydra Viper and Logan could escape. This is new back story.
As Kitty and Logan toast Logan’s upcoming wedding we see that Sabretooth has both Hydra and Hand goons.
Logan reflects on the Seraph adventure as Kitty comes into the room.
Since they are on Madripoor, Logan dresses like Patch, but without the eye patch.
For the longest time, if you Googled “Kitty Pryde” you were guaranteed to see her in the above purple dress. The years have been very kind to Kitty, as she looks stunning in that dress.
Kitty tried to invite Tyger Tiger and Jessica Drew but they couldn’t be bothered to arrive.
Viper doesn’t look too bad herself but for the first time, I’m getting Poison Ivy vibes from her. Probably as she usually wears full body suit, she has her own look and style. Here, her bust is exposed just like Poison Ivy’s but it is her wedding day so let’s all just support her.
The bride and groom get to say their “I Do”s and the minister is killed.
Sabretooth is going to add another lady of Logan’s to his kill list but Viper isn’t any ordinary lady. Viper would be pretty messed up if Kitty didn’t phase her in time. Sabretooth lunges at Kitty but she straight trips him up.
Sabretooth tries to taunt Kitty but Wolverine tackles him. Kitty narrated last issue and now Logan is narrating this issue. I wonder who narrates issues 127 & 128?
Logan tells Kitty to escape with Viper.
This is the first Sabretooth v Wolverine fight since Logan lost his adamantium.
Viper is feeling all sorts of nauseous, even though Kitty phased her in time.
Kitty watches as Sabretooth and Logan fall into the ocean. Kitty is piecing together both Sabretooth’s new fighting style and that one time she phased through Wolverine, back in the day.
Logan comes out, seemingly as the victor. Kitty starts to piece it together, she knows that Sabretooth is play playing.
To late, Kitty screams that Sabretooth has adamantium laced bones. He was purposely fighting Wolverine in a way that wouldn’t involve his claws or direct contact with his bones. Sabretooth breaks Logan’s claws, one of these Kitty will keep in time for Wolverine 100 and will mail one to Logan in X-Men 109.
I’m pretty sure Kitty has phased through Wolverine dozens of times and have never been shown to be ill after phasing through Logan.
Bullpen Bulletins. Issues available June 3rd are –
Cable 57
Daredevil 378
Essential Spider-Man Volume 3
Fantastic Four 8
Ka-Zar 16
Maverick 13
Rampaging Hulk 1
Sensational Spider-Man 30
Thor 2
Uncanny X-Men 358
X-Men Manga 10
Sabretooth is about to finally end Logan when Kitty phases through Sabretooth and frees Logan from his grip.
Issue ends with Kitty pushing Logan over the ledge and is about to be killed by Sabretooth. I do like how fierce she is, standing up to Sabretooth.
Cutting Edge letters from – Chuck Pruett of Union, MO / Peter Kotas of St. Clair Shores, MI / Richard Vasser of Ontario, Canada / Amy Dayton of Cheyenne, WY and Chuck McKinney of New York, NY.
Writer Christos Gage
Penciler David Baldeon
Inker Jordi Tarragona
Colorist Brian Reber
Letterer VC’s Cory Petit
Cover Dated August 2012
Cover Artist Mark Brooks
I adore this cover so much! I really like the addition of the recap page being barely visible.
Still working off my Father’s Day present my wife got for me from Mile High Comics. This is the only Legacy issue that I bought from that purchase.
I do own issues 270 and 271, so one day, I will finish this storyline.
This issue takes place between either issues 5/6 of Avengers vs X-men or 7/8, there is no handy footnote nor checklist in the issue itself.
I found this helpful website :
http://philthec.blogspot.com/2012/06/avengers-vs-x-men-reading-order.html
That states that it comes during round eight :
Round 8: The Fall of Wakanda
052 Avengers vs. X-Men #8
053 New Avengers #27 (The Phoenix Prophecy)
054 X-Men Legacy #269
055 X-Men Legacy #270
056 Wolverine and the X-Men #14
So that’s pretty handy!
The final image of this post shows the details better but I noticed this on one of my rereads of the issue. There are two fun costume decisions that were made for this issue. I’m not sure if Baldeon gets the credit or if it was already determined when he got there.
The first one is something that hopefully got attention at the time. Rogue’s shirt can be zipped all the way up to their throat. That’s pretty impressive as that isn’t how most of her shirts fit her.
The second is that she has the same style of boots as Magik does. There must have been a sale or something!
As much as I like Rogue’s look at this time, that does seem to be a lot of Xs. Is it a good idea to have an X right on your chest? It seems too much like a perfect bullseye. At the time, Rogue only had her absorption power, and whichever power she obtained at the time. So she isn’t nigh-invulnerable like she spent most of her superhero career. Then she has Xs on her shoulder pads and on her belt. I also like her scarf.
Inside front cover is for that Amazing Spider-Man game that I still want to play.
Onto the issue itself :
China. This is during the time when Magik has one fifth of the Phoenix Force. Which was such an awesome moment! She is looking over Iceman and Rogue’s progress. I like the attention to detail to the Phoenix Five’s global plan. One can’t just quickly change the agriculture as it will just collapse under itself. So using Iceman’s ice powers, the ice will gradually melt and not be a shock to the landscape’s system. A very clever plan.
I really do like Baldeon’s art here and Reber’s coloring makes the comic soar as well.
Rogue is happy that the X-Men, together, are making these world changes.
I really like Magik in this issue. Sure the Phoenix brought out some of her inner demons and dark side but she is amazingly blunt and honest. She was confident before but now she has a cosmic fire bird on her side. Her comment about how the X-Men could accomplish more once they are no longer being hunted is spot on.
I like Magik making sure Rogue is doing okay. Thanks to her powers, they can essentially have the same X-Man in two places but Magik worries that it may be taxing Rogue. Rogue can handle it.
You Can tell that those are the same boots there, with that extra flap material at the top.
Iceman calling Magik, boss, makes me smile. She makes a big point about how she isn’t his boss but they are all united and equal. Though, if she was being brutally honest, she is his superior in almost every way. But she does make the point that she has had to tell him a hundred times to stop calling her, boss. So I imagine it does get old after a while. But that’s Iceman for you.
Rogue is on her way to New Orleans and borrows some of Iceman’s powers. He’s far too happy to help as Mardis Gras saved him during his students days, when he was hoping to be an accountant when he grew older.
Then there are a bunch of pages until Magik shows up again.
I like that Rogue is greeted kindly by soldiers. She just froze the large lake that was causing the issue. One of them recognizes a Mississippi accent and she tells him she is from Caldecott County. The solider likes having a local hero helping out even more. So much so, in fact, that he offers her the rest of his catfish lunch. Which is pretty awesome of him to offer and for her to accept.
I adore the page of her just eating the catfish. She really likes it, plus, it must be nice to just relax for once. It doesn’t last long as that same solider, now that he has done something nice for her, informs her that there is a distress call.
Rogue agrees to investigate and creates an ice slide and gets out of there. Turns out it is a flatscan dirty trick and Carol Danvers, as Ms. Marvel, is there to talk to Rogue. Of course, if you once stole a person’s memories and powers, you don’t really anticipate that person just showing up to talk and Rogue punches her in the mouth. To the mouth? I’m not sure.
What follows is a pretty awesome sequence of the two women, with so much baggage, just talking. Sure, they are fighting as well but that’s just because Rogue didn’t listen to Carol at first. Rogue realizes that she is no match against Carol as Iceman’s powers are not so good – or at least, she isn’t experience with them. She gets the idea, as horrible as it is, to just take Carol’s powers – which is pretty mess up. Carol loses her mind for a moment, and starts shouting, how could you do that to me? Which she is completely in the right about. Rogue ruin both of their lives with that and that must have brought so many memories (or lack of memories) to poor Carol. Now that she is Captain Marvel, but not at this point in publication, I feel weird typing Ms. Marvel. I prefer Warbird but she, herself, has distance herself from that codename.
It isn’t until Carol starts using her energy blasts from her hands that I have the thought of why didn’t Rogue get that power? Did Carol only get that power once she was made into Binary by the Brood? My only real experience with her is with her time in Busiek’s awesome Avengers run and then reading the back issue appearances of her time with the X-Men – which was also spectacular. That must be the reason. I just so associate Carol with hand blasting that I never thought about why Rogue didn’t get that power. That must be the reason though, its post-Binary. Ooof, Carol has had a few codenames over the years. People don’t seem to make fun of her for it like they do Kitty Pryde.
There is this great exchange when Rogue mentions that the X-Men have done more for the world’s actual good than the Avengers have ever even tried. Carol rebuts this with how the changes are too fast and too sudden, they have not been earned. Reminds me of Captain America and Superman’s exchanges in JLAvengers – where Cap thought Superman and his universe, did too much for humanity, whereas Captain America thought that the heroes place was just protecting it from harm.
Carol makes a reference to the incredible, It’s a Good Life, episode of Twilight Zone. Which has a decent sequel in “It’s Still a Good Life” when they brought the Twilight Zone back in 2003.
Rogue states that if the Phoenix Five go bad, the X-Men will stop them, which is exactly what they try to do in AvX 11.
The fight ends when Rogue throws Carol into a body of water and keeps freezing it as Carol tries to break free of it. Once she does, she’s exhausted. Then they get a visitor.
Magik has arrived to take Carol as their newest prisoner. Carol comments on how Magik had a dark soul prior to becoming all powerful. As if flattery would get her far.
Carol states that Illyana is her choice for going crazy first (she isn’t). With this, Illyana slaps tape over Carol’s mouth to silence her.
Rogue starts asking if it is a good idea to put all of the Avengers into one prison. The X-Brig won’t be able to house too many Avengers.
Magik tells her that she has made a prison that will hold anyone. Rogue starts to question how she could build a prison when Magik cuts her off. Illyana moved a piece of Limbo into this realm and that is what they are using as a prison. Limbo on Earth sounds scary.
Illyana makes a chilling reference to how Limbo isn’t easy to escape, which is such a sad reminder of Magik’s origins.
Verkhoyansk Mountains, Russia. I adore Magik’s line, of her trying to assure Rogue that she shouldn’t look so worried, the prison is quite secured. It took me until my second read through to realize that Rogue’s worried expression comes from having a piece of Limbo in the Russian Mountain side. Like, this is how far the Phoenix Five are willing to go to not be stopped. If only that was as far as they were willing to go as Namor will later prove, they are willing to go much farther.
See from that angle how much Rogue and Magik’s boots are the same?
Look how frightening Carol’s new prison cell is! No wonder Rogue will spend the next issue or so trying to bust Carol out of there. We’ll get to those eventually.
. . .
Happy Thanksgiving!
Shadow and Flame with Magik 