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Post by badwolf on Aug 30, 2018 8:01:07 GMT -5
I remember feeling that Leialoha was trying to emulate Bill's style on this book, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe just a little. It doesn't look much like his work on Spider-Woman.
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Post by rberman on Aug 30, 2018 21:43:18 GMT -5
I remember feeling that Leialoha was trying to emulate Bill's style on this book, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe just a little. It doesn't look much like his work on Spider-Woman. Definitely. Compare with Leialoha's work on Firestar #1 which I'll be reviewing next week in the "Supplemental X-Men Series" thread. |
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Post by rberman on Aug 30, 2018 23:30:53 GMT -5
#33: “Against All Odds” (November 1985)
Focus Character and Theme: Illyana’s gambit The Story: At Karma’s nightclub in Cairo, she manipulates both the New Mutants and other guests in dastardly emotional games.  Dani, Ororo, Illyana, and Warlock bust Rahne loose from Karma’s mental possession.  Sam, Amara, and Roberto give chase, still possessed by Karma, and Rahne is recaptured. Illyana teleports, abandoning Dani in Karma’s throne room; Dani is immediately possessed. Why would Illyana do a thing like that?  Ororo has a big fight with the possessed mutants, and then Illyana takes Ororo to Karma as well. Why would she do a thing like that a second time?  Illyana also takes Warlock to Limbo, where S’ym shows Warlock the corpse of alternate-reality Colossus and tells Warlock about Illyana killing alternate-universe Kitty and Ororo.  Warlock is shocked that Illyana would do such things, so when he discovers that Illyana has just allowed Karma to take both Dani and Ororo as well, he attacks Illyana at the first opportunity.  My Two Cents: Clearly Illyana is up to something, though we don’t know what; she certainly didn’t share her risky plan with anyone else. This is the first instance of “conniving Illyana saves the day,” which I suppose is a change of pace from “sword-swinging Illyana saves the day.” Rahne shifts out of wolf form back into her evening gown. Previous issues were more careful to show that normal clothing doesn’t survive Rahne’s transformations, only her X-uniform. Meanwhile in X-Men (#199): Spiral joins Mystique’s brotherhood of mutants, rebranded as Freedom Force in government employ, and fights the X-Men. Magneto allows himself to be arrested. Without Mojo to play off of, Spiral is just a generic super-baddie, albeit still cool looking under the right pen. Claremont was famous for snapping up characters that didn't have a series of their own.
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Post by badwolf on Aug 31, 2018 10:17:40 GMT -5
I love the Warlock-bunny!
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Post by badwolf on Aug 31, 2018 10:23:29 GMT -5
Meanwhile in X-Men (#199): Spiral joins Mystique’s brotherhood of mutants, rebranded as Freedom Force in government employ, and fights the X-Men. Magneto allows himself to be arrested. Without Mojo to play off of, Spiral is just a generic super-baddie, albeit still cool looking under the right pen. Claremont was famous for snapping up characters that didn't have a series of their own. I think this is where the series took another step down for me. I didn't think Spiral fit in with Mystique's group any more than Longshot did the X-Men (though she would continue to indulge her own machinations on the side). I never bought the whole Freedom Force thing. Didn't like them as government agents. (And what a generic name...but I suppose some suit came up with it.) |
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Post by rberman on Sept 2, 2018 19:46:35 GMT -5
#34: “With a Little Bit of Luck!” (December 1985)
Focus Character and Theme: Illyana and Karma play mind games
The Story: Warlock attacks Illyana, thinking she has betrayed her friends. They fight for a few pages, then Illyana surrenders, and Warlock hasn’t the heart to kill her, so he decides to trust her plan, whatever it may be.   Then follow several pages at Karma’s nightclub Pharaoh, in which Ororo can’t break free from Karma’s domination, and Karma’s monologues make clear that she’s some old foe of Xavier from “many years ago in Cairo.” So she must somehow be Farouk, the telepathic “ Shadow King” whom Xavier once defeated in a psychic duel.  Illyana travels back in time to the duel so readers can see it happening:  Warlock disguises himself as Illyana and distracts Karma/Farouk while Illyana teleports all her friends out of the throne room to Limbo and back again, freeing them from domination.  They all attack together, and Farouk vacates Karma’s body in favor of Doug’s body. Karma and Farouk have a psychic duel which ends inconclusively, with Farouk fleeing for parts unknown as the nightclub burns and the kids plan to bring Karma back to America with them.   My Two Cents: The point of this arc is to show the kids doing a tough mission on their own recognizance. That more or less happens, though Ororo is around to fight some and lend moral support. But all the planning and most of the power and drama was Illyana’s. She has clearly replaced Dani has Claremont’s favorite on the team. Last issue, the mystery was: Why did Illyana’s plan involve surprising Dani and Ororo by allowing Karma to possess them both for emotional mind-games? The answer appears to be that it’s a ruse to win Karma’s trust. If so, it fails; Karma attempts to physically overpower Illyana (though it’s really Warlock disguised as Illyana) as soon as she’s within grappling range. Illyana could have pulled the same stunt with Ororo and Dani waiting safely in Limbo, then taken the other captives to Limbo (as she did ultimately) and returned them all to fight Karma simultaneously. This isn’t a plot hole, more of a failed plan, but it’s not a very satisfying narrative. No reader really thought Illyana had decided to join Team Karma, so the only question was how Illyana would convince Warlock of that.  Are we to understand that Warlock is infatuated with Illyana now? Too bad; she was just manipulating him for her plan, not really in love with him. Cruel woman! Meanwhile in X-Men (#200): Magneto’s trial is interrupted by Andrea and Andreas Von Strucker. Xavier has a heart attack and is transported away from Earth by the Starjammers, asking Magneto to take over running the school. Madelyn Summers goes into labor.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 2, 2018 21:12:21 GMT -5
I really liked that arc for whatever reason.. though when I'd read it for the first time I had no idea who Karma was (having started the series after she left). Shadow King is always fun (even if he always loses the same way) and it was a good spotlight for Illyana and Warlock, my two favorites  |
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Post by rberman on Sept 3, 2018 9:54:14 GMT -5
New Mutants Special Edition #1 “Home Is Where the Heart Is” (December 1985)
Focus Character and Theme: Scattered in Thor’s World The Story: In Asgard, Loki watches Surtur’s attack on Earth (unfolding in Walt Simonson’s Thor) and the defense by Asgardians and humans. My, that Ororo is a fine woman! Loki has sworn in X-Men/Alpha Flight #2 not to mess with the X-Men, so he asks the Enchantress to go fetch Ororo for him, and for some reason she agrees. (Normally Loki and Enchantress are not on the best of terms.) Ororo is on an idyllic Greek isle where the New Mutants cavort in the ocean while Karma mopes indoors about having been made horribly obese during her possession by Farouk the Shadow King.  The whole bunch of them are kidnapped by Enchantress’ evil knights, and Illyana’s attempt to escape scatters them across the Nine Realms for a series of solo adventures that make up this 64 page issue, thusly:  • Illyana remains the Enchantress’ prisoner and has the essence of Darkchile extracted from her, forming an evil knight who goes on a rampage to collect the rest of the team.  • Doug is enslaved by a meadhall full of Vikings and forced to bus tables. • Rahne is rescued from giants by a handsome wolf-prince who can assume semi-human form. Rahne is scandalized by her own attraction to him. Darkchilde captures her, making the moral dilemma moot.  • Warlock has a little chat with Hela and rescues Doug from Darkchilde.  • Sad sack Xi’an is dumped in the desert and despairs of life until she finds a child who needs saving from a Shai Hulud straight out of Dune. The little girl disappears, leaving a white string tied to Xi’an’s finger as a calling card of the "Norns," the three sisters who spin the fates of men and gods. Xi'an is stuck in the desert, living off of rats and lizards long enough that she loses all her obesity.   • Roberto becomes the toast of Asgard and the focus of the ladies due to his arm-wrestling skills. He’s even able to lift Volstagg, which amazes the Warriors Three. They take him out carousing. Illyana eventually claims him.   • Sam rescues the dwarven queen from a troll raiding party, earning the gratitude of her husband Eitri and the admiration of his daughter Kindra. • Amara is adopted by dark elves who feed her magic food that turns her faerie. They hypnotize her to lead an unsuccessful raid against the dwarves, who capture her and promise Sam they will find a way to fix her.   • Dani rescued a Pegasus from hunters. A Valkyrie arrives and announces that Dani, having bonded with the Pegasus, is one of her sisterhood now. Dani flees the Valkyrie fortress when she hears that her Valkyrie initiation must be sealed “in blood.”   • Storm is delivered straight to Loki and encased in crystal. Later, Loki turns her into a falcon and takes her to visit the dwarven kingdom. Loki commands Eitri to make him a magic hammer.  Eventually, everybody meets up in the desert, where Illyana, Roberto, and Rahne (all thralls of the Enchantress) battle their teammates. Warlock makes himself an armored exo-skeleton for Doug to wear. Karma possesses Darkchilde, and for once her power works; Roberto and Rahne are freed, and the whole team attacks the Enchantress at home. Karma is also strong enough to possess the Enchantress, which seems unlikely based on her past and future success rate with using her power.  Once Illyana is reunited with her Darkchild aspect, she teleports everybody to Limbo, where she’s easily able to defeat the Enchantress.  What now, they wonder? Go home? But Ororo is still the captive of Loki; Sam recognized her distinctive eyes and mohawk crest even when she was a falcon on Loki’s arm. Roberto and Doug like it on Asgard. Dani doesn’t want to leave her pony. Rahne wants to find her wolf-prince. Amara can't return to Earth as a Norse faerie. Karma is curious about the Norns. Illyana makes the extremely sensible suggestion that at least she could teleport to Earth to bring back the X-Men to help rescue Ororo, but some reason nobody supports that idea. So, back to Asgard the kids go, leaving the Enchantress captive with S’ym.  My Two Cents: This was a great read thirty years ago, and it still is today, succeeding in art, story, and characterization. Chris Claremont was an attentive author, constantly taking the temperature of the entire Marvel line and finding ways to build the X-Men into whatever was hot at the time. So when Walt Simonson started getting attention for his mythology-heavy take on Thor, Claremont jumped on board the bandwagon. First came two supersized issues in which the X-Men and Alpha Flight faced temptation by Loki on the Canadian tundra. Then came two supersized issues in which Loki, forsworn from directly messing with the X-Men further, goaded the Enchantress to do so. His motive this time is a familiar one for Claremont called “Noble villains think Storm is hotttt.” We’ve seen this already with Arkon (X-Men annual #3), Doctor Doom (X-Men #145), and Dracula (X-Men #159 and X-Men annual #6).  The New Mutants are drawn into the story because they were hanging out with Ororo on a Greek island following their battle with Farouk in Cairo. I guess Xavier’s expense account is paying for this vacation, just like the luxury plane ride to Madripoor a few issues ago. Are they here legally, with passports and everything? I doubt it. They went shopping for new beach clothes, too, but for some reason when they get to Asgard, most of them are wearing their X-uniforms instead of the bathing suits in which they were kidnapped. Claremont gets some guffaws from the sight of Longshot trying on different women’s bathing suits. This is the first time we’ve seen him have any difficulty figuring out what sort of clothing he should be wearing when in human guise, so it doesn’t really make sense, but whatever.  Xi'an's story replays a sequence from Thor #346ff involving a similarly despondent Balder the Brave. His tale has the same basic elements: despair in the desert, the rescue of a supposed innocent who turns out to be a guide, and the white string. But the string makes more sense in Balder's case since it's one of the strings of fate, connected to the great skein of existence, whereas Xi'an's string is more of a token.    Dani is called “Mirage” in this issue, abandoning her earlier “Psyche” code name. Is this the first time for “Mirage”? Warlock disguises himself as Longshot for no good in-story reason. (But outside the story, Arthur Adams was drawing the Longshot limited series, written by X-Men editor Ann Nocenti.) As far as we know, none of the X-Men or New Mutants have ever heard of Longshot.  Adams puts Storm in a stunning neck-to-feet pink ensemble that seems atypical for her but beautiful all the same. I wonder how often she has to re-shave the sides of her head to avoid a stubbly look.  Illyana on the other hand spends this issue wearing a super-skimpy bikini that doesn’t even cover her breasts entirely, showing again how she has supplanted Dani as Claremont’s teen sex object. Dani has lost her rebellion and found her clothes; she is on a path to being a noble warrior queen now, while it’s Illyana who gets pinioned in her skivvies by a dozen groping hands.   Doug initially resents his lack of combat ability, which reflects the conundrum that his character represents for writers. He really ought to be a support character like Moira who stays at the home base rather than getting dragged along on adventures. But then later, he loves the empowerment his Warlock-suit gives him: “Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, and Prince Valiant all rolled into one.” I doubt Prince Valiant would be a cultural touchstone for a teen in the early 80s, and I would know.   The beating taken by Darkchilde is magically transferred to Illyana. This danger is often threatened in "possession" stories in comic books, but we rarely see its results depicted.  Why was this issue not called “New Mutants Annual #2”? Granted, 64 pages of Arthur Adams is pretty special. Speaking of which: Easter Eggs and Eye Candy: Arthur Adams is on art duties, inked by Terry Austin, which makes for a wonderful combination. But when did he have time for this project? The famously detailed and deliberate penciler must have been in the middle of the Longshot mini-series (published Sept 1985-Feb 1986) when he did these two oversized issues. Christie Scheele provided coloring, as she did for Longshot, and as in that case, her frequent use of monochrome provided mood coloration while sometimes obscuring the amazing detail in Adams’ frames.  On the island, Ororo encounters “Mr. Steele” and “Miss Holt.” This refers to the lead characters on Remington Steele (1982-7), a lighthearted detective TV show starring Pierce Brosnan and Stefanie Zimbalist.  The kids’ beach blankets show they are fans of Scottish band Big Country and of Michael Jackson.  Bluto appears in the mead hall scene, making a matched set for Arthur Adams since Popeye and Olive Oyl appeared in the backgrounds of Longshot #2 and #6 respectively.  Adams gets away with a nude serpent-woman decorating the floor of the mead hall as well.  One of the three giants menacing Rahne is Martin Short's Ed Grimley character from Saturday Night Live, with his trademark hair and grimace.   Anyone who followed my Longshot reviews knows that Arthur Adams loves Gumby, who gets two cameos: Once sitting to the left of Amara when she’s gorging herself on faerie food, and again when Warlock assumes his form at the end of the book. (See those images above in "The Story.")
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Post by rberman on Sept 4, 2018 4:38:58 GMT -5
X-Men Annual #9 “There’s No Place Like Home” (December 1985)
Creative Team: Written by Chris Claremont. Pencils by Art Adams. Inked by Adams, Al Gordon, and Mike Mignola. Focus Character and Theme: More fun in Asgard, now with double the characters! The Story: Kitty Pryde has a nightmare recapping the story told in New Mutants Special Edition #1. We will eventually learn that this dream was sent by Loki’s rival Karnilla, Queen of Norns (she grew up with the three Norns but does not rule them), who didn’t want Loki messing with internal Asgardian politics, so she arranges for more heroes to come spoil Loki’s plans. The dream works; now the X-Men want to go to Asgard. Happily, Cyclops has both Arkon’s lightning-transport arrows and the exact knowledge of how to use them to teleport the team to Asgard. How convenient! Rachel Summers chooses this moment to unveil her Phoenix codename and costume, to the consternation of everybody.  Amara, still stuck as a faerie, has a three page dream to introduce the New Mutants just in case any X-Men readers weren’t up on these characters and their situation from New Mutants Special Edition #1. I wonder how much less New Mutants sales were than X-Men sales, to make such a tactic seem needful. I guess there are always new readers to consider. Yay, the X-Men arrive in Asgard! They rescue Rahne’s wolf-prince boyfriend from some trolls, and Rachel has a well-written and ominous encounter with Hela.  Kitty, Wolverine, and Rachel head into the city of Asgard. The rest of the gang arrive without further incident at the Enchantresses’ fortress to find that the New Mutants are in charge here now. Illyana has taken the Enchantress’ place a little too comfortably, ordering the other kids around and mocking Doug’s lack of combat power.  When Warlock is shot down by Loki during a reconnaissance mission, Dani and Doug ride to the rescue on Brightwind. But Warlock identifies Dani as an agent of death, scoops up Doug, and flies away terrified. Everyone but Dani seems to know that the Valkyrie society she’s joined is the Norse equivalent of the Grim Reaper.  Warlock, hurting badly from Loki’s attack, accepts a partial merger with Doug to recharge himself.  Illyana’s “locate Ororo” spell goes awry, summoning Loki, who blasts all the heroes unconscious. Hey, I thought he had sworn not to mess with the X-Men directly; that’s why he sent the Enchantress previously. Loki places Illyana under his control and uses her power to immobilize Scott, Rogue, Kurt, Peter, and Xi’an.  Sam and Amara have been separate from the rest of the team, helping Eitri make the hammer commissioned by Loki. Sam gets some cool sword/armor gear as a reward.  Eitri assigns Amara to keep the hammer molten during its transport to Loki. On the way there, Sam and Amara meet up with a motley crew of uncaptured heroes (Logan, Kitty, Rachel, Dani, Doug, and Warlock) in the course of a battle during which an ensorcerelled Rahne is freed from bondage to Loki, but Amara and the new hammer are captured by Loki’s forces. When she grasps the hammer prepared for her by Eitri, she transforms into a goddess of thunder, but still under Loki's mental domination. Logan, already sick from a dragon’s venomous bite, pleads with her to come to her senses. His courage puzzles her.  When Hela comes to claim Logan for the land of the dead, she becomes everybody’s target: Ororo, the X-Men, the New Mutants, and even a host of Valkyrie who come riding in after Hela zaps Dani from the sky. (In fairness, Dani did pick a fight by shooting an arrow at Hela.) Hela decides to call it a day, citing Thor’s impending attack on her realm.  Now everyone turns their ire on Loki, including Ororo, who rejects his hammer and the powers that come with it. The upshot is that rather than risk his plans being reported all over Asgard, Loki hits the reset button and allows everyone to go home. Amara is cured of her faerie form; Sam gives up his magic gear; Dani gets to keep her Valkyrie status and her Pegasus; Xi’an gets to stay skinny. Rahne has to leave her Wolf-prince. As the mutants return home, Loki becomes the latest in a long line of Ororo’s suitors left disappointed.  My Two Cents: The New Mutants issue, though longer, was easier to summarize because it split up all the kids for separate adventures with came together in an organized fashion. This issue, though shorter (but still 48 pages), has twice as many heroes mixing and matching in a dizzying number of combinations. Claremont sidelines most of the X-Men for most of the story, leaving the New Mutants free to be the main actors until Logan’s friendship with Ororo becomes the deciding factor in her struggle against Loki’s beguilement. Kitty’s nightmare gives Rachel occasion to scan Kitty and comment on the unusual soul-bond that she shares with her roommate Illyana. We have previously seen Kitty using Illyana’s Soulsword as evidence of this link.  On the minus side, it’s yet another mind control plot, just a few issues after Ororo was mind-controlled to become the servant of Farouk-in-Karma. Arthur Adams is still on hyper-detailed pencils, which is great, with inks by himself, Mike Mignola, and Alan Gordon. Petra Scotese is the colorist now, giving more characters their own full color job rather than just mood monochromes. Easter Eggs and Eye Candy: For whatever reason, this issue didn’t have nearly as many Easter Eggs as Part One did. However, I did find Hagar the Horrible (actually Douglock in disguise) and a Thangarian in the Asgardian Hall of Heroes, standing in front of Teen Titans' Cyborg. I looked long and hard for more recognizable faces in the many crowd scenes, but this is all I could turn up.  Kitty’s bedroom bookshelf has two dinosaurs, the Forbidden Planet robot, and Gumby.  Doug-in-Warlock (not yet called “Douglock”) assumes the shape of the Starship Enterprise and sings out the Mighty Mouse theme song.  Arthur Adams can draw a lot of things well, but in this panel, Wolverine looks like a little kid.  On the other hand, check out Hela’s mouthful of skulls. Coolness! 
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 4, 2018 5:18:11 GMT -5
Meanwhile in X-Men (#199): Spiral joins Mystique’s brotherhood of mutants, rebranded as Freedom Force in government employ, and fights the X-Men. Magneto allows himself to be arrested. Without Mojo to play off of, Spiral is just a generic super-baddie, albeit still cool looking under the right pen. Claremont was famous for snapping up characters that didn't have a series of their own. I think this is where the series took another step down for me. I didn't think Spiral fit in with Mystique's group any more than Longshot did the X-Men (though she would continue to indulge her own machinations on the side). I never bought the whole Freedom Force thing. Didn't like them as government agents. (And what a generic name...but I suppose some suit came up with it.) Yes, that’s why I was O.K. with the name... It was exactly the kind of jingoistic one that a government would come up with, even if it applied to a band of ex-criminals. |
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Post by rberman on Sept 5, 2018 7:22:27 GMT -5
#35: “The Times They Are a Changin’” (January 1986)
Focus Character and Theme: Professor Magneto
The Story: Magneto decides that beating the kids in a Danger Room workout is the best way to convince the kids that they should trust him to replace Xavier as their headmaster. Doug is miffed at being excluded on grounds of the mental nature of his mutant power, so he messes with the Danger Room programming, activating a “Wizard of Oz” scenario. After an evening meal at a restaurant, Dani is beset by frat boy rapists from nearby Bryce College when walking home alone. Brightwing her pet Pegasus rescues her.  When Magneto learns of the assault, enraged, he confronts the three boys, scaring them to death and destroying the Sigma Omega Beta (S.O.B., get it?) frat house in the process. The New Mutants, watching from a distance, approve both of Magneto’s vigilante action and of his restraint in leaving the miscreants alive.  My Two Cents: “My name is Magneto,” he tells the kids. Apparently he still didn’t have a birth name. He had called himself “Magnus” during his most recent set of appearances culminating in X-Men #150, but that didn’t sound like a real name; it’s just the Latin word for “great.” He has no idea how to teach a bunch of teenagers; we’re left with the impression that Xavier gave him the job more for what he could learn from them than vice versa. Claremont uses the classic strategy for making the reader cheer for a morally dubious character: Pit him against someone even more reprehensible. Hence the trio of rapists.  Art is now the odd combination of Mary Wilshire (soon to be drawing the Firestar limited series) on pencils and Bill Sienkiewicz on inks. It’s the worst of both worlds, with Wilshire’s traditional layouts and faces overlaid by Sienkiewicz’s angular distortions. He’s at his best when given free rein in crazy scenarios, not this “teens hanging around the mansion” story. But together they do a great job with the ethnic diversity of the team; Xi’an in particular looks realistically Vietnamese.  This panel in the girls’ locker room has a hilariously bad example of color censoring. Clearly Illyana and Amara were drawn wearing only bras and undies, but they’ve been colored as if they are wearing leotards and tights which resemble neither the clothes they’re changing out of nor the clothes they’re changing into.  Magneto deflects Xi’an’s possession attack with his hand. I do not believe that’s how it works. She doesn’t shoot a literal beam of energy out of her head; it’s just a convention so that we can see what she’s doing. After taking a beating from Magneto in the Danger Room, the kids go out to dinner at Harry Morrel’s restaurant/bar. This is the place where Bobby and Colossus fought back in #23. At the time, we were told it was a popular hangout for both college and high school kids, yet Harry was worried that underage Bobby was sitting at the bar. Maybe the building has segregated bar and restaurant areas, and the kids are supposed to stay on the restaurant side? Check out the red stuff dripping from Illyana’s burger. It’s probably an overabundance of ketchup squirting out the back, but given her demonic character, we can pretend she’s eating raw meat, dripping blood. Bobby comments that being Emma Frost’s students would not be any worse. This theory will shortly be tested.  Amara says that her father would like Magneto. This is not exactly a ringing endorsement since we saw her father being pretty ruthless. That side of Amara (or really any side of Amara) never gets explored; she’s just one of the girls now, without defining characteristics. Lee Forrester has exited the story, writing Magneto a letter explaining how her work responsibilities necessitate her absence. Magneto gets a typical Claremont internal monologue, overflowing with self-doubts and recriminations.  Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander are apparently now living at the Xavier mansion rather than on Muir Island, but we get no clear idea what their roles here are, or how they feel about the new direction of their lives since leaving police and hospital work respectively. They appear to have replaced Stevie Hunter in the “people hanging around for no clear reason” role so that the kids have someone to talk to, rather than just deliver internal monologues. Stevie will be back soon, though. I feel like the Bob Dylan song used for this episode’s title has previously served the same purpose for The Avengers, but I can’t find the issue in question. Doug calls Dani “chief.” Still seems not-OK, though she never hints that she’s offended. Apparently Doug has started living at the mansion sometime, though Claremont still hasn’t given us a focus issue to help us understand his background. I really don’t know why he was added to the team in the first place, and now we’re stuck with him. Meanwhile in X-Men (#201): Everybody coos over baby Christopher Summers. Scott and Madelyn have marital problems. Powerless Ororo wins a leadership duel against Scott.
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Post by rberman on Sept 6, 2018 6:46:34 GMT -5
#36: “Subway to Salvation” (February 1986)
Focus Character and Theme: Kitty Pryde in “Ghostbusters” vs Illyana in “Childhood’s End” The Story: The first five pages depict a friction-filled training session with Roberto and Magneto. Roberto is still (or more accurately, once again) overcome with grief over the death of his girlfriend Juliana back in the Graphic Novel, plus stressed out by the thought of the Beyonder. Bobby’s age (thirteen) is reiterated, showing that not even a single year has passed since we first met him. Bobby wonders why he’s still at the school. Xavier is gone, he doesn’t like the new teacher, and he has no plans to train as an X-Man. It’s a good question, left unanswered. On her way back from Bloomingdale’s, Illyana is intercepted on the subway by the Beyonder. Yes, he’s still around. Sigh. He takes her subway car on an airborne journey, and plucks the Darkchilde nature out of her body. The malign spirit enters the Soulword, which teleports to Kitty Pryde, who is studying Norse mythology at the NYC Library.  Kitty grabs the sword, gets Illyana’s Spirit Armor effect, and immediately has to fight evil spirits in the library. Eventually she’s captured off-panel and strung as a bauble on the necklace of a hundred foot tall demon lord.  Illyana’s flying subway car arrives at the mansion, interrupting a New Mutants swim party. Illyana is delighted to be freed from her evil nature and made into a perfected human. But when the demon lord arrives, Illyana must reclaim her demonic side to save Kitty, in a very Sienkiewiczian panel.  My Two Cents: This is a typical Secret Wars II tie-in issue. The Beyonder appears, screws with the status quo, and then disappears without sticking around to learn a lesson. Claremont uses it as an occasion to re-affirm that Kitty and Illyana have a link beyond friendship, such that when Illyana is removed from her job as guardian of Limbo, the role automatically devolves to Kitty Pryde, with the Moorcockian soulsword functioning as the mantle of authority transfer. Illyana’s subway car says “X-Men Tess” on both the inside and the outside. I have no idea what this means.  Illyana is wearing a wide belt as an accessory up around her waist instead of in her pants down on her hips. Ah, the 80s and their wacky fashions! The belt disappears in the second half of the story.  Illyana specifically compares her storyline with that of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel “Childhood’s End,” in which alien intervention on Earth creates a utopia in which the children transform into super-beings who abandon humanity, effectively ending the human race. How nice of Claremont to explain exactly which classic sci-fi books he is homaging each month. “Godlike beings offer utopia at the cost of human creativity” was also the plot of the recently concluded X-Men/Alpha Flight crossover.    Amara gets a sunburn and comments about how easily she burns. OK, she does have a fair complexion, but as with the Rio sunstroke, it makes zero sense for a lava-based mutant to be vulnerable to heat. Also, Doug calls Dani “chief” again.  Meanwhile in X-Men (#202): When Rachel sets out to kill The Beyonder, he gives her enough power to succeed but sets up a scenario that obliges her to rescue the X-Men from deadly Omega Sentinels instead.
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Post by rberman on Sept 7, 2018 5:40:13 GMT -5
#37: “If I Should Die” (March 1986)
Focus Character and Theme: The Beyonder murders all the New Mutants. No, really.  You said it, Dani. The Story: Roberto decides to take a break from the team and return home to Rio. He helps on a construction site accident in Manhattan on his way to the airport. But he doesn’t get the attaboys that She-Hulk gets when she wanders by to lend a hand.  Dani’s Valkyrie nature gives her a premonition of the deaths of all her friends. Sure enough, the Beyonder shows up, coldly enraged that they rejected the demon-soaked utopia he offered them last issue. So he kills them all, one by one in a variety of horrible ways, as they fight back ineffectually. Then he erases the X-Mansion from existence. Then he erases their memories from everyone who ever knew them. Vindictive much?!?  My Two Cents: So yeah, a pretty horrific story, watching a god pick off a bunch of teenagers ad seriatim. None of them stand the remotest chance. Between this month’s New Mutants and this month’s X-Men (see below), the answer to “which ones have died and resurrected?” is now “all of them except Roberto.” The X-Men come back to life immediately, but the New Mutants languish until Secret Wars II #9 (see below), which probably means that Chris Claremont killed the New Mutants at Jim Shooter’s instruction, which only feeds the “Beyonder=Shooter” idea further. Claremont attempts to find some a character moment in this snuff film that he was assigned to write, but it’s highly problematical: When Dani is flying around on Brightwing, the ghost of her dead grandfather appears to give her a lecture about how the truly strong and brave warrior can defeat his enemies without killing them. OK, so the Beyonder is neither morally strong nor brave. Message received. But also, Indians apparently got what was coming to them from the white man. The Native Americans “were too proud, too free,” so God had to punish them? Or something? Let’s just forget that Claremont wrote that part, which he then uses to parallel the New Mutants, arguing that they were too proud as well.    On the plus side: Claremont gives us a rare indication that Dani resents her exotification. She appreciates Rahne challenging a “U.S. soldiers kill the Indians” movie which the other kids are cheering on. It’s not just a throw-away line, but a little mini-story extending over several pages, with Sam eventually realizing that he has been insensitive. It’s a good growth moment for him. On the minus side, Dani is again talking on the phone to her folks, which reminds us that she really ought to be visiting them out West.    Bobby has a chauffeur in this issue – not just someone hired for this particular ride, but apparently a full time family employee named “Ruth” who is expected to know the details of his parents’ itinerary. This makes sense given his privileged background, but we’ve seen several other times when transportation was a major issue for him, so I wonder what made Claremont introduce this character detail now.  Artist Mary Wilshire, ever attentive to the form and function of clothing, gives us a detail that I’ve been waiting to see: What do the costume’s tights look like without boots? The answer is that, as with many tights, there’s a foot strap to keep them from riding up. This is perfectly sensible.  But why does Wilshire draw the swastika backwards? Maybe that allows this comic to be sold in Germany?  Dani’s parents are named “William and Margaret Moonstar” (corrected: I originally said "Proudstar") now. I guess the “Lonestar” thing back in issue #20 was just a lettering goof. Meanwhile in X-Men (#203): Rachel kills all the X-Men and Starjammers to gain enough life force to destroy the universe as a means of killing The Beyonder too. (Yes, this is really the plot. Not some dream.) When she enters the M’Krann crystal to make it happen, she experiences a psychic link with all living beings which causes her to reconsider. She returns to Earth and resurrects the X-Men, who try to argue The Beyonder out of destroying the universe himself. When that isn’t working, Rachel lets The Beyonder experience her psychic link with all people in the universe, and he decides to let the universe continue. I will be so glad when these Secret Wars II stories are over. Also, all the X-Men have forgotten the New Mutants exist, except for Kitty, who is now in possession of Illyana’s soulsword. More evidence of the special bond between Kitty and Illyana.  Later, in Secret Wars II #9: The Beyonder resurrects the New Mutants as his thralls to do battle with the heroes. Nobody knows who they are until Rachel reads their minds.  
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Post by badwolf on Sept 7, 2018 9:51:25 GMT -5
Proudstar was Thunderbird's family name, so I wonder if someone got mixed up and this is the goof.
Gah, those SW2 pages are painful to read!
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Post by rberman on Sept 7, 2018 10:16:37 GMT -5
Proudstar was Thunderbird's family name, so I wonder if someone got mixed up and this is the goof. Gah, those SW2 pages are painful to read! Oops, now I am goofing. Thunderbird's surname is Proudstar. Dani's surname is Moonstar. However, in New Mutants #20, Dani's parents introduced themself as Mr. and Mrs. Lonestar.Now they are back to being Moonstar, which makes more sense. |
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