1. Stop
2. 2 Become 1
3. Too Much
4. Wannabe
5. Say You’ll Be There
Thanks to YouTuber, Emimusic, for hosting the videos!
Guest Writer Jay Farber
Guest Artist J.J. Kirby
Guest Colorist Chris Walker
Letterer Randy Gentile
Cover Dated September 2002
Issue 8 is the last issue of Devin Grayson and UDON’s time on X-Men Evolution, hence all of the Guest creative teams.
Issue opens with Xavier explaining that he is leaving for the weekend.
Xavier explains (mostly for our benefit, as the cast would already know this) that Storm, Beast and Wolverine took most of the students on a training exercise. So these six students are now, Home Alone – hence the cover. Scott is in charge of – Nightcrawler, Spyke, Jean, Rogue and Shadowcat.
At school, Kurt (for some silly reason, that is beyond me) tells Freddy that the mansion is completely empty of adults. Freddy, like a dick, announces that there will be a party at Xavier’s. For another reason, the student body accepts this invitation, even though they should know that guy isn’t living at the Institute. Scott is not happy with this announcement.
Danger Room. Spyke is telling Scott that the party should be fun.
Kurt is sure that Xavier wouldn’t know, but Jean has to remind him that Xavier can read minds. Kitty says that Xavier forbids reading their minds. But he still does it, as we all know. Jean raises the second problem, that the Institute isn’t exactly a safe place.
Kurt says that a party will get them closer to the human students of the school. Kurt also mentions how none of them live with their parents. Besides Kitty and Spyke, none of them have parents to speak of. Maybe Jean, but her parents may think she is crazy. Scott agrees to have the party, hoping everything goes well. Also, the time to turn down the party was immediately, not the day of.
Naturally – Toad, Blob and Avalanche, come to the party, no one wants there. Scott tells the X-Men to watch the Brotherhood kids.
Jean and Kitty follow Blog, who almost enters the Danger Room. Jean uses her telekinesis to keep the door close but tells Kitty to come up with a plan to distract Blob.
The outfits that Kirby has Kitty and Jean wearing, the heck! Sexy isn’t the right word, but I do like them having party clothes but these seem out of place. Jean is barely wearing a half shirt. Kitty’s is at least modest.
Kitty’s plan is to bring the big lug to the kitchen.
Avalanche (a word I still can’t spell, unassisted) and Toad find the empty hanger. Scott and Kurt confront them, a quick fight occurs until Freddy shows up. Kurt teleports Avalanche and Toad into the woods.
The party isn’t getting out of hand. The final straw was some kid rolling around in Xavier’s wheelchair. The party guests are told to leave, they do, angrily.
There is an ad for the Ultimate Titles. Ultimate Spider-Man 24, The Secret of the Goblin’s return. Ultimate 20, the issue before Ultimate Shadowcat’s debut. Ultimates 7, new storyline (so the team isn’t fighting each other) and Black Widow appears.
Kitty shuts down the music, but the electronics blow up, causing a slight fire. Kurt teleports the equipment to the river. The team puts out the fire and Blob has eaten himself into a deep sleep.
Xavier returns, and they try to play it off like everything was okay. Issue ends with Scott confessing everything that happened, so Xavier states that he does trust them now. His smile indicates that he read all of their minds when he first arrived.
Writer Devin Grayson
Art and Colors Udon with Long Vo, Charles Park, and Saka of Studio Xd
Letterer Sharpefont’s Randy Gentile
Cover Dated May 2002
Issue opens with Nightcrawler waking up from a nightmare, wherein he was being burn at the stake. I really enjoyed this issue and Grayson’s take on Kurt and having to use his image inducer. This is the type of story this comic should have been filled it, stories that feel like they are in the X-Men Evolution universe, but character driven stories that – for whatever reason, wouldn’t make it onto the show.
Xavier Institute. 8am. Scott wakes up Kurt, apparently, poor Scott, has to wake up everybody and keep them on a schedule. Scott reminds Kurt that he needs to turn on his image inducer, as the world isn’t ready for blue mutants, just yet. Which seems harsh, as he still has maybe twenty minutes where he can be his natural blue elf self.
Scott is trying to hurry Rogue along, it has to take so long to put all of that chalk white make up on.
Kurt asks the question that has always bugged me, Everybody calls Rogue, Rogue – even the teachers and fellow classmates at the school. That doesn’t even make sense. I guess, if that is her real name, that could work but ooof, that isn’t very good. Scott uses the reasoning that Jean is Jean, at school and in battle. At least, to Rogue’s credit, she is one of the half of the X-Ladies who have maintained her codenames.
Spyke, that idiot, almost runs down Kitty in the hall, on his skateboard. He must not be aware of how much damage skateboards can cause in old buildings.
Scott does yell at Spyke, so that’s something. Kurt asks if Scott picked, Cyclops, or was that Xavier. Kitty wants to know if she can change her codenmae, she likes Shadowcat, but she wants to know if she can change it.
Jean sympathizes with Scott, as it can’t be easy to wrangle teenagers, especially in the morning.
Bayville High School. 8:25am. Apparently, and I totally get this, most students don’t care for the Xavier Institute people. Which makes total sense, as the X-Men (no matter the dimension) bring destruction wherever they go.
Kurt’s teacher, for the weekend, assigns homework – write what you can be at home, that you can’t be at school.
Danger Room. Xavier Institute, 3:37pm. The X-Men are having a training scenario. At first, I thought it was a coloring error, but it isn’t. Kurt is using his image inducer in the session, for some reason, he isn’t as agile as he is in his natural state. The session wasn’t that successful.
Xavier tells his students that it is dinner time. Kitty reveals she is a vegetarian, which isn’t that great. At least, it isn’t my lifestyle.
Jean tries to cheer up Kurt. Kurt tells Jean something that she never thought about. How Jean is always trying to be perfect, for those who would consider her a role model. This shakes Jean’s confidence but Scott is comforting when he tells her that is she up to the challenge. As a reward, she touches his bare face with her gloveless hands. Scott touches his own face, so that boy is super desperate for any physical contact.
Kurt is struggling with his assignment. We see on his sheet of paper, that today’s date (or Monday’s) is February 27, 2002. I looked it up and it was a Wednesday, so the teacher is giving them plenty of time.
Kitty enters Kurt’s room, and there is a softness of her in these pages that makes me really like the coloring and art style of this issue. Kitty wants to borrow Kurt’s history book.
There is an ad for Disney’s Atlantis, which is promoting Mike Mignola being the art inspiration for the film, so I should have known that a while ago instead of sometime last year. The DVD came out in January 29, 2002 – which I still need to own this as we really want to get the boy centric Disney animated films for Walker Dennis.
Kitty asks if Kurt sleeps with his image inducer turn on. He says he doesn’t. I’m surprised more Kurtty fans don’t seek this issue out, as they have two great scenes in this issue.
Kurt turns off his image inducer and has another nightmare, where in his butt naked and blue in front of his classmates.
Xavier Institute. Yoga Room, 7:32am. Wolverine is getting everyone to get into a Tree stance. Rogue can’t do it nor can Kurt.
Xavier calls Kurt over, he knows about his nightmares, as they are so powerful that Xavier can’t ignore them.
Because Xavier took all of this time, Kurt missed the ride to the school. Kitty did too, but like that episode where she just wanted some alone time, I imagine she walks to school a bunch. Grim Reminder, 1×11, one of my favorite episodes.
Kitty shares with Kurt, that at first, she enjoyed being at school more than being at the Institute. Her intelligence makes her stand out at school but at home, she is just another mutant with powers.
A slew of flatscans with rape intentions start harassing Kitty. Kurt keeps telling her to run. For some reason, she doesn’t decide to kick their butts.
Instead, Kurt turns blue and scares them away, which devastates him.
Kitty thanks Kurt but he is having a hard time accepting that his blue self is only good for scaring fools.
Kitty thinks Kurt is the good weird, which is sweet. Blue is her favorite color.
Bayville High. Later that morning. Cut to a classmate that has blue dyed hair! There are not enough blue things in the world to eat.
Xavier Institute, study of Professor Charles Xavier. Storm, Wolverine and Xavier are discussing their students. Rogue can’t cut it as a tree. Spyke has a hard time of keeping his true abilities a secret. Kitty is aces. Kurt is settling in.
Bayville High. Kurt’s teacher, Ms. Vasquez, pulls Kurt aside. She is concern that Kurt may be sad or depressed, as his answer to – what I am at home that I can’t be at school – is BLUE. He stapled his sheet to other sheets, so that is clearly an F paper. I like this page, as it shows that Vasquez cares as clearly he is sad at home.
Pretty fun issue.
Thanks to YouTuber Disney UK for hosting the video!
When Walker Dennis was only a few months old, I discovered that this song, sung by Indina Menzel, calmed him down. I discovered this as I kept hearing the song and had a moment in the car and used my fancy YouTube app and listened to it. I went from having a crying baby in the back seat to having a calm baby.
It wasn’t until a few days later that I learn that it was just my phone that calmed him down.
Regardless, I really like the song.
Thanks to YouTuber The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for hosting the video!
I also like this video as we get to see the Oscar winner actually singing the song, plus Fallon and the Roots – can’t go wrong with them either.
I don’t care for the Demi Lovato version of the song. Why have two versions of the same song? Especially if the one from the film is actually being used on the radio? I don’t know. Maybe Lovato needed a new car? That could be it.
Actually I just looked it up, she didn’t get the Oscar for the song. Apparently only the ones who write the lyrics and the music win the Oscar. Which makes sense. That’s why you want to always get a writing credit for any song you sing – at least, get a co-writing credit. That way, you keep making money off of the song. Even if it gets covered by someone else, they have to credit the song writers.
Writer Chris Claremont
Artists John Romita Jr. & Dan Green
Colorist Glynis Oliver
Letterer Tom Orzechowski
Cover Dated February 1995
Cover by Brian Stelfreeze, which is a good ‘different angle’ type of cover from the original.
Reprint of Uncanny X-Men 200
This issue ends my run of X-Men Classic that I bought for Christmas 2014.
The Trial of Magneto issue!
Magneto is in Paris, France; standing trial before a tribunal of international justices. The first three pages are narrated by a newscaster. We get a pretty good second page recapping Magneto’s origins and crimes. Prosecuting is England’s Attorney General, Sir James Japsers. For the Defense, Xavier’s old flame and Legion’s baby mama – Gabrielle Haller – who is also Israel’s Ambassador to Britain. Xavier will be assisting her, good thing he made time for his old enemy’s trial but not his own son’s development. Neal Conan, with National Public Radio (NPG) is covering the story. There are protests outside of the historic Palais de Justice, on the Ile de la Cite, only a block from Norte Dame Cathedral. Which I remember now, that Marvel actually sent both Claremont and Romita Jr. to Paris for this issue, which would never happen now. I’m surprised it even happened then. That is better than just throwing a reference book of the city in Romita’s lap.
Haller tells Xavier that there are protests and some riots, across the world, due to this trial.
The Mediterranean. The Fenris twins are watching the news cover. Andrea is wearing quite the skimpy bikini around her brother, Andreas.
The X-Men and New Mutants return from Asgard. Ann Nocenti, the editor, has a very fun caption in the bottom right corner. Apparently X-Men Annual 9 and New Mutants Special 1 had to come out before this issue and it was quite the headache. Back when Marvel cared about delays.
The gathered mutants are greeted by flat scan hostilities. Good thing Doug is there, so he can tell everyone that they are in Paris. Loki teleported them to where Xavier was, instead of upstate New York. Wolverine is concern about being in a foreign country without papers and money – like he would even care. They will make a call and get someone to pick them up, though a lot of them are right there but someone can be called. Rachel creates an illusion that makes people forget that the mutants are standing in front of them.
There are two double page spreads, back to back, of Fleer baseball cards. This must be when Marvel had bought Fleer, so this ad isn’t even paid for.
Poland, days later. The Red Army base is destroyed by dudes in tanks and battle armor, it looks like. They leave a note stating that they want Magneto freed and they signed it, The X-Men.
The Ritz, Paris. Xavier is laying in the largest bed I’ve ever seen! He looks like a small child on it. Xavier can’t believe the news story and starts suffering from a heart attack. This is setting up the big conclusion of the issue and the next era of the Uncanny X-Men. Scott knocks on Xavier’s hotel room, Xavier tries to hide the fact that he is in extreme pain. Xavier feels like his time on Earth is running out. Scott knows that Xavier is dying but no one is talking about it. Scott updates Xavier, the New Mutants are heading to Muir Isle as the X-Men stay in Paris. Scott isn’t happy that Xavier wants to help Magneto, in any way. Magneto, is apparently, cool with any decision that the Court comes down with. Xavier asks Scott to investigate the attacks on the military base.
Jasper stands to deliver his opening statement.
Holzruhe, West Germany. The 173rd Tactical Strike Wing of the United States Air Force, is attacked. Again, a “Free Magneto – – X-Men” is graffiti-ed on a wall. I’m surprised people are not constantly committing crimes in the name of the X-Men, that would explain the whole “hates and fears them” but not other costumed characters.
Haller is giving her opening statement, when she is interrupted by a racist, shouting how Haller is betraying her Jewish people. Poor Haller, she has to explain the whole “Magneto was turned into a baby” storyline, so the Magneto before them, is essentially a new person. Jasper can’t believe such nonsense is on the record now. This explains how come he should be in his 60s (in the 80s) but is merely in the body of a 30 year old.
Meanwhile, the X-Men – Shadowcat, Rogue, Cyclops, Wolverine, Rachel, Nightcrawler and Storm – are discussing their next move. Kurt wants to call the New Mutants to help but Storm shoots that down as they are merely children and will not be involved in this. Scott states that the Avengers and Fantastic Four can’t help, as they will arrest the X-Men under suspicion. Another story point that isn’t a concern in modern comics.
Courthouse. The judges rule that only the crimes Magneto committed after being aged anew, will be considered. That is pretty generous. The people watching are not happy about this, as Original Magneto, killed so many people! The preliminaries are now over and the trial begins. Jaspers calls, as his first witness, Admiral Gregori Mihailovitch Suvorov, Commander in Chief of the Soviet Navy’s Strategic Missile Submarine Force. One day, I would like to have such a complicated title or job description.
Cyclops has split the team into four groups of two, so they can cover more ground. Four different sites, once one is attacked, the other three groups need to get there as fast as possible. The groups are – Cyclops / Rachel, Storm / Rogue, Colossus / Nightcrawler and Wolverine / Shadowcat, which are all pretty good combinations. I guess I would have split the two flyers so there isn’t two groups that need to run to the next location.
Colossus and Nightcrawler are guarding a hospital, that is attacked. Colossus takes on the armored soldiers and takes out a tank. Nightcrawler is teleporting hospital staff and patients, as fast as he can.
A fire spreads and Colossus has to level a section of the hospital so that those in the Intensive Ward unit, are not burnt. He thinks about how Storm is currently powerless and wonders how she can even remain on the team. That Colossus is all heart. Though that does mean I was wrong about two flyers, so Cyclops did split them. Rogue on one team with Storm, which is smart, as Rogue can fly and is super strong, so Storm should be taken care of and Rachel is with him, and he doesn’t know that she is his daughter from an alternate future – which is awkward for Rachel’s head space and I can only imagine, once the truth comes out, that it forces him to look back at this moment and the time they spent together.
Rogue, apparently ditched Storm and is flying Cyclops and Rachel to the hospital. Does Rachel not fly? That must be later, I guess. Or she just wanted to be carried by Rogue. These three get shot out of the sky. Rachel takes away the goons guns, with her telekinesis. The X-Men leave but not before Cyclops blasts the graffiti wall. Nightcrawler’s prediction turns out to be accurate, the press runs with the story, “X-Men Attack Hospital.”
Marvel actually printed a comic with the word, slut, in it? That’s pretty bold. Where do protesters get all of their fruit from? Who carries tomatoes to an event?
Pryde is on protecting Haller and Xavier duty, she phases the two of them so that their clothes are not ruined. Kitty is way upset about how racist the protesters are being. Pryde informs Haller that all of mutant kind is on trial here. Whatever punishment Magneto gets, the governments of the world will figure out a way to use that punishment on any mutant that gets out of hand.
Westchester. Maddie Pryor, who is super pregnant and been married for over a year, is watching the newscast. She is so pregnant that she will be giving birth to Nathan Christopher Summers in the next issue. Maddie tells her baby that his father is a real jerk. Just then, soon-to-be grand daddy, Corsair teleports into the mansion, along with Lilandra.
Lilandra felt Xavier’s death pain and is there to get her lover. Maddie didn’t even know that Xavier was sick, she tells them that Xavier is in Paris. Lilandra proclaims that they don’t have time for this nonsense. At first, I was thinking “Self, this is silly, they can just teleport right back there.” Corsair, reading my mind in the future, states that they have to first, teleport back to the ship and calibrate the stargate. So that must take some time. The shock of all of this, causes Maddie to go into labor.
Starjammers. They are being attacked by a Shi’ar rogue ship, so the stargate calibration is put on hold. Lilandra is not pleased about that. The main problem is that the Starjammers are no where near Earth, so that’s why they are using the stargate.
Kitty is watching the single largest protest in Paris’ history. She asks Rachel if this is what her future was like. Rachel conforms that there are riots in the future, Jean’s parents were killed in one. Kitty goes on about how Earth doesn’t deserve the X-Men.
Rogue has translated the signs and announces that these protesters are . . . PRO MUTANT HUMANS!
Sadly, Kitty can’t make out the words on the signs, at all, she is going to need glasses. Which I like how in disbelief she is over that. She’s saved the universe and yet, needs glasses.
I like Cyclops taking the time to comfort Kitty, that is a good leader.
The Courtroom. Mihailovitch testifies about Magneto sinking the Soviet submarine, that killed hundreds of men.
Rachel is seeking out who is attacking all of the structures. Poor Cyclops doesn’t realize that he is turning his daughter back into a Hound, and poor Rachel is having to deal with that. Poor Rachel, she keeps promising never to do this again but keeps being put in this position, time and time again.
Courtroom. Magneto admits to destroying the submarine and the Siberian city of Varykino. Jaspers loses his mind, mocking Magneto’s willingness to agree to the destruction. The judges tell Jaspers to take Haller’s lead in proper courtroom behavior.
Magneto gets the opportunity to express his philosophy.
Meanwhile, the X-Men have located the guards and start attacking them on a boat. We get a fastball special, which is always cool to see.
Shadowcat is trying to short circuit the mercenary armor, but there are far too many back up systems.
One of them punches Colossus several miles, which is pretty awesome. I like how this isn’t a fast fight for the X-Men. Wolverine notices that the mercenaries are not fully committed to the fight. Wolverine figures this must be a delay tactic as a group of them are attacking the courthouse. The mercenaries are working for Fenris.
Haller wants Xavier to call the X-Men but his mental powers are at an all time low. Magneto stands before Fenris.
Kitty is the first to notice that the courthouse is the main target. Fenris is attacking Magneto for all the times their father, Baron von Strucker. This confuses Magneto, as it is mostly Captain America who has fought Strucker the most.
The X-Men finally make their way to the courthouse and help out in the fight. Jaspers takes a rock to Andrea’s head, which is pretty cool.
Rachel reads their father’s name from the twins minds. Haller, Xavier and Magneto all know him from Uncanny X-men 161, which I own and will review – one of these days, not next though.
Magneto wants to kill the twins but turns to Xavier for his advice, but Xavier passes out after saying to turn them over to the authorities. Magneto goes to his old friend, the twins blow up a wall and Xavier and Magneto are swept out. Jaspers is excited, as that is two less mutants to worry about, the lady judge slaps him. Which is pretty awesome.
Now that I typed, twins, twice, that Magneto, can’t escape twins!
Once on dry land, Xavier tells Magneto that he is dying. Xavier wants Magneto to . . . lead the X-Men! Magneto tells him that he will try his best to lead them.
Corsair and Lilandra teleport down and take Xavier.
They take Xavier away but he reminds Magneto that it is his time to try to fulfill Xavier’s life long dream.
Paris Police Headquarters. The X-Men have dropped off all of the mercenaries.
The lady judge announces that Magneto wouldn’t have been given the death penalty but his and the X-Men’s fate is left in the public’s opinion, which doesn’t seem to me, like that would be an official ruling.
The issue ends with Magneto, alone, declaring that he will lead the X-Men.
The next issue caption reads : A beginning — A Duel — An Ending! Which, above, I reference how the next issue is Nathan Summer’s (Cable, as a baby) first appearance but I didn’t relate that issue 201 is also the famous Storm v Cyclops leadership battle. They are fighting for leadership, as Magneto is acting headmaster of the school but the winner of the duel will be the leader of the X-Men. So Magneto will be a thorn in the side of the New Mutants and a huge asset to the X-Men.
Writer Chris Claremont
Artists John Romita Jr. & Dan Green
Letterer Tom Orzechowski
Colorist Glynis Wein
Cover Dated May 1994
Reprint of Uncanny X-Men 191
Cover Tom Raney and Hilary Barta, much better than the original with Vision and Colossus punching each other, which isn’t half bad.
We conclude the horrible Kulan Gath, which really, isn’t that bad.
Issue opens with Spider-Man pretty much defeated, tied up and bleeding out, in front of Kulan Gath and his mind controlled heroes.
We get the recap page of what has been happening. What I like seeing are the mirrored panels. I wish the second to bottom row, matched the faces like how the bottom pair match placements.
I think Claremont does a great job of writing Spider-Man here. We get his inner monologue of how he feels he may seriously lose everything in this fight, but he still cracks jokes. He finally calls Kulah Gath on how he refers to him as, Man-Spider. Someone had to finally say something.
Also a prisoner of Kulah Gath, is Selene, who is more defeated than I ever seen her. This will be explained away later.
Dani Moonstar and Sunder arrive and give Kulah Gath the bad news, that they didn’t get the non-mind controlled heroes. He ages both of them, turns them into stone and reverts them back. It seems very painful.
This segues us to the rebels, lead by Captain America. Illyana is counted as one of the rebels, as they team up with Maddie Pryor.
We get heroes on heroes in a fight. Scarlet Witch attacks Colossus. Magik cuts Colossus loose of the crimson bands of Cyttorak, something he will do again at the end of AvX. This frees Colossus, so he can punch Vision, just like on the original cover of the issue. This panel will be repeated later.
Rogue gets stabbed to the back by an s-word and dies.
Storm freaks out and starts wailing on fools. Captain America dares order Magik to teleport everybody away, she graciously agrees to do it. Storm and Warlock stick behind to ensure that their rebel friends get away.
Once at their base, Magik calls Magma out for how she didn’t help them at all in the previous fight. This makes Magma cry and this will also make sense later in the issue.
Captain America comes up with a plan of attack. There will be two teams, Captain America leading the bulk of the heroes. Maddie Pryor will lead the other, Nightcrawler, Magik and Callisto make this team, as they are stealth team. Captain America’s crew are using the front door. Pryor’s crew gets attack by some mind controlled folks, including Wolfsbane.
Magik v Wolfsbane, New Mutant on New Mutant action! Magik’s soulsword frees the minds of whomever she strikes so Wolfsbane and Dani are now free of Kulah Gath’s control. Callisto kills Sunder, as Magik frees Sunspot.
Throne Room. Spider-Man is still just hanging about. Colossus punches vision again, which is the image that does make up the original cover. Vision phases his hands through Colossus and both explode. Good thing everyone who dies is brought back at the end of the story!
Magik and the others show up to help Captain America’s team.
Cannonball frees Spider-Man from being crucified. Storm and Warlock arrive and Magma starts acting a tad out of character. She reveals that she was really Selene, the entire time and Kulah Gath was abusing Magma, earlier in the issue.
Warlock absorbs both Storm and Selene. Doctor Strange is able to access all of his mystical might. Warlock and Storm are a new entity now.
We get an awesome panel of Strange and Magik working together to set the world right again. I bet when Magik was going back in time to train with Strange, that it takes place at least after this issue.
Issue ends with Nimrod on Earth.
Thanks to this great website for all but one image –
http://bizarrojimmyolsen.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-uncanny-x-men-191.html
A visitor asked the question, “Johnster Monster, what is your favorite piece of classical music?
Great question!
With no doubt, that will have to be Greensleeves.
Thanks to YouTuber jesserussell for hosting the video!
I’m pretty sure I was humming this piece of music before ever knowing the name. Not sure where the melody would have came to me but I remember walking around Kofa High School, freshman year, and humming it and not knowing what it was.
Then at Arizona Western College, in Music Appreciation, I learned the name of it. I believe it was, or maybe it was on television. There are words to the song to, Loreena McKennitt is the one I’m most familiar with.
Thanks to YouTuber timosaslandid’s channel for hosting this video.
Writer Chris Claremont
Artists Dave Cockrum & Josef Rubinstein
Letterer Tom Orzechowski
Colorist Glynis Wein
Cover Dated August 1990
Cover by Steve Lightle, which doesn’t compare to Cockrum’s original. Why is Angel on the cover? He isn’t part of the away team.
Reprint of Uncanny X-Men 146
Issue opens with Doctor Doom looking out the window of his upstate New York castle, as the weather turns violent. This is due to him locking Storm into a body forming metal casing. Arcade is surprised that Doom hasn’t killed the X-Men. Doom doesn’t know the X-Men at this point, so he wants to test them. These tests seem to very Arcade-esque. Nightcrawler is in a doorless and windowless room. Colossus is on top of a mountain that has a raising deadly whirlpool. Wolverine is in a chess squared room that throws his senses off. Angel is in a giant room with a perch, whenever he flies off of the perch, lasers – set to stun – fire at him.
West indies. Scott and Lee Forrester are on a mysterious island and care having to deal with the repercussions of the violent storm. Scott trips over a tree, and loses his make-shift bandage and optic blasts the ocean. This throws Lee off but also explains why Scott has been so weird about the bandage.
Half-a-dozen hours ago, New York City. The B-Team – Polaris, Havok, Iceman and Banshee – are on their way to save the X-Men’s (and theirs) family members. Banshee notices that Polaris got a new uniform, I don’t care for it. She mentions how it is insulated.
They fall into a few chutes that lead them to Murderworld. Each chute takes a member to a different room. We check in on Miss Locke and see that she has the family members in giant gift boxes. She went all the way to Russia to get little Illyana! Other hostages are – Amanda Sefton, Elaine and John Grey (I had to look up who they were suppose to be), Moria MacTaggert, Candy Southern and Stevie Hunter.
Havok is in a space quest. Iceman is fighting some androids on ice skates.
Polaris is at a fairground, chasing Illyana.
Turns out, Illyana is a robot and tries to kill Polaris. Lousy robots!
Banshee, in a pretty cool outfit, is in a Western adventure.
Havok gets out of his scenario first and is the closest to Miss Locke now. Polaris destroys the Illyana robot.
Banshee’s adventure includes Moira, Candy and Amanda, all damsels in distress. Iceman and Polaris join up with Banshee. Moira explodes as Polaris forgot to tell them about the robot family members.
Havok gets to Miss Locke and knocks her out. Illyana is one of those peeps on the outside, heading towards the airplane. Everyone notices the horrible weather.
Issue ends with Arcade laughing at Doom, as Nightcrawler has escaped.
I had bought X-Men Classic 51, as I own Uncanny X-Men 147 (which 51 reprints) but turns out, no Illyana and no Kitty mentions. I’m keeping my copy of 147, as Kitty is in the character box but not in the character box of the next issue so that goes back on my Lonestar To Sell list.
Writer Ralph Macchio
Penciler John Hebert
Inker Greg Adams
Letterer Michael Higgins
Colorist Carlos Lopez
Teleplay by Ted Peterson and Francis Moss
Cover Dated May 1994
This issue is titled, Red Death, and is the comic adaption of Red Dawn, the fourth episode of the season season.
Chris Sims, when he was covering every episode, wrote about it here :
http://comicsalliance.com/the-x-men-episode-guide-2×04-red-dawn/
I like it as there are screencaps from the episode, including this one –
I bought a Fair condition of this comic for Christmas 2014, through Mile High Comics. In this instance, that means that the comic and the cover are barely holding onto each other via the smallest amount of the top staple.
Onto the comic. Issue opens with Omega Red breaking out of his test tube chamber.
Moscow. Some Russian government officials is excited to get the Soviet Union reunited again. Darkstar is the hero on site to manage Omega Red.
Two Days Later, Westchester County. Jubilee is skateboarding and gets hungry. Some flastscans have spray painted anti-mutant hate speech on a wall next to the grocery store. The grocery store is being vandalized for being pro-mutant. Colossus happens to be near by and chases the vandals away.
He actually was on his way to Xavier’s, as the Soviet Union is being terrorized by Omega Red and Colossus wants to go home to protect his family. Jubilee tells him that the X-Men are gone but she will leave a note and the two of them take off.
There is a two page ad celebrating the greatest combination of two things – The X-Mena nd Hi-C Fruit Punch,
They get to Colossus’ parents’ collective and it has been trashed.
Colossus recounts his origin and we get little girl Illyana. In the FOX Cartoon universe, Colossus doesn’t get to Illyana, his father does and then Colossus saves his father.
Colossus takes the blame for the damage, and is labeled disloyal and leaves the country.
The best part of the issue is that Illyana is a teenager (minus the visit to Limbo, I hope) and they hug as it has been years.
Omega Red is killing the individual leaders of the broken countries.
The X-Men return home. Rogue and Storm are laughing that Jubilee left a silly note and how goofy a guy named, Omega Red, could be. Wolverine walks in, as he lost Morph (yet again) which the editor note states that it was in issue two. He recognizes the name of the villain and knows that Jubilee is way over her head.
Former USSR. Illyana has lead Colossus and Jubilee to where the Rasputins are being kept. Colossus gets so enraged that he charges at the complex.
Then we get a seven page insert for the Marvel Mart, which is bookend with trading card inserts that make the comic a real pain to handle. There are two pages of the trades that are out. 2099 / Spider-Man / Venom / Various Marvel sets. X-Men trades are – Dark Phoenix Saga / 30th Anniversary Magazine / All New All Different Masterworks Vol 1 / From the Ashes (go buy this!) / Excalibur : Mojo Mayhem / X-Force Spider-Man Sabotage / Masterworks Vol 1 / Wolverine mini and X-Tincton Agenda. Solo titles include – Gambit / Sabretooth / Fatal Attractions 1-3 / Fatal Attrations 4-6 / Wolverine and Punisher Damaging Evidence and Cable. There is a comedian selection with Ren & Stimpy and Groo.
There are shirts, hats and buttons.
Back to the story. Omega Red hands Colossus’ his arse. Wolverine shows up and fights Omega Red. This reminds me of how Omega Red kills Colossus’ parents in X-MEN 17 – 19 (they die in 18).
I do like how it is an actual fight between Wolverine and Omega Red, this Wolverine struggles.
Rogue takes out Omega Red. Colossus thanks the X-Men for their help. Omega Red gets back into the fight. The whole team goes after him.
Bullpen Bulletins, Now on Sale. Barbie hits issue 41, she wrangles up cattle. Wolverine 81, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat help Wolverine track down his adopted daughter. X-Factor 102, Random tries to kill Polaris. X-Men Adventures Season 2 Issue 4, this very issue! X-Men : Early Years 1, reprinting the very first issue.
There is an ad for USA’s Weird Science. I really dug this lineup back in the day, along with Duckman.
Storm makes it snow and the cold freezes Omega Red in place.
The Soviet Union is saved! Illyana is reunited with her parents. Darkstar goes after the foolish Russian leaders who thought setting a homicidal sociopath loose, to fix the problem, was a smart idea.
Issue ends in the Savage Land, with Xavier walking and Magneto. They outrun a T-Rex.
X-Animated Mail. Letters are from – Samantha Minc of Hampstead, Quebec, Canada / Jondh Crismore of New Haven, IN / Elissa Dukes / Christopher Teare of Burlingame, CA / Jara B. Hullar of Richmond, BC, Canada, Becky Iles of Terryville, CT and Quenby Walls of Orlando, Florida.
Writer Fabian Nicieza
Penciler Aron Wiesenfeld
Inkers Al Milgrom, Bob Wiacek and Keith Williams
Letterer Steve Dutro
Colorists Mike Thomas and Dana Moreshead
Cover Dated 1993
Inside front cover ad is for Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas.
The home of Jonathan Chambers, which may be more fortress than home. If he had his way, it will be a prison for mutants and a haven for mutants.
There is some serious 90s art going on in this issue. I would think with the old school artists as inkers, it would be tamer but I guess they could only do so much.
Explosions start happening and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are there – Toad, Pyro, Blob and an unknown blonde lady. Pryo calls her a babe and her name is, Phantazia – who time doesn’t remember her. These four fight the two mutants who are trying to invade the fortified home.
Mr. Chambers puts a halt to the beat down, as he is hoping the two new mutants will become friends of his. He reveals their names as – Mr. Bohannon and Mr. Petros.
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Westchester, New York. Moira MacTaggert, Banshee, Xavier and Beast are all discussing the Legacy Virus. Five additional mutants have died. Banshee reminds us that Stryfe is the one who unleashed the disease. Hank states that Magneto was right, there is nothing to do about all of the deaths.
Which he cracks himself up, as he was trying to break up the mood.
We get to the point of why I bought the issue. One couldn’t discuss the Legacy Virus without mentioning one of the first victims of the disease, Illyana Rasputin.
Beast is new to the research for the cure, Xavier didn’t want to burden him with this responsibility.
The Danger Room. Revanche (in British Psylocke’s body, but it doesn’t look like the body I remember), Jubilee, Rogue and Gambit are training. Psylocke (in Revanche’s body), Cyclops and Jean are watching from the control room. Jubilee is mostly in the way.
Jean conforms that Psylocke and Revanche are not their full minds in the other’s body, they are half of themselves and Revanche. This, naturally, upsets Psylocke.
Florida Keys. The Brotherhood are getting along okay with the two new guests. We get to learn their hosts, Chambers’ powers. He can take mutants powers and shut down their powers, it looks like he is spitting green vomit though, when he uses the power.
Out on the river, Henry Gyrich is working with a Mr. Cleary, they are monitoring the situation as operatives in Operation : Wideawake.
The X-men are on their way to meet with Chambers, they were invited. Beast really dug Chambers’ book, with the title “fatal Attractions” so that must be in the works. This annual and that crossover, both came out in 1993.
Cyclops, Beast and Rogue get to go through the front door. The others have to check out the sub-levels.
Henry Gyrich, with all of his mutant experience, knows that too many mutants in one room or place, there will be a fight. So he decides to sit back and let them knock each other out.
A giant fight breaks out between the X-Men and the Brotherhood.
Chambers shuts all of their powers down and calms them down, he will not have his work be undone. He wants his house to be a safe haven for those with the Legacy Virus, so they can die in peace. Pyro reveals it is him who is dying of the Legacy Virus, the others are there to make sure his last days are decent. Though he doesn’t die until Cable 87, in 2001 (eight years later from this moment, saving Senator Kelly’s life in the Dreams End crossover).
Revanche stands with Pyro, as her newly adopted body is also dying of the Legacy Virus. Good thing Betsy got her body and has been rocking it for decades now.
This story ends with Gyrich and the government coming to the house. Cyclops tells Gyrich that nothing is troubling there and everybody leaves.
There is a ten page Beast story at the end, but it stars Beast (in nearly every panel) so I didn’t read it.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 