From the Box: X-Men #62-64

I've been working on an extended history of the X-Men following the main team's 45 year history. As I sat down to work on it, I realized there was quite a bit in the way of details that I had forgotten, so I went back and started to re-read the series. With my biggest hole in knowledge falling in the mid-90s, I created a reading order list for the two main titles (Uncanny and X-Men) and got to it. Why it took me so long to realize that this would be a good time to work on From the Box is anyone's guess. But I digress - let's move on.

This storyline comes at somewhat of a transition point for the X-Men. Falling after Onslaught but just before Operation: Zero Tolerance, the story is basically using three issues to kill time while reminding everyone that the plot point of the Legacy Virus is still out there. Another transition point is that Scott Lobdell was still pulling double duty on the X-Titles, as a replacement for Mark Waid had not yet been added, so while Lobdell was handling plot, Ben Raab took scripting duty. I am familiar with Raab as the closing writer for Excalibur, having the unenviable task of following up an enjoyable run by Warren Ellis. Tough luck, man.

But the main story on the creative team is that it's the debut issue on art for Carlos Pacheco, and to celebrate the occasion, #62 was released with two covers - both by Pacheco. Even though the book was in its 60s by this point (issue count, not age), Pacheco was just the third regular artist for the title, following Andy Kubert, who came in when Jim Lee left the book. Pacheco would stick around for a year before heading off for other projects, and it was more often good art for Marvel's merry mutants.

The story features an odd grouping of the X-Men in Cyclops, Wolverine, Phoenix, Storm and Cannonball as the rest of the team - Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Bishop and Joseph - had been sent to Shi'ar space over in Uncanny. These X-Men answer a summons from an old acquaintance of Wolverine's, but come across a battle between Shang-Chi (Master of Kung-Fu!) and a bunch of ninjas. No, really. Wolverine helps out, threatens Shang for no reason, then all is explained and they go after the fabled Elixir Vitae of Shang-Chi's father, which may or may not be able to cure the Legacy Virus.

Now let me stop right there, because that's really all you need to know about this story. Nothing else substantial happens. The X-Men come across a very-much alive Sebastian Shaw who sends them to Wilson Fisk (Kingpin) who actually has the Elixir, then after Shaw and Fisk threaten each other, Storm blows the whole thing up and no one gets anything. Seriously - that's it. There's not really even a climactic moment to finish it up - Storm gets tired of waiting for one and blows everything up. The X-Men fly home and all is fine.

There were 2.5 character returns in this story, in Shang-Chi, Kingpin and half of one to Shaw, who had actually returned to life quite a while earlier in the pages of X-Force. Shang-Chi served no purpose in the story, aside from lending his father's Elixir to the story. For those of you not up on your Marvel B-listers, Shang-Chi's father was Fu Manchu, though by this point Marvel no longer had the rights to use his name, so he was simply referred to as "your father". Kingpin had been chucked from the New York underworld by Daredevil, though I have no idea as to his timeline, so I couldn't tell you how this all lined up. Apparently, though, this was a big deal. To my knowledge, this remains the only interaction between Wilson Fisk and the X-Men, but I'll fact check myself later.

What really makes this story suck, though, is the writing. Lobdell's plot is pretty thin, and Raab's script is downright awful. I cannot recall a storyline in which more exposition has been tossed out in page after page. An entire page is used for Kingpin to share through inner-monologue the entire history of Hong Kong. Shang Chi thinks about the X-Men's mission statement once per issue. He starts calling Storm 'wind-rider' right after he meets her. He also refers to the Legacy Virus as that thing he had been hearing so much of in the news, though the X-Men had just explained it all to him a few minutes prior. Cannonball repeatedly refers to himself as the 'greenest' of the X-Men (demonstrating how badly the character was handled at this point) and both Wolverine and Jubilee (in an O:ZT interlude) take turns mentioning that he is the best at what he does.

Pacheco's art is the bright point of this story, as all of his characters are quite nice to look at, though Phoenix and Storm have a bit of the overly rounded look (if you catch my drift) that was so prevalent in the 90s. His Wolverine looks awful, but that's hardly his fault. This was during the time when somebody thought it would be a good idea to devolve Wolverine into a beast-like humanoid, and give him a perpetually ripped costume with bandana. He looked strange in it, and downright horrible with 'street clothes' on. Fortunately, just after O:ZT, the look was abandoned and Wolverine returned to being human.

This story is recommended only for completists and those wondering just how the X-Men got on a plane for the start of O:ZT. Other than that, try to stay upwind from this one. It's a stinker.

Longshot and Dazzler

In last week's X-Factor #35, oft-forgotten X-Man Longshot debuted in the title, apparently set to join the cast. As he had not been seen in several months (since the end of Exiles), a bit of exposition came forth in a conversation between him and Strong Guy. It was there that Longshot explained why he was no longer in a relationship with Dazzler (as they had last been seen) and commented that there was really nothing between the two of them - that the whole thing seemed forced. It was (in my eyes) a well-deserved comment on the part of Peter David on the longtime relationship between the two characters. I found it to be quite amusing.

The explanation is not exactly simple, and a history lesson of Longshot and Dazzler is forthcoming to help get you through it. You're welcome.

Longshot debuted in a cult-classic self-titled mini-series, and was quickly shoehorned into the X-Men in an annual that also featured the debut of the X-Babies (and that's all I'm saying about that one). He briefly vanished during the Mutant Massacre, only to show back up in its aftermath, in which he quickly became a member of the new team. An amusing trait of the character was his attractiveness to the opposite sex (mullet notwithstanding), and his naivity to the matter due to his nature. However, that was quickly abandoned in a suddenly developed relationship between him and his teammate Dazzler.

The Longshot relationship always puzzled me during the "Australian Era" of 80s X-Men. The dialogue would have you believe that there was a love-triangle going between him, Dazzler and Rogue, but this really never was touched upon in the stories themselves. Dazzler and Longshot were just sort of a couple until he left the team right after Inferno. All right, to be fair, they did get a bit physical at one point, but they were possessed by demons at the time.

It was sort of out-of-sight, out-of-mind once Longshot left the team, as Dazzler began hitting on Havok (chicks dig moody depressants, after all) and then got her mind wiped by a journey through the Siege Perilous. Wherever writer Chris Claremont was planning on taking either story (Longshot's departure and Dazzler's amnesia) didn't come to anything by the time he left the book. It was plotter Jim Lee and scripter John Byrne who actually finished the Longshot story, pulling in Dazzler and restoring her memories in the process. The battle left Longshot in charge of the Mojoverse, Dazzler pregnant, and the readers feeling that the relationship was much more than earlier stories had ever implied it to be. So they lived happily ever after.

Or not so much.

Turns out that a universe-ruling Longshot and an expecting Dazzler weren't too interesting. In fact, the few writers that did use either character often didn't use them together, with an obligatory reference to how the other one was doing just for fun. Dazzler was given an implied miscarriage by Fabian Nicieza just after the Age of Apocalypse and the two were sort-of broken up when Dazzler showed up to help the X-Men apparently unaware of where Longshot might be. She settled into random guest appearances here and there and he ended up in Limbo (the unused kind, not the demon kind).

Eventually, Longshot was brought into the Exiles, though he had no memories of his past life. This was a welcome attempt to get him back to the basics of his character that had become lost over the years of sort-of romances and universal uprisings. He stayed with the team until the title ended with a Chris Claremont written crossover between the Exiles and New Excalibur (of which Dazzler was a member) and almost all of the characters were shuffled so an all-Claremont-created team could relaunch Exiles. For Longshot, this meant heading back to Earth with Dazzler in an effort to rekindle their romance. So they lived happily ever after.

Or not so much.

Turns out the Longshot/Dazzler coupling is still not interesting, and really hasn't ever been. The effort to put them back together after all of their convoluted non-use felt like a forced issue. They were together in X-Men, they should be together now. That's exactly how it was presented in Longshot's X-Factor appearance when he flat out said it felt more and more awkward trying to make it work when it really didn't. So finally, Dazzler and Longshot have both returned as usable characters in the X-World. Let's just hope they stay away from each other this time.

From the Box: The X-Cutioner's Song

After great effort (and a lot of help from the Marvel Chronology Project) I put together a reading order of my archive of X-Men back issues and got to reading, starting at the 1991 launch of the second X-Men book (now called X-Men: Legacy). Not too far in, I came upon the 12-part, 4-title crossover, the X-Cutioner's Song. I've had the trade paperback of this for a while, but it always seemed to convoluted to really get into - but as I didn't want to read only half of the story, I dusted it off and got to it.


It was a laborious read, I'll have you know. To get into, you need to have some knowledge about past X-Force/New Mutants history as well as X-Factor knowledge. The basics are thus:

• Stryfe, who leads a bunch of generic villains known as the Mutant Liberation Front, looks exactly like X-Force leader Cable when not wearing his helmet.
• Apocalypse has two (rather redundant) groups of followers: the Four Horsemen and the Dark Riders. Neither should be in action without Apocalypse, who has been MIA since a battle with the original X-Factor.
• Mr. Sinister has a thing for Scott Summers and his juicy DNA (ewwww).
• The New Mutants left the X-Mansion to become X-Force, and none of the X-Teams particularly enjoy that.
• No one has much love for Cable.
• Cyclops was forced to send his son into the future after the baby was infected (by Apocalypse) with the techno-organic virus.

Once you have that down, we can get underway. Apparently, Cable shoots Professor X at a Lila Cheney concert, the Dark Riders (not working for Mr. Sinister instead of Apocalypse) kidnap Cyclops and Jean Grey, who are then traded to Stryfe for Summers DNA, which is a ruse - the container actually unleashes the Legacy Virus. The X-Men and X-Factor go after X-Force to get Cable, jail them, go around fighting for a while, then end up on the moon when Stryfe and Cable duke it out until Cyclops detonates a time portal. Ending comes, la la la. Oh yeah, Stryfe is apparently Cyclops' son who happens to be a little bitter about what happened to him. You can understand that, right?

The story, while about four parts too long, wasn't anything terrible. It got all the teams together, tied up a couple loose plot threads (for a while) and put a lot of focus on Wolverine, Cable and Bishop - the overly popular characters in the huge muscles, huge guns era of the early 90s. Looking back, with over 15 years having passed between then and now, the story doesn't really hold up too well.

• Down the line, someone decided the son should be the good guy, so it was revealed that Cable was actually Cyclops' son, not Stryfe.
• The crossover was a prominent reason that Peter David left X-Factor. The book would continue on with sub-par storylines for years, then sink into drivel before being retooled into the even worse Mutant X.
• Shortly therafter, a character was introduced actually called the X-Cutioner (a name so ridiculous, you'd think they went back in time to the Silver Age to make it) that had absolutely nothing to do with this story. Later readers would be confused by the two.
• Apocalypse had yet another death scene, this time in front of Archangel. That would have meant something had he not been revived when someone else needed a benevolent villain to stand around and holler nonsense.
• The story's epilogue released the Legacy Virus, which was a really big deal at first with characters worrying about the quickly-spreading disease infecting "hundreds" of mutants, and killing off big names like Magik, Mastermind and...uh...Revanche. Eventually, the Legacy Virus hit the background when (I suppose) creators didn't want to kill off major characters for the hell of it and the "hundreds" turned out to mostly be Genoshan mutates. No one seemed to notice when Moira MacTaggert and Pyro held on for years with the disease when everyone else died in like five days. Eventually, the virus was done away with at the cost of Colossus.

And thus you have the legacy of the X-Cutioner's Song. If you're aching to dive in, check out the trade. Actually, I managed to find all twelve individual issues for 50 cents each in a bargain bin, some even in the original bag complete with card! How X-Citing!

Marvel shipping schedule set to pound the crap out of reader, pocketbook

Today's shipping list is a little light for me - DC's Justice League of America alongside Marvel's Ultimate X-Men and X-Factor. A pretty calm week and looking at next week, I found I will need the rest up.

DC remains calm - only Teen Titans will be coming out. Marvel, on the other hand, has Fantastic Four, Immortal Iron Fist, Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimates 3, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine: First Class, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Legacy, and Young Avengers Presents. That's 11 Marvel books (and I'm still deciding whether I want to get Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers - I'll probably wait and see if they do something like they did for Civil War).

Perhaps you think I simply had an unlucky week, but look at it like this: both Avengers books are coming out on the same week. One would assume that you would have them coming out two weeks aside from each other so you get an Avengers book every other week, but apparently that is not in the cards.

Also, there are five X-Men books coming out this week (I don't read Wolverine: Origins). By my count, the whole X-Men line consists of 13 titles (if you include Astonishing X-Men which rarely comes out and New Exiles which really isn't an X-Men book). Both of the main X-Men titles (Uncanny and Legacy) are coming out on the same day, as are two of the three Wolverine titles. Keep in mind that three are coming out today, and you have eight titles - three short of the consistent titles in the line - are out in two weeks. There's no reason to bunch up so many titles at once.

I don't often defend DC, but I'll give them this: with some exceptions here and there, they get their books out consistently on schedule. Certain titles are first week, second week and so on and they usually remain there month after month. Marvel has more of a "put them out whenever" schedule, so it's always a crap shoot whether a title you're looking for shows up on the schedule or not.

But once again I feel the need to move past bitching and defend my point. How would I fix the X-Men scheduling system? Let's take a look:

There are 13 titles on the X-Men line: Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Legacy, Young X-Men, and X-Factor make up the main storyline titles. X-Force and New Exiles are in their own little worlds which don't get mentioned too often in the main titles. Wolverine, Wolverine: Origins, and Cable are solo books based on X-Men characters. X-Men: First Class, Wolverine: First Class, and Ultimate X-Men are not in main continuity, and Astonishing X-Men is kind of an addendum title that is the award-winner when it feels like coming out. And in case you were wondering, I do not consider Captain Britain & MI-13 to be an X-Men book. It's almost a Marvel Knights title.

Considering these books to all be monthly in a four-week standard month, I'd place the four main books in separate weeks, with Uncanny and Legacy two weeks apart from one another. This schedule was followed during Endangered Species and Messiah CompleX and I greatly enjoyed the line's consistency. So you have the following:

Week 1: Uncanny X-Men
Week 2: Young X-Men
Week 3: X-Men: Legacy
Week 4: X-Factor

Since weeks 2 and 4 are a little lighter, more for the dedicated X-Men reader, I'd toss the spin-off team books there to thicken them up a bit:

Week 1: Uncanny X-Men
Week 2: Young X-Men, New Exiles
Week 3: X-Men: Legacy
Week 4: X-Factor, X-Force

Tossing in the side solo books, I would want to keep the two Wolverine titles separate from one another, as to keep the density of the character down, yet I still run into the problem of putting two out in one week, as Wolverine is also in both Uncanny and X-Force. But alas, such cannot be helped. Cable I toss onto week 3, as I think weeks two and four have enough blood and angst with Young X-Men and X-Force:

Week 1: Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine: Origins
Week 2: Young X-Men, New Exiles
Week 3: X-Men: Legacy, Wolverine, Cable
Week 4: X-Factor, X-Force

Three more titles to go to even out the weeks at three X-Books a piece, we'll try to balance the titles. X-Men: First Class and Ultimate can go into weeks 2 and 4 to give each week an X-Men team book, and Wolverine: First Class will finish the stack:

Week 1: Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine: Origins, Wolverine: First Class
Week 2: Young X-Men, New Exiles, Ultimate X-Men
Week 3: X-Men: Legacy, Wolverine, Cable
Week 4: X-Factor, X-Force, X-Men: First Class

But I've made a mistake. On week 1, I've put two Wolverine books. This is an easy fix, as First Class is an out-of-continuity book, I'll simply switch it with the almost non-X-book, New Exiles for my final shipping pile:

Week 1: Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine: Origins, New Exiles
Week 2: Young X-Men, Ultimate X-Men, Wolverine: First Class
Week 3: X-Men: Legacy, Wolverine, Cable
Week 4: X-Factor, X-Force, X-Men: First Class

So where do you put Astonishing on the event that it actually does come out? I left week 3 as the only week that does not have two team-books for just that purpose, and it is two weeks away from the other main X-Men team book, Uncanny.

So there you have it - a balanced X-Men schedule. On months with a fifth week, you can fill the gap with annuals or the dreaded needless one-shot issues. How would you balance your favorite comic-family schedule?

Marvel decides there aren't enough books starring Wolverine

There was a time when Wolverine could only be found in the pages of Uncanny X-Men. I know it's shocking. Don't be embarassed if you need to catch your breath. In the mid-80s, it was decided that the superstar X-Man could probably sustain adventures of his own, and thus Wolverine was launched (after a successful mini-series). Alright, that's fine. A lot of team players have solo books (Iron Man and Captain America, for example).

But now, two decades later, Marvel has taken the pint-sized psychopath's popularity and gone positively bat-shit crazy. Besides his role in the pages of Uncanny, he also is leading the black-ops strikeforce team in X-Force, has stayed with the unregistered team of New Avengers, has three books of his own (Wolverine, Wolverine: Origins, Wolverine: First Class), only one of which really telling an ongoing story, and has recently been the subject of an ungodly surge of one-shot stories and mini-series. Logan wrapped up last month, Wolverine: The Amazing Immortal Man and Other Bloody Tales came out a week later, Wolverine: Dangerous Games kicked off June, and last week's X-Force: Ain't No Dog's main story was - you guessed it - a Wolverine story.

August will feature Wolverine: Killing Made Simple that brings back (by no one's demand) Nanny and the Orphan Maker and September has Wolverine: Roar and Wolverine: Saudade. To add with that, September's issue of Wolverine: Origins kicks off a four issue crossover with X-Men: Legacy!

I don't know what type of fan is so into Wolverine they're willing to shill out their hard-earned dollars to get all of this drivel (in fairness, not all of it is) but they need to knock it off. Perhaps if sales tank enough on these things, Wolverine can get back down to a manageable level. But I can bitch about it all day long. How would I fix it?

First, stop the one-shots and the mini-series. Wolverine is appearing in at least six different ongoing titles a month, complete with two dedicated specifically to him in current continuity. There should not be anything that can be brought out in a one-shot or mini that can't be handled in one or more of those titles. And if you actually read the issues in question, you'll see that they're actually isn't anything brought out. They're simply basic "milk-the-franchise" stories.

Second, cancel one of the current continuity books. While Wolverine: Origins (launched right after Wolverine discovered his entire past in House of M) features an ongoing plot dealing with the inner workings of the character, Wolverine is a book of rotating writers and artists whose stories really don't match up together or with any other title for that matter, except for occasionally Origins. So get rid of Origins while moving the stories and creative team over to Wolverine. Focus, people. Focus.

Third, refine Wolverine's presence in the Marvel Universe. It's a running joke that he's everywhere at once, and that shouldn't be. Put him on the X-Men and keep him there. Yank him from the Avengers as they have their own massive list of characters that can fill the void. X-Force is a little trickier, as his presence is quite important, but since the characters involved don't really fit and the concept goes against 40+ years of continuity, why not just scrap the whole book? I like that idea.

So what are we left with? Wolverine with solo adventures in Wolverine and team excursions in Uncanny X-Men and fun, nostalgic, out-of-continuity trips in Wolverine: First Class. With such a refined area, now you can reintroduce the one-shots but only few and far between! Even guest spots in New or Mighty Avengers won't be too much of a problem. But with the saturation down, these books might actually receive the bump that Wolverine's appearance should bring if they weren't so plentiful.

Unnecessary origins

Don't know how I missed this one when May solicits came out two months ago, but came across this little nugget today:

X-MEN ORIGIN: COLOSSUS #1

COVER BY: TREVOR HAIRSINE
WRITER: CHRISTOPHER YOST CRAIG KYLE
PENCILS: TREVOR HAIRSINE
INKS:KRIS JUSTICE
COLORED BY: VAL STAPLES
LETTERED BY: TODD KLEIN
THE STORY: The origin of fan-favorite X-Man Colossus is finally revealed, brought to you by Chris Yost (New X-Men, Messiah Complex) and Trevor Hairsine (X-Men: Deadly Genesis). Deep in the wastes of Siberia, young Piotr Rasputin discovers his mutant abilities -- and becomes the newest target of the ruthless KGB! Guest-starring Professor Xavier. Rated T+ … $3.99

Okay, now correct me if I'm wrong here...but Colossus' origin was already told - back in this little-known issue called GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1. Very simple - farm boy living on farm, sister going to be run over by tractor, uses powers to stop tractor, recruited into X-Men. It's a decently simple origin for a decently simple character. That was one of Colossus' strengths - he didn't have some convoluted origin that lost sight of the original simpleness of a farmboy and how he saw the outside world in his first days as an X-Man. This origin series reeks of missing the original point. There is no reason for this whatsoever, save screwing with a perfectly fine origin in the pursuit of a buck.

Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but usually when characters are given 'tweaks' to their origins, it very rarely works out in the end. Psylocke's transformation to ninja-mode was originally simply a transformation - until somebody decided it would be a good idea to bring back the original body as a separate being and confusion reigned. Nightcrawler was abandoned as a child because of his appearance and became a circus performer who was persecuted for his appearance - until somebody thought it would be a good idea to have him be the son of (maybe) the Devil and be brothers of several teleporters in one of the biggest plot holes in X-Men mythos. Outside of the X-Men? Need I mention Hawkman?

I can think of two instances (there are probably more) where inserting new bits into the origin story worked well - one was Cyclops (as it answered the question as to how he got the ruby quartz glasses in his orphanage) and Wolverine (who never really had a definite origin) but both of those worked out of necessity. Colossus doesn't need an origin to be "finally revealed!" No one asked for it. It's not necessary.

Ugh, I say.

Marvel puts out quality debut issue solely to spite blog writer

Back in December, I lambasted the concept of Wolverine: First Class.

Casey bought the first issue, and lo and behold, I liked it. I liked it a lot.

So while I still am not a big fan of the concept, I gladly admit that it's a quality read (as of the first issue) and I plan on picking it up. I apologize for jumping to the conclusions that I did.

Dammit.

Young X-Men, a retrospective

Come along, Sherman, we're taking the Wayback Machine to learn about some history in honor of this week's launch of Young X-Men.

What, you don't get that reference? Way to make me feel old.

The "next generation of X-Men" has been (more often than not) a staple of the X-Franchise since Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod introduced the New Mutants in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 back in 1982. That team consisted of Cannonball, Mirage, Karma, Sunspot and Wolfsbane - who, along with other well-known members Magik, Cypher, Warlock and Magma - are the usual guide to the genre. If a "young team" debuts, usually it will at some point reference this group - and if the solicitations are a guide, Young X-Men will be no different.

The X-Men was launched as five teenagers learning at a school for mutants, though as produced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (no offense intended) they hardly acted like students or even teenagers, save for needing Professor X to bail them out of situations. It wasn't long before the group "graduated" and later writers used them specifically as a super-hero team. When Len Wein and Dave Cockrum relaunched the team in 1975, the new X-Men were all adults, several of them heroes in their own right. Chris Claremont's run focused on the team's interactions with one another rather than learning in the school environment.

So it was no real surprise when the second book was launched, in part carried by the mass popularity of Uncanny X-Men. But the New Mutants weren't just different faces going through the motions - the stories were more light hearted (in some cases) and the characters were likable in their own respect - not simply because they wore an X on their belts.

But through the late 80s and into the start of the 90s, the New Mutants got swept up by the grittier times, signalled by creator Rob Liefeld's introduction of Cable to the book. Before long, most of the core cast was gone (save for Cannonball and latecomer Boom Boom) and in their places were a team of the era - X-Force. With that, the younger class book was gone, though X-Force would never quite be able to shake that label.

Three years later, in 1994, the Phalanx Covenant kicked off leading directly to the launching of Generation X - the next "next generation of X-Men". This title moved the official Xavier school out of the X-Mansion to Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy, formerly the school of her Hellions (arch-nemeses of the original New Mutants). The title took X-Men mainstays Jubilee, Banshee and the no-longer-evil Emma Frost and added a sprinkle of new characters such as Skin, M, Chamber, Synch and Husk (sister of Cannonball) as well as some others. The title never really caught on and changed its identity several times as it floundered in the X-World before being quietly put down just before Grant Morrison started his heralded New X-Men run.

With the end of Generation X, Morrison moved the proper school back to Professor Xavier's mansion and made the mutant student body substantially larger than had ever been attempted in an X-Men title (Generation X had opened the school to human students at one point). With this came an opportunity to focus on some of the students, so Nunzio DeFillipis and Christina Weir launched New Mutants under Marvel's ill-fated Tsunami line. In this new title, the students learned from the faculty of X-Men characters - focused mainly on original New Mutant Mirage. However, the book seemed to be pushed awkwardly away from its original aim (Magma and Wolfsbane were originally hinted to be important members of the cast, but never really joined) and the book was retitled after 13 issues to New X-Men: Academy X.

It was here that DeFillipis and Weir hit their stride. In an effort to take the X-Men back into the superhero realm, New X-Men split the students into squads, each advised by a member of the faculty. The title focused on two teams - the New Mutants (Wind Dancer, Wallflower, Prodigy, Elixir, Surge and Icarus) and the Hellions (Hellion, Dust, Wither, Rockslide, Mercury and Tag) with background characters filling out a part of the student body. Like New Mutants, though, this book was more into the interactions of the characters rather than fighting bad guys. But that was fine. The book had a lot of strong characters, and when the Hellions got their own mini-series, it was a great read.

During Decimation in which the X-Line was shaken up, New X-Men was pulled from DeFillipis and Weir and given to the duo of Chris Yost and Craig Kyle. As evidenced by my thoughts on X-Force, these two are hit and miss with me. They took the happiness completely out of the book, and made it a sludge through pure misery. Five members of the two main teams were written out, with three of them getting killed. Almost the entire supporting cast was killed off in a single issue. The book literally became about the characters wondering when they were going to get killed. With that in mind, you can see why X-Force is a much better device for them. To their credit, I did like their characterization of some of these kids, and they made X-23 into an enjoyable character, which is something I never would have imagined when she was a personality-lacking wild child in Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men.

After Messiah CompleX, New X-Men stopped being solicited, with no explanation as to why the book was seemingly getting the axe. Like me, many fans greatly loved the characters (they seemed to have more of a following than the Generation X kids at the time) and wanted more of them. So we get a new issue #1 with Young X-Men and a title that, according to solicitations, looks to be a child army of mutants. I'm not quite sure about that, but I'll look into that on Friday after people have had a chance to look over the book.

To me, the younger team has not really worked too well lately. It's possible - it was none with New Mutants in the 80s - but no one has really managed to recapture the magic and hit the balance between teenage interaction and superhero stories. As of late, it's been specifically one or the other, and it doesn't look like Young X-Men will change this. But of course, in four years they'll revamp the theme and try again.

Going down the Skrull memory lane

After all the build-up and the hype, Secret Invasion finally kicks off next week and the Marvel scene is ablaze with Skrull fever. The Skrulls, to me, have always been a "Let's invade and take over!" group to soundly be defeated by the heroes and be on their ways. Of course, I just recently (within the past five or so years) began reading Fantastic Four and Avengers, so I still have a ways through my Essential volume trudging before I get to some of the more classic Skrull stories. The 60s versions didn't exactly have me cowering in fear.

But I'm an X-Men fan, and one of the (mainly forgotten) stories that I hold near and dear to my heart - the story that was taking place when I first became a fan - is my favorite Skrull story to date, and it's really what I think about when I think Skrulls. The story was an effort by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee running briefly in Uncanny X-Men #273 and 274, before taking up all of 275 through 278.

The setup was classic Claremont. Back in the 160s of Uncanny, Deathbird has usurped the throne of the Shi'ar with the help of the Brood. In issue #200, Professor X had been taken aboard the Starjammer to heal his body, and was unable to return to Earth. Nothing had been done with either character since. With the to-be launched X-Men #1 approaching, I guess it was decided that Professor X needed to be back on Earth, so this quickly wrapped up both storylines in a somewhat unfulfilling manner, in the scope of the big picture. Lila Cheney teleports the X-Men to Deathbird for no real reason, they break free of her trap, beat her and the Imperial Guard up, and Lilandra's got her throne back. It took less than half an issue. But ignore that and follow the story afterwards.

At the party celebrating the victory, Psylocke gets attacked from her chambers and dragged off. Jubilee and Gambit stumble upon Professor X ordering Gladiator to rip Deathbird's wings off. When they attack, Jubilee gets caught and Gambit escapes. As the X-Men investigate, Wolverine cuts down Professor X, and is attacked by Psylocke and also taken prisoner. Now with just Storm, Banshee and Forge (with Gambit working in the shadows) the X-Men have to decide whether they can trust Deathbird and go against Lilandra, who has apparently been doing horrors to Shi'ar worlds under the control of Professor X, who may not be dead after all.

Turns out, Xavier (as well as the Starjammers) have been captured by War Skrulls, who have created a nexus that allows them to duplicate powers. The Psylocke that struck down Wolverine was a Skrull, as was the Professor X that was killed (who in turn was replaced by another Skrull). As Wolverine and Jubilee are copied, the remaining X-Men prepare to fight against their own (of course - it's a Claremont story) and the ending works out, everyone's happy and Professor X returns to Earth to wrap up the longtime Shadow King build up.

There were a lot of things I loved about this story. For one, it was the first story with an actual X-Men team since the Australian based group disbanded back in the 250s, and it was such a mish-mosh of characters (Storm, Wolverine, Banshee, Forge, Psylocke, Gambit, Jubilee), it was an interesting set of interactions between them - though they for some reason had chosen to wear matching uniforms for the first time since the late 60s.

But mainly it was just how bad-ass the Skrulls were. I had no clue what was going on until the big reveal at the end of 276, and by that point (long before, actually) I was intrigued. This group seemed like a viable threat that could in fact conquer a galaxy-spanning empire and do horrors in somebody else's name. Of course, the good guys would win - the good guys always win. But this one is a story I can repeatedly go back and read, happily, whenever I want a decent story.

And also 275 had what is still on my favorite covers list:

So while this may not be a story that goes down in many memory books, if Secret Invasion pulls off Skrulls like this one did (and as of right now, it's already made them a loooot cooler), I'll be happy. I just wish they'd drop the "I've been discovered, I have to attack like a savage! Grrrraaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!" bit.

Yeah, fat chance.

Countdown to Messiah Complex

With the X-Men mega event Messiah Complex right around the corner, the ongoing titles are winding down and preparing for action. While things are simmering, it's a good time to look back and see how we got to this point, and where it may be going.

So all through the month of October, from now until the Messiah Complex one-shot hits the shelves on October 31, the Comicdom Wrecks! resident X-Men junkie (me) will be going through all the storylines that have gone on from M-Day to this point in all four of the relevant titles - Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, X-Factor, and New X-Men. We may even add in a relevant storyline or two here and there (Avengers: Disassembled and The Collective).

When Messiah Complex hits the shelves, you'll be up to date on all (relevant) things X, so stay tuned!

X-Men: Condition Critical (197-199)

This storyline has some title issues. On the cover, the story is titled 'Red Data', but on the inside, it's titled 'Condition Critical'. Since the inside usually has the more reliable stuff (such as the story), I'm going with that. It boggles my mind that the editors couldn't catch that in three months time. Of course, if you're like me (or have read Jeph Loeb's current Wolverine storyline), you probably have quit assuming that editors in the X-Office do anything.

Editing aside, this storyline picks up right where Primary Infection left off (with the exception of what happened to Iceman, who's hunky dory now). Rogue has an infection that's killing her, and her absorption powers have been upped to the point that any contact will kill the person. This is an interesting change for a character that's been lacking any solid characterization since Scott Lobdell was on the book. Say what you will about Peter Milligan's run, but getting Rogue away from Gambit was a good move, and Mike Carey has allowed her to grow on her own for the first time since the start of the 90s. She's not pining for Gambit's return every issue. It's about time. Of course, I'm saying that about a character who's only awake for the second half of the final issue, so let's focus on the story.

The basic gist is that while the X-Men have traveled to Cable's nation of Providence to seek medical assistance for Rogue, they are confronted by a mummudrai who warns them of an attacking creature called Hecatomb, who was created by the Shi'ar. But really, none of that's important. The book seems to be filling time while heading for next month's issue 200 and the coming 'Endangered Species' story that it starts. There are only a couple of important things you need to get out of this story:

Number 1, Cable's island nation pretty much gets the crap torn out of it. I guess with Cable on an X-Men team again, being the leader of a nation doesn't really fit. Somehow, I doubt it'd be a problem if it was Wolverine. Hell, Black Panther's been the ruler of Wakanda forever and he's still made time for the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. The problem here is that everyone seems to be forgetting that this story has been building for quite some time in Cable's own book, Cable and Deadpool. The more I see his role fade in that title, the shorter I see it's lifespan. And really, with the main story that's been building since pretty much day one up in smoke, it may be time to either give the title solely to Deadpool or axe it all together. But that's another story. Let's move on.

Number 2, to stop the Hecatomb, Rogue absorbs all the personas that it had drained, and the experience has left her batty. Issue 200 promises the death of one of this book's X-Men, and I wouldn't be shocked for Rogue to be the one that bites it. It would be a shocker to many, and really a shame, since she's finally becoming interesting again after the Curse of Claremont (I'll save that one for a rant).

Number 3 is made up of a lot of little things that are rather unimportant, but could possibly lead somewhere. Sabretooth is gone, but not dead. Iceman and Mystique lock lips before he saves the day. The X-Men's ship, the Conquistador (which Chris Bachalo drew as a tanker rather than a plane), crashes. Cable merges with the mummudrai, restoring his mutant powers, only to get the tie severed and lose them again. He, like Rogue, is a character that everyone needs to agree on what they can do, instead of continuously messing around with them. It did, however, lead to an interesting monologue in his own book in which he contemplates his role as a gun-wielding psycho, as he was written for many years.

For what it was - a big ass fight scene - this story was perfectly acceptable. Forgettable in the long run, but good enough setup to head into 200 with as much momentum as it needs. Hopefully the loose ends are tied down before too long. We'd hate to sink into Claremont levels. Damn, there I go again.