Uncanny X-Periment # 154: Manifest Destiny – Ghostbox

Astonishing X-Men # 25-31

The X-Men are joined by Storm and are swiftly asked to consult on a murder. A man if found floating and burning. After inspecting his DNA, Beast concludes that he’s an artificial Mutant – he has three strands of DNA, not two. And this artificial Mutant was chasing down someone by the name of Subject X. Subject X is found on an alien spaceship dumping ground, where he is charging something called a Ghostbox. The X-Men destroy the ship he’s on, steal the Ghostbox, and Subject X kills himself. Doing more research and consulting with Agent Brand, they discover that Ghostboxes are basically bridges between alternate worlds and that Subject X was a Mutant from another planet. The X-Men believe that the artificial Mutants and the alternate reality Mutants are waging a secret war.

Researching the artificial Mutant’s records, they journey to a dead zone in China called Tian, where they found half a floating palace and half a fallen palace. Within, they confront more artificial Mutants and learn they were created by Forge. They find Forge at Wundagore Mountain, where he has his own team of New Mutants (artificial ones), ready to invade the alternate reality. Forge claims that the alternate reality Mutants are planning on annexing this world – they’ve sent one scouting team, which Forge killed; the second one was wiped out by Forge again. The X-Men frown upon this, Forge opens the Ghostbox, demanding that the X-Men listen to him. The X-Men don’t and instead, blow the crap outta Wundagore Mountain with the help of SWORD mega-laser. The laser’s main beam journeys through the Ghostbox into the alternate reality. Forge and the fake New Mutants dead and the staging area for the invasion assumed destroyed, the X-Men head home.

So, the good. Well, marks for creativity. Though the story was way too confusing and sometimes I had to remind myself what exactly was going on, it was at least interesting and more creative than what we’ve seen from the X-Men in a good while. Character-wise, it’s a little all over the place. Armor got annoying after a while, what with her quips and Twitter and what-not. Wolverine was . . . well, Wolverine. Same with Emma. Cyclops was hardcore and Storm was shallow at times. Beast was pretty consistent. However, the interaction between these characters is one of the high points; especially when it came to death and killing.

Of course, after the moral debates, no one bothered to try and save Forge. Forge’s biggest issue was that no one really respected and everyone just kinda used him, then dismissed him. How is that not true? Granted, he’s done some crazy shit, but he’s dedicated so much to Xavier’s dream and rarely gets any love. By anyone.

Forge’s betrayal and descent into insanity layers a story that has one too many turns. And ultimately, I didn’t feel much at the end of this story other than that Forge kinda got screwed over by the X-Men. I should have, though. Forge – sure, he had a couple of break-downs – but he’s been such a loyal character over the years. He only “went insane” once and that was when he first appeared. He had his shaman powers, which helped defeat the Adversary. When the X-Men were ‘dead’ after that, he helped fill in for them. His death (?) was way over the top and the fact that the X-Men left him behind troubles me.

Uncanny X-Periment # 153: Manifest Destiny – San Francisco

Uncanny X-Men # 500 (until “Epilogue Two”), Young X-Men # 6, X-Men: Free Comic Book Day, X-Men: Manifest Destiny # 1-5, Nightcrawler: Manifest Destiny one-shot

An art collector by the name of Guy buys some March One Sentinels for a “kitschy” Mutant pop art display. The X-Men learn of this while giving the Mayor of SF a tour of their new Graymalkin Facility. The X-Men attend the event in question, only to have it crashed by Magneto. He subsequently activates the Sentinels, which the X-Men must deal with while handling Magneto at the same time. Eventually, the Sentinels are taken down (the one by Archangel destroyed rather mysteriously) and the battle comes down to Magneto. Magneto is defeated, his powers being manufactured by an armor created by the High Evolutionary. Magneto escapes, declaring that the X-Men’s current drive will end up being the end of Mutantkind. Meanwhile, Storm witnesses the High Evolutionary doing something to the Dreaming Celestial. In the aftermath, Cyclops declares San Francisco open to the Mutant population. Also, Wolverine finds Guy dead.

The Young X-Men are brought to Graymalkin Facility and, under the tutelage of Cannonball, Moonstar, Sunspot, and Magma, are to be taught to become defenders and actual X-Men. Moonstar herself goes Anole and recruits him back.

Back in Wales, Pixie faces off against some N’Gari. The X-Men come and help her destroy the Carren that’s allowing the N’Gari to manifest, and then the gang heads home.

Mystique and Iceman play a game of cat and mouse, with Mystique pushing Bobby to use his powers in different ways. Mystique, torn over not being able to have someone in her life, leaps off Golden Gate Bridge, but really just escapes.

In San Francisco, Mutants begin to gather and deal with the recent shake-up in their lives. Shan struggles to control her powers. Meltdown faces down with a super-villain who has the power to put people to sleep. The Juggernaut wrestles with the decision to be good or bad – eventually deciding on bad. Emma Frost deals with the mistrust from the other X-Men. The other X-Men try and cheer up Colossus, to no effect. Graymalkin – being well over 100 years old – reveals to Anole that he was buried alive for being gay. Mercury deals with looking strange, fights the Hellfire Gang, and is cheered by X-23. Nightcrawler gets some aggression out while mourning the loss of Kitty and trying to figure out his place with the X-Men. Dazzler fights her manager on a plane back to the states, and then is invited to play in a club regularly in San Francisco. Avalanche, trying to make a new life for himself, is confronted the X-Men, who warn they’re watching him.

Nightcrawler, feeling out of place with the X-Men, leaves for Winzeldorf, Germany to check out the Nightcrawler museum. Once there, he learns that the town is being terrorized by some sort demon-monster thing. Nightcrawler fights it and eventually faces the monster in the woods, only to learn that he’s just a 16 year old boy cursed and transformed into that monster. A mob arrives and after the boy nearly kills an old man, Nightcrawler talks him down . . . only for the boy to kill himself. The mob departs and Mephisto arrives. Nightcrawler maintains his faith despite his heritage. Nightcrawler then returns to the X-Men.

Again, I’m torn. This is a really mixed bag here. Some of it is good. Uncanny X-Men # 500 gives us a clear message and an idea as to what the X-Men’s lives are going to be. The highlight of this issue is Magneto’s debate with Cyclops about the X-Men’s role in preserving Mutantkind. What I like about it is that it reminds me a lot of the old Xavier/Magneto debates – except now the subject is survival and Cyclops doesn’t have that familiar relationship that his mentor had. Cyclops has had Magneto trying to kill him since he was seventeen and will take that position against Magneto no matter what.

Some of the vignettes are pretty good. The Nightcrawler stories are particularly good – a nice blend of fun, sentiment and angst. The Pixie story is far from exciting. All the others are just so all over the place, but most of them are just so angst-filled, it makes reading them a chore. I cringed with every new story. What’s that? An X-Man having trouble adjusting to life? Using their powers to fight some sort of low-level baddie? Snooze.

I’m fairly certain this marks the end of Ed Brubaker’s run on Uncanny X-Men. Gotta be honest, I’m not sorry to see him go. I honestly believe Brubaker is one of the best writers in comics today. His work on Captain America alone has made for one of my favorite comic runs ever. But his run on Uncanny X-Men? It was boring, slow, and just didn’t seem to work. He had some nice ideas, but in execution, most of them just fell short. Deadly Genesis was interesting, but in retrospect, didn’t do much for me. Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire was inconclusive and predictable. The Morlock story was slow. Messiah CompleX was good, but that was mostly because he was working with other writers. Actually, the one arc I liked was his Divided We Stand story, and that was only mainly the first issue.

As for the X-Men’s move to San Francisco (which I swear, I’ll spell correctly someday) is a logical one and I’m pleased to see a change of venue for once in the Marvel Universe – having everything set in New York gets a little hard to believe.

Uncanny X-Periment # 152: "Divided We Stand"

X-Men: Legacy # 208-214, Wolverine # 62-65, X-Men: Divided We Stand # 1-2, X-Force # 1-6, Young X-Men # 1-5, Uncanny X-Men # 495-499

Turns out Professor X’s body was stolen by the Acolytes right from under the X-Men’s nose – thanks to Tempo. They’ve spirited him away to their neat little hide-out, where Sentinel and Exodus seek to restore him. Unfortunately, even after his brain is repaired, his mind and memories are fractured. Exodus has no choice but to reach out to Magneto. Magneto and Sentinel are able to revive Professor X, but his memories are still fractured. Cargill seeks to kill Professor X, but Magneto steps in and takes her out. Shortly thereafter, Exodus goes to kill Magneto, only to be stopped by Professor X. After a psi-war, Exodus proclaims that the reason he wanted Professor X to live was to lead the Acolytes into a new future. Professor X refuses, speaks to Amelia (who he barely remembers), and he, Magneto, and Sentinel leave, opting to go their separate ways.

A few days later, Professor X decides to pay a visit to the now powerless and insane Carter Ryking (aka Hazard). Carter helps Professor X regain some memories of what their parents did at Amalgodo. At the same time, a machine Sebastion Shaw’s father created explodes and Juggernaut is assaulted by a strange and brief mental attack that his helmet repels. That night, Ryking comes up dead and Professor X is targeted by assassins. Saved by Gambit, the pair head back to Amalgodo. On their way, the assassins strike again – this time taking Xavier hostage. Shaw and Gambit then team up and track Xavier down. Turns out that Sinister did experiments on Shaw, Ryking, Juggernaut and Professor X as children – imprinting his own DNA onto theirs and upon his death, a machine called Cronus would transform them into Sinister, ensuring his immortality. However, this machine has fallen into the hands of Amanda Mueller. Sinister took control of Professor X and battled Amanda. As Gambit and Shaw appeared on the scene (then were captured, then freed), the pair proceeded to fight Sinister/Xavier and eventually destroyed Cronus. Mueller escaped and Xavier banished Sinister from his mind. In the aftermath, the trio parted, with Professor X desiring to talk to Cyclops urgently. Sinister returned, this time in the shape of a female clone and allying herself with Shaw.

Elsewhere . . .

Cyclops orders Wolverine to get Mystique since she slipped out during all the chaos. Wolverine tracks her to the middle-east, where she has killed innocents and risked the lives of children and soldiers setting up traps to stop him. As Wolverine tracks her, we are regaled with a flashback of their first meeting. Mystique and Logan met when they were to be executed. They escape, since they’re Mutants, and head to Kansas City. Once there, Logan joins Mystique’s little group of freaks. Eventually, this group goes to rob a bank. Mystique escapes with the money, but the freaks are all killed. Logan, who was working with the cops, set them up. Presently, the two of them have a confrontation in the Syrian Desert, where Mystique calls him out on being a hypocrite for going after her for betraying the X-Men when he betrayed her band of freaks decades earlier. Logan tells her that he works everyday to make up for his mistakes. After one last brutal assault, Mystique is left naked with a gun in the middle of the desert.

In the meantime, the X-Men are scattered to the four winds. Cannonball goes home and meets up with Paige. Once in town, however, he beats up a Cabot to make himself feel better, then takes off, unable to deal with the fact that he’s constantly going to be under threat. Former student Nehzno returns to Wakanda, with his condition worsening. Despite the Black Panther and (of course) Storm accepting him, his people does not. Even after his saving his brother, his mother rejects. Nehzno realizes then how much he misses his fellow students. Northstar checks up on Anole when no one has heard from him; Anole himself has trouble adjusting to life outside of the X-Men and runs away from both his home and the X-Men. Hellion, feeling abandoned by the X-Men, goes to Magneto; Erik sees this as Hellion wanting to use him as a weapon against the X-Men. It doesn’t work and Erik advises that Hellion relish and enjoy his powers before the inevitable war consumes him. Scalphunter, on the run, becomes a cook at a diner. Nightcrawler hunts his down and confronts him, only to forgive him for his sins.

Back at the devastated X-Mansion, Beast goes through various files and retrieves Maratha Johansson before taking off. In Limbo, Illyana struggles with trying to regain her humanity. She visits the remains of the mansion, finds it destroyed, and returns to Limbo, vowing to reclaim her soul by torturing those who wronged her. In deep space, the captured Havok is told by Vulcan about the baby’s birth and that the X-Men are all dead as a result. Havok finds hope in the baby’s birth and rises from a depressed stupor into a rage against his brother. Back on Earth, Forge is recovering from his injuries and obsessing over Cable’s time machine; after reverse engineering it, he’s attacked by Bishop. Seeking protection, Forge creates a massive security system and starts work on a new project. Surge goes to visit Dani since she’s feeling pretty bad about herself; Dani basically tells her to deal with it.

In the aftermath of recent events, Cyclops reactivates X-Force, this time with Wolfsbane wanting to join. X-23 is already investigating a Purifier break-in into a SHIELD facility, much to Wolverine’s chagrin. Wolverine tells Wolfsbane not to be involved. Then he, X-23, and Warpath search for what Matthew Risman and his new ally Eli Bard were retrieved from SHIELD. The trio fight the Purifiers, but it turns out they captured Wolfsane. Unable to fight back with Wolfsbane prisoner, X-23 blows up the base. Risman escapes and places the head of Bastian on Nimrod’s body, thus restoring Bastian. As X-Force re-groups at Worthington’s Aerie, Reverend Craig shots up Wolfsbane with drugs. And Bastian gets a hold of the remains of Magus and uses it to resurrect Boliver Trask, Stephen Lang, Graydon Creed, and Cameron Hodge – as well as gain control of the Leper Queen and Donald Pierce. This is affront to Risman and after X-Force rescue Wolfsbane (and she’s healed by Elixir), she sees Archangel and her brainwashing kicks in. She rips into Warren’s wings and takes them back to Risman. Risman in turn finds the Apocalypse strand within them and creates his on Archangel. Angry with Bastian, he sets them out to destroy the Purifiers under Bastian’s command. X-Force gets involved; Wolfsbane kills Reverend Craig when he stands in front of Warren’s amputated wings. Archangel, feeling the use of his wings on this other people, transforms into his former self and goes on a rampage. Once he’s finishes with his rampage, he returns to normal. Meanwhile, Eli Bard goes to the remains of Magus and steals part of him; Risman enters and Eli reveals himself to be some kind of servant of death and kills Risman. He then escapes. Wolverine fights Bastian, but Bastian escapes as well . . . just as Wolverine gets a look at who he has brought back. The gang once more regroups at the Aerie to lick their wounds.

Blindfold is having visions of the near future in which she, Dust, Rockslide, Wolf Cub, and two new people are involved in a battle with Donald Pierce – who then kills one of them. She goes to Rockslide and in turn, the two of them are recruited by Cyclops to join a new X-Men team. He also recruits a new Mutant whose has any tattoo on his body become a new ability. Cyclops then sends them after the leader of a new Brotherhood and the Hellfire Club, Sunspot – who he claims has been joined by fellow New Mutants Cannonball, Moonstar, and Magma. Ink and Blindfold are sent after Dani, who is taken down by Blindfold. Blindfold is then knocked out by Ink; he delivers them both to Pierce. Rockslide, Dust, and Wolf Cub grab Magma – as Sunspot and Cannonball watch on TV. Even though Magma is taken captive, Dust is stuck in a glass form due to Magma’s attack. Ink arrives and tells Cyclops that Dani beat them; not knowing that some creature is watching over them and plans to kill Cyclops. As the Young X-Men attack Cannonball and Sunspot at the Hellfire Club, Cyclops is in turn attacked by the mysterious gray-skinned guy – who discovers that Cyclops is none other than Donald Pierce. Magma is freed, Pierce escapes and everyone ends up at the Hellfire Club. They eventually track Pierce down into some of Mole Man’s old tunnels, where he engages the Young X-Men and the vision comes true. Wolf Cub dies and Pierce is defeated.

So in all this, where are the X-Men proper? Well, Wolverine (apparently after his bout with X-Force and hunting Mystique) is off with Colossus and Nightcrawler in Europe. After bopping around Germany, they head to Russia, where Peter tries to handle all of the tragedies in his life. They are of course captured by the Russia government and – surprise! – fight Omega Red. They of course defeat Omega Red.

Meanwhile, Cyclops and Emma Frost are on vacation in the Savage Land after Scott has some words with Iron Man. Of course, trouble brews as some of the other X-Men converge on San Francisco. The other city has become a hippie haven at the will of the “Goddess.” Cyclops and Emma battle some of their fellow X-Men before Emma uncovers that the Goddess is none other than Lady Mastermind (the brunette, not the blonde). She escapes, the X-Men converge and Archangel appears after having saved the Mayor of San Francisco. Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler then get a call to head on home . . .

So basically what we have here is a not-so-cohesive story centering around the theme of the X-Men being scattered to the four winds. While an interesting concept, the execution leaves something to be desired. In short: it’s a little much.

I can see how Marvel saw this as a chance to launch the X-Men into a new direction and get some new books out there. It’s mixed results.

The best of the best are most certainly X-Men: Legacy and Wolverine. X-Men: Legacy is like a candy-covered continuity treat. Revisiting old sites and characters, replaying old scenes and then placing it against a present-day story makes for a nice, grounded tale. It certainly feels like we’re seeing the slow redemption of Professor X, whose reputation has become very tarnished lately. And hey, he’s actually more action-y than ever before. The series thus far adds a lot of wrinkles to the long history of Professor X and really puts Xavier on the right road. The use of two different artists is a welcome sight, adding to the different layers of storytelling here.

Wolverine is what I wish Wolverine Origins was. A present day story tying back into a previously unknown story. The characterization of Wolverine and Mystique are well done. Ron Garney’s art adds a great energy to the arc. This segment is fun and engaging.

Divided We Stand was decent, though a lot of the stories were very much the same. Sad, angst, rejection, anger . . . it’s made very clear that all these characters don’t like being without the X-Men. Some of them are better than others, but not many.

I maintain my opinion that X-Force is just a step too dark and gory for my tastes. Granted, it’s great to see Bastian again – but not so much some of the other characters. Don’t get me wrong. I love some of the stuff being done here (Archangel, Bastian, and Magus), but I hate a lot of the rest (I’m sick of the Purifiers . . . and did Rhane eat Reverend Craig?).

Wish I could say I’m a fan of Young X-Men. Honestly, I thought it was uninteresting, predictable, and slow. The art wasn’t too bad, but there was nothing really in there to keep me hooked. Which is really shocking, as Guggenheim is a great writer.

Uncanny X-Men kinda fits in that same category. Outside of some of the smaller moments, it’s a very lackluster book. There’s a threat and the X-Men instantly overcome it. Brubaker is a brilliant writer, but his run on Uncanny has yet to excite me. The art by Choi has been gorgeous – better than Greg Land and Billy Tan. Seriously.

Overall (and I know I’m skimmed over the reviews), this is very much a sort of “holding pattern” time for the X-Men. While there are some interesting nuggets in here, a lot of comes off as boring, uninteresting, and more of the same. A lot of it seems just like “we’re putting something here to get back to later,” which is never a good choice when it comes to X-Men.

Coming in May . . .

Reviews will resume next month. Promise!

Divided We Stand
Manifest Destiny
Original Sin
Secret Invasion

and in June (tenatively):
X-Infernus
Ghostbox
Sisterhood


And in eventuality:
Dark Reign: Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men
War of Kings
Messiah War

In terms of Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men, it's really a matter of how that ties into Dark Reign and if it looks like it'll all fit together. I've got a lot of factors to work with here. One is money, but I just got a new job and that should help matters quite a bit. The other is just seeing where things are. I haven't been able to pick up comics in a while, so we'll play things out this weekend when I can finally afford comics again (yay!).

I'm also toying around with the idea of doing a pre-X-Men series of reviews. Stuff like "Magneto: Testament," those X-Men origin stories from the Silver Age, a re-review of "Children of the Atom," and maybe a few others. This might mean some money on my part, but that's not a problem. Thoughts?

Also, if I get really bored and end up with more cash in the near future, I might do other X-Men series. I have a full run of Generation X and I'd like to try re-reading all those. I may (at some point in the next whatever) try and get some more issues of New Mutants, X-Force, Cable, etc. for review. I can normally find some of those in $1.00 bins. So we'll see where things end up.

Stay tuned . . . please . . .

Uncanny 2009

Hello all!

My apologies on a lack of up-date. It has simply been a time factor that has kept me from up-dating. Obviously, I'm trying to get everything organized in terms of continunity. And, also, I just haven't had the time -- I got married in September and being married takes a surprisingly large amount of time.

You'll hopefully see an up-date in the next few weeks. I'm waiting for "X-Force: Angels and Demons" to get out in trade paperback, as I don't want to spend extra bucks on a damn hardcover. But we'll see.

I plan on doing some re-reading of recent events, because I've found that with so much time passing between X-Periments, I tend to lose perspective in the overall X-Men timeline.

Anyways, as I'm figuring out the continunity, here's what I'm seeing the run-down is. I'm not including "Ghost Box" because that story isn't done. You'll probably see it (and I'm not kidding) in 2010. Eek.

Red Data
Evolution
Endangered Species
Unstoppable
Messiah CompleX
Divided We Stand
Manifest Destiny
Original Sin
Secret Invasion
Kingbreaker?
X-Infernus?
Messiah War?

So, just stop back here every now and then, if you will. Feel free to peruse the archieves, though they kinda suck grammer/spelling wise. Hopefully, as time goes on, I'll get a clearer idea as to how to organize these crazy titles.

Uncanny X-Periment # 151: "Messiah CompleX"

I’m going to lay out the “Reader’s Digest” version of Messiah Complex, because, honestly, most people that are reading this have read it all ready.

The X-Men learn that the first Mutant child has just been born in Alaska. They get there too late, as the Marauders and the Purifiers showed up before hand and clashed. The X-Men press on the Acolytes into revealing where Sinister is. The New X-Men take on the Purifiers, jeopardizing an undercover mission by Richter – they soon find out that the baby is not in the hands of the Purifiers.

Meanwhile, Forge discovers that two new timelines have appeared with Mutants in it after the baby’s birth. Two Maddrox’s are sent into these timelines, and Layla jumps into one of them. They are beaten up and captured and tossed into a Mutant internment camp . . . where they meet Bishop and learn what has happened.

Back in the present, the X-Men collide with the Acolytes in Antarctica, only to learn that they don’t have the baby either. At the school, the ONE Sentinels suddenly go hay-wire and the bodies of their pilots are taken over by the nannites and are unleashed against the school. The X-Men destroy them and the strike team returns, having found out that none other than Cable has the child. To bring Cable in, Cyclops assembles a new X-Force squad consisting of Wolverine, Caliban, Wolfsbane, X-23, and Hephzibah. They meet up with Cable . . . and the Purifier’s new allies, Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers. X-23 takes down Deathstrike and Cable escapes. Caliban is eventually killed during the battle.

Cable makes it to Forge’s lab, where he hopes to spirit the baby and himself into the future. He arrives, only to be ambushed by Bishop, who believes the child is responsible for creating his own dark future. Before Bishop can kill the baby, the Marauders show up and kidnap her. Cable makes it to ousted Xavier and Bishop lies his ass off to the X-Men.

As this is all happening, Predator X is hunting down more Mutants, heading back to the school and killing Peepers along the way.

The X-Men get Cerebra back on-line and use it track the child to Muir Island. There, Mystique uses Rogue’s comatose body to kill Sinister and takes his place, hoping the baby will save Rogue. Gambit is unsure and feels that Rogue would protest to a baby being possibly killed to save her life. The X-Men show up to take the baby back. The New X-Men, injured X-Men, and Predator X are all suddenly accidentally teleported there as well.

The baby saves Rogue, then is given to Professor X, who then gives it to Cable. Bishop goes after Cable, but is attacked by Predator X. Emma Frost takes down Exodus and Wolverine rips Predator X in half from the gut out. Cable in finally confronted by Cyclops, who takes the baby himself, and then decides to trust his son and gives it back. Cable teleports into the future just as Bishop leaps up and fires . . . accidentally killing Professor X. With Professor X dead, Cyclops declares the X-Men are no more.

I’ve been trying my best to figure out just how to judge a story like “Messiah Complex.” It’s a hard story to judge, to be honest. I mean, a lot happened and things got changed, but when it comes to X-Men, things change a lot.

Let’s start with the story first, I guess.

Overall, we have a number of threads being born (no pun intended) out of the birth of a Mutant girl who is so powerful, it actually caused a psychic backlash that fried Cerebra. We’ve got a Maddrox dupe and Layla in the future (Bishop’s future). We’ve got the Purifiers, who unleashed Predator X – both of whom are after the baby. They also recruit in Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers. We’ve got Sinister and the Marauders, who have teamed up with Mystique and the Acolytes in an effort to take the child for themselves. Then, there’s the X-Men themselves, who have to face down ONE and eventually create a new X-Force.

In addition to this, there’s Cable, who has the child and hopes to take it into the future; and there’s Bishop, who wants to prevent the future he grew up in (as seen by Jamie and Layla). There’s also Rogue, who is in the clutches of Sinister and the Marauders.

On top of and along with this are all these character arcs and history from not only Endangered Species, but also Decimation, House of M and even as far back as Endgame.

That’s a lot of material. And while there is some fight scene padding, I’d have to say that in this case, the story is executed nicely. The pacing moves rapidly enough for the reader to hold and the threads all get the right amount of attention. Each character gets a moment in the spotlight (except for Guido), though some more than others.

If there is a flaw in the story, it’s that there’s too much going on. Our attention is too divided. We’re caring about all these different characters – so much so that it’s hard to focus on just the heart of the story. Which is something that can be dealt with, but if there’s one problem, that’s it.

In addition to the whole ‘the future’ story thread that remains the grounding for this crossover, there is also a great “let’s kick some ass” feel to it. The X-Men have had their ass handed to them for a good while now. They’ve been on the defensive as opposed to the offensive. But seeing them take on the Purifiers (even if it is the New X-Men going at it) was a blessing (again, no pun intended). The X-Men have been the Marauders bitches for years and I loved to see them get the jump on Sinister’s assassins. The Acolytes have always kinda been push-overs, but again, it’s nice to them kicked their asses kicked. While I am very uncertain about this New X-Force, I liked the idea of the most violent X-Men being unleashed against the most violent of their allies and their most violent of enemies.

The effectiveness of these fight scenes in their many incarnations is the glue that holds “Messiah Complex” together. The meaning of the crossover is very evident in that everyone has a different agenda and a different ideal goal for the baby, but it’s the clash of these ideals and goals and agendas that pulls it all together.

This story deals with the fundamental shake-up of the X-Men’s corner in the Marvel Universe. We witness the destruction of the mansion/institute (again), as well as the end of the ONE Sentinels. Then there are a number of deaths here – including those of Professor X, Sinister, Lady Deathstrike, Predator X, Caliban, and Peepers. While Caliban and Peepers are more than likely to rot in the ground for a long while, one has to wonder just how long it will take for Professor X to pop out of the grave or for Sinister to be revived or Deathstrike to be rebuild. I mean, this is X-Men, right? These things happen. Professor X has either been dead or in a coma about five times all ready.

The scripts are effective. Even the death of Professor X is rather effective. It’s just that I can’t help but question its ramifications. In fact, I was a little bothered by Cyclops’ statement that the X-Men should end with the death of Professor X. Why should it? Just because Charles is dead, doesn’t mean the X-Men shouldn’t exist.

This also really rattled me because one of the major themes of this story is that Cyclops is breaking out on his own and is becoming the leader we all want him to be. He’s grown out of Professor X’s shadow. Part of this builds from what we’ve seen in Astonishing, though don’t get me started on the continuity there. It also steems out of House of M, where he was pretty much in command, as well as during Decimation and all the revelations and ramifications of that story. Cyclops is fully realized here. Doubtless, certain, but also very human. The flashbacks, the memories, the dialogue . . . this is Cyclops in his element and perhaps at his best. We’re even allowed to see some of his angst and anger over the death of Corsair – finally.

Then there’s Wolverine. The dynamic between Scott and Logan has really changed and it’s very evident here. I think there will always be that sense of uneasiness around each other, but the relationship between the two is stronger than it’s ever been. Scott trusts Logan now more than ever – hence why he gave Wolverine his own team to do “what he does best.” Logan certainly gets some awesome moments – his going after Gambit was pretty neat, as it immediately reminded me of the old “Bang, you’re dead!” moment from Crossroads. I also very much like when he took down Predator X. It screamed summer blockbuster, but damn it, if I wasn’t excited to see it happen.

On Cable’s end of things, given the direction Cable has been moving towards over the past few years, this is exactly what I’d expect him to do. I thought that Cable came through quite well throughout and the dynamic he had with Cyclops was especially enjoyable. The fact that Cyclops, in the end, entrusted Cable with the baby spoke volumes of their relationship.

Man, did I feel bad for Professor X. I think that both the reader and the X-Men themselves have learned that it’s time for Professor X to turn the reigns of the X-Men over to Cyclops. The scene where Professor X is effectively kicked out of the mansion’s ruins is pretty depressing. The Professor just comes across as lost most of the time. His death? Well, I can deal with it.

Bishop was one character that I felt needed fleshed out. We saw young Bishop’s whole POV on these events, but the POV of adult Bishop was missing big-time. In the end, he came off like an evil, crazy person. Despite the fact that Bishop has been a good guy for as long as we’ve known him and has played pivotal roles in key stories in past, it’s a little jarring to see him in such a terrible light. A little more fleshing out would have been appreciated here and remains the biggest flaw in Messiah Complex.

As far as the real bad guys are considered, there’s not a whole lot to say. Predator X wants to eat the baby. Lady Deathstrike is honoring a promise. The Purifiers hate Mutants because they think they’re from Hell and the baby is the Mutant Antichrist. Sinister wants the baby because . . . uh, well, with a name like “Mr. Sinister,” I’m sure it’s simply because of evil reasons. Though giving us reasons why would have been really nice. Ditto with as to why exactly Exodus and the Acolytes were there.

Mystique and Gambit are both there out of pure hope for Rogue, which played to their strengths. Actually, I thought Gambit was great here. You know he’s a good guy, he knows he’s a good guy, but he’s doing what he has to. And falling in with Sinister – plus his reaction to Sinister’s death – are both good signs of his character. Mystique’s pure desperation to save Rogue was well handled, as was Rogue’s reaction.

On the art front, it’s all pretty much on par, though Billy Tan still needs to work on his anatomy/perspective. It’s just awful sometimes. Most of his work is pretty good, but at times, I just shake my head and go “No!” His work blends well with Scot Eaton’s and Marc Silverstri, just as Chris Bachelo’s blends with Humbert Ramos’. We’ve got two very different art styles – more realistic and more cartoony – but they do come together nicely. It works out that the bigger action scenes are dealt with more by Ramos and Bachelo, who are well-equipped for this.

I mentioned how it’s hard to judge Messiah Complex, and in an overall sense, that remains true. A story this large, this complex, and with so many shake-ups is very hard to judge. In some ways, it works out better. In that changes the status quo of the X-Men, it rules on high. But is it perfect? No. Motivations aren’t explored and the story is a little too chaotic at times. It does have a number of high points. Characterization and character development, for one. Great battle scenes, for another.

By crossover standards, it’s perfect. It goes seamlessly from comic to comic, the only differences being in the art style. As an event, it stands tall, though it’s a little too early to see the immediate outcome. With “Divided We Stand” coming, I’m a little uncertain and it makes the long-term effects next to impossible to weigh in on. It shakes things up, as I said, but for how long it’ll all be like this, I have no clue.

It’s a focal point story. We see old plot threads pulled together and new ones begun. It reminded me a lot of the crossovers of old. However, much like the futures seen in Messiah Complex, the aftermath could be rather great . . . or pretty bad.

Uncanny X-Periment # 150: "Unstoppable"

Astonishing X-Men # 13-24, Giant-Sized Astonishing X-Men # 1

Well, we're here at last. Obviously, I'm lacking the "Uncanny X-Periment" title -- mainly because this whole thing is in need of some cleaning up. Hopefully in the next week or so, I'll be able to skim through the recent entries and re-arrange some things, as well as add in the "Emperor Vulcan" review I've been pussy-footing around.

At the moment, it appears (according to my various sources) that this story takes place between Endangered Species and Messiah CompleX. Considering how this story ends, that seems to be the most logical placement.

But anyways, like I said, here we are. At long last, Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men has come to a close. I took the time today, before getting to the issues listed above, to read Astonishing X-Men # 1-12. In retrospect, this is a great way to take in the full strength of Whedon's run. There are some little things here and there that tie strongly into his overall story.

Let's do it like we used to and give you all the spoilers.

We open up with the X-Men pretty much where we'd expect them to be. Kitty and Peter grow closer, Logan's training the few remaining students hard-core style, Hank's in his lab, and Scott's paying his bills. Oh, wait. Where's Emma? Why, she's meeting with the Hellfire Club! Remember? This one led by Shaw? With Cassandra Nova, that girl from Genosha, and the Mysteriously Cloaked Person? Anyways, they determine that now is the time to strike.

While Kitty comes clean with her feelings for Peter and they have sex, Emma sits down Scott and basically tears him down, stripping him of all his confidence -- as well as his powers. He goes unconscious and Emma runs to get the other X-Men. Kitty checks on the students, only to start phasing uncontrollably and goes down into the Earth. Colossus has the snot beaten out of him by Shaw in front of Scott's comatose body. Hank is devolved into an animal and Logan begins a young James Howellet.

Kitty eventually pulls it together as Hisako (Armor, as we'll call her from here on out) joins with Blindfold and Logan. She pulls Emma down into a small little space deep underground, then goes back up . . . where the cloaked person reveals herself to be none other than the White Queen!

Meanwhile, Agent Brand of SWORD learns that the prophets of Breakworld have determined which X-Man it will be that will destroy their world -- Colossus. Danger finds out and she goes to the captured Ord and tells him of this. They manage to escape and head down to the mansion.

Back at said mansion, the White Queen has shoved three years worth of fake memories into Kitty's mind, convincing her that she and Peter had son named Michael and that he's being held in a metal box in the sub-basement. She heads down there just as Logan regains his identity (thanks to a beer can) and Ord and Danger show up.

Kitty pulls the baby out . . . only it's not the baby. It's Cassandra Nova in that alien booger form. Scott then shows up and shoots the White Queen, then Shaw, Cassandra Nova (human form), and the other Hellfire Club members. Armor gives Beast a ball of string that reminds him of his true self and he arrives just in time to help against Ord and Danger. Scott then explains to Peter and Kitty that this manifestation of the Hellfire Club only existed as a result of a mental implant from Cassandra Nova and from Emma's own post-Genosha survivor's guilt. Emma suspected and feared something like this would happen, hence why she brought Kitty on board.

The X-Men are all then teleported up on a SWORD vessel, along with Ord and Danger. What happened to Cassandra's booger-body? Don't know. Never revealed.

Ord and Danger are swiftly imprisoned. The X-Men are briefed on the situation -- the SWORD ship is drawing the Breakworld armada away from Earth and they are all headed for Breakworld. They're going to Breakworld because they have a missile pointed at the Earth.

Now let's pause for just a moment so I can get everything understood about Breakworld. It's a world of pure violence, where the highest and mightiest of warriors are deemed the leaders. The current leader is Kruun. Now, ruling a place that's basically a hospital, is a woman named Aghanne (and her little friend Dafi -- "Like the duck.") Compassion is a sin, apparently.

The X-Men and the SWORD ship are (of course) attacked in Breakworld orbit. Danger, Ord, and some soldiers manage to land on the surface, where they are captured. Some others also make it onto the surface. The X-Men head down in two teams -- Cyclops, Emma, Agent Brand, and Beast in one pod; Shadowcat, Colossus, Armor, and Wolverine in another. The latter's breaks up during descent. Kitty and Colossus make it down separate from Wolverine and Armor and are immediately spotted throughout the capital. The other team makes it to the temple where Colossus in stone is depicted shoving a sun at Breakworld. Wolverine and Armor meet up with them shortly. Again, the team plans and breaks apart.

Colossus and Kitty are taken in by Aghanne, who believes that Colossus is not the literal death of the world; simply a way of changing it. Danger, striking a deal with Kruun, goes after Cyclops and Emma. Emma convinces her that she in unable to kill them and makes a deal. Beast and Agent Brand pick up a ship and proceed to grab everyone.

Meanwhile, Kruun second-in-command is believed to be in the pocket of SWORD -- when really, he's not. The X-Men head for the launchbase of the missile, a moon basically. However, they can't get to it; a fleet is in the way. A still powerless Cyclops buys them time by launching himself into a one-man vessel and taking on the fleet. He apparently "dies."

The X-Men, Danger, and Brand go back to the captial. Wolverine and Armor are captured as Cyclops is tortured by Kruun regarding something he said about "Leviathan" while on the ship. Cyclops then reveals to Kruun that Leviathan is meaningless, that they knew they were being watched, and it was all basically a ploy to get to Kruun and the reactor that draws power from the core of Breakworld. Wolverine and Armor were captured to give Emma a detailed image of the Palace. The X-Men arrive with their reinforcements, Lockheed is revealed to be a mole in the X-Men for SWORD, and Cyclops starts planning again -- his powers restored and under his control.

Colossus, Aghanne, Cyclops, and Emma go to the reactor, which is an energy that only Colossus can withstand. They show this to Kruun and demand he shut down the missile. He tells them he can't. Colossus enters the reactor just as Ord arrives, pissed as hell.

At the missile, Kitty, Beast, Armor, and Danger try and figure out how to stop. Kitty enters the missile, but the metal is actually causing her pain and she finds it harder and harder to travel through. At that point, the missile is launched. Expect, it's not a missile. It's really a gigantic bullet - with Kitty stuck inside it. It speeds to Earth.

Emma and Cyclops do their best to hold off Ord as Aghanne enters the reactor to force Colossus to destroy it. Reactor looks like the sun, you see? Ord pops in and kills her, only to die himself.

The super-heroes of Earth gather at SWORD's Peak headquarters, but are somehow telepathically rendered unable to stop the bullet. Even the rogue Sentinel that left Earth to deal with his guilt is there.

Colossus defeats Kruun and declares himself master, forcing Kruun to reveal a way to destroy it. He tells that maybe if it something else, it might work. The rogue Sentinels jumps to it . . . and goes smashy. And to no avail.

The bullet heads right towards Earth, with Kitty unable to phase through it. She then decides and is able to phase the actual bullet, though it quite possibly kills or killed her. The bullet slides through Earth and Kitty goes with it.

The X-Men re-group. Scott's control over his optic blasts are gone and he goes back to the visor. Agent Brand has the hots for Hank and, it turns out, is half-alien. Colossus then beings to mourn her.

Now, as usual, this is simply the reader's digest version of the events. There's a lot more to it.

Let's start the review off proper by going over the major flaws of this story.

First and foremost is the fate of Kitty Pryde. It heart-wrenching and actually makes me a little sick to my stomach. That's not exactly a bad thing, either. But what I don't like is how up in the air it is. Is she dead? Did phasing the bullet do her in? Or is she alive, forced to starve to death or something? Will she die when the bullet fall into black hole or hit a planet?

There's more I have to say about this and I'll get to that in a little bit. Right now I want to concentrate on the fundamental problem I have with that. Is it responsible for the X-Men (or the Avengers or Fantastic Four) to let this thing just fly off into space? Are the X-Men really willing to allow Kitty to die like that? Or to let her body, at least, just rocket through space? (I should note, it's not the first time it's happened) Why don't they just hop into a space ship (they should have them sitting around -- or at least someone does, right? SWORD?), warp after it, and have Nightcrawler teleport in with Hank, Forge or maybe even Reed Richards?

A little more closure would have been appreciated. I mean, I know the current thing right now is to make sure that X-Men space stories have downer endings (Emperor Vulcan, anyone?), but this just hurts.

Why does it hurt? Because Whedon made Kitty lovable all over again. At least for me. We've seen Kitty go through all these different phases (no pun intended) and we finally see her as a mature, sweet adult . . . only to have her maybe-kinda die. Again, I'll go into this a little more.

There are a few other problems I've found with this story. After the Kitty issue, there's also the question as to how Aghanne found out that Colossus even existed. Did the prophets actually speak the truth and she just decided to fill in the blanks? Did she find out from SWORD somehow? It doesn't make a whole of sense.

There's also the matter of Danger. What happened to her? She was promised Professor X . . . only nothing came of it. And I mean nothing. What the heck?

And what happened to Cassandra's booger body? Do we just assume that someone saw her laying around and tossed her back into the box or something? I can just picture Iceman and Rogue walking down the hall, seeing it, and tossing it in the garbage. Her existence wasn't even mentioned in the recent "Divided We Stand" 2-parter, a perfect place to sweep something like that under the rug.

So that's the bad right there. All of it. I mean, I guess I could talk about the delays, but . . . meh . . . they've been talked to death, right?

Well, since I've covered all the problems I had with this story, I suppose I should tackle the good stuff.

Really despite the logical holes I covered, it's a great run. Whedon really nails down the theme of sacrifice and redemption. Colossus return from sacrificing himself to cure the Legacy Virus, Professor X sacrificing Danger's freedom for the good of the X-Men, and obviously, Kitty's sacrifice to save the Earth. It's nicely peppered in and even the references to Jean seem to reinforce this idea without over-stating it.

There's some great symmetry here as well. Both the first and last arcs of the run deal with hope, but not exactly in a positive way. Hope is the name of the Mutant cure; it's also what Aghanne said children were . . . only to have the child die not long after she said that.

There's also some nice symmetry done in the last page with Peter's actions mimicking those of when Kitty found him.

Characterization is spot on. Cyclops really breaks out here and leaps forward as the brilliant leader we've seen him become. His relationship with Emma continues to be fleshed out; better here than with any other post-Morrison writer.

Emma comes across nicely, sympathetic enough. She gets knocked down a notch.

Wolverine, of course, is Wolverine. Clever, funny, violent, and occasionally insightful. His playing-off with Armor is fun. She effectively becomes the new Kitty Pryde.

Beast is as enjoyable as always. Whedon does a great job of continuing to show his struggle with his most recent Beast-ness. It was played around with a little in the first half, but it's really very prominent here and dealt with maturity. It's not just "hey, you're not an animal, Hank!" "Oh, you're right! Thanks!" It's more than that. He shoves himself so far away from his beast mentality that you can see that he just wants to be somewhat human again. So to speak.

Colossus himself is, of course, a key figure. Unlike the second arc, he's more developed here. More internal, definitely. He smiles, he loves, he jokes, he agonizes . . . he's alive again. It's wonderful. His scenes with Kitty are heart-warming. I guess we're supposed to interpret Colossus "destruction of Breakworld" as how Aghanne did - merely a destruction of the old ways. Or something.

Kitty herself is probably the biggest star of the book. While there's a spotlight on everyone, she's our eyes on the team again. She walks into the team with Whedon's first issue and leaves it with him. I hate to see her gone. I really do. It kills me a little. But having a writer be able to evoke that kind of emotion is a good thing.

Other characters are hit and miss. Agent Brand is great. Lockheed's revelation is shocking and I have to wonder where he got to at the end. Part of me wonders if he's not attached to the bullet, trying to burn his way into it. Kruun is lackluster and a little cliched. Aghanne is about the same.

Besides the fates of Kitty, Danger, and (really) Breakworld itself, Whedon does his best to handle some of the other strands left hanging. The rogue Sentinal was a pleasant surprise and it was nice to see its final fate. Cyclops powers, Armor's relationship with Wolverine, and even a nod at Professor X . . . all handled well.

Ultimately, I think Whedon was going for something different with Astonishing X-Men. He was definitely looking to make them into super-heroes. Not just Mutant freedom fighters like we've seen since, oh, Uncanny X-Men # 1 -- but genuine super-heroes. That would have been a great thing back in 2004 when this story began. But now? Not so much. Astonishing X-Men became a victim of it's own delays. The effects of this comics were forced to be felt about six months ago. That's when Kitty disappeared. That's the problem when an entire franchise hinches on a singular comic.

I have to applaud Whedon. Despite the flaws that these two story arcs suffered (as well as those of the original pair), he managed to crank out a great comic. The script was fantastic; great pacing and dialogue. He knows what he's doing.

Cassady's art is fantastic, but is there really a need to say that?

Overall, I'm still not sure how rate it all. It's a rather good book, even with it's problems and its lack of closure. But I think, now that's all done, it's time to move on.

~W~