What’s Covered?
UXM # 372 - 375, XM V2 3 92 - 95, Gambit 6 - 10 (Kind of), Astonishing X-Men V2 # 1 - 3, Wolverine # 45, Bishop: The Last X-Man (kind of)
Roster Watch
Synopsis
The Shattering: UXM # 372 & XMV2 # 92
Plot- Alan Davis
Script - Terry Kavanaugh
Pencils - Adam Kubert (372), Jeff Johnson (92)
Professor Xavier is putting the team through rigorous early morning trainings.
Professor X is such a dick that Gambit is the first to walk away...so he can spend more time in his solo series.
Professor Xavier, still a dick, forces Marrow to push her horns in. It works, which is cool, but he's still being a dick.
Now this a-hole is calling Excalibur a failed experiment!? He's gone too far.
Storm has to admit that this case of assholeness is even more terminal than they thought. We need Jean.
Scott and Jean show up to find the team wigging out.
Nina is with the rest of her Mannite friends.
Story and Kitty decide to get away for a bit with Nightcrawler and go clubbing.
Professor X basically disbands the team and tells them he'll build a new team in their place.
Throwing shade at the golden boy too!? SMH.
Wolverine is the last to stick around but even here Professor X continues pushing.
Mikhail: UXM # 373 - 374
Plot- Alan Davis
Script - Terry Kavanaugh (373), Jay Frerber (374)
Pencils -Adam Kubert (373), Scott Hanna (374)
Team taking a road trip away from X
Col and Marrow spending a lot of time together
Marrow holding her bones in at the art exhibit.
Col and Marrow pulled into Mikhail’s dimension
Mikhails past (nothing new)
Became a God in this new dimension
Marrow forced to fight for her life growing up. Cage match style
Mikhail was possessed by an entity. He leaves with Peter and marrow back to earth
Clubbing: XMV2 # 93 - 94
Plot- Alan Davis
Script - Terry Kavanaugh
Pencils - Adam Kubert
93 Rogue and Mystique
Rogue and Kitty in dance club until Mystique asks for help
Kurt praying until he sees Lorna Dane.
Interesting that Kurt is getting religious again. I always enjoy tracking this because this seems to be a prominent characteristic of his in the Animated Series, movies, and current continuity. There's really only been one reference to Kurt being religious since he first came on the stage 25 years before this and really...it's been quite the opposite. He seems more like a womanizer and free spirt than a devout Christian.
94 Sunfire
Sunfire attacking Rogue, thinking she’s Mystique
Destiny left Kitty her diary
Something about the 12 and Destiny
Y2K
So this becomes another big plot point. Destiny left her journal for Kitty and it appears that she predicted some stuff going down with Apocalypse and "The Twelve."
Lorna: “ I was never as comfortable with this kind of life as you are you know I am a mutant yes, but not adventurous. I didn’t want to be an ex man never wanted to be an ex anything. I just sort of fell into it and stayed for Alex.”
Somebody was mysteriously following Lorna and this becomes a plot point to follow moving forward.
Mesmero and Mastermind working together?
Rogue and Sunfire find them
Mesmero kills MasterMind, sets off a bomb
This was just weird and still hasn't been touched on again. Skrulls?
Gambit
Plot- Fabian Nicieza
Pencils -Anthony Williams
Xavier helps Gambit be freed of the mist presence.
It was a dead mutant
This is so weird. His possession took place in a random one off issue. There were a few mentions to it, but nothing really happened there. Then it's resolved off in his solo series and it's not mentioned in the core X-Men comics. Weird.
Rogue and Gambit make up
Gambit trades Sabretooth to Sinister in exchange for a method of determining the traitor
This seems like a big point. Gambit makes another deal with Sinister! All so he can help figure out who the traitor is! I'm pretty sure this is never mentioned again.
Astonishing X-Men: # 1 - 3
Plot- Howard Mackie
Pencils -Brandon Peterson
The art is a breath of fresh air
Roster
Scott, Jean, W, Cable, Nate Grey, Archangel
Jean calls the others for help
Someone going after a captured Bastion
Team is sent to Hulkbuster base to help Nina
Someone named Death is after the Mannites and blows up the base.
Other Mannites disappeared
One of them, Draco, is going through a “changing.”
Attacking innocents
Jean wants to save him but W wants to kill him.
Bastion is a floating head
Death attacks AA in the sky
Plane crashes
Death hurts W
They think he’s a horseman
Death stabs W and they claim he’s dead. No brainwaves.
Conclusion: UXM # 375, XM 95, Wolverine # 145
Writer- Alan Davis, Erik Larsen (W145)
Pencils -Adam Kubert (375), Tom Ramey (95), Leinel Francis Yu (W145)
Shattered
Col, Marrow, and Mikhail on way back from Boston
NC, Kitty, and Rogue debriefing over Destiny’s journal and Lorna’s follower
Storm and X scolding X-Force
Wolverine is "dead" and everyone gathers to mourn him.
Shocker. He's not actually dead. He was a Skrull all along!
Moira worries about Marrows transformation
Beast and Moira conducting an autopsy
AA leaves to protect a powerless Betsy
Betsy saves AA
X accuses Cyke of losing a teammate and Cyke bitches right back
They argue hard some more.
They all argue, fight, and split up
It was all a ruse. Crazy, fucking, ruse. To identify an imposter (I'm going to bitch about this more in the "My Connections" section).
More members of the team (Storm this time) schooling Xavier about his poor choices.
Skrulls considering making an army out of W’s
Big Skrull plan
Some of them wondering if they should help them cuz of the Galactus thing
Skrulls after Lorna
She’s one of the 12
Cyclops was using an image inducer and pretending to be Lorna.
Cyclops is one of The 12
Jean is one of the 12
Wolverine is death. Duh.
Wolverine # 145
W was switched in orbit back to earth
Delivered to Apoc
W fought Sabretooth to become the next Death
W slices Sabretooth bad
Apoc transfers Adamantium from Victor to W
W fights Hulk as death for Apoc
Apoc shows up in his full outfit
I typically don't read Wolverine, but I'm really glad I read this one! I originally skipped it and then later was like "He does he have his claws back!?" Yes, so it finally happened. It took forever, but he got his Adamantium back. Finally!
Also, this Sabretooth vs. Wolverine fight was pretty huge. Glad I didn't miss that. And now Sabretooth doesn't have Adamantimum!? I never knew that happened.
And Apocalypse is back! I don't know if I recall every thinking he was gone, but I have been noting that we haven't seen him much.
My Connections and Creators
I feel better about this blog entry because I was phoning in my last few. I've basically decided that this era is weak and I'm in a hurry to get to 2001 and New X-Men, so I'm limiting all of the supplemental comics I read and streamlining my coverage. But a lot happened in this one, so I'm going to take time, give it full coverage, and I have a lot to say.
First point of business is that Wolverine finally gets his fucking claws back! And...I almost missed it! After I read a story arc I like to Google to see if there an interview on an arc I can quote or any juicy editorial backstory I can reference. I just happened to see a comment that Wolverine gets his claws back in a random article so it tipped me off to read Wolverine #75 even though I've taken a pause on his solo series. Well, I've been talking for months (years in publishing) about how this whole bone claws thing is dragging on too long and wondering when it would ever end. Well, here we are and I couldn't be happier. Also crazy that he got his Adamantium from Sabretooth. Now I'm curious how Sabretooth is going to get his Adamantium back.
Second point of business has to do with the over simplification of plots. I'll start by talking about Xavier and Onslaught. There's all this focus about how Xavier went bad and fear that he might be turning into Onslaught again. Well even though I wish that was really the case, the Onslaught story went out of it's way to show us that Xavier wasn't really at fault and he was actually held prisoner within Onslaught (Remember when Thor was randomly the one to save him from the shell prison?) Trust me, Onslaught would have been much better if it really was the psychotic break for one man, but that's not where that story went. However, these later writers are writing it as if that is what happened. It just annoys me.
Another example is with Marrow. One of her major motivations is that she is a Morlock from the sewers and can't stand ground dwellers who were pampered and don't look like freaks. But guess what, Marrow didn't grow up in the fucking sewers (after age 7 ish), she was transported by Mikhail along with the other Morlocks to another dimension. That's where she grew up. Hell, we even get a story in this arc finally showing us how she grew up there. So yes, it's true that she's a Morlock and the Morlock's all have this complex, but that wasn't her experience, so that's incorrect. It's an oversimplification of her story and I think it's lazy.
Next, a lot happened with Wolverine. First, I really had no idea who Death was. However, as soon as it was revealed that Wolverine had been a Skrull, I 100% knew exactly who Death was. I'm sure I'm not alone, but it took some of the fun away from guessing as it was slowly revealed. Also, we thought Wolverine died! That was crazy. I wonder if anyone actually got emotional when this happened while they waited 30 days for the next issues or if live readers knew, like me, that he would clearly be fine.
Apocalypse is back and in his true form. It's about time. It's crazy how the Animated Series made it seem like Apocalypse was alive and behind everything but he actually had very little presence in the 90's. However, when we did show up he made a splash.
I don't care what you say, Professor X is still a huge dick. He's done this whole deceive the whole team before. Remember in the Silver Age when he faked his death and forced Jean to lie to the team so he could spend time preparing for an alien invasion? I'm pretty sure he's done something like this at least one other time. I know the end result is supposed to be "Oh, he's not really a dick, he was just pretending to be one so he could figure who was a Skrull." Guess what, there's gotta be easier ways to figure this out then working your team to death, firing personal insults at everyone for weeks, and then disbanding the team. That isn't a strategy, it's a character flaw.
Finally, I need to decide if I will read the Gambit series. I had made the conscious choice not to since his last two limited series were terrible and this one started out boring too. However I did pop in and read 3 or 4 issues since they tied in so well and they weren't that bad. If they continue to be well written, and the stories have larger impact, I may stick around. We'll see. We're already at Issue 10 and there are only 25 total so it's not a big commitment. I also keep being tempted to catch back up on Deadpool.
Alan Davis continues to be a real breath of fresh air. I love his art. I love his storytelling. It's just nice to get this after a few years of crap. Also, special shout out to Brandon Peterson's art in Astonishing X-Men # 1. I really enjoyed it, probably because it has more of a 90's feel.
Characters
Professor X is still a dick
I railed about this earlier, but when is this guy going to learn his lesson? It's so funny that this was the first "theme" I've been tracking every since my first blog entry covering the full silver age run. Professor X is a great character in the animated series and movies, but he's really the worst in the comics.
Col & Marrow growing close
I don't know if anything will happen here. I get the feeling no one knows what to do with either of them. Like is Colossus and Kitty getting heated again? Colossus is the wet blanket following single girls around like Meggan or Marrow. Get your own girlfriend and some self respect!
And then Marrow. They made it seem like something was going on with Gambit. Now this. I'm just confused. I guess I'm interested.
Dropped the Rogue Romance?
Hey writers! There is this whole interesting Rogue and Gambit romance. They were apart for a long time, then it was a big deal that they were finally reunited. I don't know if I missed something but it seems like this has been dropped altogether. I mean, they don't have to be together, but it needs to be addressed one way or the other. Lately Gambit has been hanging out with Marrow. I mean, that's fine, but Rogue should get jealous or something. There's just...nothing.
Wolverine out for blood with Sabretooth
I always admire when Wolverine is out to kill someone in a comic made for kids.
Lorna
I like the Lorna callback:
“ I was never as comfortable with this kind of life as you are you know I am a mutant yes, but not adventurous. I didn’t want to be an ex man never wanted to be an ex anything. I just sort of fell into it and stayed for Alex.”
Why is Mastermind alive?
Yea, why is he alive!? Did Alan Davis just forget he died of the Legacy Virus? Will this ever be addressed? Was he a Skrull? Should I even care?
Mikhail's not evil, ok?
I mentioned this up above too but I'm over the on again, off again Mikhail being evil thing. I hate when comics come up with lame excuses later on like "He was possessed by an evil entity." Well guess what, he wasn't possessed by the entity when he decided to crash the Morlock tunnels in the first place. He wasn't possessed when he gave Illyana the Legacy Virus in New Mutants: Life or Death.
Storm vs. Xavier in XM95
I love how Storm keeps pushing back against Xavier. We keep seeing him being a dick and her doing "the right thing."
Kurt getting religions again?
Interesting that Kurt is getting religious again. I always enjoy tracking this because this seems to be a prominent characteristic of his in the Animated Series, movies, and current continuity. There's really only been one reference to Kurt being religious since he first came on the stage 25 years before this and really...it's been quite the opposite. He seems more like a womanizer and free spirt than a devout Christian.