The History of the X-Men in August

UNCANNY X-MEN #499 (2008)

The finale of Ed Brubaker and Mike Choi’s “Divided We Fall” arc, wherein Cyclops and Emma Frost overthrow Mastermind’s hippie regime in San Francisco while Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler beat up Omega Red in Russia. The big event to come out of this story as it headed into issue #500 though had to be Cyclops’ decision to move the X-Men permanently (for the time being) to San Francisco. I remember in meetings I sat in at the time Marvel higher ups noting this would be a major switch to establish more of a presence in the California of the Marvel Universe, with the Runaways, the Order and the Eternals already hanging around there. Obviously there had been Marvel series set outside of New York City prior to this from West Coast Avengers to Iron Man and Daredevil’s own California stints to Thor in Oklahoma to the X-Men themselves operating out of Australia, but this seemed bigger. The change would not only stick for quite some time, it also perhaps indirectly inspired more Marvel heroes to branch out, from Scarlet Spider in Houston to Venom in Philadelphia to the new Nova in Arizona. I’ve always dug this concept and still eagerly await somebody setting up shop in Boston; I’ll even take Quasar.

UNCANNY X-MEN #425-426 (2003)

As I’ve gone along in this little chronicle of history, I’ve noted how Chuck Austen’s tenure writing the X-Men started off well enough—I think his initial issues still stand up today—but quickly became divisive as he seemed to lose his focus somewhat and veer heavily into soap opera at the expense of logic. Despite the previous sentence describing so many works of fiction I love, he lost me around this two-parter, “The Sacred Vows.” It’s the wedding of Havok—who secretly loves Annie, the human nurse who cared for him during his coma who’s currently with Iceman who still has feelings for Polaris—and Polaris—who went crazy after surviving the destruction of Genosha and confirming Magneto to be her father. Havok decides mid-ceremony to reveal he reciprocates Annie’s feelings, leading Polaris to create a whacked out half-Bridezilla/half-Magneto costume with garters and attack everybody with silverware and such until Juggernaut stops her. Annie had worn out her welcome, feeling more and more like a character nobody but her creator wanted to push, and established favorites like Iceman and Polaris getting more and more off center started to make the book a bit hard to swallow.

UNCANNY X-MEN #358 (1998)

I’ve not sure if I’ve read this issue or not. It took place during my hiatus from comics, and while I’ve made great efforts to fill in the gaps of my Uncanny X-Men collection in particular since, I think this one slipped through the cracks. It’s a spotlight on Bishop and Deathbird, who had been stranded in outer space together and become sort of a couple, fighting aliens. Again, I missed this romantic pairing and have only ever seen them when they briefly interacted during “The Twelve” and then in an alternate timeline after a fashion via their daughter in X-Men: The End, but it intrigues me, as it seems like a case of throwing two darts at a wall full of random X-characters, but there’s that uncompromising warrior aspect to both that actually makes some sense as far as chemistry.

UNCANNY X-MEN #303 (1993)

I kind of hope Brett White doesn’t read the blog anymore—does anybody read this blog anymore?—because he might lose it here, but I’ve never read this issue, which I know ranks among his all-time favorites. It’s weird, because I have everything from X-Cutioner’s Song to Uncanny X-Men #299, then I strangely skipped out on #300—I remember reading it cover to cover in a Walden Books or something and then not buying it—as well as the three subsequent issues before coming back for good with #304 and Fatal Attractions. I know people revere this particular story as among Scott Lobdell’s finest work with the death of Illyana Rasputin and Jubilee having to cope with it before anybody else, but yeah, never read it; forgive me, Brett.

UNCANNY X-MEN #232 (1988)

Man, I am blowing it this month, because I don’t believe I’ve read this story either. Between Essentials, trades and single issues, I’ve got pretty much everything up to Fall of the Mutants, then I fall off for a year or so, and pick back up with Inferno; this falls right in that hole. Anyway, it’s a Brood story, which always both delight and terrify me, and perhaps of more note it’s got Marc Silvestri art, which seems perfect. Silvestri has a rep for drawing a lot of robots and futuristic tech—he did create Cyberforce—as well as attractive ladies, but he’s also got a really intense knack for horror, as you can see in Witchblade and elsewhere, so judging by that and this cover, I gather he does well with the Brood; I’ll make a note to seek this one out, through the office Essentials copy if nothing else.

UNCANNY X-MEN #172 (1983)

Superb issue in the midst of a superb run by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith. The story picks up directly from Claremont and Frank Miller’s seminal Wolverine limited series—in part the basis for this year’s “The Wolverine” film, though the movie incorporates many elements from this story as well—as the X-Men come to Japan for the wedding of Logan and Mariko. You get everything in short order, with some genuinely heartwarming moments of congratulations to Wolverine from his “family,” the continuing tension of Rogue being on the team, and then action aplenty with Silver Samurai and Viper striking, plus Yukio from the aforementioned limited series making her return; Smith draws it all beautifully, making warm smiles from Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde come to life as readily as crazy ninja fights. Viper manages to poison Colossus, Kitty and Nightcrawler while Samurai threatens Mariko, leading to the equally awesome next installment in Uncanny X-Men #173 where Wolverine has to put aside his mistrust of Rogue to protect his fiancée while Storm’s adventure with Yukio ends up having intense ramifications on her character; classic stuff that you need to check out if you never have.

UNCANNY X-MEN #112 (1978)

The second battle between Magneto and the All-New, All-Different X-Men, with a lot of weird elements framing the story, from Mesmero having previously brainwashed our heroes into thinking they were circus performers to the introduction of one of Marvel’s all-time weirdest characters, Nanny, the mothering robot who wants to turn all adults into children so she can take care of them. Chris Claremont uses the story to reinforce that despite all the X-Men have been through to date—fighting the Sentinels, the original Phoenix saga, etc.—they’ve still yet to really gel as a team as opposed to a grouping of disparate personalities, and Magneto utilizes their lack of cohesion to knock them down one by one. John Byrne also quickly emerges from right out of Dave Cockrum’s shadow to make the book his own artistically.

The History of the X-Men in June

UNCANNY X-MEN #497 (2008)

At the very first editorial meeting I got to sit in on at Marvel, all the various editors did slideshow presentations on what were coming up in their particular books with covers, art, and little notes on which characters they’d be using. I’ll never forget X-Men editor Nick Lowe running down the Divided We Stand plans for Uncanny X-Men character-by-character, getting to Angel and, with a big grin, simply saying “he’s going to San Francisco where he’ll have a really good time.” I guess you need to know Nick, but it was all in the tone he said “really good time,” cracking himself up at the idea of Angel just chilling and getting a tan. That’s kind of what this issue is, though, as SF has been transformed into this weird retro hippie paradise where any X-Men who enter get groovy 60’s-style redesigns by Mike Choi and Sonia Oback at the height of their artistic powers and hang out. Some of the mystery behind that whole deal gets explained here, but I just enjoyed the weirdness of it all, as it set the tone for the trippy, socially-aware San Francisco era of the X-Men under Brubaker, Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen.

UNCANNY X-MEN #421 (2003)

If you want an example of why most folks remember Chuck Austen’s stint with the X-Men as perhaps leaning too heavily on the soap opera aspects, this issue gives a pretty good snapshot, with not much action but one character/relationship after another practically begging for the musical sting from Days of Our Lives. As always, a Melrose Place fan like me tended to dig this sort of thing, but there were times even I felt like Austen’s stuff would give Amanda Woodward pause. Over the course of this story alone, Havok comes out of his coma, Havok reunites with Polaris, Polaris proposes to Havok, Havok accepts said proposal, and Havok and Polaris elect to take a leave of absence together, oddly enough with Nightcrawler in tow because he just stepped down as team leader (I personally think a limited series and/or sitcom about Nightcrawler tagging along on Havok and Polaris’ honeymoon would be money in the bank). Elsewhere, Juggernaut pleads with his brother Professor X to help him be a good guy and Nurse Annie confesses her love to the aforementioned now-engaged Havok. At the end, Alpha Flight shows up in crazy battle armor to bring Sammy the Squid Boy back to Canada. Love it or hate it, you had to admire Austen’s willingness to let it all hang out.

UNCANNY X-MEN #356 (1998)

If there’s one period in X-Men history I regret missing out on, it’s when Joe Kelly and Steve Seagle were co-writing the books. I was in high school, not really buying comics, and I missed this era more or less in its entirety. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, since the run got cut short due to creative differences…nah, I still wish I’d been reading. Kelly and Seagle are both masters of their craft, particularly when it comes to balance, be it between characters and subplot or comedy and drama, showing one reason they’ve become so successful in the animation field. I eventually went back to collect this period, but was only able to do so via eBay and quarter bins, meaning I read it scattershot and out of order, not the optimum experience. This is an issue I particularly liked though. The primary plot deals with the original five X-Men reuniting in Alaska—where Cyclops and Jean Grey have retired to—both to game plan how to search for the missing Professor X and because Scott was worried Jean might be becoming the Phoenix again. I may not have grown up with this quintet as “my” X-Men, but I’m a sucker for the chemistry between them. I like Warren confiding in Jean about his relationship issues with Psylocke; I like Bobby being a bit aloof. I also really enjoy Chris Bachalo’s art in this issue as his progressive style helps breathe life into classic characters.

UNCANNY X-MEN #301 (1993)

I have never read this comic. I was heavy into collecting X-Men in particular in 1993, but for some reason, I never got Uncanny X-Men #300 or the next few issues up until Fatal Attractions. I do remember having no appreciation for John Romita Jr.’s art at the time because it was so different from the smooth Jim Lee/Andy Kubert style I was used to, and not really getting Forge or Mystique. Oh well.

UNCANNY X-MEN #230 (1988)

I don’t remember this issue too well either, but I’m pretty certain I read it. Maybe in an Essential? Not sure. It’s a month after the X-Men moved to Australia in one of the first comics I ever read and it’s a Christmas issue (in the summer). Searching their new home, the team finds a bunch of stolen goods swiped from around the world by the Reavers or whoever. Fortunately, among Longshot’s litany of powers is the ability to know where an object came from by touching it, plus the X-Men just met a teleporter named Gateway, so they make like Santa Claus and return all the goodies. It’s a sweet little story and also a nice spotlight for Longshot, who could be a bit of a cipher, with some slick Marc Silvestri art.

UNCANNY X-MEN #170 (1983)

Classic issue right here. Angel has been captured by the Morlocks and the X-Men have been unable to rescue him. The Morlocks particularly in their early days made for an interesting threat because they weren’t just an opposing team, they were a society, and besides that, they had so many seeming non-combatants mixed in with the dangerous ones and the good guys couldn’t really pick them apart (Leech is a little kid, but he’s also got a potentially lethal power and didn’t know any better than to follow Callisto or Masque). Besides that, they had such a diverse array of powers, from the raw power of Sunder to the poison touch of Plague and everything in between. Recognizing a traditional fight couldn’t be won, two of the X-Men take matters into their own hands, as Kitty Pryde promises Caliban she will live with him if he helps save Storm, then Storm turns around and invokes the challenge of one-on-one combat against Callisto for leadership of the Morlocks. Storm displays a combination of street smarts and ruthlessness in her duel with Callisto, which would get an extremely PG but nonetheless memorable adaptation on the 90’s X-Men cartoon. The great Paul Smith provides the pencils to put the bow on a gem of an issue.

UNCANNY X-MEN #111 (1978)

I believe I have this issue as part of either a Masterworks or Essential that I’m too lazy to go check right now, but I recall the concept and the quintessential Dave Cockrum art and designs even without remembering the full story in detail. Mesmero captures the still-new X-Men and convinces them they’re basically a circus freak show, complete with Colossus as the strong man, Wolverine as the jungle savage, and so on. A guest-starring Beast stumbles on the situation and manages to pull Wolvie out of the spell, with the rest following suit. Another fondly remembered one that has reverberated in homage as well as across media.

Art Attack Flashback: X-Men - The Tempting

Got an e-mail from my mother earlier today with this pic attached...

It's a drawing I did when I was younger that she found when going through stuff at our house. I'd like to say based on the quality of art and spelling that I was like 7, but fortunately I included issue numbers of when my proposed crossover event was going to happen and can see that I was 14. Fantastic.

I have no idea what the story I was planning was here, but let's do a little detective work and draw conclusions...

-It's called "X-Men: The Tempting" (because I had to save the word "Temptation" for the tag line, obviously) so I'd assume the shadowy villain character I gave eyes and giant shoulders to was offering various members of the X-Teams stuff. This was a good year before Underworld Unleashed, so Mark Waid obviously stole that plot from me.

-You can tell this is something I created because Iceman is the most prominent member of the X-Men featured.

-Despite X-Force being my favorite X-title and my having listed it as a tie-in, I didn't draw anybody from the team among the full figures, most likely because I was still pissed Fabian Nicieza had left the book. I also didn't draw anybody from X-Factor, but that may have been because I stopped reading it when Peter David left and had no idea who was on the team.

-X-Man was definitely an ongoing series at this point, but for some reason I decided not to include it.

-That drawing of Rogue begs the question of whether I was worse at drawing women or leather jackets (and why I would choose to try and draw a woman in a leather jacket based on those shortcomings).

-As evidenced by both Banshee and Cyclops, my means of conveying motion is to only draw one and a half legs on figures to make it seems like they're running/flying (or getting around it altogether by making Nightcrawler's teleportation effect really big).

-I'm really proud of myself for including Colossus' short-lived shoulder ridges from when he was on Excalibur.

-The second head shot down is Psylocke; I know this because I distinctly remember that was my way of showing she had her hair in a ponytail.

-I was terrible at drawing Beast.

-I must have really liked Havok's old school costume.

-I know I really liked Cable's glowing eye.

-I do not know what "Touchdowns in March" means and could apparently not spell the word "special" despite being a freshman in high school. I blame the Massachusetts public school system.

So anyway, I'll be pitching this story to Nick Lowe on Tuesday; expect to see it on stands by 2014.

The History of the X-Men in February

A couple days late, but here goes…

UNCANNY X-MEN #493 (2008)

We’re knee deep in the Messiah CompleX crossover here, and I’m also a few months into my tenure as a freshly minted Marvel employee, so this is a book I actually worked to promote. The plans for what was going on in X-Men were already pretty pat at this point (I knew the next year or so of stories even when I was back at Wizard) and I was still getting my sea legs as far as Marvel.com, so we didn’t do a whole lot on this—instead getting g ready for what was coming after, working a few months out—but it was cool to be involved. I was particularly enjoying this storyline both as a fan and somebody on the inside because it reminded me a lot of X-Cutioner’s Song and big crossovers of that ilk, where all the teams were involved, various masterminds were working at cross purposes—some villainous, some more shades of gray—and heavy emotional stuff was broken up by big fights, like the one in this issue where the Sentinels placed at the Xavier Institute by the government go haywire. Even though I don’t think any of the writers involved in Messiah CompleX were big X-Cutioner’s Song fans—I believe at the least Ed Brubaker and Mike Carey weren’t that familiar; I could see Chris Yost and Craig Kyle digging it; and of course Peter David actually worked on both stories—editors Nick Lowe and Will Panzo were (and are) big time. I really love David Finch’s cover here and also was a big fan of the New X-Men “kids” like Gentle getting a chance to shine against the Sentinels, as that was another thing I always liked about X-Men crossovers: the characters you didn’t expect to getting their moments.

UNCANNY X-MEN #416 (2003)

Another relatively standalone issue near the beginning of Chuck Austen’s run as Uncanny X-Men writer, and while I really dug both his opening arc and the Northstar story I discussed last time, I think this was the first time he overdosed a little on the soap opera (and this is coming from the world’s biggest Melrose Place fan). One piece of drama that seemed a bit forced was Nightcrawler asking Iceman if he wanted to go to the brothel Stacy X used to work at to help retrieve her belongings and then Bobby going off on Kurt kinda out of nowhere about how the original five X-Men were the only “real” X-Men, despite the fact I’m pretty sure Nightcrawler had logged as much if not more time than him on the various teams at that point. There are also several scenes in the school infirmary focusing on new character Annie, a nurse who has fallen in love with the comatose Havok, having gossipy conversations with Stacy, Northstar and others that come off as belonging somewhere else. There’s a nice subplot with Juggernaut and Sammy the Squid Boy where they bond over how crappy their childhoods were or something, but it wasn’t particularly memorable. I appreciated what Austen was trying to do, as he kind of had a lot of the same melodrama sensibilities I do, but it sometimes felt like he was trying to fit a lot of square pegs into round holes with his subplots and abrupt changes in characters’ personalities. Probably more interesting is seeing Manga artist Kia Asamiya’s take on the team, which was really unique and cool; I dug it even more when he got to open up with more action in the months to come.

UNCANNY X-MEN #352 (1998)

I picked this issue up on eBay sometime around 2004 when I was trying to fill in the holes in my collection, particularly the mid-90’s stuff. I love that it boasts right front and center on the cover “Featuring possibly the most artists ever on one title!” It’s a crazy awesome array of artists who would become big a couple years later like John Cassaday and Tommy Lee Edwards plus folks on the cusp like Terry Dodson and J.H. Williams III rounded out by the likes of Darryl Banks and Cully Hamner. The story is a bit of a throwaway, with Cyclops and Phoenix, who recently left the X-Men, flying back to Alaska and foiling a weird A.I.M. plot; meanwhile, back in Westchester, Archangel gets yelled at for not being around much and Cannonball gets a letter from Meltdown as he’s being budged off the team back to X-Force.

UNCANNY X-MEN #297 (1993)

One of my very favorite issues from when I was a kid that I think still holds up today as this is the epilogue to X-Cutioner’s Song—one of them at least—by Scott Lobdell and a young Brandon Peterson following three stories involving pairs of X-Men in the fallout of all the chaos. First up, Beast and Archangel fix the damages done by Caliban to Harry’s Hideaway, the local bar and restaurant the X-Men are always going to, and reminisce about their formative years at Xavier’s School, including a great bit where Warren remembers how he paid Hank to write one of his papers for him and got screwed when Professor X asked them to deliver the reports telepathically, then Hank admitting he tipped off Xavier—after he cashed the check—leading a stoic Warren to spray him with wood varnish. It’s a nice sentimental bit, and especially neat to see the at-this-time ansgty as all hell Archangel get razzed by his old buddy and smile a bit (they also get caught roughhousing by a cop and use their image inducers to pose as normal construction workers). Second there’s a short but sweet and crucial interlude with Rogue and Gambit where, for the first time, their flirting of the past couple years goes to the next level as she calls him out on the fact that he always teases her knowing they can’t touch, he walks away, then returns with a blanket to keep her warm and they share a tender moment. Last but not least, Jubilee encounters Professor X, who has regained his ability to walk temporarily, and convinces him he should try rollerblading, only to pull off a pier in a playful way (not a “trying to kill him”) way. They have a conversation about how he normally intimidates her but she’s seeing he’s actually pretty normal, which he takes as a compliment. At the end, he starts walking back toward his wheelchair, the lingering effects of the Techno-Organic virus cure wearing off, and when he starts to stumble, after initial reluctance, she helps him in the silent final panels. Since Jubilee came onboard during the period Professor X was away and never really had much of a bond with him, this was a neat idea. This issue was truly Lobdell at his best.

UNCANNY X-MEN #226 (1988)

The penultimate chapter to Fall of the Mutants; I picked it up during that same eBay X-Men run, but it’s back in Boston and just looking at the cover, I honestly can’t recall much about it. I remember more about the actual finale, where Forge screws everything up as usual and the X-Men fly up to where the Adversary is by using a combination of Storm’s winds with Longshot’s hollow bones and good luck powers (Longshot would end up being the big hero at the end of Inferno as well, so I guess Chris Claremont really liked him). Honestly, the thing that stands out most to me about this was that for some reason this issue was double-sized and the last chapter was not; I also liked the subplot with the reporters going into the war zone with the X-Men because they wanted to show the world mutants were ok.

UNCANNY X-MEN #166 (1983)

Another extra-sized issue that was technically only the second to last chapter of a big story, although #167 was really more epilogue anyway. This was the finish proper to the awesome first real Brood epic by Claremont where Paul Smith has taken over on art at this point and is doing a stellar job (just look at that cover). Cyclops gets taken over by the Brood egg inside him, screwing the X-Men big time (and leading to a great Cyclops/Wolverine fight), but ultimately gains control long enough to help turn the tide along with the newly-repowered Binary and Storm riding a big ol’ space whale. Lockheed also makes his debut (I think) here, saving Kitty Pryde and helping her head back into battle. Overall it’s just a satisfying story to read, as Claremont had done a great job really making me hate the Brood because of the gross and horribly invasive way they had gone after the X-Men and because our heroes had been through so much over the past several issues, so their win feels earned and good. It’s also a story with consequences, as Kitty in particular does not feel like the same character who came in, very much scarred and battle hardened by the experience, but struggling to hang on to her innocence. Finally, there’s a great cliffhanger, as the X-Men realize that there’s one Brood egg left, and it’s incubating in Professor X back on Earth…

X-MEN #109 (1978)

The X-Men are freshly back from their first real space adventure with the Shi’ar, and while Jean Grey tells her parents about becoming Phoenix, Wolverine along with Storm, Colossus, Banshee and Moira MacTaggert get ambushed on a picnic by Weapon Alpha, aka James Hudson, Wolvie’s old boss in what would become Alpha Flight as well as the future Guardians of that same team’s fame. It’s the first real hints of Wolverine’s past beyond the scene where Xavier recruited him from Canadian intelligence back in Giant-Size X-Men #1, and also the doorway to a bunch of great characters, as Mac would return not long after with Northstar, Sasquatch, et al. in tow. To this day, Dave Cockrum’s design for Weapon Alpha/Guardians stands out as a really slick one that you don’t need to be Canadian to appreciate, I don’t think. This issue was more or less faithfully adapted by the 90’s animated series in the “Repo Man” episode (they probably had Rogue and Gambit doing all the Colossus and Banshee stuff, I don’t recall).

10 Reasons X-Cutioner's Song Still Rocks Pt. 2

Continued from last time…

Three’s Company

At the end of Uncanny X-Men #295, chapter five of X-Cutioner’s Song, Cable heads to the awesomely-named Canadian Intelligence group Department K because who-cares-why, where he runs into Wolverine and Bishop, also there for reasons I don’t remember, and super pissed because they think this dude shot Professor X. The next week in X-Factor #85, it’s a showdown for the ages, as the two X-Men throw fists, claws and energy blasts at Cable’s giant guns, with Jae Lee drawing all the gory details and black blood flowing freely. After Wolverine slices up multiple weapons, the two X-Men agree Cable didn’t do the dirty deed and head up to his space station where they spend the next couple chapters—both Wolverine and Cable pass the time through whittling while Bishop stares out the window and no I’m not joking—before getting bored and going after Stryfe. Years later, Bishop would forget all about this sitcom-ready set-up and spend decades trying to kill Cable and his daughter.

Killer Archangel Moments

There are three instances in X-Cutioner’s Song where Archangel—who I knew next to nothing about as a kid other than that he had an action figure—comes off awesome and totally won my young heart over. The first is when Mutant Liberation Front member Kamikaze tries to sneak up on him from behind, he extends his razor sharp wings to get ready to fly, and unknowingly decapitates the dude (then angsts about it for like three issues). The second is when Apocalypse, his “father,” shows up to cure Professor X, and when the other X-Men think the whole thing has gone bad, he raises up his wings to block them from interfering, making them all think he’s gone evil, until a few seconds later where Xavier is saved. Lastly, on the moon, in the final chapter, after Apocalypse has been beaten nearly but not quite to death by the Dark Riders, he asks his “son” to mercy kill him, and Archangel just walks away like a stone cold bad ass, not willing to give him the satisfaction—harsh!

Crying Havok

I wrote a more lengthy post that covered this already, but Alex Summers got to be a stone cold bad ass during X-Cutioner’s Song. Cyclops usually took command during most crossovers, whether his brother was leading X-Factor at the time or not, and in lieu of that, Storm got the reins, but with the X-Men besieged by so many enemies, some of their biggest guns captured and a personal stake involved for Havok, the reluctant hero had no choice but to step up. With the main teams still in disarray following Xavier’s shooting, Havok keeps a clear head and goes after X-Force, bringing them in and then getting Cannonball to cooperate in the search for Cable (and later Stryfe). His diplomatic skills proven, Alex then has his most rad moment on the moon, where that nasty force field barring anybody without Summers (or Grey) DNA prevents most of the good guys from doing any damage, and leaving Havok to play cavalry and help Cable save the day. Now that he’s leading an Avengers A-squad in Marvel NOW!, the time has never been better to check out Havok’s first major rodeo.

Stryfe

You can have your Magnetos, your Apocalypses, your Sinisters, your Mojos and your Empyreans (look it up!); there was NO X-Men villain more awesome—at least to me in the 90’s—that m’f’n Stryfe, baby. At the time of X-Cutioner’s Song, we didn’t know the guy’s motivation for sure, we just knew he had the most dangerous looking armor ever (how did he walk around without impaling every person he came close to?), the same face as Cable, and the ability to deliver Shakespearean soliloquies that would make Hamlet go “Damn, that’s good.” One of the coolest thing the brain trust behind the franchise at the time did was elevate him to the A-list almost out of nowhere, since he went straight from being a terrorist who gave X-Force a hard time to the guy who took out Professor X, kidnapped Cyclops and Jean Grey, beat down Apocalypse and outwitted Sinister in the course of 12 issues; something about the fact that he had been almost hiding in plain sight to that point just increased his coolness. I also dug that he was arrogant and clearly had a master plan, but no matter how much time he’d put into his scheming, the raw emotional hurt he felt towards Cyclops, Jean, Apocalypse, Cable, etc. could take over at any time and he’d rant away with tears flowing from his eyes; he had incredible power, but you always knew he was about two seconds away from self-destruction, and that kept things interesting. I wish Stryfe had a longer and more enduring shelf life, because I feel like too many people felt like once his full past and relationships were out there he lost his edge, but I disagree and think the intensity of his hatred and his penchant for chaos remain key components to a great villain. There’s a reason you can yell “Stab his eyes!” at any 90’s X-Men fan and get a knowing smirk and nod.

Lasting Consequences

In the final page of X-Cutioner’s Song chapter 12 (aka X-Force #18), Mr. Sinister has his assistant open a canister from Stryfe that purportedly contained DNA info on Scott Summers and Jean Grey, but it’s empty; Sinister stomps off annoyed, his assistant coughs. What was in the canister? The Legacy Virus. Sinister’s assistant would be the first to die, kicking off a subplot in the X-Men books that last nearly a decade, claimed the lives of many heroes and villains, and ultimately took a tremendous heroic sacrifice by Colossus to stop. More fallout from the story: X-Force breaks out on its own, Rogue and Gambit get together, Archangel starts moving past his depressed stage and Cable becomes an essential part of the franchise—just to name a few lasting consequences.

Also, I became a huge comic book fan and eventually start working in the business; so it was an important story.

10 Reasons X-Cutioner's Song Still Rocks Pt. 1

I certainly read comics before the fall of 1992, but it was those four months when I was 10 that I daresay transformed mere hobby into passion. As I detailed in a post a couple years back—and have spoken on more than once since—my buddy Matt Corley and I would feverishly ride our bikes to the local collectibles store every Wednesday for 12 weeks to grab the latest chapter of the X-Cutioner’s Song crossover unfolding through Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, X-Men and X-Force, tear off the polybags, scan the Stryfe’s Strike (was it Stryke?) File card and get engrossed in the sprawling mutant saga that encapsulated everything I came to love about comics as a kid (and still do today).

Last year was the 20^th anniversary of X-Cutioner’s Song, and a group of Marvel-employed superfans including myself, Ryan Penagos, Arune Singh, James Viscardi and Nick Lowe were hell-bent on celebrating with all the bells and whistles, but got caught up doing stuff like “our jobs” so the window came and went. I still dream that we’ll do a belated bit of ballyhoo sooner rather than later (Scott Porter said he’d do a podcast retrospective with us and the band Bloc Party agreed to help us write the X-Cutioner’s Song song)…but until then, I’m going to do a bit of my own commemorating with just a small sampling of reasons why this story was the pinnacle of my comic book childhood and remains my high watermark for tales of glorious action and awesome.

Started with a Bang

In the very first installment of X-Cutioner’s Song—which to this day is the only one I don’t own and had to borrow Matt’s Scott Lobdell-signed copy any time I wanted reread the story in its entirety—Professor X gets shot; by Cable no less! It wasn’t like villains hadn’t gone after Xavier before, it wasn’t like he hadn’t been badly injured (or even “killed”) before, but the nature of the attack was so brazen—in public at a Lila Cheney concert for peace—and apparently from one of the X-Men’s own (sort of). It immediately threw things into disarray, complicated by the fact that Cyclops and Jean Grey were simultaneously kidnapped by the Horsemen and thus the X-Men had to function without their “mind, heart and soul,” with the likes of Havok and Storm having to step up while being behind the eight ball from the get-go. I never really thought Xavier was going to bite it, but the tender bedside scenes with everybody from Beast to Psylocke were a nice touch to the thrill-a-minute action.

More than just Magneto

When X-Cutioner’s Song kicked off, the X-Men cartoon had only just begun, so as far as I knew, the X-Men only fought Magneto, Sabretooth and the Sentinels on a loop. From what I’ve since read, much of the genesis of this story spun out of Magneto being temporarily “dead” and the writers asking “what if every other major X-Men villain attacked at once?” Hence you get a crash course on the other big bads of the X-Universe, particularly Apocalypse and Mr. Sinister (in addition to Stryfe, of course, who gets his own entry in a bit). As a kid who only knew Apocalypse as a weird action figure and Sinister as a dude who looked like Colossus, I dug getting thrown in the deep end with them, their scheming, and their impressive shows of ambiguous mutant powers. It all came full circle so that when they did show up on the animated series I was jazzed to see characters I actually cared about brought to life.

X-Force is Awesome

I’d have to say my favorite single installment of the story remains part four, X-Force #16, which if I recall I actually read first, catching up on the first three chapters later. In that issue, the combined X-Men and X-Factor teams track down X-Force, who has been largely on the outside of the story to this point—save for a quick clash with X-Factor—hoping they will lead them to Cable, but instead a kick ass fight breaks out where Cannonball and company are wildly outmatched, but tenaciously keep swinging Rocky Balboa-style and make it a ballgame way longer than it should have been by all rights (I honestly thought Shatterstar was going to at least take out Wolverine). I had been a casual X-Force fan before this, but thought they were kind of lame just because they were basically Cable’s support staff; this is where they broke out and became all kinds of awesome on their own, setting up the run of comics I love where they broke away from their mentor altogether to the degree that when he came back had to basically ask them permission to rejoin the team (as a weird aside, Greg Capullo draws all the X-Force members in this issue covered in splotches of mud because they were in a swamp, but 10-year-old me thought it was some form of villain mind control and that’s why they were fighting the X-Men).

Cannon Fodder

Any big bad worth their salt has the prerequisite group of henchmen, but the ones featured in X-Cutioner’s Song—and most of 80’s/90’s X-Men lore—were a cut above the rest, with cool designs and crazy powers. You had Apocalypse’s Horsemen, at this point consisting of Caliban, Pestilence and War; the Dark Riders, who initially served Apocalypse but after Stryfe kicks his ass they swap loyalties because their whole thing is survival of the fittest; and finally, my personal favorites, the Mutant Liberation Front, Stryfe’s flunkies for the couple years previous who he totally throws under the bus here to get busted while he’s up on the moon. The MLF puts up a helluva fight though, with Strobe blinding Rogue and putting her out of action while Reaper nearly takes out Gambit and Quicksilver (one of the issues ended with the cliffhanger of him standing over them with his scythe and the next issue blurb literally read “Will Reaper kill Gambit and Quicksilver?” to which my 10-year-old self responded “Seriously? No.”); alas poor Kamikaze, who got accidentally decapitated when Archangel literally turned the wrong way with his wings extended (more on that later). This story was only missing Sinister’s Nasty Boys for 90’s X-Men henchmen perfection (I would say the Nasty Boys and MLF were the cut-off, as the new look Acolytes in Fatal Attractions and beyond were the quintessential “complex sounding power that is really just an energy blast” team of 90’s).

Who is Jae Lee?

I had no clue who Jae Lee was in 1992, aside from the fact that he drew nothing like Andy Kubert, Brandon Peterson or Greg Capullo (or Jim Lee or Rob Liefeld) and seemed grossly out of place as guest artist of X-Factor during X-Cutioner’s Song. At the time, I did not care for his work at all and was baffled as to how he got the gig. Of course over the years I’ve come to appreciate Jae Lee as one of the most unique and talented draftsmen in comics capable of work that’s transcendentally beautiful, but also looking back, his X-Cutioner’s Song work kind of kicked ass. The darkness, the use of shadow, the harsh angles—it ratchets up the tension and emotion to take a super hero action story to a very emotional place. His depictions of Xavier puking up techno-organic virus, Wolverine slashing Cable to pieces or Archangel brooding are masterpieces. Needless to say, I’d like to give kid me a good smacking sometimes.

To be continued…

The History of the X-Men in October Pt. 2

…continued from last time.

UNCANNY X-MEN #222 (1987)

If you’re looking for an example of when X-Men was truly an episodic experience, this is it. In 1987, when the franchise was an untouchable sales juggernaut followed by scores of diehard fans, Chris Claremont wasn’t so concerned with giving new readers an easy jumping on point every month as he was with crafting a huge, epic story that spanned literal years, great news in particular for those of us who would pick it up in large chunks over a decade down the line.

This story took place just before Fall of the Mutants and was another battle between the X-Men and Marauders, of which there were dozens in between Mutant Massacre and Inferno. I just mentioned three big summer crossovers that were lynchpins not just of the X-Men but Marvel as a whole, and it’s impressive how Claremont was able to just keep his larger narrative trucking along while working those checkpoints in along the way.

Here, the Marauders have captured Cyclops’ wife, Madelyne Pryor—Cyclops was off being quasi-unfaithful in X-Factor—so the X-Men head to San Francisco to get her back. While there was a quick Wolverine vs. Sabretooth fight per usual and per advertisement on the cover, the thrust of the story was Havok learning that Polaris has been possessed by Malice and is now leading the Marauders, in the process causing him and his teammates the requisite X-Men angst.

Meanwhile, the Adversary, posing as Naze, is convincing Storm she needs to kill Forge, which probably would have saved the X-Men a lot of grief down the line had she gone through with it.

Interesting to note this was one of many X-Men stories from around this period set in San Francisco, as it seems Claremont was toying with getting them out of New York and moving them to the very place Ed Brubaker would settle them in 20 years later before he opted for Australia instead.

UNCANNY X-MEN #162 (1982)

If you’re a Marvel Comics fan, you like are familiar with the Brood, but many have not read the earliest stories that introduced them, which is a shame because they are unheralded classics. This issue was part of the lengthy on-off saga in which they were introduced by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, and like a lot of stuff that came in the years following the Dark Phoenix Saga but before the 80’s boom really set in, I think it goes overlooked.

The creepiest aspect of this issue, which begins the Brood saga in earnest, is that the X-Men have already been infected by the aliens, but they don’t know it; they’re all in a trippy state of going through the motions where they have tinges that something’s wrong, but don’t know what. They just go about their business unaware of the ticking time bombs nestled inside them.

Only one person does know the score, and that’s Wolverine. He busts out of the mental prison the Brood have the X-Men in and is unleashed on a planet full of crazy Cockrum-designed monsters where he can really cut loose, so you get a nice dose of action with your pathos. The latter comes from Logan’s realization that even if he can survive the environment, not only does he have an enemy within waiting to take over, so do all his friends, and he knows since his healing factor will allow him to stave off the infection that much longer, he will have to kill all of them rather than let them become Brood.

It’s a great sci fi story and a great horror story with all the X-Men twists you’d come to expect from two of the masters. The psychedelic nature of the general team’s fugue state and the bizarre landscape Wolverine fights his way across really push the boundaries of what Cockrum’s capable of and let him excel. The best was still to come in this story, but if you can track this issue down or get it in Essentials, I strongly recommend it, as you’ll understand why so many creators love to use the Brood.

UNCANNY X-MEN #107 (1977)

As you can see by the cover blurb, this was the kick-off to the “incredible saga of the Starjammers,” aka the final act of the initial Phoenix Saga that introduce the Shi’ar to the X-Men specifically and Marvel Universe as a whole. As you can also see from the cover, this issue marked the full force debut of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Imperial Guard, from when I was a kid just because they had brightly colored costumes with awesome Dave Cockrum designs and an array of cool powers, to when I grew up and realized they were an homage to the Legion of Super-Heroes as designed by classic Legion artist Dave Cockrum. Half the fun for me when the Guard shows up is trying to figure out who is who’s Legion analogue, as after all these years I still have trouble nailing down much beyond Smasher being Ultra Boy, Oracle being Saturn Girl and Fan being Timber Wolf (who is Hussar supposed to be, darn it?).

This issue is a great fight between the X-Men and the Guard, but also amazing mythology building by Chris Claremont, as he’s setting up the Shi’ar, the M’kraan Crystal, D’ken and Lilandra’s crazy family drama, cool elements like the Soul-Drinker and Dath-Stars, and so on. It’s a testament to his skill and also to the strength of the X-Men that even though the franchises core message is really rooted in social drama as far as intolerance and acceptance, it’s always been fodder for great stories set in other genres and been one of the Marvel franchises most conducive to going cosmic.

Any enough can’t be said about how much Dave Cockrum rocks the issue, a true showcase of why he’s one of the all-time greats. Maybe the best pure designer when it comes to costuming and exotic looks in the history of comics, he’s also a master of the emotional expressiveness needed to convey the crazy stakes and wrenching twists of something like the Phoenix Saga.

The History of the X-Men in October Pt. 1

For the gist of what this is, see the last time I did it…

UNCANNY X-MEN #489 (2007)

This was (I believe) the penultimate chapter of “The Extremists” by Ed Brubaker and Salvador Larroca, where Masque was trying to twist ancient prophecies to serve his own ends and rally the Morlocks around him while Storm and the X-Men were trying to stop him. This was the issue with the “Skids is an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” reveal I liked. That would be a neat plot thread for somebody to follow up on even today. Skids is an interesting character in that she was something of a blank slate personality-wise when she first showed up in X-Factor (spunky teen girl), but probably because she was seen as expendable, she’s been subjected to so much trauma through the years (getting brainwashed by Stryfe, getting brainwashed by Magneto, watching Rusty get killed, getting kidnapped after trying to start a normal life) it makes her a potentially interesting character by default, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. angle would be cool to explore.

The Morlocks are another X-Men standby that to the best of my recollection have been recently untouched, possibly even since this story. They’re a great classic Claremont creation—the mutants so ugly and disenfranchised they make the X-Men seem accepted—who have actually always translated well to other mediums for my money (I love the Morlock episodes of the 90’s animated series and there was some great stuff in X-Men: Evolution as well). I’ve also always been intrigued/disturbed by Masque, who doesn’t seem to have a particularly dangerous power, but uses it in aggressive ways like taking away people’s ability to breathe, and makes up for physical shortcomings with a cult of personality approach.

This issue also guest-starred The Thing, as Storm was part of the Fantastic Four at the time. That was a fun era that flew by too briefly, but what I liked here was getting to see a relationship between Ororo and her new teammates, as her hubby The Black Panther got the bulk of the attention elsewhere.

UNCANNY X-MEN #410 (2002)

With the first part of a story arc called “Hope” began the controversial X-Men writing tenure of Chuck Austen, so because while he had some fans, he had more—or at least louder—detractors who point to his run as among the weakest in franchise history.

I’m not going to talk about that run as a larger body here, though, but rather this issue, which I dug at the time and felt represented a great jumping on point for new readers and a nice more classic super hero alternative to what Grant Morrison was doing over on New X-Men (and Joe Casey had done in his preceding work).

The issue began with the introduction of Sammy, a boy with a squid head who would become the poster child for those who did not enjoy Austen’s work, but here represented a mutant living with an outward curse and no real awesome gift to balance it—he could breathe underwater—tormented by bullies and without a stable home life. Professor X and Beast come to retrieve him and bring him to the Xavier School, basically his wish fulfilled, and in the process Austen gives a nice microcosm of what X-Men is all about: outcasts who are able to find safety and grow in a safe haven populated by those with similar experiences.

On the action end of the spectrum, the X-Men team Casey left behind of Archangel, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Iceman and Stacy X plus somewhat random addition M respond to a distress call from Muir Island and end up crashing. Professor X must psychically coach Stacy to save the lives of the others and then Juggernaut shows up for the cliffhanger.

There was a lot more character development and soap opera than fighting, which would become a knock on Austen’s run, but I still like this 10 years later as a decent comic to hand to a neophyte and say “Here, this is X-Men.” One of the best of all-time? Not even in the discussion to be in the discussion, but a story that accomplishes what it set out to.

UNCANNY X-MEN #348 (1997)

I’m pretty sure I’ve read this issue. I may even own it. But I don’t really remember it. It came out during the period I wasn’t reading comics in high school, so it’s likely I picked it up during my binge attempt to fill any X-Men gap I had around 2003-2004 (still haven’t read much of Claremont’s second run or the next issue on this docket).

What I can recall from context is, given that it’s two issues prior to #350 and Rogue and Gambit are on the cover, it probably focuses in large part on the latter’s secret past finally being revealed as a result of machinations by Magneto. I can also see from the cover that this group of X-Men was still clad in the weird Shi’ar space miner outfits Joe Madureira put them in for an outer space storyline—which also means this issue had sweet Joe Madureira art!

Searching the Internet tells me this issue was significant due to Rogue and Gambit having their powers dampened and thus sleeping together for the first time (or so it was heavily implied in those innocent days!), so there’s that, but this was really during the period where Scott Lobdell seemed to be spinning his wheels after the awesome run that extended over most of my childhood, so not much more to say.

UNCANNY X-MEN #293 (1992)

Another issue I’ve never read, and another Morlock story, in fact (billed as “The Last Morlock Story,” which, if you didn’t make the odd choice to start reading this post from this section, you know was not true). I believe this was the story where Colossus and Magik’s crazy brother, Mikhail Rasputin—who was first mentioned way way back around issue #98 or so as an astronaut who died on his big mission but was revealed to be alive, living in another dimension and a mutant like 15 years later because X-Men—drowned most of the Morlocks because he had been named their leader and though that was a the only solution to their suffering. I know this mostly because I just read a flashback about it in Cable Classic Vol. 3 recently.

I would like to someday get to checking out the brief blank spot I’ve got from between Bishop’s arrival and X-Cutioner’s Song, and I believe the Essentials should allow me to do so soon if not already.

To be continued…