|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 13, 2023 17:51:31 GMT -5
When I re-read those not too long ago (after reading them piecemeal as I bought them) I definitely appreciated Firebrand alot more. maybe someday after the movie is a distant memory I'll be able to afford to get that issue (it has come down by about 1/2 in the last couple years.. almost back to pre-movie levels, so maybe....)
|
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Dec 15, 2023 1:01:01 GMT -5
I re-read X-Men #98-101 via the X-Men Second Genesis Epic Collection. This is the Steven Lang Sentinels, plus the aftermath with emergence of Phoenix in #101.
Claremont and Cockrum are already serving up classics. We begin #98 with the X-Men celebrating Christmas in NYC along with Moira and Jean. We also getting a cameo first appearance by Amanda Sefton, as one of two women Nightcrawler and Colossus are scoping out. I wonder if she was planned to be a long-term character or this was just a throwaway. I believe #98 is also Wolverine's first appearance out of costume. He looks old and ugly; I heard he originally supposed to be a young hothead. The relationship between Scott and Jean is a significant focus in this arc. Scott and Jean going to dinner at Rockerfeller. Jean is wearing her famous black dress; it's to die for, so to speak. The date goes poorly, as Jean is abducted by Sentinels. Cyke is only spared because the robots think he's dead. As a reward for missing out on most of the action in #97, Banshee and Wolverine are captured as well. Jean attacks the Sentinels, seemingly with telepathy rather than just telekinesis. I'm wondering when Jean was first shown using telepathy. Reading a series as back issues out of order screws up one's sense of chronology, but my impression was that Jean's powers were almost exclusively limited to telekinesis in her Silver Age appearances. She also displayed telepathy in sensing Havok and Polaris posed a danger in #97.
Meanwhile, Professor Xavier is on his fishing vacation at sea, which he decided to go ahead with even after Eric the Red & pals tried to attack his plane. He gets kidnapped by Sentinels as well, but his pal Dr. Peter Corbeau (a minor character from the Incredible Hulk) is left behind. Meanwhile, days pass and Cerebro is incapable of locating the kidnapped X-Men. That's because they're on the Starcore Space Station. We discover that Wolverine's claws are implanted in his body. An escape attempt by Jean, Banshee, and Wolverine ends when the bust out into the vacuum of space. They're lucky that Steven Lang wants them alive for now, and Sentinels rescue them next issue. At Xavier's mansion, the Prof's friend Peter Corbeau arrives, and in a wonderful coincidence he's the genius behind Starcore.
This leads to a rescue mission by the remaining X=Men and Peter Corbeau aboard a Starcore Space Shuttle in #99. It looks the publication date places this issue after the design of the real Space Shuttle was unveiled, but before the Enterprise test craft was completed. In an early example of what I think is one of Claremont's writing flaws, thought balloons reveal Colossus's brother Mikhail was a cosmonaut who died in an accident (until his death was retconned in the 1990s). Claremont just can't let the Rasputins all remain humble Siberian farmers - one of them has to be famous. We get strong hints that Colossus has a secret crush on Storm, but that subplot will fall by the wayside in a little bit. The kidnapped X-Men are rescued, and Cyclops, who is holding a grudge about Jean's abduction, beats the crap out of Steven Lang. His face looks terrible. But something in the shadows knocks out Scott and Jean. Suddenly the Silver Age X-Men including the Prof, Jean, Scott, and human-looking Beast attack the new folks.
That's leads to the normal-sized #100 with its excellent X-Men versus X-Men cover. I think Cockrum's art (especially when he inks himself) has been stronger in this arc than the previous issues. Cyke noted that the Sentinels seemed weaker than typical versions, and it turns that Lang's secret weapon was the imposter X-Sentinels. It should've been obvious these were fakes from Beats lacking fur, Cyke's old visor, etc. but it takes Wolvie slicing fake Jean up before the team realizes the originals are actually robots. In the course of the battle, when get the first appearance of the Fastball Special. We also get a glimpse of the behind the scenes relationship Claremont has been developing, as he has Storm remark that she and Jean had spent hours together, becoming friends and confidants. So even though Jean just showed up again in #97, were to understand that she's been keeping in contact with several of her former teammates. In #101, it's revealed that Jean moved to the City after leaving the team in #94.
The X-Sentinels are defeated, and Steven Lang seemingly dies when Jean jams the controls of his little flying craft. The bad new is that his goons take all the escape pods and the hull of space shuttle was smash during the trip to the space station. Massive solar activity and the compromised cockpit shielding means no one (certainly not the only shuttle pilot Corbeau) should be able to survive piloting the craft. But Jean decides she's the best person for the job by telepathically absorbing Corbeau's knowledge and holding off the radiation with her TK. Scott doesn't want Jean to die, so Jean renders him unconscious. Cockrum and the colorists depict Jean's powers better than the Silver Age art did. Wolverine, who has been getting more attention since #98, also tries to convince Jean not to risk it. Jean tells Wolvie what a low opinion she has of him, but I guess for him that's a turn-on. Jean and Storm share a teary goodbye. Jean, sure she will die, tells Storm to tell Scott that she loved him.
The last pages of #100 and first pages of #101 are really well done. They set out the gravity of Jean's sacrifice and her nobility in taking on what she knows is a suicide mission despite her fear. It's hard to pilot a space shuttle when you're dying of radiation, so the shuttle bounces off the JFK runway into Jamaica Bay. After the other X-Men and Corbeau emerge from the water, we get the classic scene of Jean bursting out of the water in a strange (but beautiful) new costume with some crazy talk about being the Phoenix. Then she falls unconscious.
Wolverine continues to be overlooked on covers. Aside from the corner box, he doesn't appear on the covers of #99 or #101. But Claremont has started to write some material for Wolvie. So when Jean is taken to the hospital, Wolverine (still never referred to as Logan) plots to bring Jean flowers and chat her up while no one's around. His plot to steal Scott's girl when she's a gravely injured captive office is foiled when it turns out the whole team plus Moira is already at the hospital. Lest you think Xavier lusting after Jean in an early Silver Age issue was something that was totally avoided until Onslaught, Charles says out loud to Moira that he once thought he loved Jean as much as he loved Moira. This is also significant because even though we've been told Charles and Moira have a past, this is the first time it's been explicitly stated to be a romantic past.
Thankfully, some rando named Dr. McKay and Dr. Corbeau (MD in addition to astrophysicist?) announce Jean should make a full recovery. Everyone celebrates. Scott cries tears of joy in Jean's hospital room, reflecting that he though the team was his life, but it was really Jean. Xavier then announces the team will go on a mandatory vacation, except he and Scott who will watch after Jean. Wolverine is pissed that Operation Captive Audience has been foiled, but Banshee announces that they can vacation at his newly inherited castle in County Mayo, Ireland.
Just about the only interlude during the Sentinel arc was a scene of lawyer in Ireland sending a letter to Xavier's mansion for Sean Cassidy. After giving the letter to the clerk, the lawyer is shot down outside by a shadowy figure (Black Tom Cassidy in his first cameo) whose "mad plan" the letter is warning Sean about. A couple things I'll note. First, unless Black Tom retrieved and altered the letter, this is an early example of Claremont's contradicting a teaser. When Banshee receives the letter, it's just a notice that he inherited Cassidy Keep with no warning. Second, the address on the letter is in Scarsdale. When was the first reference to Salem Center? Is it just a section of Scarsdale or served by the Scarsdale post office?
The later pages about the trip to Ireland aren't too interesting. The town of Ballina is misspelled as Balina. Nightcrawler uses his image inducer to imitate several classic film actors. Storm showers via a storm, while shadowy figures in the rafters (leprechauns!) look on. Also, Wolverine seems to be wearing gloves when he's out of costume, which suggest he tries to keep the exit points of his claws hidden. We end with Black Tom and the returning Juggernaut capturing the X-Men and Storm collapsing in fear when being in a dungeon is described as being buried.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Dec 15, 2023 21:58:31 GMT -5
On Tuesday, I was caught up on reading all the comics that I had bought. Then came Wednesday, and I bought a few new comics. I read Detective Comics #1079 already. I bought Danger Street #12, but I didn’t read it because I haven’t read the rest of the issues. Which is not something that I usually worry about too much. But it’s a new comic, so it shouldn’t be too hard for me to get all the other issues within a few weeks. So I’ll just wait.
The comic shop had #1 and #2, so I got those and read them already. The next day, I was unexpectedly passing through the area, so I stopped by the comic shop to see which other issues they had. So I got #5 and #8. But I haven’t read them yet.
I’ve ordered a few back issues lately, and some of them came today. I got Justice League of America #112 and five issues of Action Comics from the late 1970s. I haven’t read any of these yet.
I also went to Comixology and bought a couple of Amazo’s earlier appearances. And I have a Thor epic collection that I bought digitally. I read these stories in various formats years ago, but I have not opened up the digital version yet.
So here’s the comics that I own that I haven’t read yet, presented in chronological order ...
The Brave and the Bold #30
Justice League of America #27
To Wake the Mangog (Epic Collection)
Justice League of America #112
Action Comics #480, #481, #482, #483, #486
Danger Street #5, #8, #12
I’ve ordered a few more comics that should be coming in over the next few days. We’ll see how long it takes me to get caught up.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Dec 16, 2023 21:34:46 GMT -5
I didn’t get any new comics today.
I read Brave and the Bold #30, JLA #27, part of JLA #112, Action Comics #480, #481 and #482 since last night. (I left a few comments in the JLA thread.)
Comics I haven’t read yet:
To Wake the Mangog (Epic Collection)
Justice League #112 (the rest of it)
Action Comics #483 and #486
Danger Street #5, #8 and #12
|
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Dec 17, 2023 0:12:20 GMT -5
I read X-Men #102-108 via the X-Men Second Genesis Epic Collection. Although Marvel Team-Up Annual #1 and Marvel Team-Up #53 chronologically occur between pages of X-Men #101, they are placed later in the volume so as not to disrupt the main X-Men story.
X-Men #102-103 continue the Cassidy Keep story arc that began in the latter half of #10. I don't think it measures up to most of the rest of the first Cockrum what with all the leprechauns, but we do get continuing character development and the beginning of the Juggernaut/Black Tom Cassidy team. As Storm continues to freak out for most of these two issues, we get her backstory. She's the daughter of African-American photo-journalist David Munroe (the first time we've seen her surname) and a Kenyan mother, N'Dare. Her family leaves Harlem to go to Cairo. During the Suez War, Ororo is buried alive and her parents are killed. This is the source of her claustrophobia. She ends up a pickpocket living among other street urchins under the tutelage of a master thief. Later, as a twelve-year-old, she walks for over a year to reach Kenya.
Anyway, Storm's distress triggers Xavier's telepathy back in NYC. Xavier wants to send Scott to rescue the X-Men. Scott refuses, as he thinks the distance makes the mission futile and he wants to stay with Jean. Xavier flips out, but then has another alien hallucination. Jean gets a hospital visitor in her roommate Misty Knight, who is a regular in Iron Fist. She presumably knows Jean's dual identity already, as she mentions Jean being on the space shuttle.
Wolverine continues to be the butt of a lot of jokes as Colossus tosses him far away from the action for calling Storm a broad. Nightcrawler is the MVP for some creative image inducer use which helps to free Storm from the confines of the castle. Banshee gets Black Tom to take a dive in the sea, with Juggernaut attempting to rescue them. We learn that Tom and Juggernaut's real plan was to try to lure Xavier and kill him. It turns out they've been hired by Eric the Red, who is turns is reporting by video to a weird looking dude, who will later be revealed as Emperor D'Ken.
X-Men #104 brings the return of Magneto, who is restored by Eric the Red to adulthood after being transformed to an infant in the pages of Defenders. Mags is still a scenario-chewing villain, rather than the more complex character Claremont will make him. The X-Men have been dispatched to Moira's Muir Island research facility, because her assistance Jamie Madrox is incommunicado. This is the first we learn that Moira is scientist. She was playing housekeeper! The X-Men gets their butts kicked. They never trained to fight Magneto, because he was a baby. But Cyclops comes to the rescue. Cyke realizes it's all part of Eric the Red's repeated efforts to attack Xavier, so he orders the X-Men to retreat to NYC, much to Wolverine's chagrin. We also get two very different bits of foreshadowing of mutants imprisoned on Muir Island. First, Dragonfly of the Ani-Men has escaped. Maybe it's a foreshadowing fail as I can't remember her appearing in X-Men again. Second, there's someone called Mutant X, who's door is signaling a breach. We also get the first appearance of three of the Starjammers: Christopher (Corsair) with the colors of his costume reversed, Ch'od, and his pet C'reee (unnamed here). They are said to be aboard "a starjammer," implying its a type of vessel and not the name of a unique craft or its crew.
There's a continuity fail between the end of #104, when Eric the Red, Havok, and Polaris are peering in the window of Jean's apartment at Xavier, Misty, Jean, and Jean's parents. In contrast, #105 starts with the X-Men attacking Eric at the X-Mansion. The X-Men are finally routing Eric before Firelord appears to soundly defeat them. It turns out that earlier Firelord had chanced upon Eric's HQ, when he sacrifices Havok and Polaris (now inexplicable wearing green instead of the purple of #97) by pretending they're attacking him to win the loyalty. He tells a wild story of Xavier being the evil rules of Earth. At now in either encounter does Eric kill Havok, Polaris, or any of the X-Men, which you'd think would've made his job easier. It's all nonsensical and doesn't fit with the end of #104. Was a Firelord guest appearance worth the pretzel-like plot contortions?
Anyway, the crap hits the fan when the alien of Xavier's nightmares materializes in Jean's apartment. Xavier's mind clears and he telepathically learns who Lilandra is. Firelord attacks, and Jean tranforms into Phoenix, finally giving us a good glimpse of her powers in the pages of X-Men. Eric the Red (actually Shi'Ar agent Davan Shakari) kidnaps Lilandra and takes her through a stargate. The X-Men arrive. After the gate closes, Jean reignites it so the X-Men can pursue Eric and Lilandra.
X-Men #106 is a fill-in by Bill Mantlo and Bob Brown, with a brief framing sequence on the apartment rooftop. The story features the evil part of Xavier mind, stressed out by his Lilandra nightmares, creating evil illusions of the original X-Men. It's fill-in quality. The story is set between X-Men #95 and #96. It's duplicative of the X-Sentinel element from #100, so it doesn't quite work. If the X-Men were able to figure out the originals were fake here, wouldn't they be less gullible in #100. That's especially since one of the tells here was that Beast wasn't furry. GCD says Claremont scripted over Mantlo's plot, which makes sense as the dialogue includes characters bits I'd expect from Claremont. For example, Wolverine calls Colossus Petey Pureheart. Also, we get more info on the Ororo/Jean frienship as Ororo says she helped decorate Jean and Misty's apartment the prior week. That could be a potential continuity issues since after Jean moves out in #94, we're told Cyke puts the new team through weeks of training in the pages of that issue. My No-Prize theories are either Jean had another apartment for a bit before she moved in with Misty or they happened to be continuing to decorate even though they moved in weeks or months before (unpacking takes a while).
X-Men #107-108 are the culmination of the Lilandra arc in the big fight with her mad brother, Emperor D'Ken over the M'Kraan Crystal. We meet the Imperial Guard, and try to spot all the LOSH analogues. The X-Men actually do a lot better than they do in #137, but a big party of that is the Starjammers arriving as reinforcements. Corsair's teammate/girlfriend is a feline alien he calle Hepzibah, much to her announce as its not her real name. Kind of a jerky to compare her to a comic strip skunk. Anyway, this crystal will give D'Ken ultimate power. It causes the universe to blink out and back into existence toward the end of #107, but he doesn't care because he's crazy.
That was Cockrum's swan song, as John Byrne takes over pencils (with Terry Austin on inks) in #108. The Imperial Guard have been laid out, but now the X-Men and Starjammers face the guardians of the crystal. Claremont's writing of Cyclops and Wolverine was so different from what it would later become. Here we get another example of Cyclops exercising sound judgment and Wolverine ignoring it and getting punched by a dwarf guardian of the crystal named Jahf into orbit. Luckily, the Starjammers robot doctor Waldo saves him. Banshee is actually the one who figures out to defeat Jahf. But Wolvie misses the action when the X-Men go inside the crystal. Raza of the Starjammers actually tosses D'Ken in. While this is going on, Jean reads Corsair's mind and learns he is Scott's father. He imparts this knowledge to Corsair while Scott is unconscious, but within earshot of Storm.
Although the second half of #108 is Phoenix's first great moment of heroism, it is a bit underwhelming. She undoes the harm of the M'Kraan Crystal and stitches reality back into stability. The problem is that Byrne doesn't seem to have a visually compelling way to depict all theses abstract and profound events, and the story then has to lean a lot of verbose yet vague scripting from Claremont. Anyway, the X-Men go back through the stargate to Earth, accompanied by Lilandra who is temporarily exiled while the bureaucracy works on the process of exonerating her for treason against the now comatose D'Ken. Wolverine is still wearing a costume he stole off of Fang (the IG analogue to Timber Wolf of the LOSH).
|
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Dec 17, 2023 21:36:01 GMT -5
I finished all the reprints in JLA #112 and I read Action Comics #483 and #486.
So that just leaves (for now!) ...
To Wake the Mangog
Danger Street #5, #8 and #12
And I won’t be reading those until I read some previous issues.
However, I’m expecting some books from eBay in the near future.
|
|
|
|
Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 19, 2023 16:55:11 GMT -5
It's surprising that it's already a classic comic (how time flies!) but the cell phones used in Drax the destroyer #1-4 should have been a clear sign.
This mini-series tied to the Annihilation event is written by Keith Giffen and reintroduces Drax, who had in previous years been written as a Hulk Smash-like simpleton. Here he's aboard an alien prison barge when it crashes on Earth, a crash he survives along a few villains: Paibok the power Skrull, Lunatik and the Blood Broters. Drax is killed early on while the other aliens brutally take over a small town in Alaska and force its citizens to work on building a spaceship. After a period of incubation in a coccoon-like structure, Drax then comes back to life as a thinner and more cunning fighter, much closer to his original incarnation, except that he can't shoot energy beams anymore and is restricted to knives.
The mini-series is a pretty good "Invaders from space" story, mostly following a local 10 year old girl, Cammi, who sees in Drax a chance to escape her dreadfully boring small town life.
Script-wise, the series has pretty strong points and one major defect. Among the good points: nobody makes grandiloquent speeches or behaves like a standard comic-book villain. Paibok, in particular, is very matter-of-fact in his handling of the locals; he is thoroughly ruthless and won't hesitate to murder an elderly woman just to make a point, but he is also not cruel; he doesn't hurt anyone if there isn't a point to it. He also surrenders at the end when it is clear that fighting on would serve no purpose; not because he's afraid of being beaten on, but because that's the logical thing to do.
Cammi is interesting, even if she has serious character flaws (which are there for a purpose). It is tragic to see how neglected she is by her alcoholic mother and absent father, and to learn that she used to cut herself. As it is, she doesn't sound like she would make a pleasant adult. Still, she has spunk!
As I just said, the script does have its flaws; the most egregious of which are Giffen's "edgy" retorts. Oh, Lord, how poorly they've aged... Did kids really talk like that a decade and a half ago? I swear, Stan Lee's hip dialogue was never that grating.
A little sampling: a character says something important and another replies "and you're telling me... why?" Another frequent reply is "should I care?" or "you say that like I care". Yeah, we get it, you fictional character who wants to sound relevant.. you think you're tough and aloof and "edgy" (that word again). It's really not as cool as you think.
Some scenes more than make up for that, however. One really touched me: at the end, Cammi leaves Earth along with Drax without telling anyone. She just scribbled a note for her hapless tag-along friend Dex, a note saying "I'm going to be happy". We find that out when Dex is at Cammi's mother's grave (she died off-scene during the alien occupation, unbeknownst to her kid). Dex tells the poor woman that she might have wanted to know that her daughter would have a better future. It's those small moments that turn a good comic into a very good one.
I really like the redesign of Drax. The movies went overboard with the tattoos (and made him dumb again), but that's where the look came from.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Dec 19, 2023 21:58:15 GMT -5
I got a few comics in the mail today. I got Danger Street #3 and #4, and First Issue Special #10, with the Outsiders.
I started to read First Issue Special #10, and I read about three pages, and I decided to save it for later. It’s really bad.
I then read Danger Street #3 and #4, and also #5, which I got last week. (I may comment on Danger Street on the Modern Comics thread.)
And I didn’t get back to First Issue Special. Maybe tomorrow. I don’t know. I’m kind of dreading it. If I’m ever pope, I’m going to put it on the Condemned Books list.
So here’s my revised list of comics I haven’t read yet ...
To Wake the Mangog
First Issue Special #10
Danger Street #8 and #12
|
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Dec 20, 2023 17:20:43 GMT -5
I finished X-Men Epic Collection Second Genesis by reading Iron Fist #14-15, X-Men #109-110, Marvel Team-Up Annual #1, and Marvel Team-Up #53, 69, and 70. I've read all these stories before, but some I've only read in black and white via an Essential TPB.
The inclusion of Iron Fist #14 is fascinating, because none of the X-Men appear in that issue, and I don't think it's indispensable for understanding #15. Also, it's including despite the exclusion of Nightcrawler's two-issue guest appearance in Amazing Spider-Man. It seems to be included because it's the first appearance of Sabretooth, which they may think would a priority for readers especially given Wolverine's high profile, and because it's produced by the Claremont/Byrne team.
iron Fist #15 is awesome, because it's basically a bonus issue of the Claremont/Byrne X-Men. Members of the team appear on about two-thirds of the pages, and it's not just for action. Because the books share a creative team, we actually gets X-Men character bits and subplots. The misunderstanding-fueled super-hero faceoff results from Wolverine in creepy stalker mode, hanging outside Jean's apartment, when he sees Iron First, who he doesn't realize is the boyfriend of Jean's roommate Misty Knight, sneak in through a window. Wolverine is still wearing Fang's costume, which he picked up during the Phoenix/Shi'Ar/M'Kraan Crystal arc. I believe this issue also has the second reference to Wolverine as Logan, the first oddly enough being when a leprechaun called him "Mr. Logan" during the Cassidy Keep arc. Since this is before Claremont started playing favorites, we get a funny scene of Storm getting hit in the face with egg salad and ridiculously overreacting.
X-Men #109 features Wolverine being attacked by Weapon Alpha (later Vindicator and Guardian) who is tasked with bringing Wolverine back by force to Canada. Wolverine joining the X-Men in in GSX #1 is paradoxical. On one hand, Xavier was allowed to make that recruiting trip. On the hand, there's a bad reaction when Logan actually leaves with Xavier. It may be as suggested in a text story from F.O.O.M. in the back matter of this TPB that Xavier used his powers to influence Canadian official. But because this issue takes place in Xavier's mansion and the nearby environs, Claremont and Byrne give themselves a great opportunity for character building with the X-Men at home. We hear Nightcrawler planning to go on a date with Amanda Sefton who was briefly introduced in #99 (while Colossus passes on a date with Amanda's friend Betsy. We see (for the first time?) that Storm's room is the attic and she keeps plants. We get more of the budding romance between Sean and Moira. Peter writes home to his parents. Jean has to deal with her parents finding out she's a superhero. We also learn that Alex and Lorna's minds were restored off-panel at the time of the prior issue, and they abruptly left to help clean-up efforts at Muir Island.
Also, Nightcrawler criticizes Cyclops for being morosely absorbed in his own problems to the detriment of others. But because this is pre-playing faves Claremont, Kurt actually means well. It's not the exercise in showing that Wolverine/Storm are better than the rest that seems to pervade lectures in later years. The well-meaning nature of the lecture and the three-dimensionality afforded Scott means he actually seems to be absorbing Kurt's criticism in a thought balloon and thinking Kurt may be right. One funny highlight is a sly joke as Ororo and Peter are talking at a picnic. Right as Peter suggesting everyone loves their homeland, they are interrupted by Wolverine slamming into a tree. Of course, Wolvie was hurled there by a guy from his homeland of Canada. Banshee has been portrayed as more powerful in these issues than I remember, as Weapon Alpha fears him more than the others. Weapon Alpha retreats, but it's suggested this threat isn't over.
Marvel Team-Up Annual #1 takes place between pages of X-Men #101, which requires Phoenix to have temporarily recovered before being hospitalized again. To be honest, this Bill Mantlo/Sal Buscema story is tedious compared to other stories here. Buscema's Wolverine looks more like Trimpe's than Cockrum's and Colossus looks weird. Although the action in MTU #53 centers on Hulk vs. Woodgod vs. Spider-Man, we get a few pages of the X-Men depicted by Byrne as the aftermath of the annual.
X-Men #110 pairs Claremont with guest artist Tony DeZuniga. It sort of reminds of guest artist issues by folks like Brent Anderson during Cockrum's second run, in that it's part of the continuing story, but it also feels like a one-off on an island. Part of that is probably Classic X-Men skipping over this issue has unfairly stigmatized this issue in my mind. We do get some additions to X-Men lore. I think it's the first X-Men baseball game. We get hints that Banshee is considering retirement. The issue shows the second instance of Kurt using his powers to teleport a second person along with him (the first being Lilandra in #107) and the strain in places on him at this point. We see the continuing trend of Wolverine being depicted as more formidable than in the past. Also, despite being back in the book for a bunch of issues and fighting alongside the team, we learn that Phoenix is still living in Greenwich Village. She decides she needs to move back and formally join the team due to concern of how ineffective she was against Warhawk.
Which brings us to the bad. Warhawk, an Iron Fist adversary, is depicted as way too formidable against the X-Men, especially in taking out Xavier and Jean. Warhawk is commanded telepathically by some unseen "master" to attack the X-Men and test their abilities. In the Dark Phoenix Saga, I think a comment links Warhawk's mission to the Hellfire Club and states that she bugged the mansion too (not depicted in #110). That feels like a retcon. To me, the "master" gives off more Shadow King or Mesmero vibes than Emma Frost (although Mesmero might have to be face-to-face). Warhawk gets turned over to the police, who don't ask nearly the questions you'd expect (Xavier using his powers?). Warhawk goes back to being an Iron Fist villain (as Sabretooth will continue for about a decade before he shows in X-Men).
MTU #69-70 is a Living Monolith two-parter that gives us the first appearances of Havok and Polaris since being freed from Eric the Red's control. Claremont/Byrne handle the creative duties. Byrne doesn't quite look himself. Maybe it's the inking (Villamonte and DeZuniga respectively) or maybe it's the feeling that Byrne is trying to replicate Neal Adams from the prior Havok/Monolith story. #70 is light on Havok and has no Polaris, but at least we get a bit of these characters in this two-parter. Polaris gets to show some grit, and it's always great to see Havok in action in his classic costume.
There's also a key tie-in to the X-Men book. When Polaris can't reach the X-Men at home, she calls Beast at Avengers Mansion. That leads the Beast to head to Westchester, where he'll show up during the Mesmero story. We also get signage in the background of a panel noting that X-Men is now going monthly, and the final page notes that Claremont/Byrne are off MTU for now due to their increased X-Men duties.
The back matter of this TPB has a lot of sketches, pencil art, and contemporaneous text pieces, some of which was new to me. I learned that Nightcrawler was going to have a small X logo on the chest of his costume, which got as far as a Gil Kane sketch of the GSX #1 cover. There are also a couple unused pages for #106 that appear to be the intro when he was put together as an inventory before being discarded in favor of a framing sequence to put in a context as a flashback when it was eventually published in context between #105 and #107. From notes to Starjammers sketches, I learned that Waldo actually has a human brain that grew up in a robotic case after a childhood injury. I had always assumed Waldo was a robot.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Dec 20, 2023 20:15:54 GMT -5
I didn’t get any old comics today. I got this week’s new comics - Catwoman #60, Jay Garrick: The Flash #3, Wonder Woman #4 and Capwolf #3 - and I read them already.
I read First Issue Special #10 (The Outsiders) this afternoon. It’s not that bad. I actually found it kind of intriguing and I’m kind of sad that there wasn’t another issue (or two) to complete the arc.
So that leaves these comics that I haven’t read yet:
To Wake the Mangog
Danger Street #8 and #12
|
|
|
|
Post by Farrar on Dec 20, 2023 21:24:02 GMT -5
...Jean attacks the Sentinels, seemingly with telepathy rather than just telekinesis. I'm wondering when Jean was first shown using telepathy. Reading a series as back issues out of order screws up one's sense of chronology, but my impression was that Jean's powers were almost exclusively limited to telekinesis in her Silver Age appearances. She also displayed telepathy in sensing Havok and Polaris posed a danger in #97.... , I hope none of this (below) spoils anything for you, but here's how it unfolded, starting in 1968 with X-Men #42. In #42 Prof. X dies. In #43 it's revealed that prior to his death, he'd been helping Jean develop telepathic powers. (Some years later when Jean's backstory was fleshed out, it's stated that she had always had telepathic powers, but that he'd put mental blocks on her telepathy when she was very young.) X-Men #43 (they're watching a video Prof. X filmed before his death)  Over the next few issues, in addition to her standard telekinesis she occasionally uses "mental bolts" as offensive weapons. In #48 and after, she's shown using her telepathy.
X-Men #48 X-Men #49
 X-Men #50
 She pretty much uses both her telekinetic and telepathic abilities in every issue until the series is canceled with #66 in early 1970 (of course as we know, the series is revived, first with reprints for a while and it starts up with new material, the run you're reading now). |
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Dec 20, 2023 22:31:46 GMT -5
...Jean attacks the Sentinels, seemingly with telepathy rather than just telekinesis. I'm wondering when Jean was first shown using telepathy. Reading a series as back issues out of order screws up one's sense of chronology, but my impression was that Jean's powers were almost exclusively limited to telekinesis in her Silver Age appearances. She also displayed telepathy in sensing Havok and Polaris posed a danger in #97.... , I hope none of this (below) spoils anything for you, but here's how it unfolded, starting in 1968 with X-Men #42. In #42 Prof. X dies. In #43 it's revealed that prior to his death, he'd been helping Jean develop telepathic powers. (Some years later when Jean's backstory was fleshed out, it's stated that she had always had telepathic powers, but that he'd put mental blocks on her telepathy when she was very young.) X-Men #43 (they're watching a video Prof. X filmed before his death) Over the next few issues, in addition to her standard telekinesis she occasionally uses "mental bolts" as offensive weapons. In #48 and after, she's shown using her telepathy.
X-Men #48X-Men #49
X-Men #50
She pretty much uses both her telekinetic and telepathic abilities in every issue until the series is canceled with #66 in early 1970 (of course as we know, the series is revived, first with reprints for a while and it starts up with new material, the run you're reading now). Oh, don't worry. You didn't spoil anything in the sense of revealing something that I haven't read before, but only in the sense that it's a bunch of stuff I've forgotten. I've read all of the Silver Age X-Men issues of X-Men, but there are lots of issues I haven't read in many years. Some I probably haven't read since shortly after the Marvel Masterworks hardcovers for those issues were released. I remember X-Men #48 was the one with Quasimodo and his robot henchmen. I think there was something involving telepathy on robots that I probably didn't want to remember because it didn't make sense. But the part about Jean developing telepathy after Xavier's (faked) death is ringing some bells now. But thanks for the background. It makes me feel like an era I want to re-read. I was already thinking about since the issues I've reading have made me want to revisit the earlier appearances of Lorna and Alex. |
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Dec 24, 2023 10:12:16 GMT -5
Batman #269, Danger Street #6 and Danger Street #7 came in the mail yesterday and I read them before going to bed. Batman #269 is one of David V. Reed’s first stories after returning to write for Batman after a 20-year absence. It’s a passable 1970s Batman story. Three mornings in a row, a bum is found killed by an exotic weapon. All three of them have fake ID saying they are named Terry Trescott. The Gotham cops have a lot of experience with this kind of thing, so they know exactly what to do. They call Batman.
I will be reading Danger Street #8 soon, possibly over breakfast.
So these are the comics that I own that I haven’t read yet:
To Wake the Mangog
Danger Street #8, #12
|
|
|
|
Post by chaykinstevens on Dec 24, 2023 10:31:40 GMT -5
Batman #269 is one of David V. Reed’s first stories after returning to write for Batman after a 20-year absence. It’s a passable 1970s Batman story. Three mornings in a row, a bum is found killed by an exotic weapon. All three of them have fake ID saying they are named Terry Trescott. Weren't they named Terry Tremayne? I remember title of the story was The Daily Death of Terry Tremayne. |
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Dec 24, 2023 10:53:12 GMT -5
Batman #269 is one of David V. Reed’s first stories after returning to write for Batman after a 20-year absence. It’s a passable 1970s Batman story. Three mornings in a row, a bum is found killed by an exotic weapon. All three of them have fake ID saying they are named Terry Trescott. Weren't they named Terry Tremayne? I remember title of the story was The Daily Death of Terry Tremayne. You’re right. I was just making things up in my head-movies. |
|
