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x_men_classic2019-01-24 05:48 pm
sheliak) wrote in x_men_classic2019-01-24 05:48 pm
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Readthrough: Uncanny X-Men 96
Welcome to a very special point in X-Men history: the birth of the Angry Claremontian Narrator!
(But first, a correction re: last Uncanny issue—Len Wein was still plotting that one, which I missed the first time through. And this issue, Bill Mantlo is credited with a "plotting assist". After that, Claremont is sole plotter. I think.)
Anyway, back to the story...
This issue opens with Scott angsting about Thunderbird's death, out alone in the woods. (The rest of the team got their angsting done together, but Cyclops is too private for that.)
The narrator is on his case, and harangues him directly:
Both Cyclops and the narrator continue treating the death as suicide.
Eventually Cyclops starts responding to his tormentor. (The events of this issue will convince him never to do so again.)
He is going to regret this. In fact, he regrets it immediately; his powers require constant control, and he's angry at himself for falling down on that front.
Cyclops does reach a kind of peace, reminding himself that Thunderbird knew what he was getting into as well as any of the others did...
Good for Cyclops! However, the narrator insists on having the last word:
That's the end of our first (sinisterly foreshadowing) scene.
However: there is a demonic cairn in Professor Xavier's yard. This raises some questions. Did Professor Xavier know about that cairn? What did he and the X-Men think it was? It looks like Cyclops ought to be able to see it, but he never reacts to it, either with surprise at it being there or dismay at having damaged the weird monument in his mentor's back yard.
The scene shifts to the X-Men practicing in the Danger Room. Colossus accidentally knocks Wolverine away with too much of his strength, and Wolverine leaps to the attack, only to be blown away by Storm's winds. Nightcrawler bursts out laughing, which again infuriates Wolverine--luckily, Kurt teleports out of the way.
At this point, Wolverine is all edge, and his teammates don't entirely trust him--because honestly, he doesn't yet deserve it.
Professor X pulls Banshee aside to share his worries about Scott. (Perhaps Sean's age makes him more of a peer to Xavier?) He also informs him that he's hired a housekeeper to look after the X-Men while he's gone. Gone where, he does not explain, despite Banshee's questions.
This housekeeper is, of course, Moira MacTaggert. I have no idea why she's introduced in this role, to be honest--it seems kind of random. Maybe Claremont thought up most of her personality later?
(He also claims she's a widow, but considering how terrible her estranged husband is, that one actually makes sense.)
And meanwhile, a cut to our future antagonist…
Dr. Steven Lang is “as nervous as a freshman at finals” now that his life's work is almost complete.
He runs into one Colonel Michael Rossi, who does not agree with the wisdom of the government spending vast quantities of money on hunting mutants with giant pink-and-purple murder robots; in fact, he thinks that Lang's project could doom the country. (He also points out that Lang does not exactly have a right to some of the money he's appropriated to the project). He seems like a fairly reasonable person. Later on, Rossi will appear as one of Professor X's contacts; here, he’s not explicitly pro-mutant, but he also doesn't think they're a threat. He's also Carol Danvers's ex. (At least, I assume they're not dating currently, since if they had been I assume she'd have appeared later in this storyline...)
At any rate, Rossi promises to shut the project down... and Lang swears that he will not live long enough to do so.
Groundwork laid for the next arc, we return to the X-Mansion! The Professor introduces the X-Men to their new "housekeeper", and announces that he's going on vacation for a bit. Banshee is immediately smitten with Moira; Storm questions letting her in on the secret, and the Professor assures her that he trusts Moira with all their lives.
This relatively quiet scene is interrupted when some unseen force tosses Cyclops through a wall. (Costume shredded, of course.)
The enemy who did this is not long in revealing himself...
Kierrok the Damned is kind of ridiculous, but he does get a nice dramatic splash page, so he's got that going for him. I don’t think he’ll be back, although the N’garai (of which he seems to be one) definitely will. As an aside, at this stage apparently Wolverine’s catchphrase is “Holy Hannah!” (The revisions didn't change this; it seems so odd for him that I expected them to.)
A fight ensues; the X-Men rescue each other repeatedly, but don't manage to do much damage. Eventually, Kierrok manages to injure Nightcrawler--and Wolverine, despite their tiff earlier, springs to his defense.
This leads to the first example of Wolverine's berserker rages, later to be a pretty big deal:
Alas, even Wolverine's killer rages cannot truly kill Kierrok the Damned; adamantium claws are limited in their effect on the supernatural.
Professor X tries a telepathic attack...
... which doesn't work that well either, although the Professor does learn things. The fray resumes, this time with Moira taking part (along with the machine gun that she was apparently retrieving during the first fight). It doesn't do much good, and Sean ends up having to rescue her, but it's about as effective as anyone else has managed so far, so points for effort, Moira!
The Professor recovers enough to send Storm to seal the cairn. And a good thing too: not only is Kierrok apparently invincible, but demons are still emerging from the cairn. Storm defends herself with lightning, only to be hit by a bolt of mysterious energy...
If the N'garai demons intended to overwhelm Storm with past trauma, it was a bad idea on their part: her horror and determination to free herself is expressed in a dramatic lightning bolt. This, apparently, allows the cairn to refuse itself, trapping the demons once more (though a straggler will be revealed later) and wiping Kierrok from existence.
Storm returns to the mansion, where no one really knows what to make of this experience, although she correctly predicts that the X-Men will hear from the N'garai again...
... and the last panel of the issue reveals that Colonel Rossi's plane has crashed, and everyone aboard is dead. (This is going to be retconned; Rossi survives--just barely.)
The Classic reprint made some changes, as usual. Wolverine gets more "bubs" and "blazes" (though he keeps saying "Holy Hannah!", for some reason); Colossus's early crush on Storm is downplayed, since Claremont decided not to go anywhere with it. The flashback panels introducing Storm's early life gain some utterly unnecessary captions.
The biggest change is to the panels after Banshee rescues Moira. In the rewritten version Banshee comes off as taking Moira a bit more seriously; in the original he tells her that she’s out of her league and should stay under cover, but in the revised he asks how she learned to shoot like that. (The answer is the Scots Guards, just as he speculated earlier.)
(There’s also an added scene with Storm startling the others by skinny-dipping. Colossus hastily gives her his shirt. Moira, hearing the events from Professor X, thinks it's a shame that Storm is the one who has to adapt to local pressures. It's kind of fillerish, honestly.)
Any thoughts on Steven Lang, Michael Rossi, or Kierrok the Damned?
And why do you think Professor X and Moira MacTaggert decided to introduce her as the X-Men's "housekeeper?"
This Sunday: Wolverine and Nightcrawler bond in "The Big Dare".
Next Thursday: "Erik the Red" steals Cyclops's old alter ego and brainwashes Havok and Polaris into attacking the X-Men.
(But first, a correction re: last Uncanny issue—Len Wein was still plotting that one, which I missed the first time through. And this issue, Bill Mantlo is credited with a "plotting assist". After that, Claremont is sole plotter. I think.)
Anyway, back to the story...
This issue opens with Scott angsting about Thunderbird's death, out alone in the woods. (The rest of the team got their angsting done together, but Cyclops is too private for that.)
The narrator is on his case, and harangues him directly:
It's been weeks now since Thunderbird died, and the memory still hurts, doesn't it, Cyclops....
...the nagging feeling--the fear--that if you'd acted differently, Thunderbird would be alive today.
Both Cyclops and the narrator continue treating the death as suicide.
That's the real hell of his death, isn't it, Cyclops--because you know he hadn't even tried to get out.
Eventually Cyclops starts responding to his tormentor. (The events of this issue will convince him never to do so again.)
Narrator: You and the X-Men had saved the world from a nuclear holocaust--but you'd lost a man to do it--
Narator: --and try as you might, you can't balance those scales in your mind or in your heart...
Narrator: ... can you, Cyclops?
Cyclops: No.
Narrator: Can you?
Cyclops: No!
Narrator: Can you?!
Cyclops: No!!
He is going to regret this. In fact, he regrets it immediately; his powers require constant control, and he's angry at himself for falling down on that front.
Cyclops does reach a kind of peace, reminding himself that Thunderbird knew what he was getting into as well as any of the others did...
... And Thunderbird is dead, mister--all the wishing in the world won't bring him back.
He's dead and you're alive--and that's it! Like it or not--no matter how much it hurts--the rest of us have to go on living.
Rest in peace, John Proudstar...
You've earned that much, at least.
Good for Cyclops! However, the narrator insists on having the last word:
So have you, Cyclops...
... and if you're not careful...
...you may soon be resting as peacefully--and as permanently--as your friend.
That's the end of our first (sinisterly foreshadowing) scene.
However: there is a demonic cairn in Professor Xavier's yard. This raises some questions. Did Professor Xavier know about that cairn? What did he and the X-Men think it was? It looks like Cyclops ought to be able to see it, but he never reacts to it, either with surprise at it being there or dismay at having damaged the weird monument in his mentor's back yard.
The scene shifts to the X-Men practicing in the Danger Room. Colossus accidentally knocks Wolverine away with too much of his strength, and Wolverine leaps to the attack, only to be blown away by Storm's winds. Nightcrawler bursts out laughing, which again infuriates Wolverine--luckily, Kurt teleports out of the way.
Banshee: Laddie--take it easy. Ye could have killed Nightcrawler, then, y'know...
Wolverine: Yeah--I know.
At this point, Wolverine is all edge, and his teammates don't entirely trust him--because honestly, he doesn't yet deserve it.
Professor X pulls Banshee aside to share his worries about Scott. (Perhaps Sean's age makes him more of a peer to Xavier?) He also informs him that he's hired a housekeeper to look after the X-Men while he's gone. Gone where, he does not explain, despite Banshee's questions.
This housekeeper is, of course, Moira MacTaggert. I have no idea why she's introduced in this role, to be honest--it seems kind of random. Maybe Claremont thought up most of her personality later?
(He also claims she's a widow, but considering how terrible her estranged husband is, that one actually makes sense.)
And meanwhile, a cut to our future antagonist…
Dr. Steven Lang is “as nervous as a freshman at finals” now that his life's work is almost complete.
He runs into one Colonel Michael Rossi, who does not agree with the wisdom of the government spending vast quantities of money on hunting mutants with giant pink-and-purple murder robots; in fact, he thinks that Lang's project could doom the country. (He also points out that Lang does not exactly have a right to some of the money he's appropriated to the project). He seems like a fairly reasonable person. Later on, Rossi will appear as one of Professor X's contacts; here, he’s not explicitly pro-mutant, but he also doesn't think they're a threat. He's also Carol Danvers's ex. (At least, I assume they're not dating currently, since if they had been I assume she'd have appeared later in this storyline...)
At any rate, Rossi promises to shut the project down... and Lang swears that he will not live long enough to do so.
Groundwork laid for the next arc, we return to the X-Mansion! The Professor introduces the X-Men to their new "housekeeper", and announces that he's going on vacation for a bit. Banshee is immediately smitten with Moira; Storm questions letting her in on the secret, and the Professor assures her that he trusts Moira with all their lives.
This relatively quiet scene is interrupted when some unseen force tosses Cyclops through a wall. (Costume shredded, of course.)
The enemy who did this is not long in revealing himself...
Kierrok the Damned is kind of ridiculous, but he does get a nice dramatic splash page, so he's got that going for him. I don’t think he’ll be back, although the N’garai (of which he seems to be one) definitely will. As an aside, at this stage apparently Wolverine’s catchphrase is “Holy Hannah!” (The revisions didn't change this; it seems so odd for him that I expected them to.)
A fight ensues; the X-Men rescue each other repeatedly, but don't manage to do much damage. Eventually, Kierrok manages to injure Nightcrawler--and Wolverine, despite their tiff earlier, springs to his defense.
The misfit may be a misfit, but he's Wolverine's buddy--and nobody beats on Wolverine's buddies!"
This leads to the first example of Wolverine's berserker rages, later to be a pretty big deal:
There's a saying about wolverines--the four-legged kind--that you can push them just so far before they'll go for your throat!
And they won't back off until you're dead--or they are!
Alas, even Wolverine's killer rages cannot truly kill Kierrok the Damned; adamantium claws are limited in their effect on the supernatural.
Professor X tries a telepathic attack...
... which doesn't work that well either, although the Professor does learn things. The fray resumes, this time with Moira taking part (along with the machine gun that she was apparently retrieving during the first fight). It doesn't do much good, and Sean ends up having to rescue her, but it's about as effective as anyone else has managed so far, so points for effort, Moira!
The Professor recovers enough to send Storm to seal the cairn. And a good thing too: not only is Kierrok apparently invincible, but demons are still emerging from the cairn. Storm defends herself with lightning, only to be hit by a bolt of mysterious energy...
If the N'garai demons intended to overwhelm Storm with past trauma, it was a bad idea on their part: her horror and determination to free herself is expressed in a dramatic lightning bolt. This, apparently, allows the cairn to refuse itself, trapping the demons once more (though a straggler will be revealed later) and wiping Kierrok from existence.
Storm returns to the mansion, where no one really knows what to make of this experience, although she correctly predicts that the X-Men will hear from the N'garai again...
... and the last panel of the issue reveals that Colonel Rossi's plane has crashed, and everyone aboard is dead. (This is going to be retconned; Rossi survives--just barely.)
The Classic reprint made some changes, as usual. Wolverine gets more "bubs" and "blazes" (though he keeps saying "Holy Hannah!", for some reason); Colossus's early crush on Storm is downplayed, since Claremont decided not to go anywhere with it. The flashback panels introducing Storm's early life gain some utterly unnecessary captions.
The biggest change is to the panels after Banshee rescues Moira. In the rewritten version Banshee comes off as taking Moira a bit more seriously; in the original he tells her that she’s out of her league and should stay under cover, but in the revised he asks how she learned to shoot like that. (The answer is the Scots Guards, just as he speculated earlier.)
(There’s also an added scene with Storm startling the others by skinny-dipping. Colossus hastily gives her his shirt. Moira, hearing the events from Professor X, thinks it's a shame that Storm is the one who has to adapt to local pressures. It's kind of fillerish, honestly.)
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9
This is the only time anyone talks back to the narrator. What’s up with that?
View Answers
Cyclops warned the others not to respond to malevolent narration, lest more demons be unleashed.
3 (33.3%)
No one else can actually hear the narrator, and after this Cyclops is doubly careful not to be provoked.
5 (55.6%)
The narrator felt bad about helping to unleash demons, and decided not to push mutants so far in the future.
1 (11.1%)
Something else, as I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)
What's up with the demonic cairn?
View Answers
Professor X knew it existed, but not its true nature. Possibly the first X-Men wrote reports on it.
2 (22.2%)
... ditto, but he knew what it was and just never got around to fencing it off.
1 (11.1%)
It's invisible unless broken.
1 (11.1%)
Demonic cairns are just really common in this universe, so no one really gave it a second thought.
5 (55.6%)
I have a different theory, which I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)
Any thoughts on Steven Lang, Michael Rossi, or Kierrok the Damned?
And why do you think Professor X and Moira MacTaggert decided to introduce her as the X-Men's "housekeeper?"
This Sunday: Wolverine and Nightcrawler bond in "The Big Dare".
Next Thursday: "Erik the Red" steals Cyclops's old alter ego and brainwashes Havok and Polaris into attacking the X-Men.
no subject
I had utterly forgotten that Michael Rossi appeared so early in the series. (Also, that his nickname is apparently Mickey.) He comes across as a pretty cool guy here, though.
When I first read this, I had no idea why Moira was introduced as a housekeeper, and I still don't know. Maybe she felt like being undercover, or the Professor was worried that the X-Men wouldn't trust a random illustrious scientist?
Most of the revisions I could take or leave, but I'm really happy about the Moira/Banshee one--he comes across as a bit patronizing in the original (it's not like you and the X-Men are doing any better, mister!)
no subject
no subject
(Also, maybe Xavier hoped that his students would be too busy figuring out what was going on with Moira to focus on what he was off doing? Maybe he figured that the best way to protect his privacy was to give the X-Men another mystery to distract them.)
no subject
I feel like it would be in character for Xavier to have an alien cairn in his yard and not tell anyone. I'm surprised that he didn't try to retroactively pass the whole thing off as some kind of test. :P
no subject
(I have the patronizing original + the edition of the Classic backups with the revised panels and nothing else, so the coherent version I've got is the annoying one, but since I'm checking back and forth I'm reminded that the better version exists...)
I think Xavier was too overwhelmed at that point to try to put a good (or "good") face on it. He just accidentally mindmelded with a demon, basically; he's not at his best!
no subject
Also, that splash page with Professor X screaming is amaaaaazing. Seriously, that is everything I read comics for. The bat demons! The giant green snail! The tentacled horror sitting on his head, looking slightly miffed!
no subject
Dave Cockrum did great trippy nightmare sequences—there are a couple more next issue. (One of which is a double-page that I probably can't scan, alas.)
I like the eye monster myself! And the way the letterer got in on it, using the jaw of one of the monsters as a speech bubble.
And you're right; the tentacle monster in the corner does look kind of grumpy.
no subject
Apropos of which, I always figured that Charles asked Sean's advice about Scott because they know each other. I mean, Banshee'd guested in the X-Men before; and, even though he'd been mind-controlled on his first appearance, he was an ally after that. Who else is Charles going to confide in at this point? The original X-Men have just left, except for Scott himself. (Also, as you suggest, the fact that Sean is closer to Charles in age.)
no subject
Re: Scott and Sean, yeah, that makes sense. And aside from being Charles's age and knowing Scott a bit, Sean is definitely one of the more level heads on the team, which might be another reason to confide in him--he's likelier to be able to help, emotionally speaking, than most of the others.