Uncanny X-Periment # 119: "Intifada"

X-Treme X-Men # 31-45

Here we have the final three arcs of X-Treme X-Men. I've decided to have them combined like this because, simply enough, they're one big basic story. Let's roll . . .

Intifada
The X-Men reunite with Rogue in a California town called Valle Soleada, near Hollywood. For some reason, this town is exactly what the X-Men have been fighting for. Mutants and humans co-exist happily with each other here. However, a gang of young Mutants wrecked a van, killing the family of a teenager by the name of Marie D'Ancanto. This sends Marie into a fit of terrorism and she tries to blow up X-Corp LA's leader, Sunspot, at a concert. The X-Men intervine and subsequently dig a little deeper. Turns out that a lawyer as been pushing human families out of the town and gives them terrible nightmares if they don't comply. They track the lawyer down to the X-Corp with Magma's help. The tension existing between the two major X-Men factions seems to have spread between the X-Men and the X-Corps. However, in the end, all signs point to Bogan.

Meanwhile, Storm and Gambit crash the President's range when he invites world leaders to come and have a meeting regarding Mutants. The two X-Men talk the world leaders into allowing her X-Men to have a global peace-keeping status as the X-Treme Sanctions Executive. The XSE.

The Arena
As the X-Men continue their search for Bogan, Storm jets over to Japan to investigate some arena battles. Guido shows up, she hangs out with a suddenly healed Yuriko, she fights Callisto, Masque is involved. Yadda yadda yadda. It's not good.

Prisoner of Fire
The X-Men continue their hunt for Bogan. Bishop purposely gets himself captured while the rest of the team - joined by Shadowcat, Skids, and Sunspot - go on the hunt. Bishop is taken under Bogan's control and faces off with Cannonball, Skids, Gambit, and Sunspot - they all lose. Rogue, Sage, Magma, and Shadowcat go searching underground for Bogan and discover some catacombs beneath the X-Corps office. They are then confronted by Bogan's telepath and the captured, mind-controlled X-Men. BUT! It turns out that Gambit and Bishop were faking it and they all help take on Bogan's little dork-faced minions. The X-Men free Bogan's telepathic pet and it's discovered to be none other than Rachel Summers! They take her back to the house and then they all finally deal with Bogan - who was hanging out in a glass egg the whole time. He's killed, destroyed, whathaveyou and the X-Men head on home.

"Intifada" is the strongest of these three stories. It's intriguing, it's got a strong mystery feel to it, it has a lot of energy and action. I absolutely loved it. Claremont does a great job making Valle Soleada into a place that I can actually care about. Claremont handling Mutant culture is a good thing, and it tends to bring out his best work. Marie is a character I can sympatheize with. Seeing old friendly faces like Sunspot, Skids, and Magma brings me into this story even more. Storm and Gambit's playing around in Bush's woods gets old but it adds a great sense of realism.

Then . . . it's time for the "Arena." Which is terrible. There's so many BDSM allusions and out of character moments that it just turned me off. Plus, it's such a terrible break from the more intersting story - that of the X-Men versus Bogan.

"Prisoner of Fire" isn't as good as "Intifada," but it's far better than how I remembered it. There are some rather stupid moments, such as when various characters cover themselves in lava, but there are great moments too - like when we are reunited with Rachel Summers. It's a decent story, one that wraps up the X-Men's story for the past few months rather. I wish that Bogan had been a developed beyond "I'm Shadow King lite" and actually had a reason to be evil. I also wish it hadn't been six parts. This could have been done easily in five.

We got some nice moments with Sage, which helped me enjoy her character a lot more. Rogue and Gambit also had some good scenes, even if they were a little corny. Good development all the way around.

I honestly have to say that Igor Kordey's art here is pretty bad. Don't get me wrong. I think he's a fine artist. Really. He has great talent. But he's not suited for X-Men. It's just not something he should be working on. He did great work on Cable and Soldier X, but X-Men . . . meh.

Overall, decent quality. There are parts of this trio that outshine other parts, but in an overall way, it seems to represent Claremont's second run on X-Men. Good ("Intifada"), generally fine ("Prisoner of Fire"), and awful ("The Arena").

If for some reason I decide to re-read this, I'm cutting out "The Arena" and am just concentrating on the good stuff.

~W~

Uncanny X-Periment # 108: "Invasion"

X-Treme X-Men 2001, X-Treme X-Men # 19

Okay. Let's something out into the open before we kick this off. For the record, things are going to be changing a bit here. In order to speed up up-dates, expect to see shorter story summaries. This story in particular is going to be the Reader's Digest version. Other than speeding up the amount of up-dates, this will also serve to help me as my schedule has suddenly gone quite insane with me working and going to school. I now only have one day off a week.

So, with no further ado . . .

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After dealing with the Shadow King and the mind-controlled Pierce and his Reavers (told you they'd be back) and subsequently imprisoning the Shadow King, the X-Men are faced with a new threat. Someone stole a ruby that was part of a set from Madripoor - this was the one that that crimelord had in the last arc. Anyways, a new lizard-like villian by the name of Shaitan attacks the X-Men and kidnaps Gambit and Lifeguard and takes Storms' ruby (which is also part of this set). He then uses the rubies and Gambit to open a portal and to establish a slowly materializing tower from which the evil Khan has conquered hundreds and/or thousands of cross-time Earths.

The X-Men take Khan captive, but he is rescued and Storm is dragged along to the tower with him, being proclaimed his new queen. The X-Men split up, with an all-powers-accessing Rogue and the newly-activated Davis Cameron (a portal opener now code-named Slipstream) to handle the invasion forces of Khan's army and Thunderbird, Sage, Lifeguard and Bishop to rescue Storm and shut down the tower.

Eventually, Storm strings Khan along and he loses focus. Vargas shows up, looking to kill Gambit, but Rogue gets there in the meantime and hangs onto her lover. Then Storm and the X-Men flood the tower. Shortly after returning and blowing the crap outta Khan's ship, the portal is closed when Vargas "kills" Rogue and Gambit (who was laying right under her). In the aftermath, Rogue (accessing Logan's healing factor) goes after Vargas and kills him. However, she also manages to channel Destiny's power and reveals that the "wheel of destiny is broken" or something.

Nightcrawler, Phoenix, Kitty, and Beast show up to help the gang recover. Davis runs because his sister is scary now. Heather and Thunderbird go off to help him or something. Gambit and Rogue, their powers kinda dead, decide to build a relationship. This leaves Storm, Sage, and Bishop to figure out what they want to do with themselves.

I have to say, out everything Claremont has offered up since his return the X-Universe, this is actually among his best. Sure the dialogue is cheesy and cliched at times. Storm being nominated Khan's queen is dumb. The dropping of the Books of Destiny subplot just like "that" is just a litte unbelieveable.

That being said, there's so much good material here. Tons of action, great characterization, a great threat. It's old-school, but it's good old-school, which is rare for Claremont. A little too drawn out, though. How many aftermath books did we get? Three? But that's okay, I can live with it.

And kudos for jetisoning Lifeguard, Thunderbird, and Slipstream (who just happened to have a power they just happened to need right then and there). I'm not keen on these characters, though I have to admit Neal's grown on me a bit.

Larocca's at his prime here, though it can get a little too cluttered here and there. Nice easter eggs tossed in there too, for those of you paying attention.

So, not bad. Very old-school, which works in it's favor. Actions-packed, exciting, a little cliched, but enjoyable nonetheless.

~W~

Uncanny X-Periment # 102: "Destiny"

X-Treme X-Men # 1-4

It’s a new era for the X-Men and Storm’s team is on the forefront. Storm is leading a team consisting of Rogue, Bishop, Thunderbird, Psylocke, Sage, and Beast. Gambit and Gateway pop by as their adventures go on.

This rogue team of X-Men heads to Spain to find Destiny’s books, only to be attacked by Spain’s special military unit Action Force, which captures all but Rogue and Sage. The X-Men then go through a maze, with Beast and Psylocke getting separated. The pair then have to face off against the super-super-human named Vargas, who beats the crap outta Beast, then kills Psylocke. It turns out he was there for Rogue (who he also faces) and tipped off the Action Force. Action Force and the X-Men make amends and haunt for Vargas . . . to no avail.

Beast leaves this team of X-Men because of his injuries. The X-Men then claim Destiny’s house and plan their next move and mourn while Gambit himself encounters Vargas.

Claremont definitely brings it back with this. Granted, he’s not at the top of his game, but these four issues are better than the entirety of his whole “Revolution” fracas. This is really Claremont is his element – with characters he’s either good at writing (Storm, Rogue, Sage), apparently likes (Bishop, Beast), and characters he’s created (Gambit, Psylocke, Thunderbird). The characters are done rather well. The action is nicely handled. There’s promise and hope and a lot of potential in all of this.

However, on top of all this, the writing suffers from some of Claremont’s biggest failings. There are very, very long-winded monologues. The characters seem to have to explain their powers to each other, which is quite annoying. When the dialogue becomes skippable or just skimmable, it’s a clear sign it’s either no good or not interesting.

The art is quite excellent. The Claremont/Larocca team is one that works. Larocca’s designs, actions scenes, facial expression . . . they’re fantastic.

A nice start, even if it could use some work.

~W~

Uncanny X-Periment # 93: "Slavers"

Uncanny X-Men # 383, X-Men # 103, Uncanny X-Men # 384, X-Men # 104, Uncanny X-Men # 385, X-Men # 105, Uncanny X-Men # 386, X-Men # 106

I’ve read a lot of comics in my life. Not counting the comics my Dad used to be me when I was just a wee one, I’ve been reading hard-core for just over 15 years now. Mostly X-Men, mind you, but I’ve expanded my interests to include various other Marvel and DC offerings, as well as Image and independent comics.

That being said . . . I can honestly say that this is perhaps some of the worst comics I’ve ever read.

Now let me say a few things before hand. First of all, Chris Claremont is the writer of these here books. I daresay that Claremont is among – if not the – best X-Men writer. Think of all the most renowned X-Men stories and he wrote most of them. Let me further say and that the artists involved – Adam Kubert, Tom Raney, Michael Ryan, and Leinel Yu – all fine artists. I’ve seen some great work from them.

With all that also said . . . this is just bad.

I’ll give you the gist of what happens in these stories because even I have trouble figuring it all out.

Basically, Gambit gets the X-Men involved in a conflict with a Neo name Ransome, who is looking to sell the X-Men to either other Neo or this alternate reality guy named Vooge. The X-Men win the day, but back in Westchester, the rest of the team (having just decided Rogue is their new leader) gets into with some guys called the Goth. The Goth take Thunderbird, Colossus, Psylocke, Archangel and all of Salem Center captive to be sold as slaves to Vooge.

Meanwhile, Vooge is rescued by the Crimson Pirates and they take Cable and Gambit. As the rest of the team comes together and try and track down Vooge, Gambit manages a deal with Vooge. He arranges to capture the X-Men. Cliched X-Men vs. X-Men fight follows. In the end, they defeat the Vooge and Rogue now trusts Gambit again.

Shortly thereafter, Archangel gets attacked by some women called the Twisted Sisters (yeah, not the band). Psylocke and the X-Men save Archangel. Then, some of the X-Men help save Lee Forrester from a hurricane. Then, the X-Men fight the Neo again and finally get around the rescuing Cecelia Reyes and Charlotte Jones.

What is so bad about this?

Well first of all, the entire Goth/Slaver/Crimson Pirate story is full of cliches and quasi-bondage allusions. The story meanders from plot point to plot point, depending mainly on this character doing this and this character doing that. Save for some nice time with Storm and a step forward with Gambit/Rogue, there’s zero character development. Plus, Vooge? Really? Why have this guy? I mean, if we’re going to have an fat interdeminsional slave driver, why not go to one we know and trust – Mojo? I’m not the biggest Mojoverse/X-Men fan, but at least we can depend on Mojo for some cheap laughs.

Then, after dealing with this stupid-ass story, they hang around New Orleans and NYC until the X-Men finally realize “Oh yeah! We gotta go rescue that single mother and the former semi-X-Man that got trapped in that building with all those killers and hunters because they kinda got in our way!” Which isn’t just that strong of a story anyway.

There some small good nuggets here, but even these bother me. There’s a subplot about Senator Kelly running for President. Just like with Creed, there’s no mention of any other sort of politics as Kelly has apparently gone back from “Mutants should be monitored, but not controlled” to “Mutants are evil!”

What I did notice were some interesting lines here in there. For some reason, knowing what is coming in the up-coming Morrison run, when Jean says “This is not my day to die” in Phoenix-font while manifesting said Phoenix raptor, I can’t help get a sense foreshadowing. There’s also a few lines of dialogue about super-heroes that has an interesting spin in light of “Civil War.”

However . . .

Thus far (even though there’s worse to come), this is the worst the X-Men has ever been.

~W~