12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #326 (1995)

Happy New Year!

Today's issue has us getting more glimpses into Gambit's mysterious past before he joined the X-Men. In case you don't remember, Gambit was working for Mr. Sinister back in the old days, and he led the Marauders to the Morlocks before the Mutant Massacre. The guilt is ripping Remy LeBeau up, so he takes out his anger on the lobotomized Sabretooth the X-Men are "rehabilitating."

It's not even much of a fight, because Sabretooth is basically in a child-like state of mind. Now whether or not he's faking is still not clear as of this issue, but it is still a neat scene when Gambit has holograms of Creed's victims start showing up and accusing him of his past murders.

I'm not certain the continuity lines up anymore though. Since James Howlett and Sabretooth were kids around 1900, it makes the timeline for Creed's first murders when he was 9 seem a little bit off. Either way, it is a good scene. And at the close of the issue it sure looks like Sabretooth might be turning back into the bad guy we know and love.

There are a lot of pages dedicated to the Legacy Virus too. These pages don't hold my attention too well, as the whole arc seemed weird. I know the X-Men always stand in for the current persecuted people of the day, but the HIV/Legacy Virus thing was a big heavy handed.

It certainly doesn't help that the Legacy Virus took out Moira MacTaggart, a valuable supporting cast member who deserved a better send off.

Joe Madureira's art was so revolutionary at this time, I remember loving it. Now I'm struck by the lack of backgrounds and the heavy use of computer-generated images to try and give each page a sense of place. It's a pity that the foreground characters look so dynamic yet the primitive photoshop work doesn't. Again, Mad's Beast is the highlight of the issue, but he draws a mean Gambit too. I like the simplified outfit Storm has in this era too.

Good

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #325 (1995)

Maybe it is because this is an anniversary issue, but I actually remember this issue from my first read! It isn't that great of a comic, so I'm not sure why it stuck in my head. Perhaps it is due to the first appearance of Marrow, modern classic that she is.

One striking thought about Marrow is that she has gotten quite cleaned up over the years. Joe Madureira's Marrow is a lot uglier, with bad skin and bone spurs sticking out all over her body. In the modern era, Marrow is a lot more of a looker. I'm not opposed to the change, especially since she joined the X-Men.

Mad's kinetic artwork is always exciting, even if the proportions and perspective don't always match up. But that's OK, because this is hyper four-color action in the mighty Marvel manner. To this day, I don't think there is anyone who draws a better Beast than Joe Mad.

Scott Lobdell opens hte issue with that old X-Men chestnut; the inter-team baseball game. I'm not going to lie, it is pretty nice seeing the team like this again. Cyclops pitching, M at bat, Beast playing catcher, it just has a sense of family and fun that has been missing from the X-Men for a long, long time. Seriously, when was the last time that the X-books felt fun? Schism was dark, but I think it goes much further. M-Day was rough. That is going back a long, long time for a depressing era of mutant comics.

The modern darkness is even more striking because the characters in this book are constantly talking about how bad things are. Colossus returns after abandoning the team (and he's in a truly awful costume to make things worse). Wolverine is still rocking bone claws and a savage attitude. Cyclops? He's still the cool leader wearing a sleeveless hooded sweatshirt and ball cap. As a Colossus fan, I have to admit this is a very dark time for the character. He was hooking up with Callisto for heaven's sake! Domino is a pretty massive improvement!

The Gene Nation are never a huge threat in this issue. Vessel, Sack, and the other gross bozos are basically fodder for the X-team as Marrow takes on Storm. Marrow has attached a detonator to her heart, so if Storm fails to kill her, a bunch of humans will get blown up. It is kind of surprising seeing Storm just do what needs to be done and kill Marrow. (Of course, we know that this death doesn't stick for long.)

Lobdell does a nice job leveraging Storm and Wolverine's friendship as Storm deals with what she's done. These two characters have had a strong relationship for many years, something I didn't really remember.

Fair

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #324 (1995)

If you like action, then this one is for you, True Believers!

Not even the average art of Roger Cruz can dampen the mood when Sack and Vessel take on Cannonball, Wolverine, Beast, and Storm. And to be honest, I'm being a tad harsh. While the art isn't great, Cruz does a nice job on Beast, Cannonball, and the two villains. Wolverine looks a little too crazy for me (his mask would help) and Storm's sudden morphing into street clothes confused me for half the issue.

And Psylocke's psychic battle armor? Atrocious and weird. How could a metal suit cling that tightly to her butt?

Vessel's powers are a bill ill-defined; he can absorb the souls or psychic and physical power from those he kills. With 33 kills at a nearby nightclub, he's got enough in the tank to make it tough on Wolvie, Beast, and Storm. I do like bad guys that just take a big pounding, though. There is nothing too complicated in taking down the villain, just lots of punches, slashes, and lightning bolts.

Cannonball takes on Sack one on one in an enjoyable little fight that shows off the coolness of the "invulnerable while blasting" aspect of Cannonball's powers. That's always been one of the coolest powers in the comics and seeing it work against a weird possession villain is a neat twist.

The two villains reveal themselves as part of the Gene Nation, a group with ties to the Morlocks. Storm doesn't know exactly how that fits in with her memories of the underground mutant community, but I seem to remember this story introducing Marrow and bringing back a certain overpowered Russian mutant too. We'll see if I'm right in the upcoming issues.

The mysterious Gambit subplot isn't doing anything for me, just because whatever it is that Psylocke is looking for probably isn't that big a deal; I don't remember anything that affects the character these days. The Iceman and Rogue road trip is still weird too. Rogue is struggling to deal with a kiss with Gambit where she absorbed his memories, but again, Gambit just doesn't have enough interesting backstory to justify two subplots.

But the subplots don't take too many pages and most of the issue is straight-up action. I always appreciate that.

Good

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #323 (1995)

The hardest part about these reviews is finding the dang issue number on the front of the comic. Seriously, take a look at that cover and try to find it. Aargh!

This issue has pencils by a guy who I think could go places. Some dude named Bryan Hitch. How crazy is the run of artists on this title so far. It certainly isn't hurting matters having top notch artists working on all these old books. Many of them are still favorites of mine today.

Hitch does a decent job with the issue. He clearly enjoys drawing Rogue as she spends the entire issue in a tiny top and cut off jean shorts while road tripping with Iceman. Rogue maximizes every opportunity to stretch out and show off her outfit. Something tell me that it isn't doing anything for Iceman... (One small note, the previous issue described their road trip as being "ON THE RUN" and that really overstates the stakes of a flat tire.)

I don't love Hitch's design for Storm, a more regal-looking suit with a weird topknot. But the rest of the X-Men look good, I especially enjoyed the over-the-top hallucination of Emma Frost plaguing poor Iceman.

Back at the mansion, Archangel and Psylocke are flirting it up in the Danger Room (making sure to show off Psylocke's tiny swimsuit) while Cannonball takes care of the lobotomized Sabretooth. One thing that is clear from re-reading these issues is that everything is crossing over. Marvel clearly didn't think there were a lot of people reading this book but not X-Men or Wolverine. the plots are picked up and continued and cliff-hangered into and out of all the different books. Crazy.

I love Cannonball's early days on the X-Men. He was a refreshing voice and his attitude made older characters like Wolverine feel more dangerous. Cannonball had that generic costume too, which made him feel even more like a recent graduate to the X-Men. He is a great reader identification character.

The foils for this one are the now simple Sabretooth (who you just know is gonna be trouble) and the hilariously named Sack and Vessel. Sack looks like a wet glob around a skeleton who can slime into folks and control them while Vessel seems to be muscular. You've got to love mid-90's code names, huh?

Decent action, subplots, and nice art. I have to admit I'm enjoying this year's X-Mas!

Good

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #320 (1995)

I'm having a hard time remembering exactly how the rosters were working for the X-Men around these issues. I thought it was still X-Men Blue and X-Men Gold teams, but the groups have been all mixed up for both issues. Were we already in the era of no set rosters?

In any case, this issue stars Storm, Jean Grey, Iceman, Bishop, and Psylocke as they travel to Israel to take on Legion in Legion Quest part 1. I'm not sure why the X-Men would only send a small team to take on god-level mutant, but that is neither here nor there.

This is a marked improvement over the previous issue. Scott Lobdell gets a dialogue assist from Mark Waid, so of course the quality is going to bump up some. Unfortunately, some unclear artwork and a very non-linear story don't make for a good mix.

Roger Cruz is not bound by the normal rules of comic book storytelling, so odd-shaped panels bounce the reader's eye all over the place. There are arrows to help you find the next panel in some cases, but not all. Then there are some pages that go across two pages and some that don't, all in all, this is a very hard issue to read.

I forgot how much I used to like Jean Grey. As a noted hater of telepaths, that takes something for me to admit. But her competence as team co-leader, her immense power levels, and that sweet pouch-filled '90s outfit make her a pretty neat character. Teen Jean just can't cut it when compared with the original.

Bishop does little more than scream, Iceman and Psyclocke are window dressing. Jean Grey manages to take on Legion for a few pages, but most of the issue is Legion showing off his new power levels. He takes Storm on a little time jaunt to show that he can now go back in time. I really like that the X-Men have basically given up by page one, leaving the entire battle in the hands of Storm. Storm is powerful, of course, but I never dreamed she'd be the character best equipped to take on Legion.

David Haller/Legion comes off as a whiny kid, as he always does. There is often a kindness to his character too, but in this issue he doesn't exhibit much to sympathize with. He's pretty cruel when he taunts Storm with a chance to change traumas in her past. C'mon David, why go through that just to upset Storm?

Fair

Avengers & X-Men: Axis #1

I’m sort of conflicted on this one. There are a lot of good things about Rick Remender’s massive crossover, but there are some fairly glaring problems too.

First of all, this really feels like an epic Marvel crossover. This story clearly picks up after months of Uncanny Avengers issues, but I’d hope that the context is enough to catch everyone up on what is happening. (I read this with my 9-year old and she picked it up OK.) There are numerous great moments scattered through the book; from the use of Plantman (looking way more plant-y than I remember) all the way the surprise ending. Along the way, Remender has a great moment between the Summers brothers and a wonderful, timely arrival from the X-Men. Actually, that X-Men moment really struck me at how perfect that Uncanny line-up has always been. With Colossus, Storm, and especially Nightcrawler, man, that team just looks like it belongs front and center in the Marvel U.

I appreciate the use of Scarlet Witch and Rogue as such central characters, but man, having both them fail to fight off Red Onslaught’s power does make them seem a bit weak. Scarlet Witch in particular came off as too big of a threat to be walking around. After House of M and “No More Mutants,” maybe she shouldn’t just be walking around with her powers any more after all. Rogue comes off a tad better, especially after the talking up she gets from Professor X. I understand why Remender held off from explaining her current Wonder Man situation too; there were enough status quo changes in the book already!

Now for main problem. The smart-ass quipping. Remender does a great job with Iron Man. Iron Man is supposed to be clever, overconfident, and somewhat jokey. The character sounds like he could have Robert Downey Jr. inside that armor. And Hawkeye has always had that sarcastic tone too. But Vision? Odinson/Thor? The new Captain America? Every single one of them sounds the same, smarting off and being smart asses. It is hard to hear different voices for the Avengers when they are all this…sit-comy.

That said, I LOVED Red Onslaught’s dialogue. He used “scum” and “trash” enough to really have me hankering for a beat down. I can’t wait for him to get what he deserves! Remender also does a wonderful job with Magneto. Magneto calls someone a “cur,” instantly proving Mags’ superiority on the battlefield. Ahab gets some great smack talk in too. Remender is pretty great at getting the reader anxious to see the villains get served.

Adam Kubert has a big order here. There are a TON of heroes involved, and they all look pretty great. I mentioned how dynamic the X-Men looked, but the Avengers are just as nicely done. I’m a bit confused on a few things (doesn’t Thor have one arm?) but they are minor. I LOVE the look and feel of Red Onslaught. He dominates every page he appears on, as an event-central villain should. The design on the surprise foes at the close of the issue seem to have a nice, sleek look too. It’s too bad Kubert can’t do a book regularly any more.

This is a GOOD event that feels like the high-octane battles I remember from my youth. Remender has always channeled the 80’s in a good way, and he’s still doing so here. 

Wolverine: Killable TPB

I must admit to being a bit disappointed in this storyline. I generally like Paul Cornell’s stories. I adore Alan Davis’ artwork. But this Killable arc never really rises much higher than “OK.” I’m not sure if that is because of the dialogue, the boring villains, or the fact that the story seems better in idea than execution.

Wolverine without his healing factor is "Killable," and everyoen knows it. Friends and enemies are lining up to get a moment with Wolverine while he's down and out. Unfortunately, the villains behind Wolvie's weakened state never seem worthy of the "important" story arc we're getting. The side moments with existing Marvel characters are more compelling than the core plot. 

As the story rolls on, Wolverine teams up with Storm, Shadowcat, and Black Panther. That’s a pretty stellar group of guest-stars. Even better, Cornell does a wonderful job with Black Panther in particular. T’Challa is smart, reasonable, and totally a hero throughout a pretty rough situation in Wakanda.

SHIELD plays a pretty big part too, mainly through the eyes of Maria Hill, but I wasn’t totally invested in those sequences. I really like Director Hill, but I need some new Howling Commandos to root for too. It was great to see Dum Dum Duggan, Jimmy Woo, Jasper Sitwell, and Gabe Jones back in the day. If those guys aren’t options now, we need more named agents. The new Nick Fury is fine too; I like the idea of a super-agent Fury as the lead field op rather than the boss. But still… I need some more people to care about.

The main villains in the arc, well, the story-motivating villain, is the sentient mind-control sickness from the opening arc. They aren’t tremendously interesting to me. The lack of a clear visual for the infected along with the lack of any sort of “leader” makes it hard to get angry at them with focus. I was more annoyed that this faceless villain is going to get the credit for taking Wolverine down.

Sabretooth, Mystique, Silver Samurai, and Batroc(!) fare better. They are nice, visual threats that Wolverine and his friends can throw down with. I’m less clear on the powers of The Host, the illness controlling villainess who eventually takes out the sentient illness. I guess the non-visual, non-simple powers are confusing me once again. Just like mind powers, I just can’t wrap my head around the powers of someone who talks to illnesses.

Alan Davis’ artwork is wonderful, as always. His costumed heroes and villains look awesome (look at that Black Panther above!) The sets are usually nicely set up for action sequences, and I love the way his bystanders and innocents always have varieties of body types and facial features. Davis’ worlds are populated with “real” looking folks, it is a nice change. Plus, no one does big action better.

Unfortunately, the spectacular art can’t make up for the lackluster story. This is only an AVERAGE for me. 

Uncanny X-Force v1: Let It Bleed TPB

I really like Psylocke and Storm. Fantomex seemed cooler in concept than execution; I don’t know why people don’t see him as Gambit for the 2000’s. Spiral was never my favorite villain. Puck is way down the list of faves from Alpha Flight. And I liked Bishop better as a future cop trying to fit in rather than an evil maniac.

So Sam Humphries had a lot of obstacles to overcome before I would really go crazy about this comic. I’m sad to say he never really does it.

The high concept is deceptively simple. Wolverine sends Psylocke to LA to hunt down Spiral. Psylocke is depressed after a bad breakup with Fantomex, so Storm goes along. They meet up with Puck, and find Spiral dealing drugs at a club. Only it isn’t drugs, it is the mind-affecting powers of a new mutant. One who has ties to an immortal body-stealing corruptor from the future. Where Bishop has also become involved with the psychic evil. And he comes back too. And Spiral just wants to protect the little girl.

Oh, and I guess Fantomex got split into three bodies at some point? I was unaware. This comic has Fantomex (the version closest to the original, Cluster (a female version), and Dark Fantomex (an evil version). Eva the intelligent spaceship shows up a few times as a very womanly robot, taking away from the weirdness of her relationship with Fantomex, in my opinion.

Then Bishop starts “BROOOOAAAAR”ing all the time, somehow tied to Dani Moonstar’s demon bear.

So yeah, to me, this is kind of a mess. The characters are fine on the surface, because they don’t do much more than run around. I appreciate Humphries trying to give Spiral some depth, but man, she was a solid villain, right? No need to soften her up.

There are too many story elements mixed together, and they don’t really belong together. Like a peanut butter and ham sandwich.

The art is passable, but not overly impressive. To be honest, this is barely recognizable as Ron Garney’s work. I usually love his pencils, as I do on his current Thor run. This seems oddly rushed. Perhaps the inking isn’t a good fit? Adrian Alphona comes on for the last few issues, but the art looks dreamlike and inconsistent with the earlier issues.

This is an EVIL version an old favorite. I think reading library copies is the way to go here. 

Wolverine & the X-Men #24

Ah, time for the “breather” issue. The time when a comic can take a break between bigger storylines. Of course, in Jason Aaron’s run, the stories have been action-packed, but never depressing. Even when things seem to be at their worst, there is still a sense of joy in this comic that really sets it apart. 

This issue is all about characters pairing off and maybe making a go of it as a couple. (Much to Toad’s dismay.) Aaron has been laying the groundwork for Iceman and Shadowcat for a while now, and they do seem to work nicely together. I’m not sure there is much of a future there; Shadowcat especially has too much on her mind. But I like that Iceman is even involved; he rarely gets in these love triangles. 

The weirdest pairing is the one featured on the cover. I never really realized (or perhaps it is a new reveal) that Storm and Wolvie have a bit of a romantic past. She sure insinuates as much when the two of them team up in the new Danger Room. When Wolvie gives her back the old Mohawk look, things really heat up. Poor Black Panther, I can only assume that the one person he didn’t want his ex-wife hooking up with was the ol Canucklehead. Or maybe Namor. Can’t be sure! 

One pairing that seems strange at first, but actually works, is bad boy telepath Quentin Quire and the young Jean Grey. Quentin is confident and a better guy than he lets on, and Jean is running from the whole Cyclops-type good guy. I don’t think the two of them will get far, but I like the idea that these two would find each other. They could probably be a good influence in each other’s lives! 

David Lopez really brings his A game to the book. I’ve always liked his work, but this really stands out. His Storm is simply stunning. He really sells the acting between Iceman and Shadowcat on their date, too. I can’t remember the last time I saw such expressive faces.

Good