Excalibur 35

Posted by John Klein III on February 14, 2014
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Writer Scott Lobdell

Penciler Dave Ross

Inker Al Milgrom

Colors Glynis Oliver, post divorce 😦

Letterer Ken Lopez

Cover Dated March 1991

Title – Heartbreaker

Issue opens with a kidnapped six year old girl, Amy Keats, who is now in a well.  She has been in the well for three days.  It is now raining, so her time is limited.  It is an amazing splash page that really lets you feel the terror.  Her expression, the coloring, the hopeless atmosphere, it is all there.

All over London, people are looking for Amy, even the members of Excalibur.

Kurt and Kitty are searching a building.  The search has interrupted the party the team was going to throw has they have been reunited with Kitty after the rest of Excalibur has made it back from the Cross Time Caper and she has survived her time at the boarding school.  Kitty doesn’t care about the postponed party, she only wants to invite Amy to the party once the find her.

Meggan and Captain Britain are flying over the city.  Brian isn’t speaking with her, she finally gets him to talk.  He’s been silent as he has been praying that they find Amy and that she is okay.

Dai Thomas, the head of police, and regular supporting character in Excalibur, is having to deal with reporters.  The kidnapper, Gunther Gyles, has no memory of where he left Amy, he seems like he is coming down from a high, or bad withdrawals.

Rachel is in the precinct, waiting for her chance to interview Gyles.  Now that I have typed that name twice, I wonder if Glynis Oliver wished they chose a different name, as the guy’s name reminds me of her name.

A young officer with a psych major, starts to flirt with Rachel, he knows she has a way with connecting with people.  She states it is a hereditary trait, a nice and simple reference to her mother, Jean Grey.  The officer asks her out to discuss their practices, she doesn’t date cops he tells her, and he offers to quit the force.  I never found why men find Rachel this attractive, even when she is wearing the skin tight red outfit with horns – maybe I’m just not that type of guy.  Also, does she really not date cops?  As far as I know, men are attracted to her but we have only seen her in two relationships now.  With Franklin Richards in her future, who is was married too and now John Sublime in the current X-MEN comic.  She was married, so maybe that’s why she doesn’t pursue men, she never talks about it really and the interactions with Franklin have been limited to the Days of Future Present four issue crossover.

Dai walks in, makes fun of the situation, which annoys Rachel.  Dai has a tough outer layer, and doesn’t really care for superheroes with how much destruction they leave in their wake.

Dai wants Rachel to go through Gyles’ mind and forcibly get Amy’s whereabouts.  She doesn’t want to do that due to his civil rights – which I find ridiculous (a word I can never spell the first time, correctly) as does Dai.  This leads to a heated discussion between the two of them.  Dai has a point though, if super villains are involved then heroes are all for stepping in but can’t be bothered with lost girls.

Rachel walks into Gyles’ interrogation.  He keeps stating he can’t remember and he looks horrible.  He wishes he could remember but this isn’t good enough.  She tries to read his mind but it feels like there is a giant black fist blocking his memories.  Gyles confesses that he would never hurt Amy, he loves her, which makes Rachel and myself sick.  She touches his face and begins to run through his memory, after making a Star Trek reference.

Inside of his memories, the world is all topsy turvy.  We get the impression that Amy is trapped and something other-worldly wants Amy to stay missing.  Rachel digs deeper and can hear a little girl’s plead for help.  Rachel finds her but once the girl turns, it is a demon version of Amy.  Which is unsettling, as a reader, I don’t want any more delays, I want Excalibur to be able to find Amy immediately, as the rain is getting worst and it is bad enough that Gyles is in custody and can’t help the police.  The mind scape explodes, sending Rachel back in RL and the Phoenix effect blows windows for blocks.

Gyles is left even more insane than before and Rachel is pretty shaken, as is Dai from seeing all of that destruction.  Rachel tells him that all she saw was an abandon along the moors.  Dai states that that at least narrows it down to six locations.  Rachel informs Excalibur, telepathically, of the locations and the search is renewed.  Rachel states Gyles should be okay in a week or two – like I care.

We see Amy as the well is being filled with the rain coming down even harder.  We see a spirit like creature taunting her.

There are two ads for the NES Silver Surfer game, a game I only heard of and that it wasn’t very good.  It is the right page ad and then there is another ad promoting a contest for the highest score on the following page on the right side.  All you had to do was take a picture of your high score, something that wouldn’t fly nowadays.  The early 90s were such a simpler time.  I wonder who won the contest, a shame as I was always curious about that as a child when you see television commercials for contests.  No one ever states who the winner is.

Dai and Rachel show up at the right property.  Rachel tagged along in his car, I wonder why she didn’t fly there.  Dai is looking for a man and she is looking for a bogeyman – but not the one from Ghostbusters, that I recall was pretty frightening at the time.

The rest of Excalibur are a half hour away.  Which is the story reason for why this is practically a solo Rachel story.

Dai is in riot gear, armed with a gun and knife.  She comments on his outfit and he scoffs at her outfit as she is now wearing her classic Phoenix attire – which like I stated above, I’m not a fan.  From the cover, it was the uniform of Ahab, the master of the Hounds from her future and what she was the best of the best of.

Which transitions us into the next sequence.  Rachel heads to a silo, due to a strange light.  She gets closer to it and starts a flashback sequence to her prime days as a Hound.  She was Ahab’s favorite.  I really like the develop of Ahab in Excalibur, we get plenty of how horrible of a person he is (both mentally and physically) and once Rory Campbell shows up much later in the series, and his fall from grace, is some amazing character development.

We see Rachel’s facial scars show up, we are reminded that they are permanent, which I do forget that she has those scars and that she uses her telepathic powers to hide them from everyone.

Rachel is reliving her time in United Germany, when she target was Nightcrawler.  Which is cool to see what happen to him during the lead up to Days of Future Past.  What isn’t cool is that Rachel is the one to kill him.  Which must be painful each and every day to work and live right next to him and know that his future ends at her hands.  Well, she holds him while Ahab actually kills him but that’s just something to help her sleep at night.  He had retired and became a priest.  Germany, in the future, will be a safe haven for mutants, which is pretty nice of them.

Which doesn’t make sense as there is an issue of Uncanny X-Men, where we see that Kurt dies in the assault on the mansion that leads to Days of Future Past but with each day Rachel is in our present, she is changing history so this must be the way it is.  Plus, it is Days of Future Past, creative teams are always trying to add to it.  We have to accept the latest story as canon and since it is a story of the future, that the present is always changing details of the future.  We now have alternate takes on Days of Future Past, which I guess makes sense as with What If? we have alternate takes on the present.

We see what is really happening, as Dai is witnessing Rachel on the ground, holding her head – clearly experiencing something.  She comes out of the flashback, crying and apologizing.  He asks her why she looks so defeated.

That prompts the villain of the issue to finally how himself, D’Spayre, pronounced Despair, get it? Very clever these writers.  He is mostly a Dr. Strange villain from what I remember.

Dai tries to question him, D’Spayre reveals his plan.  He lives off of people’s woes (or despairs, get it?) so having a city’s worth of people dreading and worried about a missing child, is the perfect fuel for him.  One imagines, when he isn’t being stopped by superheroes, this is his go to recharge option – as why would he not retry this scheme every time.

Having Phoenix come to him, was a bonus.  He triggered these painful memories of hers and now is gaining even more power.

Dai starts shooting at him.  D’Spayre laughts as in the past, that would have worked.  Which from comicbookdb, his appearance right before this was against Cloak and Dagger.  They probably hint that his dimension shares the same space as where Cloak gets his powers.  I know they have established the villain Nightmare’s dimension is an off shoot as well.  It is all connected.  Actually, this was published in the middle of an entire arc of Cloak and Dagger – so his fans must have been happy about that.  So really, he must be referencing his last story from Incredible Hulk that took place two years ago.

He goes from this adventure, to Cloak and Dagger, and right into a storyline against Dr. Strange, 1991 was a pretty good year for him.  Not many villains get to show up in three titles, especially a villain of his calibur, maybe not quite C list but I wouldn’t say D or B list.  So I guess C list, it is.

Rachel is tired of being used by these villains, referencing both Galactus and Nightmare, and this anger gives her the upper hand.

Dai is not surprised, you get two people, both in costume and they will eventually start destroying property.  If it was up to him, he would wrap them in wire and throw them down a well.  Luckily, he acts this out as he sees Amy is down that very same well.  He only has one way to get to her, and jumps down the well.

Rachel isn’t winning her fight against D’spayre as he is still maintaining his power source.  He explains his powers to her, which is very convenient, how the more depressed she feels, the stronger he gets.  She shouts at him that she gets it.  He wants Amy to die so that London is washed in despair.  Which really, the city would be sad, but in reality, it would only last a week, maybe two, before the next news cycle occurs.  That is the sad reality of these things.  Just like how they are on the verge of saving Amy, the city will be relieved and happy but that will also only last a week or two before the next story.

Rachel is being drowned by D’Spayre and unleashes a last ditch effort, blasting him away.  The blast also destroys the well, freeing both Dai and Amy.

Dai hits his head and it is now up to Amy to save him.  She is an incredibly brave young lady.  As she tries to comfort Dai, D’Spayre is hurt, like a knife in his side.  It makes sense, that Amy’s own worries were fueling him, and now that she is technically saved and is now trying to reassure Dai, she is not thinking about her own problems.  Amy’s spirit is back, which fuels Rachel’s and the hero starts her bounce back.

D’Spayre starts to shrink and Rachel stomps on him.  Rachel telekinetically lifts both Dai and Amy.  Amy asks Rachel to help Dai, and Rachel is highly impressed with how Amy is able to turn her attention to someone else after what she has experienced.

Dai states “Fine, thanks and you?” which is something Rachel has twice said earlier in the issue.  Rachel and him have a nice moment She claims if she was twenty years older, and he is quick to add that if she was, she wouldn’t be wearing that outfit.

A nice way to end a very dark issue.

. . .

So here is my goal as we take a break from Lockheed month.  There were no Valentine’s Day issues, so I checked my collection for stories with the word “Heart” in them and this was the first one I came across.  Not the most ideal story, but that’s my goal here and now that we have this one done, we don’t have to experience it again.

So I would like to wish my wife a nice Valetnine’s Day, we have  three day weekend ahead of us so that’s nice.  So from me and my family to you, if you are so inclined, have a nice, safe and happy Valentine’s Day!  I always feel extra pressure when it lands on a Friday to make a whole weekend of it and then with the extra day added to it, there’s even more pressure!

Uncanny X-Men 175

Posted by John Klein III on February 13, 2014
Posted in: Paul Smith, Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Writer Chris Claremont

Pencilers Paul Smith and John Romita Jr.

Finisher Bob Wiacek

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Colorist Glynis Wein

Cover Dated November 1983

This is Paul Smith’s final issue as regular penciler.  This is also the 20th anniversary issue of Uncanny X-Men.

The cover, has Kitty Pryde’s outfit being red wherein the issue proper, it is white collar and blue blouse.  Also, Lockheed gets his first cover appearance!

Paul Smith draws the first 29 pags, and JRJR drawing the last nine.

Issue opens with Kitty, Colossus, Kurt and Wolverine taking down a dead tree.  Storm shares with Rogue that there was a time when Storm would have sensed the tree dying.

We see a giant Phoenix bird in the sky.  Storm and Rogue fly at it.  Rogue catches Scott.  Scott states that Dark Phoenix has returned.  Xavier mentally summons everyone back to the mansion.

While they were outside, they were all in civilian attire, except for Rogue, has she has to be fully clothed at all times.  Now that they are inside, everyone has super hero suited up.  Even Cyclops.  Kitty is trying out a new outfit.  I sort of like how she tries something new every issue, she is young and trying to find herself.

Xavier doesn’t want to involve anyone outside of the team just yet.  He wants to make sure it really is Phoenix.  He turns Cerebro on and takes a giant backlash of energy.  Kurt teleports Xavier to the infirmary.

Uncanny X-Men 175 Lockheed on shoulder

Wolverine suspects the machine has been sabotaged.  Kitty investigates and discovers the controls have been reversed.

Scott starts talking, the team turns to look at him.  Then Dark Phoenix floats out from him.

Uncanny X-Men 175 Lockheed Phoenix Splash Page

We are next, treated to an awesome splash page of Dark Phoenix and the team.

Storm shoots lightning, Phoenix laughs the attempt away.  Colossus charges and Phoenix uses her telekinesis to double him over.

Uncanny X-Men 175 Lockheed fight Dark Phoenix Madelyne

Next up, Kitty and Lockheed – who really needs a duo name, Shadow and Flame, ya’ll.  Kitty phases through Phoenix, and gets bio-feedback for her efforts.  Lockheed spits hot fire and straight up gets back handed.

How awesome would it be to get this animated or acted out?

Rogue fly charges at Phoenix, Phoenix grabs her by the neck and flings her across the room.

Phoenix asks if Wolverine wants to make a move.  He proves that during these early days, he was a smart character.  Phoenix declares she will return once she is done with other tasks.

Wolverine is left to explain why he didn’t want to attack a cosmic level opponent.

Minutes later, Kitty calls Corsair, and the team sees the Starjammers die on the video screen.  Luckily, Scott is still unconscious so he misses out on this.

Next, Kitty calls the Avengers.  We are treated to a Paul Smith drawn Captain America andit is fantastic.  We see Cap’s screen light up.  Storm turns her head toward the window and sees a giant Phoenix bird in the direction of New York City.

Kurt is caring for Scott in the infirmary.  We see Scott have an out of body experience.  Scott heads toward the light.  He sees a blonde angel instead of the red headed angel, that he was expecting.  The angels tells him to look inside of himself for the answer.  Scott wakes up, realizing he was communicating with his dead mother.

Scott knows now that Mastermind is behind this.  I like that one of the tip offs was how long it took to get him from Alaska to Westchester.

Ten minutes after waking up and doing various tasks, he is ready to rejoin his former teammates.  He runs into Colossus and instead of a greeting, Colossus breaks a couple of rips as the team sees him as Phoenix.  Thus begins one of the best sequences in X-Men history, Scott versus the X-Men.

Uncanny X-Men 175 Lockheed vs Cyclops

Scott blasts Colossus to the face.  I adore how he doesn’t waste time trying to explain the situation, he knows how powerful Mastermind is.  He then throws Colossus into Rogue and blasts Wolverine, at the same time.  Scott fires straight up, knowing Kurt will teleport from above.

Then Shadow and Flame kicks in.  First, Lockheed spits fire at his feet.  Scott doesn’t know how much punishment the dragon can handle, so he runs out of that room.  For his thanks, Kitty tackles him, hurting his ribs even more.  She phases the two of them right into the Danger Room.  Kurt teleports into the control room.  This all works into Scott’s favor.

During that ten minutes, he created a Danger Room scenario and various other schemes.  First up, he has a giant cushion for Kitty and him to land on.  He also nerve pinches, so Kitty is taken out.  One down.

Kurt, in the control room, tries to turn off the safety protocols of the Danger Room.  For his thanks, gets mildly electrocuted.  Two down.

Wolverine, Storm, Rogue and Colossus now enter the Danger Room.  Not quite sure what happens to Lockheed during this sequence.

Cyclops turns the Danger Room into the Savage Land.  He is standing on a cliff, Rogue and Storm begin to fly in place and Wolverine and Colossus start falling.

I like the attention to detail, since Rogue joining the team, that she hasn’t had to deal with the Danger Room yet, she has only been with the team for four issues and one of them was her joining the team, two of them, she was in Japan and last issue, she was moved into Jean’s old room.  It makes perfect sense that she doesn’t know that the Danger Room offers holographic capabilities.  Though, one would think it would have been part of the tour, or at the very least, Xavier would have explained that he would be using it to help her with her power control.  Now that I think of it, does Rogue even need the Danger Room for that purpose?  She can try to control her powers anywhere, though if she was to take Storm’s powers, might be safer if she did it inside in a controlled environment.

I really like this Savage Land / Danger Room sequence.  Scott proves his tactical knowledge, Paul Smith gets to draw some great jungle foliage.

Wolverine, once again, proving that he isn’t a mindless beast – ponders aloud regarding why Phoenix is wasting time with a Danger Room sequence when she could create her own realities.  Storm tells him to follow Phoenix’s trail.  Scott overhears this and her tone and knows that Storm has made up her mind – if she gets a chance, she will kill Phoenix.  I like how in Scott’s thought bubble, he still hasn’t named Mastermind.  If you were a new fan in the past few issues, Mastermind is never named, so if you didn’t recognize him, you are having the mystery unfold in front of you.

Then we get the reveal, as Mastermind is watching Cyclops, giving him points for using illusions of his own against him.  Looks like he is sitting in the middle of hell, with all of the lava around him.  We see Madelyne Pryor in a Dark Phoenix outfit and I do like how she doesn’t look like Jean in that outfit.  She is her own woman, and I sort of like her in it more – for whatever reason.  How did he get her in that outfit?  We are never shown this scene from her vantage point.  How willing was she in this ploy, or has he been controlling her up to this point?

Mastermind lets her in on his plan and why he hates the X-Men, especially Jean as back during the Dark Phoenix Saga, she opened his mind to the entire universe and it has taken this long for him to pull himself back from crazy town.  He is making the X-Men ready for murder, and then he will offer Maddie up, they will kill her and then realize they murdered an innocent woman, plus Scott’s fiance.  He claims the team will never recover, but wouldn’t they?

Let’s say they killed her.  Then Mastermind reveals his entire plan to them, villain style.  Once they defeat him, wouldn’t they look at each other and say that they were being manipulated into killing her?  That they had no choice as they saw the threat that they saw and had no other choice?  I see them getting over it pretty soon, Scott wouldn’t until he saw another red haired lady.

Maddie gets bad and hits him.  Turns out, that one was an illusion and he is sitting farther away from her.  She is out of her league here.  He reminds her of the deaths of the 378 passengers.  I wonder what made Claremont pick that number?  Seems very specific.

Mastermind then describes how far he has been influencing the X-Men’s lives, from being Nabatone in Japan to the priest on the plane.  He’s also responsible for Mariko turning Wolverine away at his wedding.  Then in a weird twist, Mastermind, while describing his actions, takes the form of the person he names – taking sweet advantage of the medium.  Which is always the problem in movies and live action shows with a shape changer.  You are dependent on if the actor you want is available.  That is why the person they change into, is almost always part of the regular cast.  Cartoons, this is easier with as well as comics.  Anyways, in front of her eyes, he becomes Cyclops.  Maddie is so happy to see him, that she kisses him.  Like really?  You just saw the guy turn into two other people, and now you are kissing the shape changer?  She must really be at her wit’s end.  Jason Wyngarde turns into his actual appearance, and this disgusts Maddie on two levels (at least), and laughing at her as she has no chance but to do what he wants her to do.

Scott, back in the Danger Room, is staying inside the jungle to hide from Storm and Rogue.  Why they stay in the air the entire time, is beyond me.  Storm, I get, as she is going to blast him from a distance.  Rogue can be flying and plowing through trees.  I guess Colossus does that, so there is no reason to have both of them on the ground.  Except, what if Phoenix took him out?

Scott while in a tree, blasts Wolverine, and starts running away from Colossus.  He wants to keep his distance from the X-Men but he also can’t hurt them too much as he needs them for the final battle.  Colossus, not paying attention, gets stuck in some quicksand.  Four down.

Scott heads out of the jungle and toward a cave, the true exit of the Danger Room.  Scott places a breathing mask over his mouth.  Storm sees Phoenix running, and is confused why she isn’t flying.  I mean, right?  If you could fly, I wouldn’t even bother walking down halls, I would float on down.  Storm shoots some lightning, but purposely misses Cyclops, by only a small bit.  Scott takes advantage and blasts Storm out of the sky.  Rogue catches her and lands right in front of the cave exit.

Scott blasts wide at Rogue, she takes the hit.  She isn’t the true target though, Scott wants to activate the Oz-poppies.  He rigged them to Rogue’s specific DNA.  Rogue collapses.  This entire exercise was to accomplish this small feat.  During the ten minute prep time, Scott rigged the Danger Room but also read up on Rogue’s medical file.  Which is weird that that is just out there for him to read at his leisure.  Also, like I stated above, Rogue hasn’t been on the team that long, I know a week passed while in Japan but was Xavier really making her medical file at that time, and with what information?

As Scott leaves, carrying Rogue, he programs the mansion to shut down.  This way, Mastermind will not be able to watch what happens next.  Scott has once again defeated the X-Men, single handedly, just like he did during the Proteus Saga.

This next sequence, must happen super fast, that’s how I read it.  Scott places Rogue in a chair right next to Xavier.  He wakes her up and before she can respond, he places her bare hand on Xavier’s head.  She wasn’t ready for telepathic abilities at all but luckily, Scott starts trying to calm her down.  He has experience from Xavier and the rapport he shared with Jean.

The rest of the team enters, Scott has Rogue mind link with everyone and reveals that they have been fighting Cyclops the entire time and not Phoenix.  They must feel like real idiots, but there is no time to harp on that.

The team turns when they see Phoenix standing there.  Scott knows this isn’t real and stands up to her.  In an incredible sequence, that if you think about it, is very well planned.  Phoenix blasts Cyclops and Wolverine can tell that it wasn’t flame but a gun shot!  And with this, Paul Smith’s tenure on the title has come to an end.  Not sure why they picked that moment but that is what they did.

Now the John Romita Jr. era begins!

Rogue informs Wolverine that Phoenix isn’t really there.  Wolverine declares there is a dead zone that his sense can’t detect.  But really, if his senses can’t detect the spot, isn’t that, technically, detecting the spot?  Just head over to that spot.  Wolverine announces Mastermind must be in the same room and this gives Storm the opportunity to unleash winds and rain and the room starts to flood.  This takes everyone out.

Violent weather comes easy to her, and she keeps pouring it on.  Rogue protects Xavier, Colossus tells Kitty to get out, and Kitty wonders if Storm has been taken over.  Mastermind is washed up and since he is knocked out, everyone can see him now.  Wolverine rushes over to him, ready to kill him.  Storm stops him, stating that it would be different if it was in the heat of battle, but not to kill a helpless opponent.  Storm orders him to find some mediation that would keep Mastermind unconscious.  Rogue, with the last of Xavier’s powers, knows that Storm wasn’t just willing to kill Mastermind, she was willing to kill everybody to eliminate the threat.

Kitty returns with a medical kit.  Scott, still suffering from the gun shot wound, looks for Madelyne.  He finds her face first in the water.  His thoughts start rushing, about how he is about to lose another woman he loves, insult to injury that she is wearing a Phoenix uniform at the time.  He can’t find her pulse and starts CPR.  She comes around and they hug.

I wonder what the X-Men did with Mastermind?  It is never addressed in the issue and I don’t recall from my memory.  I know he shows up in Excalibur at one point, I’m sure it will be addressed then.

A few days later, at St. Stephen’s Chapel, Scott is visiting Jean’s grave – this is before the X-Men start just burying their dead in their backyard.  He comments about how she isn’t really burying here, her ashes are spread out on the moon.  He places some flowers on her grave site, tells her he loves her but he also loves Maddie and will be marrying her.

When I was compiling my wedding issues, I had completely forgotten about this issue.  We get John Romita Jr. getting the chance to draw several characters at the Pryor-Summers wedding that is taking place at the Xavier School.  Glad he didn’t do it at St. Stephen’s!  JRJR gets to draw, Banshee, Beast, Havok (the best man), Dani Moonstar, Wolfsbane, the Starjammers (only Corsair and Carol are allowed to be present at the wedding – as they look normal – but Kurt is out and about – I guess to save Scott having to explain his life to his grandparents).

Alex teases Scott.  Scott’s grandparents comment on how handsome their grandsons are. Corsair wishes Scott’s mother could be there, which makes Hepzibah sad, but Raza tells her that Corsair doesn’t love her any less than his first wife.  Ch’od wonders if Scott is still interested in taking off with them.  As a kid, I had both Raza and Ch’od action figures, and I did not play with them correctly but I only bought them as they looked cool.  I’m sure I had Corsair too.

Wolverine wishes Kitty more luck as a maid of honor than last time she attempted it.  Which must have been only a week ago.  Pretty insensitive of Scott, but in his defense, he almost died as did she, so I can see them wanting to rush this.  Plus the Starjammers and Lilandra need to get back to the Shi’ar empire.

Madelyne is walked down the aisle by an older man, I wonder who that could be?  It definitely isn’t Scott’s father, and I thought all of her family was dead.  This is another wedding where the lady’s side of the wedding as no one present.

As the ceremony is moving along, we see the couples of the attendance staring at each other.  Kurt and Amanda; Lilandra and Xavier; Moira and Banshee; Kitty stares from the alter at Colossus.  For some reason the X-Men do not sit next to each other.  Wolverine is seated next to Carol, but he can’t watch the ceremony.

Issue ends on a lovely splash page of Scott and Maddie’s first kiss as a married couple.

X-Men Classic 91

Posted by John Klein III on February 12, 2014
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Writer Chris Claremont

Artists John Romita Jr. and Dan Green

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Colorist Glynis Wein

Reprint of Uncanny X-Men 187

Cover Dated January 1994

Kitty is only on the cover again.  Either I am a super fan or a fool, I guess.

Issue opens with Storm outside of Forge’s skyscraper.  It is raining, which is insulting.

Storm gets attacked by a Dire Wraith.  She breaks away and starts running.  Naze shoots the alien.  He is looking for Forge, as he can save them from the aliens.

Poor Storm is having to get back to Forge’s penthouse.  Naze gives her a gun, she recalls Wolverine training her how to use one.

They have to fight and fight hard through several floors.

Storm learns she is powerless but can still have thrills.

The two of them unite with Forge.

At one point, Rogue and Colossus crash through the ceiling.  Colossus is wearing this ridiculous outfit, more fitting for a woman than a big Russian male.  You get what I mean, from the cover.

Everyone starts fighting a slew of Dire Wraiths.

ROM and his friend Starshine show up to help.  Thus, this issue can’t be printed nowadays.

The gets attack by a new force, and that is how the issue ends.

Uncanny X-Men 174

Posted by John Klein III on February 11, 2014
Posted in: Paul Smith, Reviews, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Writer Chris Claremont

Penciler Paul Smith

Inker Bob Wiacek

Colorist Glynis Wein

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Cover Dated October 1983

This issue is titled, Romances – because everyone is paired in this issue.

Issue opens with Scott and Madelyne on the Starjammers, as they watch an Earthrise.  As they kiss, Corsair and Hepzibah show up as they had the same goal.  Hepzibah asks if Scott would die for Madelyne.  Hepzibah hints at a story of how she met his father and the almost sacrifice his father made for her.

I have to stop here and ask, how great is Paul Smith at drawing people?  His men look like men, and his women look like women.  Also, they don’t look like the same person, but with a different wig.  Different body types and sizes, each unique in their own way.

The two couples walk to the bridge.  Carol, as Binary, is going to join the Starjammers, as there is nothing on Earth for her.  Which is great for the team, as they were mostly people with guns, Binary gives them a real power house.  Scott still hasn’t decided if he is going as well.

Who is going for sure, is Lilandra.  Xavier is still telling her about his legs and how it is all in his mind.  Also, how he needs to stay to teach mutants.  I wish we got a thought bubble from Lilandra, as she finally speaks up about her sister, Deathbird.  Her empire is on the brink of civil war, she will be heading back with the Starjammers.

Lilandra is wearing this purple one piece bathing suit.  I like to think one of the ladies at the mansion told her about how jumpsuits are not sexy.

Xavier and Lilandra start talking about Scott and Madelyne.  Apparently, Maddie’s mind cannot be read by Xavier – it is a condition that is rare in humans.

Transitions to Scott and Madelyne, still in space.  Scott is thinking about his self doubts and Maddie.  She talks to him about the people who died in her plane crash.  Are pilots usually the sole survivor of plane crashes?  One would think it would be a passenger in the back of the plane.   Either way, their conversation ends with Scott asking if she would come with him to the stars.  Which is a pretty big commitment.

Wolverine is in Japan, giving back the honor sword Mariko gave him.  We see that Silver Samurai is still healing and is now her right hand man.

Uncanny X-Men 174 Kitty 1

We see Kitty reading a Marvel Star Wars comic, issue 73 (thanks UncannyXMen.net).  She is wearing a green shirt, tucked into her jeans – this will come up later.  She comments to Lockheed that C-3PO tells off Luke and Leia.  Imagine being a C-3PO fan?  It must be a hard life.

Also, thanks to Kiotr Fanpage for having the pictures shown in this review!

http://amocat.net/kiotr/KIOTR-Gallery/Uncanny-X-Men-174-Romances

She tells Lockheed that she wants to show Colossus the comic.  Lockheed immediately starts to nimble on her hair.  She is flattered by his jealousy.  It is a very sweet three panel sequence.

Kitty heads over to Colossus’ room, he is frustrated with his paintings.  She knocks, he tells her to go away, and she phases through the wall.  She wants him to take a break and accompany her to Storm’s room, the attic, to water Storm’s plants.  She has a surprised for him.

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Kitty tells him to close his eyes.  We see some nice perspective panels of him through her eyes.  I can get why a young lady like her would find him attractive, he’s tall, nice build, simple but not dumb.  She jumps into his arms and kisses him.  Throwing him into shock and they both fall to the floor.

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That wasn’t the surprised and he closes his eyes again, now holding her. Kitty tells him to start walking, while covering his eyes, and she begins to phase both of them into the air.

They enter the attic, by phasing.  Colossus being the untrusting fool that he is, wonders why they have not made it to the end of the hall, he sneaks a peak, in his shock, he breaks Kitty’s concentration and they both fall to the ground.

Kitty tells him that she has made a bunch of advancements in the Danger Room with Xavier, and is mastering her powers.  She can phase objects as big as Colossus, and now she knows for sure she can phase and air walk objects as big as him.  He comments about how impressive she is, she agrees.  Then we get a wonderful paced sequence of panels where, like a movie, you can tell he wants to move in for a kiss and she does as well.  I know I’ve stated this before, but it bears repeating, Paul Smith is a master story teller.

Storm is flying back to the mansion, notices someone is in her attic.

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She lands, and the couple are both embarrassed and shocked.  Kitty wants to phase out of there and Colossus is quick to tell her to not even dare to do it.  That would be a fun conversation if she did phase away.  Poor Colossus would have gotten a talking to from Storm, for sure.  Kitty is shocked to see that Storm’s room is barren, no plants at all.  There is a fun moment when Kitty asks what Storm is doing there, and her reply of “I live here.”  I swear, if they were to film this, it would be so grand.

We get our only non couple pairing, Kurt and Rogue.  Rogue has taken over Jean’s old room.  Which I like, we get the impression that the mansion is gigantic but really, how many bedrooms can there be?  You get a new team member, they have to sleep somewhere, especially with the New Mutants taking up rooms as well.  I would like to see a floor plan and see where everyone lives in respect to each other.  That would be a fun image.

Kurt explains who Jean is and how she died on the moon.  Rogue is making a nice recovery.  I also like how Kurt is their resident nurse.  He’s played that role a lot during this era, not so much afterwards though.  Which is a shame, as it isn’t do to a lack of injuries.

Kurt leaves the room and sees that he has a package, Amanda has given him a plush doll of herself.  So he has one of her and she had already had a plush Bamf of her own.

We cut to Madelyne and Scott, now on Earth and on a plane.  Maddie jokes that it isn’t quite the same as being on a starship but she likes the view.  Scott is still thinking about going with the Starjammers.  What he isn’t thinking about anymore, is his relationship with Madelyne.  We know this by the giant ring on her finger.  Those two crazy kids are engaged!

Which is great and all, but how did he even afford that diamond engagement ring?  He had only worked for his grandparents for a month, tops.  I doubt he had money saved, and if he did, not that much, from his college radio days.  He had an income from the time he served with Lee Forrester, that could have paid well.  I recall someone telling me that Xavier did give them a stipend, which would make sense as somehow Kitty was able to buy that Star Wars comic.  I wonder how much Xavier values their commitment to his life’s mission.  How much do they get paid?  I forget how much Avengers get paid, I know it wasn’t much, or at least, the number seemed pretty low to me for what they do for the world.

Scott leaves the cockpit to check on the passengers.  He walks pass a priest.  The priest gets Scott’s attention, and hands him a picture that he dropped.  Scott looks at it, and it is a picture of Jean, from her trip to Greece, right before the Dark Phoenix Saga began.  He thinks that it isn’t a picture he taken.  Which brings up a question of, who took that picture?  We know later that the priest is Mastermind, so it could have been a blank piece of paper with the image he wanted Scott to see.  Scott never shows it to Maddie, or references to it ever again.

I do like how Jean has a certain hairstyle and Madelyne has her own hairstyle too.  At least the creative team did that, it would have been too weird for them to have that in common.

In Alaska, we see Madelyne.  She is hungry, and is hoping that Scott is as good of a cook as he claims.  We see that Madelyne is wearing a green shirt, tucked into her jeans.  Which is odd that two female characters, made the same clothes choice and fashion choice on top of that.  I wonder if Smith drew them like that, and then Wein had fun with making sure it was the same color.  That’s a story that will never be told.

We see that Mastermind, now in his Jason Wyngarde appearance, is smoking a cigarette and thinking that it is nice to put things into the next phase.

Madelyne sees Scott, again in deep thought.  She starts to unpack some wine, and comments that they should skip dinner and fool around.  This gets no reaction from Scott.  So clearly something is wrong as Scott should have at least been tempted by the offer.

Scott gathers his strength, he gots to know.  He needs to ask her a question, she jokes that he already asked her a question this morning and she said yes.  Without missing a beat, he asks her, point blank, if she is Phoenix reborn.  In a scene that should cement Maddie in everyone’s heart, she straight up punches him in an awesome panel.  What a punch!

She knocks his glasses off, so of course, Scott’s first thought is that he can’t open his eyes as it would destroy Madelyne’s place.  With his experience with these things happening, he always carries a back up set on him.

Scott starts to regret asking her that question.  He starts to look around for her.  He is not even sure why he asked her the question, hinting that it was probably Mastermind filling his head with doubts.

Scott shouts for her and in return, gets blasted with fire, knocking him to the ground for a second time in five minutes.  From the shadows and the flames, we see Dark Phoenix, with an awesome “The time for talk, lover, is over.”  With the meanest smirk, I ever did see!  It is now on!

This is the second to last issue of Paul Smith’s legendary run and it is another masterpiece.  Issue 175 is a tour de force!

X-Men Classic 90

Posted by John Klein III on February 10, 2014
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . 2 Comments

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Story / Script Chris Claremont

Story / Pencils Barry Windsor-Smith

Inker Terry Austin

Colorists Glynis Wein & Christie Scheele

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Reprint of Uncanny X-Men 186

Cover Dated December 1993

Lifedeath is probably the best comic starring the X-Men, to capture depression and hope.  Windsor-Smith carries this issue.  His style is very realistic and grand.

Storm is being cared for by Forge.  She doesn’t know that, if not for him, she would have her powers still.

This comic doesn’t have Kitty anywhere besides the cover.

Xavier and Nightcrawler are looking for the missing Rogue.  Cold Water on the X-Books forum of Comic Book Resources, mentioned that Kurt is suppose to have a blue tongue.  Can’t confirm that with this issue, but I am on the watch.

Ororo swims with Forge, we find out that Forge is missing a hand and a leg, they are not enchantments but replacements.

Dire Wraiths attack Rogue and Val Cooper.  One Dire Wraith touches Rogue, and she panics.  This is how Xavier and Nightcrawler locate her.

Ororo finds a nice pink dress, she wears it hoping to impress Forge.  He is shock to see her in it, she changes to a white set of overalls.  This shows off more of her body.

They kiss.  Forge takes a phone, she picks up another phone – which isn’t possible these days, is it?  She finds out that Forge created the gun.

They have this huge fight.  We get an origin for Forge, including the Adversary.  Setting up Fall of the Mutants in Uncanny X-Men 227.

Storm punches Forge.  She leaves to find herself again.

Uncanny X-Men 173

Posted by John Klein III on February 9, 2014
Posted in: Paul Smith, Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Writer Chris Claremont

Penciler Paul Smith

Inker Bob Wiacek

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Colorist Glynis Wein

Cover Dated September 1983

That cover, of all the times to have your eyes shut, Wolverine.

Issue opens with Wolverine trashing a local bar.  He is speaking Japanese, Rogue is enjoying watching a professional at work.  They are looking for Nabatone.

The two page upper panel of Wolverine holding the guy by his neck, so much talent there.

Yukio and Storm are looking for safe shelter, to rest.  No one will let them in.  Storm’s hair is a mess.  Six guys show up and Yukio likes the odds.  Storm believes you only live once.

At Nabatone’s house, Rogue flies the two of them to the top floor – by passing the traps.  While inside, Rogue trips an alarm.  Wolverine is tempted to have her take the shot, to see how much punishment she can take.  He figures he might need her later, so he pushs her out of the way.

Rogue wants to kiss him for the safe.  This sequence is spread out over five small panels, slowing down the pace.  He lifts his fist under her chin, telling her if she ever threatens him or the X-Men like that again, he will end her.  She didn’t mean any harm.

Wolverine comes across Nabatone, who had been dead for a week.  They know they have been chasing a dead end, as well as someone is posing as Nabatone.

Yukio and Storm finish their fight.  Now that Storm is embracing her new wild attitude, her powers are under control again.

At the hospital, Viper and some ninjas are taking out the bodyguards protecting the sick X-Men.  Rogue dashes in, taking out several of the ninjas.  Wolverine shows up as does Silver Samurai.

These next three pages.  Smith, Wiacek and Wein are in perfect harmony.  From the red backgrounds to the wordless fight, the sequence is perfection.

Right as Wolverine is going to kill her half-brother, Mariko takes pity and stops him.  Wolverine states this will never end if Silver Samurai doesn’t die tonight.  He lives, and it never does end until everyone is dead.

Viper, not happy with this lost, picks up a gun.  Wolverine is too weak, but he still tries to move Mariko to safety.  Luckily, Rogue flies in in time and pushes Wolverine and Mariko across the hall.

Smith really does an amazing job of using either five or four wide screen panels to move the story at an exciting pace.

Rogue doesn’t know her new strength still and the couple flies through the hallway.  Viper tells Rogue that Viper hopes her teammates know the sacrifice she has made, Rogue laughs that her teammates don’t care about her at all.  Viper leaves and Wolverine gets to Rogue finally.  Rogue tells him that she wanted to save Mariko as she showed her kindness.  Viper states that both sides has had loses and that it is now up to Silver Samurai to decide if he will continue the fight.  The scene ends with a fantastic nearly all white panel with Wolverine holding Rogue as small as Smith could draw them while still being identifiable.

Now, if this was a modern comic, this is where the issue would end.  Instead, we get another issue’s worth of content without it feeling too much or overwhelming.  All of Smith’s issues feel like blockbusters can could be movies onto themselves.

A week has passed.  Mariko is in front of a Buddha statue, she is nervous on her wedding day.  She is lost in thought and doesn’t notice that she isn’t alone.  The guy is nearly off panel but puts her under a spell.

Logan and the X-Men are welcoming guests.  Too bad we don’t see if Mariko has anyone for her side of the aisle.  I am under the impression she doesn’t, as Kitty is operating as her maid of honor.

Scott’s family shows up, his brother Alex, his girlfiriend, Polaris, his father Corsair, and Madelyne Pryor.  This is weird for the next few pages.  One would think that Scott would have called ahead, to give people a heads up that Maddie looks like a super weird clone of Jean.  I wonder if he wanted to gauge reactions to confirm some of his fears and to make Maddie feel out of place.

Lilandra sees Maddie and tries to kill her.  Colossus holds her back, Xavier puts her at ease.  Alex should have told Scott to not approach Maddie romantically, as it is weird.  There should be a What If? Scott stayed with Lee Forrester.  That would have changed a slew of stories.

Uncanny X-Men 173 Kitty Storm

Then Storm shows up, and we get 80s Storm in full glory.  Storm likes her new mohawk and leather outfit.  She asks if Kitty likes it and poor Kitty states “how could you?” and runs off crying.  I have never understood this reaction, it is way too extreme.  I like this Storm, strong and fierce.  Scott asks about her change and Storm is ready to ignore him when she is caught off guard by Madelyne.  Honestly, Scott must really hate her at this point to subject her to this.  Why she stuck around is beyond me.

Uncanny X-Men 173 Lockheed in a basket

Now comes the page that made me fall in love with both Madelyne and Lockheed.  Kitty gets teased (or flirted with) by Kurt, telling her she looks good in her outfit.  Kitty moves on to Madelyne, handing her a big hat box.  Kitty asks her if she wouldn’t mind looking over Lockheed for her.  Lockheed is sleeping and shouldn’t be a bother.  Madelyne agrees and Kitty is off.  I adore this scene as Kitty doesn’t even hint that what is in the box is anything unusual.  At least point of her career, Lockheed is a normal part of life.

Madelyne thinks to herself how she wished she had a younger sister like Kitty.  She also loves the name Lockheed for a cat.  She peeks inside to make sure the little guy is sleeping.  Lockheed is curled into a ball and sleeping without a care in the world.  Madelyne looks up, and in a great sequence, grabs Scott’s tie, pulls him in, and asks what he has gotten her into.  It is broken up in four panels and it is a great acting moment and Scott’s surprise only adds to the beauty of it.

Mariko walks in, dressed in her wedding gown.  Logan heads to the alter.  Mariko stops the ceremony, tells Logan he is not worry of her.  The wedding is off.  Logan is left with a tear on his face and a mustached man, who any long time fan would instantly recognize as Mastermind in his Jason Wyngarde shape, is smiling.

I feel bad for Logan, no doubt, but I feel worst for people like Scott who had to travel from Alaska to Japan for this ceremony.  It isn’t like they teleported.  It is over 3,000 miles and over 7 hours of time in a plane.  Then you get Xavier and Lilandra from New York.  I don’t get the impression the Starjammers are there so the Summers clan had to fly there.  Of course, this was suppose to be a happy occasion but to not go through with it?  Ooof, what a waste.

Issue ends with Colossus answering the letters.  If I had my letter printed that month, I would have been sorely disappointed.

DarthKy’s Lego Cuusoo – X-Mansion

Posted by John Klein III on February 8, 2014
Posted in: Toy. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/53799

Great site, super easy to sign up.  I wish you didn’t have to e-mail verify but its a quick step.

Look how amazing this is! :

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Then it opens to reveal :

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I wish they had a proper picture of Storm’s attic, as I want a closer look at Magik and her stepping disc.

If they broke it up into sets, I woulf buy the attic for sure.

I would buy Xavier’s Office :

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Awesome homage to Uncanny X-Men 168!  Look how adorable that Lockheed is!

I would also get the Danger Room :

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I love how he has easily incorporated Kitty’s phasing powers.

Lego has taken notice, but they are only at a tenth of where they need to be.

I own the two Marvel Minimates of Kitty, one came with Lockheed – but an official Lego piece would be delightful.

. . .

I also want to wish all of the athletes at Sochi good luck and good health at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

225th Post!

Uncanny X-Men 172

Posted by John Klein III on February 7, 2014
Posted in: Paul Smith, Reviews, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

3543_20060727221346_large

Writer Chris Claremont

Penciler Paul Smith

Inker Bob Wiacek

Colorist Glynis Wein

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

 Cover Dated August 1983

Inside front cover ad is for Cracker Jack, which today, you can get a triple pack for a dollar at Wal-Mart.  Also, no prizes are in any of those boxes.

Uncanny X-Men 172 Kitty 1

Issue opens in Tokyo, Logan is welcoming the X-Men into Mariko’s condo.

Kurt mentions getting letters from Logan.  How long must those letters take to get from Tokyo to New York?

I love this two page spread, the left page as four vertical panels with a tall panel to the right of it.  The right has the tall panel on the left side with four vertical panels to the right of that one.  Smith really moves your eyes naturally from panel to panel.  Mariko in the tall left panel, in the same pose as Rogue in the tall right panel.

Uncanny X-Men 172 Kitty Lockheed 2

Logan is in a kimono, and I like seeing him out of costume.  He seems to be at peace.  In five days, Mariko and Logan will be married.

Logan notices Lockheed, making a joke about how customs must have loved seeing a purple dragon.  Kitty mentions how customs didn’t mentioned it, which why would customs be upset in the Marvel Universe by seeing a teenage girl with a dragon.

Logan mentions how Lockheed reminds him of himself.  Cool how this is the first meeting of Wolverine and Lockheed, don’t really think of how such legendary characters every meeting.

Uncanny X-Men 172 Kitty 3

Logan finds out that Rogue has joined the team.  Which doesn’t surprise him, as any team that would take him in, would take anyone.

Mariko accepts Rogue and welcomes her into her home.  Simply because she is their guest.  Mariko refers to him as Wolverine, which I find odd.  Shouldn’t she only want to call him, Logan?  Maybe it is due to the X-Men being around?

We see Silver Samurai watching these events unfold.  We see Yukio is watching him.  Yukio does a charging kick and it barely affects him.  What it does do, is alert Logan to what is happening across the rooftops.  He has Kurt teleport the two of them to the fight.

Logan jumps at Silver Samurai, who teleports away.  Logan’s jump takes him off the roof.  Kurt teleports Logan to safety.  They briefly talk about Yukio, with Logan saying they are ‘friends.’

Yukio dashes off, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.  She misses one building and falls.  Storm catches her and they introduce themselves.  Storm likes Yukio’s free spirit.  I like how Yukio is a little more direct about what type of friends she and Logan are.

Uncanny X-Men 172 Kitty question

Back at the condo, we get the end of Logan’s recap of his miniseries and who Silver Samurai worked for.  Colossus asks if Shingen is stopped, Logan states he has already stopped him.  Kitty thinks that is great as now they can interrogate Shingen and get information regarding Silver Samurai.  Kurt understood what Logan meant and then it dawns on Kitty what really happened to Shingen.  We get a great narration caption of Logan’s describing Kitty and his relationship.  She believes in him, but gets reminded that Logan can be ruthless.

We see Mariko is going to a secret meeting that no one knows she is going to.  Her goal is to untie her family’s bond to crime but they are pretty tied to it due to Shingen’s involvement.

Uncanny X-Men 172 Kitty 4

We see Viper knocking out one of the help that Logan sent to get snacks and drinks for everyone.  Viper dresses as one of the help and has poisoned the drinks.  Logan notices that it is not the same person as who he sent away but he doesn’t know everyone yet.

We see the X-Men, and I like how Kurt, Colossus and Kitty are on the couch.  We see Rogue just far enough away that she is not included in their conversation.  She is keeping her distance as she knows she isn’t quite welcomed as she was forced on everyone last issue to join the team by Xavier.  Smith does a great job and if you are not looking for it, you could easily not notice the staging of everyone.  Storm is by the window and there is lightning outside and the weather report said there was clear skies.  Storm’s emotions are all over the place so the weather is all out of whack.  Logan heads over to speak with her.

They talk about how Logan never saw himself getting married to a Japanese princess, him, a roughneck Canadian mountain man.  Logan confesses and tells Storm that he may not be worthy of her, as Shingen had asked if Logan was even worthy of being called a man.

Wein does a great job now with the scene, as they keep drinking the tea, the background details are gone, replaced with nothing more than red.  Danger is a foot, and it is a detail that you wouldn’t get in a black and white Essential.  Logan confesses that the fight Mariko has ahead of her is too subtle for him, he is all about slashing his opponents but Mariko needs to handle the situation like a businesswoman, with meetings and deals needing to be made.  Logan finally realizes that he knows why the tea has an odd after taste, it has been poisoned.  He slaps the cup from Storm’s hand, and we see that she was the only one to not drink any.

Mariko is now being driven to her meeting by Yukio.

Meanwhile, in Alaska, we see Scott completely abusing his power as the grandson of the owners of Northstar Airlines.   Alex comes into the office and confronts Scott for sabotaging his new relationship.  I like the art detail on the file cabinet, Scott had to get a key to open the files.  He had in his mind to read her personnel file and his grandparents at least attempt to protect everyone’s privacy – unless you have a key.  Scott states all the odd things Madelyne has done, like offering his favorite breakfast on their first date.  I wish Alex and Scott were closer brothers as one would think the natural next line would have been Alex saying something along the lines of “that must have been a great first date.”  But that line could have been more mature than the era would have allowed.  Maddie also confessed to knowing Scott’s favorite breakfast by being a mind reader.  It is odd that Maddie’s plane crash happened the same day as when Jean died, September 1, 1980.  A date that I need to try better to memorized as I do enjoy how they said the year.

I wonder what Claremont’s original plan was for Maddie, as it is weird to stack the deck that much.  Why not just make Maddie a one time girlfriend for Scott.  I figure (or may be remembering this) that Claremont wanted Maddie to be this complicated so that once Scott got over the coincidences, he – and us – would accept Maddie as she would have been proven herself by then.   But why make it so complicated?  Or why then involve her in Inferno?  I know at one point, they wanted Jean back for X-Factor and then they would have wanted Jean and Scott back together, after that happened.

Imagine if they just wanted Scott back into X-Factor, he stayed married to Madelyne and it was only super awkward around Jean for the first 24 issues?  Eventually Jean would move on, maybe to Wolverine, who knows, and the stories went from there.  It would have made Scott a better character, instead of ditching his family – which many still have not forgiven him for or at least, cite it as a turning point for him.  Now that I have a family of my own, I may have to reexamine my love for Cyclops but it was over 30 years ago so it might be time to move on, especially with how the character and the X-Office have not referenced it in forever.

Back to Mariko’s meeting.  She meets with Silver Samurai, who is her younger half brother, Viper and Nabatone Yokuse.  Yokuse is the head of the second biggest crime family in Japan, right behind her late father, so now she is the number one crimelord.  An honor, she doesn’t want.  There is an awesome What If involving if Mariko let Wolverine do his thing and deal with the problem, his way.  One day we will get to it.

Mariko tells Silver Samurai that she only took this meeting to confront him, even though he is Shingen’s oldest male, he is not first born, so the honor of Clan Yashida goes to her.  This angers him, naturally, and he prepares his sword to deal with her.  She states she was promised a safe meeting, which Yokuse states that promise was only for Mariko, not imposters.  We find out that Mariko is really Yukio!  Yukio and Silver Samurai begin to fight.  She is surprised how fast he is in all of that armor.

 Viper knows she followed Mariko’s limo from the condo to the meeting so Mariko must be inside still.  So she runs to the limo to kill Mariko.  During the time the meeting was taking place, Storm had a chance to get into the limo.  I suppose to keep Mariko company.  Viper opens the door and gets a gust of wind that blows her backwards.  We see Storm step out of the limo, which is a panel that looks odd to me.  I am sure it is due to seeing a superhero step out of a car, as how often does that happen?  I never think of them needing to travel by car but this time it makes sense as now Storm has the element of surprised.  No pun intended.

Viper is knocked out and this is another instance of Storm having no control of her powers.  Storm tells Mariko to call the police using the car phone, which is how Yukio called Storm, in case anyone was wondering.  Storm starts to fly, also noticing that the more she tries to, the harder it seems to be.  Storm crashes through a window, and we see Yukio and Silver Samurai are still fighting.  Storm tries to help by summoning lightning, which completely backfires on her.  It is an intense panel, Storm looks like she is horribly burned.

Storm has fallen for Yokuse’s trap.  Which is a crazy trap, how did he even know that Storm was going to be involved as he would have to know that Wolverine was going to knock the tea out of her hands.  Clearly the trap was for Storm, as none of the other X-Men’s powers would have involved lightning.  Maybe he had a plan per X-Man but I doubt it.

Due to Storm’s lightning going all over the place, one strikes a crate full of explosives.  Yukio grabs Mariko’s kimono and jumps at Storm, still in agony, and they crash through another window.  Yukio has only barely enough time to wonder if they made it out in time when the warehouse explodes.  They are flung even farther into the water.  In the explosion, we see a giant image of the Phoenix coming out of the warehouse.  Storm wonders if she is seeing things when Yukio confirms she saw it too.  We see in the background Yokuse, in a shadow, smiling.

One has to look for him to see him.  Great touch by Smith.  He really does spend a great deal of time in backgrounds and filling rooms with decorations, all rooms are filled with life.  One of the reasons why he didn’t last long on the title, as it takes a bunch of time to do all of that.

Silver Samurai has survived the explosion as well.  He can’t locate Viper, and he swears he is going to kill everybody.  These panels look incredible with the fire behind him and the glint off of his armor.

The issue ends at the hospital.  Mariko has used her influence to ensure that the X-Men have an entire floor to themselves with plenty of bodyguards.  Which I find cute, as the people the X-Men fight, usually guns can’t hurt them but maybe the bodyguards can at least slow the would be assailants down a little.

Wolverine is now in costume.  Mariko doesn’t want him to go as he is still weak from the poison.  The other X-Men will make it, it is touch and go but they are slowly recovering.  Wolverine has to go, if he doesn’t, the fight will come to the hospital.  Rogue states she will come with him.

Wolverine doesn’t want her too, she is quick to state that if she never gets a chance to prove herself, then how will she ever.  The reason she isn’t on her death bed is that she is half-alien.  Which is an odd statement as she isn’t.  Does she mean that the powers she got from Carol are Kree-related, that’s a different matter but Wolverine moves on in the conversation.  That line, along with not including Amanda and Lockheed in the Morlock mission, has bugged me for years.

Wolverine knows he needs Rogue, so he grudgingly agrees.  His only requirements, she follows his lead and everything he tells her to do, every step of the way.

Amazing how now that Smith gets to draw Rogue, she is even younger than in Walt Simonson’s last issue, and now only has the one white stripe in her hair.  Now she appears to be in her early twenties.  I guess once you go from villain to hero, that de-ages you.

Paul Smith’s second to last story on the title is coming to an end.

At the very end, Kitty Pryde answers the letters page.

. . .

This website has most of the pages, if you want to read along –

http://super-dupertoybox.blogspot.com/2013/08/uncanny-x-men-172.html

X-Men Classic 89

Posted by John Klein III on February 6, 2014
Posted in: Paul Smith, Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Writer Chris Claremont

Artists John Romita Jr. and Dan Green

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Colorist Glynis Wein

Stars The Uncanny X-Men (nice touch)

Reprint of Uncanny X-Men 185

Look at that gorgeous cover by Paul Smith, Rogue has never looked so good.

Cover Dated November 1993

Issue opens with Avengers’ douche, Peter Gyrich giving a slideshow of Rogue.  One of the slides is a POV shot of a person firing a pistol at Rogue.  How was that image caught?

Gyrich wants to use a new gun, made by Forge, to take away Rogue’s powers – The Neutralizer.  Mystique, in her militarily identity of Raven Darkholme, objects.  Then she is surprised by Val Cooper, being okay with the plan. The gun is still untested.

We cut to Storm interrupting Professor Xavier teaching Rachel.

I should mention here, that Kitty doesn’t get mentioned or seen this issue.  I only bought it due to her being in the character corner box.  I miss those, and am happy whenever someone does a throwback cover with him.

Storm is going to look for Rogue.

There is an ad for Brach’s Rocks – which were not actually dino-mite, but in fact, not good.

Next, we get Rachel calling her father, Cyclops.  He answers, she can’t say thing and he hangs up.  Heart breakin stuff.

Mystique and Destiny have a conversation regarding letting Rogue get shot.  I forget how old Destiny is, she can give Aunt May a run for her money.  It would be a slow race.

Raven Darkholme calls Forge, so he knows what is up.

Storm finds Rogue in Mississippi, wearing a questionable black bikini.  It makes sense, if Rogue was under the impression that she was going to be by herself, why wear that much clothes.

They discuss Rogue’s powers and issues of trust.  Storm agrees to let Rogue absorb some of her power.  In a great scene, you see what it is like if Rogue is allowed to take a power instead of stealing it.  She doesn’t get as many memories and has a little more control of the ability.

There is a great moment when Rogue gets the hang of Storm’s powers and feels like she can handle more.  The shame that quickly grips her, Claremont was running on all cylinders.  Romita Jr. and Green also do an outstanding job portraying the story.

Then Rogue is shot by the neutralizer.  Don’t worry, it was on a low setting.

They made a video game for Francis Ford Coppala’s Bram Stroker’s Dracula?  Crazy

Rogue races over to Storm, weaken may she be.  She gets angry over the situation and loses control of Storm’s powers.  This wakes Storm, and she calms the winds.  She hands Rogue a tunic.  Modesty first, after all.

Gyrich turns the gun to full blast.  Aims and fires at Rogue.  Forge tackles him, throwing off his aim.

Storm sees the blast and pushes Rogue out of the way.  The panel of Storm taking the hit, is very dramatic.  Storm loses her powers, defining her for a decade, 80s Storm is now complete.

Her losing her power, has a side effect.  All of this lighting scatters all over the scene.  She drops to the water below.  Forge runs in and rescues her, the least he could do.

Forge starts yelling at Gyrich, and the issue ends with the Dire Wraiths watching everything.

Next issue, Lifedeath – I am not a fan.  I may not like Storm, this I am slowly realizing.  I am sure it is just modern Storm tainting past Storm.  Also Lifedeath, way too much Forge.

Second to last ad, is for Mortal Kombat – available at Kmart.

. . .

On this day, February 6, 2014, I want to remember Jack Kirby, who died twenty years ago today.  Without Jack Kirby, we wouldn’t have the Marvel Universe as it is now, nor the X-Men, specifically.  Kirby’s legacy is vast and long.  It is nice that we have these constant reminds of him.  With clear ones such as Captain America movies, his clear inspiration of The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Parks protrayed him in Argo.  There is even a nice episode of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles titled “The King” where Donatello meets him, based off of the Mirage comic.

Uncanny X-Men 169

Posted by John Klein III on February 5, 2014
Posted in: Paul Smith, Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Writer Chris Claremont

Penciler Paul Smith

Inker Bob Wiacek

Colorist Bob Sharen

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Cover Dated May 1983

I wonder if they had Sharen be the colorist due to the issue taking place largely underground.

Issue opens with Candy Southern in Angel’s apartment as Warren is getting captured.  She then meets a giant of a man, Sunder.  That’s right, ya’ll, this is the first appearance of the Morlocks.  Candy calls Xavier, who is reading a book of the Marvel Universe.

Xavier mentally contacts Nightcrawler.  Kurt is enjoying a nice bath with his girlfriend, Amanda.  I love how mature the creative team handles this relationship.

Kurt makes several teleports to Candy.  He left in a hurry, so he is naked and wet in the New York City night air.  On his way, he sees Warren being taken down to a subway.

Kurt grabs Candy, and teleports them back to Amanda’s – right into the bathtub.  This makes a giant splash.

We cut to Tessa and Sebastian Shaw, as Emma has fallen into a forced coma.  So great how Smith gets to draw as many characters as he got to.

The whole team is now at Amanda’s place.  Wolverine is not there as he is in Japan, enjoying his first miniseries.  Kurt is suffering from a cold, from being outside in the cold and wet.

Uncanny X-Men 169 Lockheed listening

Kitty has Lockheed around her shoulders.  She is wearing her green costume with the orange belt and matching boots and gloves.  I really like this costume, except for the green diamonds for a mask.  How do they stay on?

The four X-Men are set to go down into the subway with a traveling Cerebro tuned into Warren’s brainwaves.  For years I have wondered why they don’t at least bring Amanda with them.  I blame not reading or skipping the bottom panel on the left page and getting to the more exciting right page.  Amanda is not going so she can stick behind and protect Candy from future attacks – which are not coming.

Storm asks Xavier if they can borrow Wolfsbane, for her tracking skills.  Xavier tells her, telepathically, that the New Mutants are students and not a field team.  I always thought an awesome What If would have been, what if Wolfsbane and Amanda came on this mission.  Or at least, if Amanda was allowed to come.

Uncanny X-Men 169 Lockheed angry

Lockheed is told he isn’t coming either, he says pfui!  It is very cute.  Colossus, awkwardly asks if that sound is a da or nyet.  What makes it awkward is that he asks that then follows that with, yes or no.  Who doesn’t know that da means yes and nyet means no?  Especially in that group.

Amanda states she will take care of Lockheed.  Kurt says pets should know their place.  Storm wonders if Lockheed thinks that of humans.

The four X-Men are now in the subway.  They dodge a train.  Storm’s claustrophobia starts to kick in.  She loses mental contact with Xavier.

Warren’s tracks stopcat a wall.  Kitty wants the team to use her codename, but doesn’t like her current one, Sprite.  She finds a hidden door and the X-Men are heading down furthet and into an old timey part of the subway.

They get attacked by a slew of Morlocks – we don’t know that is their name yet.  Kitty punches a guy out and Storm tells her to scout ahead.

Kitty finds Callisto, Masque, Sunder and Plague.  She turns to run and even though she is phasing, Plague still infects her with something.

Meanwhile, the three X-Men are still fighting.  Nightcrawler Chris Sims’ face kicks a poor Morlock.  Colossus notices Kitty is missing.  Storm explains why they can’t stop and look for her or head back upstairs.

Kitty is very ill and phasing through walls, until she passes out in a body of sewer water.  Luckily, Caliban finds her and takes her back to his place.

The X-Men come across a grand tunnel.  A bunch of lights and a loud speaker throws off their focus.  In an incredible page turn reveal, we find …

Callisto with Warren chained.  I like how she and Paul Smith have Warren’s knees on some fluffy red pillows.  That is  nice thought.  That is the bigger of the two panels on that page.  The smaller one next to it, I enjoy looking at it.  The three faces from top to bottom, Colossus, Storm and Nightcrawler.  The three of them, don’t have pupils.  It could be weird but I find it intriguing.

Callisto rips Warren’s pinfeathers, making him not able to fly.  He won’t have to, while living below the surface.  Callisto wants to make him her’s.  This reminds Storm of when she was 12 in Africa and how men would look at her.  Disgusting.

Poor Warren, whenever he is underground, foes mess with his wings.

The X-Men try to rescue him, but the Morlocks have them outnumbered.

Kitty wakes up in a slinky pink dress.  Which would look nice, if you don’t think about it.  First, Caliban clearly undressed her and then dressed her.  He has a massive crush on her, so that adds to the creepiness.  Then the dress also looks like it was thrown away for good reason.  Caliban knows he must do anything to cure her.