Fall of X-Factor (#24-#26)

X-Factor #24-#26 is the Big Apocalypse Plot (following immediately from the Big Hodge Plot... things are really making moves here!) The Fourth Horseman, Death (the mutant formerly known as Warren Worthington) is unveiled, and Apocalypse sends all Four Horseman to attack New York City. It doesn't matter if they get defeated, just as long as they kill the weak. To this end he's also delighted by the Marauders, the Right, and so on. There is a big fight. Warren is shocked out of his brainwashing when he thinks he's killed Bobby (really an ice-decoy); they also win possession of Apocalypse's Ship. But Apocalypse takes Caliban, apparently to the a replacement Death. The Ship lands directly on the old X-Factor HQ, squashing it, which is I think is supposed to be symbolic or something. Warren explains the plot - he'd not committed suicide, it was all a setup by Hodge. Which may or not be a lie.

The gang (recognised as the X-Terminators) go on the tellybox to take credit for saving the city from the Horsemen, and out themselves as X-Factor. They evade arrest to help with clean-up and search-and-rescue (apparently having been shamed by Rictor/Rusty/Skids), which gets them enough PR points that when they do later surrender themselves to arrest the NYPD aren't interested. Tilbit secures an interview with Hank (much delayed), and a productive partnership begins. Neat. In fact, there's a ticker-tape parade that the X-Men have always dreamed of! Where's that other shoe...?

Now that this Hodge and X-Factor nonsense has been dealt with, it's as if a dam has burst within Scott, and he's able to explain what the hell happened with Maddy, from his point of view. The marriage, he says, was a mistake. He fell out of love pretty quickly, but stayed with her because he didn't think anything better was on the table once Jean had died. This was not Claremont's intent at the time, I'm sure, but it fits with my reading of Cyclops's otherwise inexplicable actions during this time. He and Jean kiss. But hidden in the background are the events in Dallas the same night: Maddy is going to be on the news the next time Scott watches it. No happy endings.

X-Factor #17: I regret to inform you that Warren Worthington is Death

X-Factor #17 has Angel's funeral. Very sad, etc. Slightly spoiled by the fact that he's not really dead, he's Death. We'll come back to that later.

But first, there's an evil mutant threatening to earthquake San Francisco. Much to Jean's umbrage, the chap, named Rictor, is taking the good name of the X-Terminators to do it with. You remember the X-Terminators: the fake "evil mutants" that X-Factor sometimes pretend to be. She's worried about their reputation being besmirched, is she? In fairness, they probably have better reputations than X-Factor itself at this point. Except by page 17, the group is called "The Right" by Bobby. So Hodge lied (he certainly appears to have set the whole thing up, down to using cheap reverse psychology to make them go), and the radio that they'd been listening to on the way set them right.

So, they (as X-Terminators) fly over to the left coast to sort things out. Joining the four of them is Caliban, now with a costume. I am greatly pleased by this. It's about time they started treating him as an equal. And it's a completely practical decision too: they have to find a mutant quickly, he's the mutant tracker. This works out well, and they are able to find Rictor in no time, and rescue him (turns out he was just being used). This is not going to plan, not for Hodge.

So, is "Rictor" in this issue just a misspelling or what? Because if I were making up a codename for an earthquake-themed mutant which was pronounced /ˈrɪktər/, it wouldn't be spelled like that. It's especially funny given that we'll find out later down the line that his real name actually is "Richter". I'm not sure whether to hail it as an example of nominative determinism (my favourite recent example being the head judge in England and Wales, Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge), or whether to decry it as the Worst. Codename. Ever.

Uncanny X-Men #179: Bratty and the Beast

Kitty Pryde has been taken away by the Morlocks.

Kitty Pryde is on a slab in the morgue.

Reconciling these two observations is easier than it might otherwise be, given the spelling "Masque" on page 3 of Uncanny X-Men #178 (another dead Kitty mystery set up immediately but deflated soon afterwards...) That's quite unscrupulous of them, taking a dead body and reshaping its features. Who even was that? No such answers here, although Storm will express her disgust at Callisto.

Masque can't reshape smells, and Wolverine notices the problem. Storm knows exactly what's happened, and their arrival in the underground tunnels of New York is delayed only by some faffing around involving Xavier. During this time, Kitty runs away from the Morlocks, starts to feel guilty about having left Caliban in the first place, and then returns back voluntarily, deciding to keep her promise.

Masque offers to reshape her face into a variety of exciting patterns. He declares, in broken yet strangely intellectual-sounding English: "We outcasts - outlaws! This symbolizes rejection by you of life you led, world you knew... people you loved".

Just as the wedding is about to begin, Storm turns up, with Wolverine and Rogue (Nightcrawler having been left behind to try to deal with Colossus, who has yet to recover from his solidification). Can you believe that they and Callisto get in a fight?

Leech, who suppresses the powers of nearby mutants, evens the score a bit. He knocks out Storm's weather powers, but she's got a bit of attitude since Callisto last met her, and Callisto is in for a surprise. Wolverine, of course, still has his claws, because "these claws are mechanical - they've got nothin' to do with [his] powers".

Kitty saves the day by protesting: she's there voluntarily. For the second issue in a row, a truce is proposed. The Morlocks' healer is able to help Colossus, and Kitty agrees to live underground. It's odd that they're willing to sell her into slavery like that, but the matter is soon rendered moot by Caliban releasing Kitty from her obligation.

And so we have the moral lesson: stealing people is bad, and don't trust people who live in sewers and are disfigured. I feel enlightened already.

Uncanny X-Men #169-#171: Morlocks and Rogue

Uncanny X-Men #169-#170 is a little two-part story which introduces the Morlocks, followed by an epilogue in #171 which also features Rogue. They've captured Angel (who is living with Candy Sothern - that version is coming up so frequently I can't quite believe it's a simple misspelling), and Callisto plans to wed him.

X-Men stop that, but at what cost... Storm defeats Callisto in a fight "to the death" (Callisto gets better in #171), because she sees no other option, thus continuing her spiralling descent since the Brood eggs arc. Caliban, who we'd met in #148, is now seen as one of them, seeking out new recruits for them, and helps provide the information they need, in exchange for Kitty agreeing to stay down there with him in the tunnels, and be his friend.

Meanwhile, in Alaska, we've still not yet met Scott's grandparents, but he's become fascinated by Madelyne Pryor. Who is not just similar-looking to Jean Grey, but is the spitting image of her. And turns out to have survived a plane crash on September 1, 1980. I simply don't believe Claremont's claim that this was all originally supposed to be a coincidence. Why do that - why have the little tease "How'd you know that's my favorite breakfast"/"Simple - I'm a mind-reader"?

And somewhere else, in a safe house, Mystique is having strange dreams, not unlike the ones that Jean Grey had during Mastermind's brainwashing of her (a narrative caption curiously pegs her birth year as 1953, which not only rules out the long Wolverine-like appearances throughout the century, but also means she cannot be Nightcrawler's parent. Er, not that we know that yet.)

She's going by the name "Raven" even in private with Irene, now. And Rogue has run off, apparently also under the influence of Mastermind. Where could she have gone? To the X-Men's mansion it turns out (er, so that's another on the list of people who know where to find the X-Men - it must basically be common knowledge by now), where she begs for help.

The result of this is slightly spoiled by the cover (Rogue joins the X-Men!), but it's good stuff anyway. Storm and the X-Men are strongly against it - despite having offered refuge to the Morlocks that very day; but Binary reacts more violently. Xavier makes a Patrick Stewart Speech (I do wonder whether there's a little mind control going on here), and the matter is settled. Rogue joins, and nobody quits, apart from Binary, who hasn't really been hanging around the mansions since they returned from space anyway. Not enough meat of this is made, I think.

Xavier's relatively liberal attitude to Rogue - welcoming her in even over the objections of his team - can be compared to the Morlocks, who remain in the tunnel system. Sure, they make a token effort to invite them back, but Storm could try a little stronger - she is leader now after all - they could suggest someone comes and visits on a trial basis. Once more we see the X-Men's passing privilege raise its beautiful head. Nightcrawler says that he's found it OK upstairs, apparently forgetting that he's had access to an image inducer. Even on a practical level this is odd - Healer and Masque would be very good additions to the team in so far as their power-sets - is this a case of prejudice defeating even practicality?

And, finally another little sub-plot! Crikey, Claremont does like embedding them in, doesn't he? While Xavier and Lilandra are looking at Rogue, the other X-Men go have a session in the Danger Room. Illyana programs it with Belasco's realm, and when Kitty tries to turn it off, she uses a kind of strange sword (that has come from nowhere) to stop her. Something's going on here, but looks like we've got another slow burner.

Uncanny X-Men #148: Featuring Dazzler and Spider-Woman!

There was once a time that comics would feature gratuitous Spider-Woman, promoted on the cover. Who knew? That time was August 1981, and that comic was Uncanny X-Men #148.

It's an issue of two halves. Some domestic stuff, some superhero stuff. First we get a few pages of Scott and Lee's continuing adventures in what I can only assume is the formerly sunken city of R'lyeh, but we'll come to that if something finally actually happens. A thing they're doing here is having Scott be separated from his glasses for a protracted time, and having to wear a blindfold, which is pretty cool and I'm surprised it's taken them this long to do.

It then picks up the aftermath of #147. Angel angrily quits the X-Men in protest at Wolverine being on the team. The idea of Wolverine being a kind of murderous rampager got a boost in the last issue, when he had to stop himself going berserk but then beheaded an android duplicate of yon Storm. Angel wasn't in the room at the time, so he must be relying on the account of either Arcade, DOOM, Storm, or Wolverine himself. Anyway, Angel leaves, not wanting to be part of any team that has Logan on it. (Little does Angel know that one day he'll be helping Wolverine cover up his little unsanctioned death squad.)

Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) is visiting after the events of Spider-Woman #38, which introduced young Theresa Rourke, Banshee's daughter by his dead wife that he didn't know he had. Moira, who's over from Muir, is a bit jealous (she and Sean have discussed having kids already! - but she daren't, not with Kevin having turned out the way he did). Little Illyana is still at the mansion, they're wondering whether she might be a mutant, too.

This is then followed by a sequence at a nightclub, where Jessica, Stevie, Ororo and Kitty (because 13½ year olds are totally allowed clubbing in NYC), to watch Dazzler perform. This bit manages to pass the Bechdel test incredibly well, as FOUR WOMEN have a GROUP DISCUSSION about LOTS OF STUFF.

We then get our action bit, in the form of Caliban, who can smell mutants, but only wants a friend, having lived underground alone. He eventually runs off, declining their offer for him to join up. The fight sequence is fairly well thought out, although of course it has to be contrived so that Dazzler can actually help. Turns out that Kitty can walk on air (i.e. fly, really rubbishly), which is a perfectly sensible corollary of her being able to phase and not fall through stuff.