Tuesday, October 03, 2006

UXP # 63: Age of Apocalypse # 2: "New History"

Age of Apocalypse one-shot, X-Men Chronicles # 1, X-Men Chronicles # 2, Tales from the Age of Apocalypse: Factor X, Tales from the Age of Apocalypse: Astonishing X-Men, X-Man # -1, Blink # 1-4

So far . . . so disappointing.

With Xavier dead, Magneto has chosen to create a haven for new Mutants at Wundagore Mountain. Thus far, the team consists of Marvel Girl, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Colossus, Ice Man (yep, seperated), Storm and the newly joined Weapon X (Wolverine) and Rogue. When Apocalypse attacks Cape Citadel with his Horsemen (Candra, Sabretooth, Gideon, War, and Death) the X-Men respond. As they fight off the Horsemen and the Big A himself, the son of Apocalypse (Nemesis aka. Holocaust) attacks Wundagore Mountain. All but Rogue are killed, including the Scarlet Witch. The X-Men fight off Apocalypse and return to Wunadagore to find it decimated.

Apocalypse, afterwards, begins his conquests of the world. At some point, Sabretooth gets sick of the dying and gives up. He's imprisoned with Wild Child aka. Kyle Dibney. The two become friends after a lengthy fight and they bust out, joining the X-Men.

A while later, Logan rescues Jean from the Pens (apparently Apocalypse has conquered the world or something) and they both leave the X-Men. Gambit and Rogue seek to comfort Magneto, but Magneto doesn't want it. A botched mission due to lack of confidence causes a Mutant assassin named Wolverine (not Logan though) under the command of Holocaust to follow the X-Men to their base. Before he attacks, though, Magneto finds a way for he and Rogue to be physical with each other, which pisses off the crushin' Gambit. A lame battle follows, Wolverine dies, and Magneto and Rogue grow closer.

Meanwhile, a Brood-infected Christopher Summers arrives on Earth, in New York. After being experimented on for a couple of years, he escapes. Now cronies under Apocalypse and Sinsiter, Cyclops, Havok, Northstar, Aurora, Emplate and the Monet Twins go after him. He kills Emplate and tramatizes the Twins, then is confronted by Cyclops and Havok. Emotions run high, but it's all concluded when Cyclops is forced to kill his own father.

After that, the X-Men mount a mission to the Moon to destroy Apocalypse, as he has a regenerating temple on the Moon's surface. The X-Men succeed in destroying the temple, the Horseman Death (Maximus of the Inhumans), and the new arrival Blink gets a valuable lesson. Cyclops helped the X-Men, too.

Back on Earth, Sinister has created the perfect combination of Grey/Summers genetics in the form of a very powerful little boy.

Colossus and Shadowcat decide to leave the X-Men in the pursuit of helping to secure the next generation of Mutants.

And Blink has some whacky adventures in the Negative Zone.

I've read the "Age of Apocalypse" before and I know it gets better. Thus far, disappointment. Marvel had recently done a one-shot and a mini-series that continued the "Age of Apocalypse." As neat as that was (it wasn't, really), I would have much rather seen Scott Lobdell go back and flesh out the back story of the AOA.

How did Apocalypse conquer America? When did Jean get captured by Sinister? Why was it we never saw the battle that cost Scott an eye and Logan a hand? Was is the Beast so insanely evil and Sabretooth a decent guy?

These are all questions that are raised and while, yes, it's good that an alternate reality makes one raise questions, all of these are unresolved.

These issues here don't do much to explore the more interesting nooks and crannies of the AOA. I'll grant that there are certain issues that stand out - the battle at Cape Citadel, X-Man's awakening, the Summers/Corsair story - all are great. But all of the other stories don't seem to matter nearly as much.

The "Wolverine" story may serve to kick off the Rogue/Magneto relationship, but it barely scratched the surface. Why did she choice to be in love with Magneto rather than pursuing one with Gambit? Is it because she can touch Magneto? What does that tell us about Rogue?

Blink's another one. Most of the story was spent with her in the Negative Zone with Anhillius and she amnesic. Why? This would have been the perfect chance to explore this cult classic character, to really dig into her past and understand who she is and how she came about.

The one-shot gives us glimpses of this dark world, but not nearly enough. I know things get better, but without a better foundation, the up-coming stories will have to beat out this lackluster bunch.

~W~

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