X-Men # 65, Uncanny X-Men # 346, X-Men # 66, Generation X # 29, Wolverine # 115, Generation X # 30-31, X-Force # 68, Cable # 45-47, X-Man # 30, X-Force # 69, X-Men # 67, Wolverine # 116, X-Men # 68, Wolverine # 117, X-Men # 69, Wolverine # 118
The story kicks off with an attack on the X-Men. Over Colorado, the X-Men (Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine, Storm, and Cannonball) are attacked by the Prime Sentinels (new and improved man-sized Sentinels). They are subsequently captured, with the attack broadcasted across the US (and slanted to make it seem like the X-Men attacked OZT). As this unfolds, the Prime Sentinels and some OZT forces take control of the mansion.
In NYC, Callisto and Marrow attack Henry Peter Gyrich because of his involvement with OZT. Spider-Man intervines and quite soon, they have to deal with Prime Sentinels. Action ensues, but Gyrich has the police take down the Sentinels, as they are a greater threat to the general public than the Mutants are. Meanwhile, Bastian confronts J. Jonah Jameson over his search from the truth behind OZT and the X-Men. Jameson rejects all the information that Bastian has to offer regarding the X-Men, as he believes Bastian killed one of his reporters (and he did).
At a Bronx hospital, self-loathing Mutant Doctor Cecilia Reyes is attacked by Prime Sentinels. This reveals her power to create force fields to her staff, who all hate Mutants for some reason. Iceman comes to her rescue and the pair go off to find help.
Over in LA, Generation X meets up with Skin's cousin Gil and they crash at his place. It's then that the Mutant gang leader (and Skin's ex-girlfriend who thought he was dead) shows up with her posse and sells them out. Prime Sentinels rain upon them and Torres, some thugs, Generation X, and Gil make a run for it.
At the Hulkbuster Base (now the OZT headquarters), the X-Men are taken to their prison cells. Bastian shows this to Jubilee, but she believes it's just another illusion. However, seeing the subtle details of the images (Logan's hand on Jean's), she soon realizes it isn't an illusion. The X-Men are carted away and Wolverine is taken down to the furance to be fried. He comes to and frees his fellow X-Men. The X-Men then bust their way out of the base with the help of Jubilee (who they don't know is in there -- nor do they know that Xavier is down there too).
In Flordia, at one of Emma Frost's safehouses, Emplate makes a deal with Banshee and Emma to help find Generation X in exchange for Penance. Emma wants to take it, but Sean throws a big fit. She tries to force Penance into doing it, but Sean punches her out and he and Penny run for it.
Meanwhile, Generation X has taken safety in a car museum. There, they confront the aspect of dying. Husk comes up with a plan and when the Prime Sentinels arrive, Gil blows the place up. Torres and co. and Generation X survive, with Synch finding twin girls instead of M!
During an undercover mission, X-Force and whatever is left of the MLF are ambushed by Prime Sentinels. One of the Prime Sentinels (a woman once named Ekatarina Gryaznova) manages to capture Domino for revenge for an accident Domino caused. Also captured are Meltdown, Shatterstar, and Rictor. X-Force retreats to regroup.
Cable, tipped off by G.W. Bridge, heads to the mansion to retrieve valuable information before OZT gets their mits on it. He busts in, breaks Caliban free, gets Caliban to safety, the takes control of the War Room, where he then downloads all of the valuable information. Bastian pops by and the two wrestle. Eventually, Cable takes telepathic control of the OZT soldiers and erases their memories of even being a member of OZT and sends them on their way. He passes out from the stress and when he awakens, the mansion is completely stripped down.
Cable, while he was downloading the information, contacts Nate Grey the X-Man and sends him to go protect the Greys - including their cousins, Joey and Gailyn. A fight with the Prime Sentinels later and all is good.
Domino then wakes up, shaved and with something in her neck. As she tries to make sense of it, X-Force takes down their opponents and frees their teammates.
Back with Reyes and Iceman, the pair break into Warren and Betsy's apartment to try and get some help. Calls to X-Factor and Excalibur go unanswered, but after being attacked by a Prime Sentinel, Charlotte Jones come to the rescue and takes them down to the Police station for protection. Unfortunately, things aren't looking good there either. With many of the Police officers really being Prime Sentinels, Iceman and Reyes have got a problem. But luckily Marrow is hiding in the basement.
In the Desert, the X-Men stumble across a small shanty town of hanicapped people. Turns out these people have all been helped by a clinic. This clinic is, in truth, an OZT cover operation to make Prime Sentinels.
Iceman and Reyes get their butts saved by Marrow. After they take down some Prime Sentinels, they team up with the Israeli Mutant super-hero Sabra - who has secret information regarding Bastian. They then find out that Charlotte Jones was blackmailed into helping OZT because her son (Timothy) was kidnapped.
The X-Men, in the Desert, deal with some Prime Sentinels and then decide to destroy the clinic. Once there, Wolverine catches the scent of Jubilee, who was freed with the help of Daria. Wolverine and Jubilee then reunite with Mustang and the rest of the X-Men and bust into the clinic. Just then, Mustang turns into a Prime Sentinel!
All this while, Senator Kelly is looking to shut down Operation: Zero Tolerance.
With Sabra's help, Reyes, Iceman, and Marrow all head to New England, where Timothy is being held by Bastian and some old lady. They break in, Iceman pulls Bastian out and lectures him. A lot. Just as the Prime Sentinels are about to blast the four Mutants out of existence, SHIELD appears suddenly! They order Bastian to stand down and take him into custody.
At the clinic, the X-Men destroy everything and Wolverine manages to get Mustang back to normal. With SHIELD taking down all of OZT, one final blast is fired at Cyclops. Suddenly, a bomb is beginning to grow in his abdomen!
THE EVER-LOVIN' END!
Ugh.
Okay. So let's talk about this.
First and foremost, the good. There's some good stuff in this crossover. Character development is on high, with special focus on Iceman, Marrow, Jubilee, Cable, and Domino. While Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Phoenix, Reyes, Generation X and Nate Grey get their moments, those characters right up there get the spotlight. Iceman really grows up, getting a lot of characterization and action since, well, Uncanny X-Men # 17-18.
Nate's saving of his extended family, Generation X (Synch and M esspecially) dealing with the possibility of death, and Cable struggles within the mansion are all very well done. James Robinson, who handled Cable and Generation X, does a great job on both titles.
Another thing to like about this is the way it was done. I really enjoyed the fact that we saw various parts of the X-Men attacked - just not all as one unit, but as factions (save X-Factor and Excalibur). Having the stories (at least the main ones - the X-Men) converge onto the same plot point is very well done.
Plus, Bastian feels like a real menance. He's a very dark character. Very threatening. And very powerful.
And that, I think, is the where the story falls apart.
Operation: Zero Tolerance has been building up for a while - since right before Onslaught. We've seen appearances by Bastian all over the place. So, when this story came along, there was a lot of potential for it to be really good. All of the questions and mysteries about Bastian were going to be answered. A war was going to break out between the X-Men and the humans.
But at the end of the day, none of that happened. Everyone that was captured by OZT escaped - except for Professor X. We never had any answers regarding Bastian's origins. There were no big battles besides the usual fights we're used to. OZT came out, put out a single, and then vanished. One of the best non-Mutants villians the X-Men have ever dealt with and they're gone in a flash with very little fanfare.
What bothers me to is why Bastian was taken into custody? I'm thinking it was because he kidnapped that boy, but what was with that woman he gave him to and how did she play a role in his creation (I know the answer, but I'm just putting it out there)? Who was the real power behind OZT and why didn't they stop Kelly and Gyrich from shutting it down? Why did the Mossad have information on Bastian that no one else did? What information did they have? What happened to it?
Plus, the crossover is almost inaccessible due to all the threads going in and out of it. You need to know why Professor X and Jubilee have been captured. You need to know why X-Force are doing what they're doing. Etc, etc.
Coordination-wise, it's good. Quality of writing is good, though the outcome of the story is way too disappointing. The appearances of Spider-Man and Jameson are nice nods, and I talked about how I liked stuff like that in the last entry. The art is very good too.
I also really liked Marrow and Reyes in this story. Reyes is the best thing to come out of OZT.
Disappointing ending plus great characterization plus good coordination plus lack of answers equals "meh, it's all right. No AoA or Mutant Massacre, but it's kinda okay."
~W~
No comments:
Post a Comment