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259: X-Men V2 # 180-187 (Blood of Apocalypse)

What’s Covered?

X-Men V2 # 180-187, X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula # 1 - 4, New Excalibur # 9, Cable & Deadpool # 26 - 27




Roster Watch



Synopsis

Apocalypse vs. Dracula

Writer - Frank Tieri

Pencils - Clayton Henry



In an ancient flashback we see that an early En Sabah Nur (Apocalypse) fought against Dracula when he was a warrior. It was believed that Dracula perished in the fight.


This story follows a descendant of Jono Starsmore (Chamber), who is apparently a descendant of Apocalyspe and a member of Clan Akkaba (A group of Apocalypse's descendants who rule during his slumbers). The head of the clan (Hamilton Slade) kills two cops.


Starsmore brings Van Helsing to Apocalypse after some of the clan begin disappearing. At the morgue, Apoc’s descendants are zombies now.


Hamilton brings Dracula to the Hamilton House, claims he (Apoc) is their new lord. Hamilton and other vampires defeat Apoc and his Allies (Van Helsing, Jon Starsmore, etc) but Frederick, a boy in a wheelchair teleports them away. They have a (seemingly) final battle and Apoc wins, but is bit by a vampire. Hamilton’s body is taken by his mother, who he later kills (dude is messed up).


Another final battle begins. Frederick (wheelchair kid) kills Hamilton by teleporting his head off. Damn. Dracula gets Apoc to submit (due to being under his influence after the bite), but Van Helsing saves him.


When all is done and Apoc slumbers once again, Ozymandias decides to rule Clan Akkaba in Apoc’s place, using his blood to give long life to descendants of Frederick Slade.


New Excalibur # 9: Chamber

Writer - Frank Tieri

Pencils - Scott Kolins


For those who weren't reading the Weapon X series (like me), we get a little recap. Apparently he was infiltrating the Weapon X program. At one point, 3 factions of the Weapon X program broke into all out war. Chamber was right in the middle of it during M Day where he immediately lost his powers, leaving him with an open chest cavity, missing organs, and no jaw.


In present day, Jono is visited by an elder Frederick Slade (the crippled Apoc descendant from Apoc vs. Dracula). He is able to use Apocalypse's blood to restore his body and restore some powers, however he looks a bit like Apocalypse now.


We also see that Ozymandias is pretending to be Apocalypse as he leads the present day Clan Akkaba now.


Cable & Deadpool # 27 - 28: Cable's still a tool

Writer - Fabian Nicieza

Pencils - Lan Medina



We once again see Cable depicted as a time traveler known as "The Traveler." In this flashback, he is ancient Egypt and beats Apocalypse with guns. Cable finds that Ozymandias put A’s dead body in a Celestial machine. The machine turned Ozymandias into his immortal servant body. Apoc was able to start using the technology. It was Cable going back in time that created him! Some of the TO virus is what allowed his body to re-build itself from a single drop of blood.


In present day, DP and Irene team up looking for Cable in Egypt. Cable appears with Apoc’s minions worshipping him and says he wants Apoc to come back. WTF? Cable lets Apoc come back because the mutant population needs to come together once again. Seems like an awfully big gamble and just one more reason for me to be annoyed with Fabian and Cable.


X-Men # 180 - 182: What Lorna Saw

Writer - Peter Milligan

Pencils - Roger Cruz (180 - 181), Salvador Larroca (182)



Scott tries to order Alex to stay, but Alex doesn’t listen. Shocker. Iceman says that he’s going to go too, but then Scott orders him to stay, and Bobby listens. (Coward).


We also get a Leper Queen backstory. Her daughter was a mutant. Started a fire that killed her and mom had her face burned off. I'm sure she'll be a forgotten character once Milligan leaves. (I just looked it up and she won't ever appear in XMV2 again, but she does show up in X-Force V3 two years from now.)


Mystique shows up ready to join the XM, alongside a new mutant named Pulse. Mystique thinks Rogue should marry Pulse.


Lorna and Alex find what Lorna is looking for. A fat, green alien thing named Doop. I don't know Doop because I skipped Peter Milligan's X-Statix (no regrets). Alex is being an asshole and Daap (Doop?) keeps attacking him. At the end of this arc, The Leper Queen attacks Lorna. Alex attacks Doop. Doop blows up, then takes Lorna and the Leper Queen with him.


X-Men # 183 - 187: Blood of Apocalypse

Writer - Peter Milligan

Pencils - Salvador Larroca



The story begins with Pestilence infiltrating facilities to consume the world's deadliest diseases, solidifying her horrific transformation. Meanwhile, Apocalypse pits the mutant astronaut Gazer against a human in a brutal trial. As Gazer is on the brink of defeat, Ozymandias intervenes, saving him but leaving Gazer indebted to him. Apocalypse, continuing his recruitment of Horsemen, targets Sunfire (the new Famine), who has lost his legs, and offers him a chance to regain power in exchange for loyalty. Meanwhile, a new mutant, Pulse, demonstrates the unique ability to touch Rogue without suffering harm, hinting at potential significance in the battle to come.


Apocalypse boldly appears on the Xavier Institute’s lawn, offering mutants peace and protection—at the cost of their unwavering loyalty. This sparks debate among the mutants, with Shan siding with Apocalypse’s vision. Famine (Sunfire) intensifies tensions by starving the mutant group known as the 198 (they are starved when they see his light) and then offering his (Apocalypse's) blood as the cure to their hunger, further manipulating their desperation. Apocalypse’s new Horsemen are revealed: Gazer becomes War, Sunfire is transformed into Famine, Pestilence has not yet been revealed and he hasn't chosen Death yet. Apocalypse sets forth his grim plan to reduce humanity's population by 90%. Gambit, desperate and disillusioned, agrees to drink Apocalypse’s blood, completing his transformation into Death.


As tensions escalate, Apocalypse’s plans begin to fracture. Ozymandias openly criticizes his master, accusing him of growing weak, and even physically confronts him, showcasing his own centuries-honed strength. It doesn't go well for him. Meanwhile, Mystique suggests that Pulse might be able to siphon Apocalypse’s powers. Rogue manages to capture Sunfire, while Ozymandias attempts to broker a deal with Havok, Rogue, and Iceman, leading them into the Sphinx. There, the X-Men encounter Apocalypse’s followers, including Scalphunter, Skids, and Fever Pitch who defected from the 198.


The shocking unveiling of Gambit as the fourth Horseman, Death, shakes the team. Despite Rogue’s desperate attempts to reason with him, Gambit, now fully under Apocalypse’s control, attacks. Havok ultimately destroys Apocalypse’s blood vats, forcing Apocalypse to retreat temporarily.


The conflict reaches a boiling point when Apocalypse makes a chilling ultimatum at the United Nations: humanity must cull 90% of its population, or he will escalate the destruction to 90%. Meanwhile, Val Cooper unveils new Sentinel prototypes, Crazy Train and War Machine, to Cyclops and Havok. In a surprising turn, Polaris is revealed as a new incarnation of Pestilence, her powers derived from science rather than her mutant genes.


The Avengers show up and battle at the Sphinx as Pestilence spreads disease under Apocalypse’s orders. Ozymandias, fed up with Apocalypse’s failures, kills War (Gazer), while Sunfire confronts Death (Gambit) in an attempt to free him from Apocalypse’s influence. Pulse temporarily weakens Apocalypse, but the villain escapes through a portal, revealing that the Celestials, who granted him his powers, now demand payment for their gift.

In the aftermath, Sunfire and Gambit retreat to Japan, where Sunfire tries to help Gambit break free from Apocalypse’s lingering control. Polaris, now self-empowered, refuses to align with anyone again. Meanwhile, Gus (Pulse) expresses romantic interest in Rogue, but she rejects him, still grappling with the chaos left in Apocalypse’s wake.



My Connections and Creators


Not only are we getting the return of Apocalypse, but this is also the last hoorah for Peter Milligan on X-Men V2 (Adjectiveless). I'm fascinated to see what these characters are up to with the new author because he certainly left these characters in quite the interesting spot. I also suppose I'll need to be writing a Peter Milligan retrospective before we jump into Mike Carey.


Boring or Great?

Apocalypse vs. Dracula - Pretty good actually. I totally considered skipping this because the title was ridiculous. But I forgot that Dracula is an actual Marvel character and this had more weight than I was expecting.


New Excalibur # 9 - Not bad. It's interesting that Chris Claremont took a one issue break and Frank Tieri was able to essentially write a continuing story to the Apocalypse vs. Dracula story.


Cable & Deadpool # 26-27


What the HELL is Fabian doing to Cable? Seriously. I really don't understand why he is turning Cable into this pompous, messianic character. And now we're continuing this ridiculous theme that Cable was randomly traveling through all of time, bringing guns with him. It's just a bit ridiculous. Cable was my favorite character as recently as 1995, but has fallen to # 4 in my most recent editorial from 2004. I'm going to have to seriously consider whether I let these stories impact me or ignore them and keep him as a favorite character. Luckily Deadpool is an absolute gem, of course.


X-Men # 180 - 182 - BAD


I'm just not a Milligan guy. We have this huge lead in to "What Lorna Saw" and it ends up being this Doop alien thing from X-Statix. I mean, that's fine, but the story goes absolutely no where. Why does this matter? Why did she see him? How did that change her? What can he do? I'm sure maybe Milligan planned to do more but ran out of time before getting removed from the book, but this arc will go down as extremely disappointing. Milligan essentially took some of my least liked characters (Havok, Gambit, Iceman) and made them worse, dragging characters I did like (Polaris, Rogue) along with him.


X-Men # 183 - 187 - Good. Milligan goes out with a bang. However, since he was able to use such a big name (Apocalypse) and the story crossed over 4 titles, I'm guessing that there was heavy editorial influence and direction.


Larger Impacts

Apocalypse vs. Dracula - Well for one, Chamber is a fricken descendant of Apocalypse now. That's a pretty big entry into Marvel canon. Whenever something big like this pops up in a random Limited Series I get nervous that buture scribes will hand wave it away, but this is a pretty plot point for the editors to green light without having a plan to utilize it in the future.


New Excalibur # 9 - Well, Chamber is cured and a descendant of Apocalypse, so there's that!


Cable & Deadpool # 26-27 - Hmm, larger impacts, let's see? Did anything big happen? Oh, I know. How about the fact that Cable traveling to past was the whole reason that Cable has been able to stay as an immortal badass all these years. It's his fault!


X-Men # 183 - 187 - Gambit betrays the X-Men and becomes Death. While many things will probably be hand waived away after Milligan leaves, this can't be one of them. I hope Rogue doesn't easily forgive him either. I do expect Mystique being part of the X-Men to be something that doesn't carry over.


Things to keep an eye on

Apocalypse vs. Dracula - I would be interested to see if Clan Akkaba shows up again. They seem like a pretty interesting group and it makes sense that he would have descendants with similar powers.


New Excalibur # 9 - Well when we last saw Chamber, his body was fixed and he had the characteristic Apoc blue chin, so I don't see how this can't be picked up somewhere else. Actually, let's see the next comic he shows up in, hang on. Ok, so it looks like we won't see him again for a year (July 5th, 2007) in New Warriors V2 alongside Wind Dancer (Sofia Mantega, Jubilee, and Night Thrasher. My money is on this plot being completely dropped, but we'll see.


Cable & Deadpool # 26-27 - All of these plotlines are essentially resolved in the Blood of Apocalypse story which Im also covering here.


X-Men # 183 - 187 - I'm pretty intrigued to see what happens with Apocalypse after the Celestials demand repayment of a favor, however I fee that we may never see it. I'll certainly be looking for it!


Characters

Havok

Still an asshole. Back officially in love with Lorna. Still fighting with his brother. Still making bad decisions. The next X-Author who puts Havok in charge of a team will immediately lose my respect!


Iceman

I never really liked Iceman and this Milligan run didn't do him any favors. He's also secretly gay so dating Lorna didn't line up with that.


Gambit

Other than betraying the X-Men and working with Apocalypse (which is a betrayal of his character), I can't think of one other thing he did other than be fucked with by Mystique. Milligan really missed the mark with Gambit. His whole "thing" is that he's a badass and a loner, but someone you could ultimately trust. You're not supposed to actually have him betray the team for selfish reasons. Dumb.


Rogue

I hear the next arc is Rogue's best, so can't wait for that!


Wolverine

Other than a few cameos to help sell comics, he didn't do much.


Polaris

I think that Milligan did a good job with her history of mental illness, but these stories did more to make me dislike her than like her.


My Rating- 6/10


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