Friday, December 08, 2006

Uncanny X-Periment # 77: "Askani"

X-Men: Phoenix # 1-3, Uncanny X-Men # -1, Askani's Son # 1-4, The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix # 1-4, X-Man # 25, Cable # 42-44, Hulk # 455-457

What we have here are four tales, each one taking place in three basic time periods.

Kicking it off is Rachel Summers and the story her arrival into the future after trading places with Captain Britain. She arrives and immediately begins a rebellion against Apocalypse. However, Apocalypse is in regenerative sleep, so she deals with the power-vampire lady Nero. Nero seeks the Phoenix power from Rachel, but when she gets it, it blows her mind. The Phoenix then departs from Rachel. Rachel then forms the Askani and vows to use the powers that the Phoenix left her to bring her baby brother into the future to help out. She also meets a teenaged telepath named Sancity.

The two, at some point, travel back to before the X-Men have been founded. There, it's revealed that Sancity is the daughter of Bolivar Trask, creator of Master Mold and the Sentinals. Rachel yanks her back, but not before information regarding the "12" is dumped into Master Mold's memory banks.

Further along in the future, a now abandoned Nathan Dayspring and his buddy Tetherblood encounter the Yoda-like Balquesmith. Blaquesmith has Nathan head to the mysterious Ebonshire to seek out the Askani - which is now being run by Madame Sancity. Leader of the New Cannite government (which has swept into place in the aftermath of Apocalypse's death), Tribune Haight sends a woman named Umbridge to find the Askani as well. Stryfe, Ch'Varye, and Zero also seek Ebonshire. Dayspring gets there and meets up with a woman named Aliya. He is also regarded as a great hero! But then all heck breaks lose as everyone kinda arrives at first. Umbridge dies, Stryfe and Sancity run off together, and Haight goes back to the US. Dayspring, Tetherblood, and Aliya form the Clan Chosen.

Now, let's zoom back to 1859, where Sancity plops the present day Scott and Jean to bare witness to Mr. Sinister's creation. Sinister was once known as Nathaniel Essex, who was looked upon like a nut by the scientific community. He believed that humans would soon evolve into incredible beings - Mutants! He's so nutty about this that he experimented on his late son's corpse. This breaks the heart of his pregnant wife Rebecca. It only gets worse when he recruits a gang he calls the Marauders to round up all the freaks to his mansion. This attrachts the attention of the recently woken Apocalypse. As Scott and Jean try and find each other, Apocalypse and Essex hang out with the Hellfire Club. Eventually, Rebecca dies, declaring his husband to be sinister! Thus, that's the name that Essex choses for himself as he is remolded into an agent of Apocalypse. When Apocalypse makes an attempt on the British royal family's life, Scott and Jean intervine (they were captured for a bit). Apocalypse, who has the help of the Hellfire Club and has Mr. Sinister make him a plaque, is suddenly weakened. It turns out that Sinister had the plaque work against Apocalypse (the Techno-Organic Virus), as he wished to see the world bare evolutionary fruit rather than be destroyed. Apocalypse then returns to his cryogenic sleep. Sanctiy sends Scott and Jean home, revealing that it was their presence that pushed Essex into becoming Sinister - for without Sinister, there would be no Cable and therefore, no one chosen to destroy Apocalypse.

In the present day, Sancity recruits Jean to figure out the heck is going with Maddie being back. A confrontation between Jean, Maddie, and Nate Grey reveals that Maddie came into being as a result of his desire to have some to care about him like Jean would have in the AoA.

Storm and Cable then stop a returned from the dead Marrow (thanks to a second heart!?) and Calisto from blowing up a Lila Cheny concert. Cable then confronts a Mutant-hating mob that reminds of a time in his past. Maddie then goes after Cable, trying to convince him to join her.

At the mansion, Wolverine shows up with the Hulk. A battle with the X-Men and the Hulk follows, the X-Men trying to help him (with Cable and Forge by their side). Hulk is then eventually teleported away by Apocalypse. Apocalypse seeks to make him into the Horsemen War and tests him by manipulating the organization One New World into sending Absorbing Man and Juggernaut against ol' Purple Pants. The Hulk (as War) trounces Creel and Juggy, but then breaks Rick Jones spine, which sends him back to normal and out of Apocalypse's grasp. Apocalypse then blows up the One New World.

So, what does all this mean to me?

"X-Men: Phoenix" is probably among the Top Ten worst X-Men stories ever. It contradicts various other elements of the mythos. It's poorly written, for the most part. I don't care about any of the characters except for Rachel and while her struggle with the Phoenix is nice, it doesn't make up for anything else that is wrong with this crappy comic. The art is particularly bad.

"Uncanny X-Men" # -1 is good, but it over-complicates things with Rachel and Sancity.

"Askani'Son" is okay, if not a little anticlimatic and boring. Gene Ha does a great job at picking up the slacky writiing. It's neat, also, to see Nathan grow from the baby we saw in X-Factor, the kid we saw in Adventures, and now the young man found here. Great job.

Likewise, "The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix" is great. I think it would have been stronger had Jean and Scott not been in there, but the perfect blend of Peter Milligan's creepy story and John Paul Leon's dark art style makes it a keeper. Plus - we find out why he calls himself Mr. Sinister!

The whole Maddie thing has always bothered me. From Day One, when she first showed up, I groaned. Even as an enthralled 12-14 year old, I groaned loudly at this. And the relationship between Maddie and Nate? Eeeeew! I wouldn't make out/have sex with my Mom's clone, alternate reality or not.

I'll give props to make Maddie an interesting character again, but this whole thing wasn't necessary and should have been dealt with in "X-Man" # 25 in finality.

The "Cable" issues are a bore, with Callisto acting way out of character. It's also revealed an younger Ch'Varye was sent back in time to create as Askani cult and . . . to give even me a headache! Ugh . . .

The "Hulk" issues are a highlight. With these being the only heroes left (save Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, and Daredevil), it's neat to see them interact in each other's corner of the universe. Apocalypse's testing of Hulk is esspecially well done, as it was written by Peter David and drawn by Adam Kubery. Drool!

Overall, I don't care for the needless clutter added to the already complicated Summers/Apocalypse/Askani situation. It makes for bad comics and smacks of unoriginality. While there are gems - "Further Adventures" and "Hulk," for one, everything else around these make for some bad to mediocre reading.

~W~

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