X-Men: Worlds Apart

Ororo and T'Challa. A match made in Heaven, destined to be separated by their bloodlines and responsibilities. For Ororo is the mutant X-Man Storm and T'Challa is the king of Wakanda and sometimes Avenger Black Panther. 

X-Men: Worlds Apart was a 4- issue miniseries released 16 years ago in 2008. So, I think I'm not going to spoil much by saying that this story marks the start of the crumbling foundation in Ororo and T'Challa's marriage. When a Wakandan mutant is accused of murdering a high ranking official, it's up to Queen Ororo to head a royal inquiry in T'Challa's absence. 

Tensions in Wakanda are already at an all-time high. Many of the Wakandan people are distrustful of outsiders. They're even more suspicious and afraid of the mutant master of the weather. How dare an X-Man marry into the royal family! Storm discovers that a powerful psychic from her past has returned and was actually behind the murder. Unfortunately, her subjects refuse to let the lad who was manipulated into the death escape mandatory Wakandan execution. So Ororo will cross loyalties from the Queen of Wakanda to X-Men leader to ensure justice prevails. But when the Black Panther suddenly returns, possessed by the Storm's ancient foe, Ororo will have to cross some lines that will forever mar her place in the Wakandan palace and in her bonds of Holy Matrimony with T'Challa.

The main story was tedious to read. Not because of the main plotline taking place in Wakanda. It was the secondary plot involving Cyclops and the those mutated CHUDS, the Morlocks. They've got to be my least favorite part of the X-Men universe. I've never liked the Morlocks. I've always found them to be unnecessary. I thought this was going to be a tale about Storm and T'Challa. Instead, about a third of the main feature involves those annoying sewer dwellers! And it takes place during the X-Men's exile in San Francisco; perhaps the weakest of any of the Marvel mutant eras!

There was a brightspot. This book also includes a team-up of the two lovers from the pages of Marvel Team-up #100 and a late 90s issue of Black Panther. The earlier story was classic 80s Marvel with writing, plotting and art by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Back when Storm was illustrated with those mysterious cat-like eyes. That too brief short story details the origins of the two lovers first meeting as children.

The more modern tale was kinda powerful with its allegory of racism and bigotry. Yet it's also rather absurd with the narration being provided by State Department liaison to Wakanda, Everett K. Ross. True, Ross has always been a sort nervous sort of fellow. But the story was supposed to reflect a report Ross was sending to his supervisors. It was anything but professional with a bunch of jokes that fall flat.

A must for die hard X-Men fans who think the Morlocks are great. However, that's not me in the very least. That's still to not say I wouldn't be open to more stories about Storm and T'Challa. Maybe it's happened prior and I just don't know it, but I would really dig a What If... detailing what would have happened if as youngsters, T'Challa forsook the throne of Wakanda and instead went off to live with Ororo in the Kilimanjaro valley of Kenya. Would Ororo have become Storm at the request of Professor X? Would Klaw or the Man-Ape have claimed the title of Black Panther after the death of King T'Chaka? That's a story I want to read. 

Hey, Marvel... call me! I'm willing to help punch out a script!

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

X-Men: Rarities

I'm not really sure what this X-Men collection is titled Rarities, considering that I've read 2 of these 5 included stories before. 

The opening story, taken from an issue of Bizarre Adventures marks Bobby Drake, Iceman's first silo adventure which occurred about 3 full years before his 4-issue miniseries by J.M. DeMatteisx. The middle story, penned by Chris Claremont, originally appeared in the pages of Al Milgrom's Marvel Fanfare. It depicts a tense truce between Storm and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutant's Mystique over the soul of Rogue who at the time of the story has ironically gone rogue. 

Those were the two stories that I had previously read. The new-to-me stories include a peek at what happened after the Giant-Size X-Men rescued the Uncanny X-Men from the menace of Krakoa. An untold tale presented in Classic X-Men, it's a story that covers a period of mutant history that I had never really thought about and yet it's such a brilliant idea! When the introduction of the new X-Men concludes, there's like a dozen people now on the team. What happened that fateful first night together that caused Havoc, Angel and several others to decide to forgo membership as part of Professor X's team? Chris Claremont answers those questions with some stunning artwork by John Bolton.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko are highlighted with a story developed for the pages of Amazing Adults Fantasy #14. 'The Man in the Sky' is a pre-X-Men story, considered by many to be the concept that gave birth to the Children of the Atom. It's a very short story that ends with a typical Ditko finale that is anything but. It makes me wonder if the character of Tad Carter, being Marvel's first official mutant, ever made an appearance in the X-Men universe of comics. (Turns out he has in the pages of X-Men: The Hidden Years.)

The last story, starring Generation X, is in my opinion the only real rarity in the book. An introduction for the all-new team of mutants led by Sean Cassidy, was a Comicon exclusive in 1994. Since this promo comic was only offered to the lucky few who tried to San Diego, I feel like this is a title that can officially be declared a rare find. If you ask me, X-MEN: Rarities should have been comprised of promo stories featuring the legion of mutants that house the Marvel Universe. That would have been more appropriate than putting in several stories that just happened to be published in more lesser known publications.

Finally, I want to comment on the story that starred Mystique. Originally published in 1988, the story offers a revealing glimpse at the character's gender fluidity, since Raven Darkholme is a shape shifter. But even more groundbreaking is what happens after Storm departs the underground club in which Mystique summoned her foe. Right in the middle of the club is Irene Hadler- Destiny! The woman who just recently wed Mystique in the pages of some X-Men book and caused countless fanboys to lose their minds! 'Woke Comics!', they cried. And yet, here's Raven and Destiny as lovers 36 years prior! Seems that these so-called Marvel comics experts know nothing about the history of one of the X-Men's most popular foes!

A fairly decent grab bag of X-Men stories. I think my idea of a collection of promo comics has merit and is more entitled to the title of 'Rarities.' But this is still a good read.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #48

After about 4 dozen issues, Spider-Man is finally given the chance to star in his own multi-part series and what do you know? He's gotta share the spotlight with smelly old Wolverine. It's all part of MCP's new plan to have Logan play host a la Marvel Team-Up or Marvel Two-In-One with members of the Marvel Universe. I'm all for a team-up. They're one of my favor genre of superhero comics. But enough with the Wolverine already!

As for this story's plot- a mutant girl and her father are targets of a gang of baddies. Both Spider-Man and Wolverine have history with the pair. So cue up the team up!

The two 8-pagers were fan-dam-tastic! The Wasp comes face-to-face with an obsessed fan with tragic results that come with a twist. Then the mistress of meteorology Storm is reunited with, of all people, Doctor Doom. Apparently, the two have a platonic history to which puts Storm up there with Reed Richards and Doom himself, as the only people who share the Latverian leader's respect.  

My thoughts of these 2 stories. 1) Give Wasp her own mini in this book! Just make sure that the creative team is Dwight J. Zimmerman (Sensational She-Hulk) and Rodney Ramos (Transmetropolitan) 2) Where can I find that Storm/Doctor Doom first meeting? This issue has piqued my interest so badly!

Rounding things out, the Devil-Slayer story keeps getting more bizarre and I love it! The characters change should be only temporary, hopefully. But for now, I really dig it!

4 great segments. Even if Wolverine continues to steal the show!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Uncanny Origins #9

   One thing very interesting about this issue is that it is revealed that Ororo and T’challa ( Black Panther) DID know each other as children. See I kinda thought this relationship was retconned prior to the two getting married in 2006. Knowing this bit of information has got me wanting to read their wedding story soon. (plus, I might have that story in trade form, so I need to check on that.) This leads me to one thing that not only this origins series is missing, but just about all of them are without- sources!

   How awesome would it be if, at the end of this book, the editors gave a list of important issues that these events were covered? This issue was written 9 years before the marriage of T’challa and Storm. So their first meeting had to occur somewhere.  I would appreciate a small checklist of issues or a suggested reading list in order to find that.

  (I know that in this day and age that I could find this info on my phone or laptop. But sometimes when you are binge reading, you don't want to stop and login for the material you're looking for. Call me lazy if you want- I think this is a great idea!)

Worth Consuming

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Doomwar

Doctor Doom unleashes a war on multiple fronts against the tiny, but powerful nation of Wakanda. But the despot can't just openly invade the homeland of the Black Panther, least he have to face an onslaught of UN forces, not to mention the superhero community. So, Doom secretly funds a coup which grants him diplomatic immunity in order for the leader of Latveria to legally claim all of Wakanda's remaining resources of vibranium.

    Since the government of Wakanda changed hands under a peaceful coup, the United Nations has tied the hands of former King T'Challa and his sister, Shuri, the current Black Panther. Even the superhero community cannot get involved to save Storm, accused of witchcraft, from the death penalty, without repercussions.
   
    Secretly, a small handful of X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and even the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool come to the assistance of the deposed royal family in an attempt to wrestle the massive stockpile of vibranium weapons that Doom has amassed. But since T'Challa has been soundly defeated by Doctor Doom time and time again using technology, the former Black Panther may have to use magic infused physics to free his people and reclaim the throne of Wakanda.

     This is my second foray into works by the team of Jonathan Mayberry and Scot Eaton (The zombie epic Punisher Vs. the Marvel Universe was my first.) Unfortunately, I was not such a fan of this work as I was the apocalyptic thriller. The biggest reason for this is that in the first two issues, there is so much going on. There's minimal panelling, so I couldn't follow where the art was flowing. It also didn't follow any sort of set pattern. Sometimes it would go straight across the page. Sometimes it would go counterclockwise and the next would be clockwise. Then vice-versa a few pages later. It was very confusing. 

    There were only 6 issues in this miniseries. So, I'm wondering if there were originally supposed to be 7 or 8 but due to time or economics, the series was reduced to a half-dozen. Thus in order to not really lose any of the story, Mayberry and Eaton just crammed everything in those first couple of issues. I really think this is the case as the last 4 issues really flowed a lot better.

    The art itself was quite good. It was as outstanding as the 'Punisher Vs.' mini. In fact, there were some awesome double full-page spread scenes that featured Doctor Doom's face that were even better than that first series. Sadly, the covers by John Romita Jr. were not so good. They looked amateurish and didn't properly reflect his talent.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Uncanny X-Men: First Class, Volume 1: Hated and Feared

 In 2006, Marvel crafted a series of untold tales about the original X-Men titled 'First Class.' The series only lasted 8-issues but it was such a hit, it spawned at least two further sequels as well as a few one-shots. Marvel naturally saw dollar signs and continued to produce more X-titles under the 'First Class' moniker. Wolverine starred in two solo titles that produced over 20 issues. After those successes, Marvel decided to explore its historically most successful line-up of mutants- the original Uncanny X-Men.

   This title stars Cyclops, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, and Storm. It reveals some of that team's never-before-revealed adventures that take place after X-Men #101 when Jean Grey becomes the Phoenix. Here, the team is having trouble jelling. Cyclops longs for the day to lead his original teammates again. Professor X and Moira McTaggart are attempting to gauge Jean's new physic potential. And the other members of the team are trying to adjust to their lives as superheroes that face more scorn than admiration.

     During these episodes of growing pains, the team will travel to the Inhuman refuge of Attilan to defend Nightcrawler, whose being tried for blasphemy, a charge that if found guilty brings a penalty of death. Then Banshee's past comes back to haunt him when he spies what may be the ghost of his late wife. Lastly, Storm and Jean Grey have a ladies night out that results in the girls being held hostage AND forced to break into Nick Fury's helicarrier! Along with a mysterious trio spied dancing on the surface of the sun and a Giant-Sized special that explores the individual origins of the Uncanny X-Men, this volume was pure fun and excitement.
 
   Why this series didn't take off like the other 'First Class' titles is beyond me! The art was eclectic but each artist's style was classic. The writing was just as good and with scores of cameos of several key secondary players of the X-Men series during the late 70s was the icing on the cake. The only reason this series lasted just 8-issues is that it seems to focus more on Banshee, Colossus, and Nightcrawler instead of proven fan favorites Wolverine and Storm.

   But if I had to choose my top 10 favorite mutants that trio would all rank on that list. In other words, I liked it. Maybe the only thing this series needed was the masterful pen of Chris Claremont, who without him, the X-Men might have been a footnote in comic book history.

Like the Vulcans say "only Nixon can go to China."

   Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Fanfare # 40

In perhaps one of the most beautiful tales I’ve ever read, a grandmother experiencing a crisis of faith, has her prayers answered when Warren Worthington III crashes into her back yard. Believing the mutant, Angel, is the real celestial deal, the heartwarming ending was all it took to make this story an instant classic. 

The backup feature also involves mutants and a crisis of faith of sorts. Here, Mystique summons Storm to a neutral setting in a chess match over the X-Men Rogue’s soul. The morality play is quite good until the ending when Mystique starts to morph into a member of the opposite sex. Then the lines get quite blurry and when she monologues her true intentions, I really haven’t a clue what she is talking about. Too bad, it was a disappointing ending to an otherwise near-flawless issue of Marvel Fanfare.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars