Readthrough: Uncanny X-Men 108
14 Apr 2019 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sheliak posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
x_men_classicWith this issue, Dave Cockrum is off the book (although he'll be back) and John Byrne is replacing him as the regular artist. I have mixed feelings about that--I actually started with Byrne's stuff (and his uncolored inks are gorgeous; in the Essential collections), but as time goes on I've gotten more and more fond of Cockrum. I'll miss him.
(As a random side note, because I keep forgetting to mention it: the editor on this one is Archie Goodwin. A past editor was named Marv Wolfman. I just want to mention that I really appreciate those names.)
Byrne opens his first issue with a recap, followed by Dr. Corbeau being very anxious over a videoconference with the President of the U.S., the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers. There's a little scene with the Wasp being frustrated and afraid because Earth's Mightiest Heroes can't do anything about the current crisis.
Back in the middle of space, on the nameless planet of the M'Kraan Crystal, the X-Men are confronted by Jahf, guardian of the crystal, who is programmed to kill anyone who comes near hte crystal while it's active. Wolverine doesn't think a guy a quarter his size is much of a threat, but one sound effect later...
Jahf trounces both teams. Colossus tries the logical route, explaining that they'd be willing to leave now--but Jahf's programming is absolute. All who come near the crystal must die.
Phoenix pulls an asteroid down on Jahf, and he shrugs that off too, with snark worthy of the narrator.
Banshee, though, reasons that since Jahf mentions programming, he's likely a robot--and that means circuitry. He turns his full power on Jahf, and manages to destroy him--nearly losing his voice in the process.
Alas, Jahf is succeeded by a giant robot named Modt, who also channels the narrator as he explains that this feat will be remembered for all eternity--but the X-men have only prolonged the agony of their deaths, for each guardian shall only be replaced by another, a hundred times stronger than the last, until they are destroyed.
The Emperor--not realizing, apparently, that he will be killed by the rest--takes this moment to gloat about how ultimate power will be his, etc. Combined with a report from Waldo that the universe just blinked out of existence again, and it's too much for Raza Longknife:
This, as it turns out, saves them all. Between one moment and the next, all present and conscious--the X-Men, the Starjammers, Lilandra and her wicked brother--are somewhere else, in a vast, beautiful, empty city, built around a glowing golden orb...
Storm feels caught and trapped; Cyclops agrees with her that this place is nothing good. Jean, though, is entranced.
But as Jean reaches out to the sphere, the others see that her hand has become transparent--and then, the last of the crystal's defenses.
But Jean's personal hell was death itself--and she died in the shuttle, before she was reborn. Having experienced the truth of it, the nightmare has--not no power over her, but less. She's able to shake it off. After all, she tells herself, nothing else will ever be as terrible as that moment...
... Don't tempt the narrator like that, Jean!
But she has more immediate problems. Cyclops, whose nightmare is losing control, has lost control of his powers--and his wild force-beams even more dangerous that way. One actually goes through Jean's body, which would normally cut her in two--lucky her, she's insubstantial right now as well as being transparent. She knocks him out to prevent him doing damage to someone more corporeal...
... but as he falls, that beam hits the sphere, cracking it through.
Jean, acting on instinct, enters the sphere. As she does so, the others are released from their nightmares--and Jean finds herself looking at the universe in a new way. She's transfixed by its beauty, and her own. But she also sees the problem: a neutron galaxy, bound in place by the energy lattice, but at risk of tearing through the cosmos and destroying it. Her focus shifts, for a moment, to Earth--her parents, Xavier, Misty--as she realizes that they're at just as much risk as she and the X-men.
The neutron galaxy's escape would lead to a new universe's birth, but first it would destroy the old one, and Jean refuses to allow that. Here, at the heart of things, she can see how to fix the problem... but she can't actually do it, because the Phoenix is a being of energy, and as such it's being pulled towards the lattice, towards the galaxy--and away from the plane of reality that she needs to work from. "It's as if I no longer exist!" she says in frustration.
But Ororo has a solution for her.
As Jean goes into the crystal, she asks Corsair to take care of Cyclops for her, and explains why: he's Corsair's son.
Most of the Classic add-ons start here, drawn by Chuck Patton. There's a panel of Corsair crying over the unconscious Cyclops, but most of the new material extends the sequence of Jean saving the universe. She has a new speech that I like:
In Classic, that panel has a lot less text; it's shifted later. There's a new sequence where Jean struggles to heal the lattice, but reaches out to Xavier and the X-Men for help. That leads into the Tree of Life narration, with new art accompanying it it.
And there's one last, huge change. With her work done, the neutron galaxy safely contained again, Jean has a vision of herself as Dark Phoenix. At the height of her power and triumph, she's confronted with her own potential for evil.
Jean fiercely rejects the vision of her later self. And when she emerges from the crystal, last of them all, she remembers her glorious deed--but not the foreshadowing.
I love so much of this issue: Jean saving the universe (of course), the visuals of it, Ororo's offer.
A part of me does wish that Cockrum had drawn this, and that Byrne had come on just an issue later. I love Cockrum's cosmic stuff, and it would have been nice for him to wrap up this arc. Still, Byrne's art is gorgeous too...
I have mixed feelings about the additions. Some of it is great! I enjoy Jean's thoughts about trying to save the universe, and although I'm not as fond of her needing Xavier's reassurances to proceed, I do like that the sequence was extended a bit with more art. But I dislike the foreshadowing of Dark Phoenix here. I want to just let Jean have this triumph. And, honestly, I think it makes Dark Phoenix seem inevitable--and in context, it really wasn't. That's part of the tragedy of it, to my mind.
Next: Starjammer origin story!
After that: Vindicator interrupts a picnic.
(As a random side note, because I keep forgetting to mention it: the editor on this one is Archie Goodwin. A past editor was named Marv Wolfman. I just want to mention that I really appreciate those names.)
Byrne opens his first issue with a recap, followed by Dr. Corbeau being very anxious over a videoconference with the President of the U.S., the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers. There's a little scene with the Wasp being frustrated and afraid because Earth's Mightiest Heroes can't do anything about the current crisis.
Back in the middle of space, on the nameless planet of the M'Kraan Crystal, the X-Men are confronted by Jahf, guardian of the crystal, who is programmed to kill anyone who comes near hte crystal while it's active. Wolverine doesn't think a guy a quarter his size is much of a threat, but one sound effect later...
Waldo, AI of the Starjammers' ship: Uh... 'Jammer to Corsair. I mark a small, organic, humanoid form, approximately a meter-six long... 70 kilos mass...
Corsair: He's one of ours. How's he doin', "Waldo"?
Waldo: Would you believe escape velocity? And, bless my circuits, he's still alive.
Corsair: Go get him--and whatever it takes, keep him alive.
Waldo: I copy. How're things dirtside?
Corsair: Don't ask.
Jahf trounces both teams. Colossus tries the logical route, explaining that they'd be willing to leave now--but Jahf's programming is absolute. All who come near the crystal must die.
Phoenix pulls an asteroid down on Jahf, and he shrugs that off too, with snark worthy of the narrator.
Most impressive, Phoenix.
A pity all that effort went for nothing.
Banshee, though, reasons that since Jahf mentions programming, he's likely a robot--and that means circuitry. He turns his full power on Jahf, and manages to destroy him--nearly losing his voice in the process.
Alas, Jahf is succeeded by a giant robot named Modt, who also channels the narrator as he explains that this feat will be remembered for all eternity--but the X-men have only prolonged the agony of their deaths, for each guardian shall only be replaced by another, a hundred times stronger than the last, until they are destroyed.
The Emperor--not realizing, apparently, that he will be killed by the rest--takes this moment to gloat about how ultimate power will be his, etc. Combined with a report from Waldo that the universe just blinked out of existence again, and it's too much for Raza Longknife:
This, as it turns out, saves them all. Between one moment and the next, all present and conscious--the X-Men, the Starjammers, Lilandra and her wicked brother--are somewhere else, in a vast, beautiful, empty city, built around a glowing golden orb...
Storm feels caught and trapped; Cyclops agrees with her that this place is nothing good. Jean, though, is entranced.
But as Jean reaches out to the sphere, the others see that her hand has become transparent--and then, the last of the crystal's defenses.
But Jean's personal hell was death itself--and she died in the shuttle, before she was reborn. Having experienced the truth of it, the nightmare has--not no power over her, but less. She's able to shake it off. After all, she tells herself, nothing else will ever be as terrible as that moment...
... Don't tempt the narrator like that, Jean!
But she has more immediate problems. Cyclops, whose nightmare is losing control, has lost control of his powers--and his wild force-beams even more dangerous that way. One actually goes through Jean's body, which would normally cut her in two--lucky her, she's insubstantial right now as well as being transparent. She knocks him out to prevent him doing damage to someone more corporeal...
... but as he falls, that beam hits the sphere, cracking it through.
Jean, acting on instinct, enters the sphere. As she does so, the others are released from their nightmares--and Jean finds herself looking at the universe in a new way. She's transfixed by its beauty, and her own. But she also sees the problem: a neutron galaxy, bound in place by the energy lattice, but at risk of tearing through the cosmos and destroying it. Her focus shifts, for a moment, to Earth--her parents, Xavier, Misty--as she realizes that they're at just as much risk as she and the X-men.
The neutron galaxy's escape would lead to a new universe's birth, but first it would destroy the old one, and Jean refuses to allow that. Here, at the heart of things, she can see how to fix the problem... but she can't actually do it, because the Phoenix is a being of energy, and as such it's being pulled towards the lattice, towards the galaxy--and away from the plane of reality that she needs to work from. "It's as if I no longer exist!" she says in frustration.
But Ororo has a solution for her.
As Jean goes into the crystal, she asks Corsair to take care of Cyclops for her, and explains why: he's Corsair's son.
Most of the Classic add-ons start here, drawn by Chuck Patton. There's a panel of Corsair crying over the unconscious Cyclops, but most of the new material extends the sequence of Jean saving the universe. She has a new speech that I like:
Perhaps this is why I became Phoenix.
I don't know--it doesn't matter.
If I die here, at least it'll be in a good cause and a blaze of glory that'll light up all creation!
In Classic, that panel has a lot less text; it's shifted later. There's a new sequence where Jean struggles to heal the lattice, but reaches out to Xavier and the X-Men for help. That leads into the Tree of Life narration, with new art accompanying it it.
And there's one last, huge change. With her work done, the neutron galaxy safely contained again, Jean has a vision of herself as Dark Phoenix. At the height of her power and triumph, she's confronted with her own potential for evil.
But heroism has its price-- and hte greater the deed, the more terrible the cost.
All things, you see, have their balance--the yang to counter the yin--
-- and it is the brightest light--
--which casts the darkest shadow.
The Phoenix is a creature of passion--it was summoned months ago by Jean's love for the X-Men, her desperate, all-consuming need to save them from the reaper.
And from that passion can come either the most wondrous creation...
.. or destruction.
Jean fiercely rejects the vision of her later self. And when she emerges from the crystal, last of them all, she remembers her glorious deed--but not the foreshadowing.
I love so much of this issue: Jean saving the universe (of course), the visuals of it, Ororo's offer.
A part of me does wish that Cockrum had drawn this, and that Byrne had come on just an issue later. I love Cockrum's cosmic stuff, and it would have been nice for him to wrap up this arc. Still, Byrne's art is gorgeous too...
I have mixed feelings about the additions. Some of it is great! I enjoy Jean's thoughts about trying to save the universe, and although I'm not as fond of her needing Xavier's reassurances to proceed, I do like that the sequence was extended a bit with more art. But I dislike the foreshadowing of Dark Phoenix here. I want to just let Jean have this triumph. And, honestly, I think it makes Dark Phoenix seem inevitable--and in context, it really wasn't. That's part of the tragedy of it, to my mind.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4
Favorite Scene
View Answers
Corbeau and the Superheroes
0 (0.0%)
Jahf fight + Wolverine's orbital adventure
1 (25.0%)
Modt + Raza throws the Emperor
1 (25.0%)
The nightmares
1 (25.0%)
Ororo's offer
3 (75.0%)
Jean saves the universe
4 (100.0%)
Added Dark Phoenix foreshadowing
1 (25.0%)
Something else, which I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)
Do you like the Dark Phoenix foreshadowing here?
Favorite artist so far?
View Answers
Cockrum
2 (50.0%)
Byrne
2 (50.0%)
I like both equally
0 (0.0%)
I would like to stand up for someone else
0 (0.0%)
Next: Starjammer origin story!
After that: Vindicator interrupts a picnic.
