Uncanny X-Men #238

Uncanny X-Men #238 (November 1988)
Rating:  ★★★★★★★★
Gonna Be a Revolution
Writer:  Chris Claremont
Artist:  Marc Silvestri
Inker:  Dan Green

This issue concluded the introduction to Genosha, an island nation that used mutants as labor, completely wiping away their identities.  This was really a landmark arc because no comic before had ever addressed the slavery concept.  Genosha would ultimately be a symbol for the southern states in the 1800's.  After all, they used mutants for labor, they would often treat them as less-than-human, you were considered property, and if you escaped, they would go after you.  In fact, later issues even showed that other governments would return their "property".  Of course had there been X-Men during that era, slavery might have ended differently.

This issue also continued the build up to the Inferno cross-over.  Once again, Madeline Pryor showed that she was delving more and more into darkness.  Of course a lot of this appears due to the Genoshans attempting to turn her into a mutate.

This issue actually doesn't have a lot of action or big splash panels.  This seemed to be a more philosophical battle as the Genegineer (he's the one responsible for creating the mutates) and his son battle over the idea of the mutates.  His son feels it is wrong to use them such as this, whereas the Genegineer wants to continue their way of life, even if it means sacrificing his own son just to keep things a secret.  It begs the question of "how far will you go to maintain your way of life?"

Overall, this issue was still great and part of one of my favorite arcs in the 80's.  I remember them being fairly easy to obtain.  It's a 4 issue arc and I think I bought them all for less than $15.  The art is fantastic and some of Silvestri's better work at the time.  I especially loved this arc because I started collecting with X-Tinction Agenda and this gave me insight to the backstory.  It's also the first time Wolverine ever lost his powers.  Turns out that without his powers, he actually starts dying from adamantium poisoning.

Excalibur: Special Edition

Excalibur:  Special Edition (1987)
Rating:  ★★★★★★★★
The Sword is Drawn
Writer:  Chris Claremont
Artist:  Alan Davis
Inker:  Paul Neary

This issue marked the first x-team introduced since the New Mutants.  Unlike the New Mutants, however, this team was established entirely of already known characters.  Kitty and Nightcrawler, fresh off of their recovery from injuries, Phoenix (Rachel Summers) who had been missing for a few years, and Captain Britain and Meggan who were both part of Marvel's UK line and had made some appearances in American comics, including Uncanny X-Men.  In fact, Psylocke of the X-Men is Captain Britain's twin sister (fraternal, obviously).

In Mojo's world, the X-Men are movie stars

This issue is Claremont at his finest, even if the villains are a bit more comical than we're used to.  Technet (led by the ugly Gatecrasher) is rather inept and you can't help but chuckle as they stumble through and successfully (at least momentarily) capture their prey.  Still, Claremont reminds us all that these are people he's writing about who just happen to have fantastic powers.  Shadowcat and Nightcrawler are still grieving for the X-Men (whom they believe perished in Dallas).  Captain Britain is a drunk as he grieves for his sister (again who is believed to have been killed in Dallas).  Meggan doesn't know how to deal with him (by the way, turns out he's an angry drunk).

Some of my favorite moments are outside of the battles.  Seeing Phoenix pulled in chains by her supposed friends (in Mojo's universe, of course, but still), Kitty crying over a picture of the X-Men, and Nightcrawler trying to sober up Captain Britain all rank among my favorite.  Especially Nightcrawler confronting Britain.  Seeing Nightcrawler slam the drunk up against the wall and how his own humility and pain is just fantastic.

Nightcrawler tries to sober up a drunk Captain Britain

The villains, like I said, are a bit silly.  The Warwolves are henchmen and Technet is just a standard villain team with little thought into their motivations (turns out, they're bounty hunters).  I will give credit to their powers.  They really do have some unique abilities. The big villain in this issue is really just pulling the strings and that would be Mojo.  Unfortunately, you really never get to explore that aspect.  Mojo works through his Warwolves and we seldom see any of that fight.

The art is fantastic.  I love Alan Davis.  His style is sometimes a bit more cartoony than others, but the characters are always very smooth and everything is where it needs to be.

Overall, even if you never cared for the Excalibur series, this issue is a must read.  It definitely makes you love the characters.

New Mutants #64

New Mutants #64 (June 1988)
Rating:  ★★★★★★
Instant Replay
Writer:  Louise Simonson
Artist:  Bret Blevins
Inker:  Terry Austin

So with Fall of the Mutants over, we are now left to deal with the repercussions.  Each title seems to deal with it in their own way.  Over in X-Factor, Cyclops starts looking for his lost son while the rest of the team deals with being celebrities.  In X-Men, they search for ways to do good in the world while maintaining their "death".  Here in New Mutants, the kids deal with death for the first real time in their lives.  Sure, Sam's father had died and Dani's grandfather, but none in the group had really faced death to one of their own, a peer.

The artwork, unfortunately, is mediocre at best.  Bret Blevins leaves a lot to be desired.  However, while Louise Simonson comes up with the weirdest stories, she really does know how to write children and we have to remember that many of the New Mutants are children, especially Rahne and Warlock.  Sure, Warlock may be physically old (I don't think we ever really find out for sure) but emotionally, he's a toddler, unable to grasp the concept of death.  He doesn't understand why they can't just recharge Doug's batteries like they would do to Warlock.

Rahne is still a wreck in this issue.  Her actions are just unhealthy, using the Danger Room to replay the events over and over again, this time saving Doug's life.  When the others find out what she's been doing, she completely breaks down, lashing out at them.  She simply doesn't know how to deal.  Magik is having trouble as well as she continues to mull over the X-Men's deaths in Dallas, her anger intensifying.  And Warlock?  He's having the hardest time of all.

At the wake, both Warlock and Rahne freak out at Doug's body.  Especially when Warlock finds out that Doug will be buried.  He cannot grasp the idea that there is nothing more to be done.  It gets into an interesting philosophical debate about religion and the afterlife.  Sam tries to explain judgment day, but how do you explain such a concept to a child?  Warlock gets the idea that why wait until later?  Why not have Doug walk around now?  His intentions are noble, but his actual actions are horrifying.  He artificially animates Doug's body, thinking that everyone would be happy to see his selffriend.  Doug's mother has a nervous breakdown.  Rahne once again freaks out.  But it is this incident that forces her to realize just how much she had been in denial.  It was time to let Doug go.

The funeral was especially touching as both Rahne and Warlock finally accept the finality of it all.

The artwork in this issue was difficult and inconsistent, but the writing was spot on.  Louise Simonson did always have a great grasp of the characters and knew how to write them.  This was a great issue to finalize the events from Fall of the Mutants.

"Good-bye, Selfriend.  Self will miss you and a piece of self will always be in heavendimension of livingdead with you."

What If...? #50 (Fall of the Mutants)

What If...? #50 (June 1993)
Rating:  ★★★
What if the Hulk Killed Wolverine?
Writer:  Joan Arcudi
Artist:  Armando Gil
Inker:  Armando Gil

So, I have finally finished my Fall of the Mutants issues and back to "normal".  However, I figured that a good way to send it off would be to review the What If...? issue that explores the question "What if the X-Men's battle had gone just a little differently?"  For those of you who don't know about the What If series, it was several self contained stories that took a look at a particular event in Marvel and wonder what if things had gone a little differently.  Most of them were told by The Watcher (the big bald guy, but not the one in the wheelchair) who could see all realities.  I actually enjoyed most of the series (until the more recent issues that weren't actually numbered).

Unfortunately, What If #50 wasn't one of them.

See, it turns out that right before the X-Men's adventures in Dallas, Wolverine encountered the Hulk.  They fought.  Wolverine stabbed Hulk through the heart and then walked away to join up with the X-Men.  The rest is history (see the last two issues I reviewed).  However, here one little thing changes and everything is altered.  Ever see The Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher?  No?  Well, it's actually a good movie.  But the idea is that one little change can have drastic and unforeseen consequences.  Here, Hulk doesn't just walk off, but he gets up and is totally enraged.  In his rage, he actually manages the impossible:  he kills Wolverine by severing his spinal cord.  To be fair, I can somewhat see how this could kill Wolverine back in the day.  The spinal cord is one part of your body that can't actually heal.

Once Wolverine is dead, the Adversary makes his move early, killing Madeline Pryor, Longshot, and Dazzler.  Once things calm down, Freedom Force finally arrives.  Spiral then announces the approach of the Hulk and Rogue takes off to avenge Wolverine.  Of course, the Hulk beats her.  Freedom Force and what's left of the X-Men then join in the fight.  Of course, the madder Hulk gets, the stronger he gets, and by now he's pissed.  He easily kills Avalanche (see the picture below) and when the rest charge, he kills Blob and Pyro (it's actually kind of funny - Pyro tries to burn the Hulk so Hulk picks up Blob and uses him as a shield - he then tosses Blob on top of Pyro creating a Pyre - like the play on words?).  Blob then clobbers Super Sabre killing him.

Then Rick Jones shows up to try to calm the Hulk down.  It's actually working until a Wolverine appears (much to everyone's surprise).  The Wolverine then stabs Rick through the heart and it's revealed that Rick was just Mystique in disguise.  Hulk then attacks Wolverine and it turns out that Wolverine was just the Adversary in disguise (sure are a lot of disguises around here).  The Adversary then takes a moment to kill both Destiny, Psylocke and Havok.  Meanwhile, Forge and Storm are freed (because the Hulk managed to reveal the Adversary's true form by throwing a lamp post through him) and with the help of Spiral, they drive the Adversary back to the portal but not through it.  Then Forge decides to sacrifice himself and use his own lifeforce to temporarily ban the Adversary long enough for Roma to regain control.

What...what?  You mean that all Forge had to do to stop Adversary was to kill himself?  That's all it took?  Then why the hell did he sacrifice the X-Men's lives in the regular world?  I guess Forge really is a coward and a villain.

See, that was one of the problems I had with this issue.  It didn't really stay true to the source material.  I mean, sure, I can believe that Wolverine's death would kick things off like this, but the ultimate climax made the ending of the original story completely worthless, showing that the X-Men's sacrifice actually meant nothing.

On top of that the various deaths don't really seem to mean anything.  Many are killed just as background characters, so if you really like Longshot, Dazzler, or Destiny, you'll be disappointed.  They barely get a mention (in fact they don't even get referred to by name, only getting killed in the background).

And the artwork.  Oh, don't get me started on the artwork.  I hated this artist.  It's confusing and inconsistent.  The faces all look misshapen and the artist seems to fail to grasp basic anatomy.

The story may have had such potential, and it's too bad that a better artist didn't tackle the issue.  Too bad that a better writer didn't pick it up.  Heck, too bad that Marvel didn't give it to a college writing class to figure out.  They probably could have done better.

Uncanny X-Men #227 (Fall of the Mutants)

Uncanny X-Men #227 (March 1988)
Rating:  ★★★★★★★★★
The Belly of the Beast!
Writer:  Chris Claremont
Artist:  Marc Silvestri
Inker:  Dan Green

This is it.  This is easily one of the most pivotal issues of Uncanny X-Men until the creation of the Blue/Gold teams.  This issue is a thrill ride throughout.  I especially love how a good portion is told from the perspective of the reporter, Neal.  Claremont is superb, giving us shots of each of the X-Men in action.  In fact, this issue alone is a fantastic starting point for any young reader as you don't need to know anything about the X-men.  Their powers are described in the next few panels.

I also love how Neal, who has tried to be the voice of reason, admits that the mutants can be scary when you have one who is more vicious than many of the villains and one who wields the power of the sun.  "What are we, compared to that?"

It's also an interesting concept.  The X-Men's world has turned into Vietnam during the war.  We discover that Forge unleashed the Adversary in a fit of rage over his fallen comrades.  I do like the idea of a mutant having fought in Vietnam and essentially coming away with PTSD.  Forge is a recluse and this is probably why.  The visuals are amazing and Silvestri does a great job showing the anguish on Forge's face as he tries to save his soldiers.  Of course this is all an illusion, but it serves to show what happened and where Adversary came from.

A big part of this issue is an attempt to give the X-Men the recognition they deserve.  Neal is somewhat of a "fifth wheel", but he just wants to give the X-Men a chance as the world is watching.  Of course some view him as an annoyance (actually just one:  Wolverine) but others appreciate what he is attempting.

Finally, the X-Men go after the villain.  The action is pretty intense from here on out.  Longshot's luck holds out and actually wounds Adversary.  Claremont actually has a history of showing the power of steel (an iron alloy) over magic.  I've always wondered where this came from, but it shows up several times.  Longshot functioning as a kite to pull the X-Men onto Adversary's citadel is fantastic.  He was always an enjoyable character.

Colossus gets to join the action in one of the greatest scenes of the issue.

The Adversary literally falls apart, revealing his true form.  It is a great return of such an iconic X-Man.  He quickly proves his worth in this issue (which is especially great as Wolverine proves to be useless).

Of course most who know the history know what comes next.  Even Storm, Rogue (who absorbed the Adversary's powers), Dazzler, and Havok are unable to force the Adversary back where he comes from.  So a decision will have to be made.  The X-Men must die.  This sets into motion several different changes.  Excalibur is created, X-Factor and New Mutants are forever changed, Illyana heads down her dark path which will ultimately lead to Inferno.  And of course the X-Men become celebrities.

Of course the X-Men don't die, but soon after they take up residence in the outback.  Many consider this the golden era of X-Men.  I'm not sure which incarnation I prefer, but there's no denying the great stories to follow.  This issue truly is a game changer and I'm not sure if there's a better end to a major story.  Ever.

Uncanny X-Men #226 (Fall of the Mutants)

Uncanny X-Men #226 (February 1988)
Rating:  ★★★★★★★★
Go Tell the Spartans
Writer:  Chris Claremont
Artist:  Marc Silvestri
Inker:  Dan Green

First of all, I apologize to all who enjoy reading these entries.  I ran out of time to complete one for Uncanny 225, which was the first entry of Uncanny X-Men in the Fall of the Mutants arc.  But here's the middle of the story.  Unlike X-Factor and New Mutants, the middle entry here isn't the climax, leaving the 3rd issue (227) to give the epilogue.  This one is more along the lines of a traditional trilogy and is a darker entry, with hope disappearing for the X-Men and possibly the world.

I don't know what it was, but this issue took me years to find.  Every other issue in Fall of the Mutants was easier to get hold of.  When I picked up Uncanny 227, imagine my surprise when Dazzler had a weird golden mask with a knife sticking out covering her face.  I always wondered how she got it there.  Well, once I finally picked up this issue, I finally knew.  Damn Spiral.  Of course, this is what I mean by darker.  Sprial discovers that her magiks are pretty screwed up and Dazzler is effectively blinded the rest of the arc.  Dallas comes under attack by dinosaurs and barbarians.  Nobody is spared.

This issue also introduces Manoli (a female technician) and her reporter, Neal.  These characters would actually be recurring throughout Claremont's books (they even show up years later in Fantastic Four when Claremont takes over that book for a couple years).  It's actually nice to see one who is skeptical of mutants' intentions (Manoli) and one who wants to just give them a chance (Neal).  The dialogue between them is fantastic.

Throughout it all, you see Freedom Force finally doing something other than hounding the X-Men as they must now protect a public against a threat to the entire world.  Freedom Force becomes a little more sympathetic, especially Destiny.  You can tell how she truly cares about the X-Men.  I wonder why she's even with them.  You also see the X-Men getting the first real public exposure.  Havok and Wolverine both have very different experiences in front of the camera (Wolverine, of course, wants nothing to do with it).

Lastly, we see Storm and Forge's relationship progress even further as they explore their love for each other.  It culminates in Forge developing a device that will restore Storm's powers.  It is successful and Storm's joy is apparent.  Of course this also announces to the Adversary that the next phase of the "game" is ready and he unleashes hell on earth.

The art in this issue is absolutely fantastic.  With maybe the exception of John Byrne, Marc Silvestri is the best artist up to this point.  Overall, this makes for an excellent read, but by itself, it makes very little sense as it has neither a beginning or an end.  Make sure to read it as it's intended:  as part 2 of a 3 part epic.

New Mutants #61 (Fall of the Mutants)

New Mutants #61 (March 1988)
Rating:  ★★★★★★
Our Way!
Writer:  Louise Simonson
Artist:  Bret Blevins
Inker:  Terry Austin

Most of this issue was a fantastic read and a great follow up to the first death of one of the New Mutants.  Cypher's death hit them all hard.  Rahne and Warlock were an emotional mess.  Rahne simply because of the guilt she felt and Warlock because he couldn't process the concept.  I love the emotional gambit that runs through the mutants.  You've got sorrow/depression (the aforementioned Warlock and Rahne).  You've got anger from both Illyana and Sunspot.  And lastly you have the two oldest mutants, Sam and Dani, who are a little more accepting of death and just trying to find a way to deal with it in a healthier manner.

You've even got bargaining.  Sam, who feels guilty over not watching over Doug (Sam's the oldest and always takes responsibility for everybody on his team), makes a pact with Rahne to consider her a sister.  Sam is missing his siblings and Rahne never had any, so it fills a gap in both their lives.  Sunspot and Dani clash when they try to call Magneto, both feeling guilt (which is a running theme throughout this issue).

You've also got Magneto who has no idea how to handle these children and Doug's death finally pushes him over the edge.  The X-Men's supposed death in Dallas after helping humans and the start of the Mutant Registration Act begins his reverting to old form.  Doug's death shook him badly.  So his response is to use his powers to try to bind the mutants in chains.  They of course fight back.  Illyana most of all.  Not only did she lose Doug, but her brother is now dead.  She once defended Magneto because he had once fought to defend her from S'ym.  Now, she sought to kill him.  The mutants pull her back and they flee, leaving Magneto alone with Doug's body.

This leads the mutants to decide to follow their own edicts.  They won't follow Magneto and Professor Xavier is gone.  So they grab some new costumes from the various clothes in the attic.  Then, and only then, do they truly look like dorks.

Okay, so maybe that was a bit extreme, but I really hated their new costumes.  I don't know if Bret Blevins had anything to do with the designs, but I'm sure he did.

The issue had some glaring issues which keep it from being a great issue.  Blevins' art is just bad.  As always, most of the characters are misshapen and distorted.  But some of the scenes are just especially bad.  As I mentioned already, the costumes were bad.  And I thought the final scene with them in their costumes was just corny.  There should have been a better way to end the issue.

Still, overall, I love the reactions to Doug's death and the emotions that play out.  Again, Simonson demonstrates her mastery of understanding teenage emotion.  This is definitely a good issue.  Too bad it couldn't be great.