The Rise of Apocalypse # 1-4, X-Factor # 6-9
I decided, since it was in the same trade, to toss in "The Rise of Apocalypse" mini-series, which details the origins of ol' Poccy. We'll start with that.
En Sabah Nur is born in Akkaba, but is immediately abandoned because he's a freakin' Mutie. He's then adopted by Baal, of the Sandstormers, who believe in (wait for it) survival of the fittest. It turns out that Baal foresaw Nur's birth thanks to Rama-Tut's technology (Marvel devotees know that Rama-Tut is actually a time traveler and after this adventure, he goes off to become Kang, and then later becomes Immortus - see "Avengers Forever" for better detail).
Rama-Tut, however, is also after Nur. He sends his vizor, Ozymandias, after Nur, only to have him fail. The straight man to Rama-Tut, the knowledgeable Logos, seeks out Nur and brings him to safety. Eventually, Nur falls in love with Nephri, Ozy's sister and Rama-Tut's appointed wife. Of course Rama-Tut loses interest with Nephri when the Fantastic Four show up and he falls for Sue (this mini-series parallels an early issue of Fantastic Four).
En Sabah Nur comes to terms with his abilities and goes on a killer rampage. He turns Ozymadias into stone and makes him his seer. He then proclaims himself as Apocalypse and that's that, sucker.
The story seems to have some interesting ideas and some cool concepts, but it's also just, well, not very good. With the exception of the last issue (which is awesome), the story kinda stammers through an old Fantastic Four issue and the story of a kid being ass-ugly. At times, it's interesting, but it's mostly disappointing. There are too many cliches, coincidences and short-cuts in this story. And the art is shit.
In the end, Apocalypse rises and that's the only real cool part.
Jump ahead a few thousand years . . . and Apocalypse is hanging out in California with a junkie. Kinda.
X-Factor fights off the Alliance, Apocalypse's Mutants, for the life of a junkie named Michael Nowlan. Mike has the power to increase the Mutant powers of others. When Mike escapes, he runs to his ex (wife? girlfriend? ho? who knows), who then calls X-Factor.
The team fights the Alliance for Michael (I just wrote that) and then they confront Apocalypse himself. It's kinda neat going from seeing Apocalypse in the past, where's just starting to come to terms with his powers and himself, to seeing in the "present" where he's the master of his powers and knows what the heck he's doing with himself. Apocalypse gets just a little screen time, but you know he's up to some bad shit. He slinks away, pretty much damning everyone.
X-Factor then goes home, deals with the Morlocks and then handles Freedom Force at Central Park (in the aftermath of the X-Men story set there).
There's a lot to love here. While the Apocalypse story is sub-par, it is merely the introduction and you can tell that Lousie Simonson has some serious shit up her sleeve. She also tackles the Jean/Scott problems. Jean pressures the guys into revealing Scott's secret and they do. Her reaction is very well-done: she's more upset with Scott and her best friends for hiding this information that Scott actually getting married and having a son. Even her curiousity as to what Maddie and Nathan look like is pretty mature and realistic.
The characters easily slip into the roles they had once had with each other during the original run, though they've grown up some. It's like seeing a bunch of old friends hang out for a week. The interplay and tension between Scott, Jean, and Warren harkens back to the Metro College era, though (obviously) there are bigger issues at work here.
At times, X-Factor's existence is questioned, as to whether or not they're really doing any good at all or are actually making things worse. A nice play there.
Overall, not bad. Next up? The shit hits the fan.
~W~
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