My Favorite Mutants....

I have said it before but it bears repeating for the purpose of this entry: the X-Men were my gateway drug. I had read random comics here and there, ones given to my by family just to keep me occupied for a couple minutes or found in garage sales.  Nothing stuck though until that fateful day in the Denver Airport when I picked up my very first X-Men comic (more on that in a minute) and it started a love affair that has lasted until this day albeit to varying degrees.

So while listening to Kevin Smith's "Fatman on Batman" podcast, specifically an edition where Kevin and one of his guests list their favorite Batman issues/stories, I was inspired to make a list of some of my favorite X-Men stories.  No real order, definitely not a complete list, but just a rundown of some of my favorite X-Centric issues & story arcs (oh yeah, and it is a purposeful thing that I don't dip into the sure things like Grant Morrison's run, "Dark Phoenix" or "God Loves, Man Kills"...just want to expose some other notables).

So what better place to start than with:

Uncanny X-Men #224

This was the issue that started it all and it was absolutely NOT the most first-timer friendly BUT a writer like Chris Claremont went out of his way to adhere to an old Stan Lee (so I've heard) axiom that every issue is somebody's first.  There wasn't yet an X-Men: Animated Series to lay the groundwork but he made it easy to understand who Wolverine, Havok, Rogue, and Dazzler were and what they were doing in San Francisco.  Marc Silvestri defined the visuals of all of these characters for me, particularly Wolverine, and for the longest time his was the look with which I associated these characters.  His version WAS Wolvie, it WAS Storm and Dazzler and Longshot...he & Dan Green WERE the X-Artists for me!

As for Claremont, he made the fact that I was jumping into a situation en media res completely tolerable given that the X-Books were on the verge of entering The Fall of Mutants, that the Registration Act and Freedom Force were things, that a powerless Storm was completely separate from the team for reasons unknown to me...

All of those things would, in the mindset of some in today's comic landscape (coughDCCOMICScough), be GIANT barriers to my signing on the the mutant bandwagon but because the writer made the effort to make his comic accessible, I was hooked and wanted to know not only where the story was going, but I wanted to know where it had come from.  This led to my 8 year old self finding a local comic shop which was thankfully right next door to the karate studio I was attending and spending several days a week there, not just new comic day.

This was in the age before EVERYTHING was traded so I dug deep into back issue bins, began following X-Factor and New Mutants, and reading Classic X-Men (later X-Men Classic) until my back issue endeavors collided with Classic around Uncanny issue #170.  Speaking of classic, that leads me to another couple of my favorites:

Classic X-Men #19

So just as with my first Uncanny issue, I also joined the classic adventures of my favorite mutants in the middle of a story! This time they were trapped in an arctic base, rendered powerless & child-like by Magneto, and at the motherly mercy of the android Nanny.  Claremont writing, John Byrne art, this was the stuff of dreams and a totally different visual than which I had become accustomed to with reading Uncanny & seeing Marc Silvestri's take.

And again, even though I was jumping into to a show already in progress, I was able to pretty much pick up on what was going on AND want to track down the issues that came before to see how my favorites got trapped in the first place!  Then, with the ending that split up the team, leaving Jean & Beast in Antarctica and the rest of the unit's fate in limbo, I had to know what happened!!!  This stuff was epic!

Plus, one of the bonuses of these Classic issues, there were additional pages (although at 8 years old I didn't know they were added at the time) added to the main story AND a total new back-up story!  This one fleshed out the character of Magneto in a way that I can look back on and safely say had never been done before.  It filled in gaps in his history and it was BEAUTIFULLY rendered by John Bolton.  These back-ups were a thing of wonder and the back-up alone is why this next issue is one of my favorite...

Classic X-Men #25

Wolverine solo...drawn by John Bolton...this back-up was a thing of beauty and probably one of the reasons that I fell in love with the character.  It does a great job of fleshing him out as more than just the crazy runt with claws, although in the Uncanny issues I was already seeing he was more than that, and it is just a wonder to look at.  Just thinking about it makes me want to either dig these issues out just to read the back-ups or go buy the Vignettes trades.

As an added bonus in the main story, you get Mariko Yashida making her first appearances in Wolvie's life (the previous issue being her first), you get Banshee losing his powers (a thing that stuck for well over 100 issues), and in the added pages, you get an Apocalypse appearance to tie him into Moses Magnum's origins!  Speaking of Apocalypse....

X-Factor #68

Okay this may seem an odd choice to some but this issue, with writing credited to Whilce Portacio, Jim Lee, and Chris Claremont with Portacio & Art Thibert getting the artistic nods, is the culmination of so many different plot threads PLUS the springboard into the next phase of the mutant world.

It brings to a head the Apocalypse story that has been building in some fashion since X-Factor #5, it brings to crescendo the saga of baby Nathan Christopher Charles Summers that has been on-going since his birth in Uncanny #201 and really kicked into high gear during Inferno & the subsequent Judgement War arc in X-Factor, and his Nathan's fate certainly added even more intrigue to the Cable/Stryfe mystery unfolding in the closing pages of the original New Mutants series & subsequently in the original X-Force series...plus it was set on the Blue Area of the Moon which harkens back to the original Dark Phoenix saga oh so many years prior.

The closing of this arc also catapults the original X-Men who made up X-Factor into the Muir Island Saga over in Uncanny that would ultimately lead us to the introduction of the Blue & Gold Teams in the UXM & & X-Men books.

But most importantly, and the reason why this issue resonates in my mind, is because of the heartbreaking scene when Scott Summers has to give up his child, has to send little Nathan off into the great unknown with a strong possibility that Cyke will never his son again, in hopes that this mysterious Asakani woman can save his life.  This is a man who, taking into account the sliding concept of time in comics, was without his son for 3 publishing years (so say like a year in comic book time maybe?). Now having only just gotten his son back, Cyclops was faced with the gut-wrenching choice of what to do, what to sacrifice, and...perhaps this is just me reading into it now...but giving is his son up to be saved is kind of making up for being a totally selfish douchebag since Jean Grey's not-so-dead body was found at the bottom of the ocean a few years prior.  That's a thought I'm just now thinking for the first time by the way...

Any way it was the emotional hook of Cyclops and Nate that puts this one in my mind more so than anything about the Apocalypse/Askani stuff...oh yeah, and this story arc would also be the hook upon which the next entry into my arc would hang its hat:

X-Cutioner's Song

So apparently, according to Wikipedia, this was a story arc not looked upon fondly despite its high sales numbers...well I don't give a damn!  I look back on this story as one of the highlights of my comic book reading youth.  Not only was it full of awesome art from the likes of Brandon Peterson, Jae Lee, Andy Kubert, and Greg Capullo but the story also brought together a ton of characters that had essentially been separate since the birth of X-Force, X-Men, and the overhaul of X-Factor that came about 15 months prior.

It took the "Cable & Stryfe have the same face" bomb that got dropped at the end of New Mutants #100 and used it for something major...if you call something like Stryfe, decked out in Cable-wear, shooting Professor Xavier in the face major.  The arc brought Apocalypse into the field as an ally rather than enemy which in turn played into the Archangel dynamic as well as the Cable/Cyclops drama.  It put X-Force, who were sans Cable at that moment, into the mix as a fugitive team.  Guido working with Gambit, Feral and Wolfsbane occupying the same space thereby proving there were in fact two different characters (bad joke), the moon, Stryfe versus Apocalypse, Stryfe's torture of Jean & Cyclops on THE BLUE AREA OF THE MOON, and Scott Summers' nagging questions: is Cable my son or is Stryfe my son?

It was an epic tale that told a self-contained story AND built for the future!  What a novel concept in this day & age where so many crossovers end up feeling to me like they exist ONLY to set-up the future and don't tell a complete story on their own.  This was throwing everything out there and making it all work!  History also tells us that Magneto ALMOST ended up a part of the story too AND a joke by Peter David is what ultimately led to Wolvie getting his adamantium ripped out in Fatal Attractions (more on that later)!

Plus the fallout from this arc also directly led to two of my favorite X-issues of all time!  First up:

X-Force #19

"The Open Hand - The Closed Fist"...the name of the story and representing the two sides of the coin when it comes to "the dream" from the perspectives of Charles Xavier (the former) and Cable (the latter).  In the fallout of "X-Cutioner's Song" the X-Force squad is essentially being held prisoner while Xavier & Storm question Cannonball's decisions.

The beauty of this issue, along with being a great showcase for how far Capullo has come as an artist, is in its layers.  For one it reconnects the former students of Xavier (Sunspot and Cannonball) with their former home, obviously via Sam's interactions with Charles & Ororo, but also thru Roberto's interaction with Stevie Hunter.  Then it points out how distant the rest of the squad (Warpath, Siryn, Shatterstar, Feral, Boomer, Rictor) are from that touchstone.  Sure some of them (Boomer, Rictor, Siryn) have a degree of affiliation but none of them were ever under the tutelage of Xavier directly and neither Warpath, Shatterstar, nor Feral spent one second under the wing of anyone but Cable.  There are so many degrees of removal from "the dream" looking at say Beast to Feral...

This issue also provides set-up for the future but no in a way that intrudes on the main story...just enough to tease you and leave you curious for what's to come.

But the highlight, the absolute crucial part of this issue though, the thing that really defined Cannonball for the future (or at least should have), is the "open hand, closed fist" debate he has with Xavier using, of all things, a mouse.  The crux of Guthrie's argument is that the supposedly safe and welcoming open hand can be used to slap you across the face (yeah...he nearly slaps Xavier across the face) while the supposedly violent & threatening closed fist can be used to protect and comfort (that's where the mouse comes in).  THAT is my Cannonball, the guy who was taking the best from his three teachers (Xavier, Magneto, & Cable) and looking to mold them into an entirely new ideal for this new generation of mutants.  It was furthered in the Counter-X Ellis run with his tutelage under Pete Wisdom AND it was why I was furious when Cannonball was reverted to the country bumpkin when he officially became an X-Man post-Age of Apocalypse..that's a whole other rant though.

This issue gave X-Force an identity, a STRONG identity, for the first time since the series began after a bunch of meandering issues about Externals and Cannonball dying and Gideon and Tolliver and lackluster Mark Pacella/Dan Panosian art. Also, and I am totally putting meaning in where there probably isn't any, it says something to me that this article on MTV.com here from 7/11/13 uses an image from this issue!

As for that other favorite issue that spawned out of "X-Cutioner's Song":

Uncanny X-Men #303

So "Song" spawned the Legacy Virus which was a pretty clear AIDS virus for the mutant community.  It had claimed the lives of some minor characters like Infectia and Burke as well as some major ones like Jamie Madrox (later revealed to be a dupe), Moira MacTaggert (the only human), and Revanche (Psylocke's....whatever).

But the saddest moment, the one that ripped my heart out, was the death of Illyana Rasputin in UXM #303. UNFORTUNATELY her death was spoiled beyond belief when UXM #304 was released BEFORE #303.  See #304 was part of the big "Fatal Attractions" crossover and I guess delaying it would have fucked up the schedule of the rest of the x-over...that's all assumption by the way.

So Illyana's story is sad enough on its own...the little sister of Colossus, as a little girl she was kidnapped from Russia to be used as a pawn by the villain Arcade, ultimately stolen away into Limbo while the X-Men were on some island where the barriers between dimensions were weak, and although it was only minutes on Earth in which she was lost in Limbo, with the way time moves there she reemerged from the hellish dimension as a teenager.  She joined the New Mutants, struggled with her demonic side for years, was used by the demons S'ym & N'astirh to bring Limbo to Earth during "Inferno", and returned to her proper age during the closing chapters of that story.

She returned to Russia, her & Colossus' parent were murdered, she contracted the Legacy Virus, and that brought us to this story where, while the rest of the team was away, it all came to a head with Shadowcat (visiting from Excalibur), Jubilee, Jean Grey, and Charles Xavier in residence at the mansion and Moira MacTaggert there via video screen.

I'm honestly tearing up writing about this and reading the recaps...I think this was the first comic in the, at that point, 6 years I had been reading that had this kind of effect on me and it says something for my memories of it that it still does.  Jubilee bonding to Illyana in these last moments of her life, the history of Kitty Pryde & Illyana coming into play, the reaction of Colossus when he returns home to the tragic news, the reading of Hans Christian Andersons' "Little Matchgirl", the BAMF doll, it's all so...heartbreaking.  As Jubilee puts it in the end, since she has been hanging with the X-Men, she has mixed it up with Brood-things, Sentinels, Acolytes and everything. ‘So how is it ya can save the world every morning pre-wheaties…but when it comes to saving one little girl…zip?’ 

I'm crying....

That could be a good time to end it but I've got two more specific issues I want to point out and one run in particular that, for me, is probably my favorite.  First up, and kind of spiraling out of the earlier mention of "Fatal Attractions" and the Jubilee stuff in #303:

Wolverine #75

In X-Men #25, thanks to a joke from Peter David, Magneto ripped the adamantium free from the skeleton of Wolverine which, in turn, prompted Xavier to mindwipe Magneto which, in turn, led to the creation on Onslaught which, in turn, led to the Heroes Reborn story which, in turn....see how it all goes with comics?

The ramifications of Xavier's mindwipe aren't the point here though.  The point is Wolverine #75, for its fancy hologram and horror-flick image cover, is one of the most touching issues of a comic you will read.  The race to save Wolverine's life while simultaneously returning to Earth from space is pulse-pounding, Xavier's willingness to risk his own life to get inside Wolvie's mind and help him is noble, the moment of Illyana's spirit shoving Wolverine's away from the light was touching as was the fact that is was Jean Grey's voice that pulled Logan back from the brink so he could save their lives.

Seeing Wolverine weakened from his ordeal yet forcing himself into a Danger Room scenario is, in it's own way, as heartbreaking as Illyana's death because he just can't cut it anymore.  Add to that the revelation that Logan's infamous claws are in fact bone and you have a true moment in X-Lore.  The real kicker to this story though, the one that makes it linger in my memory, is the letter (and his hat) that Wolvie leaves Jubilee when he departs from the team.  It is heartfelt, it is a look at the core of the man, and can bring tears to your eyes just as well as the words of UXM #303.

Sadly, and maybe this is why they linger so, the next story that comes to mind is also one of death and tragedy in the life of Logan:

Wolverine #57

Love has been a difficult thing for Wolverine to come by and for those of us who had followed his journey from his introduction to the X-Men pining after Jean Grey up to his first meeting with Mariko Yashida, you could see it was not something he gave freely.  

Time has taught us that Logan has certainly gotten around in his century-plus on Earth but the number of women that our beloved Canuck has deeply and truly loved has been few: Jean, Rose, Silver Fox, and Mariko.  Of those four men, only Mariko ever stood at an altar waiting to be Logan's bride only to have the machinations of Mastermind dash all those dreams to hell.  It was a manipulation that put Mariko into what I can only call a shame-spiral as, in the aftermath, she attempted to clean up her families criminal ties in order to make herself worthy of Logan's love.

The truly tragic thing was that those attempts to clean up the family were what ultimately cost Mariko her life, or rather, put her in a situation in which Logan had to choose: did he leave her to die a painful poisoned death OR use his claws to end her pain?  The failed samurai chose the latter, the mercy kill, and broke his own heart in the process when he "snikted" the claws into his love...in my mind the last woman he truly loved.

My heart broke for him then, my heart still breaks for him now thinking about it and reading over the recaps, and what makes it even worse...if that's possible...is that it was not the last time Wolverine would have to make that choice.  Whether intentional or not (and since Grant Morrison was writing it I assume it was intentional), Wolverine has to unleash his claws on Jean Grey in New X-Men #148 in hopes that it would unleash The Phoenix and save their lives.  If it didn't work, well then he would have two dead loves on his claws.

This story in Wolvie #57 was a picture perfect depiction of the tragic figure that Wolverine truly was at that point...

Uncanny X-Men #205, X-Factor #87, X-Men #30, X-Force (Vol. 2) #26/UXM #524, X-Men #100, UXM #143, X-Men #110....just off the top of my head those are some great single issue stories for various reasons, most of them tragic probably, but I want to close it out with a mention of one of my favorite runs. 

Uncanny X-Men #269

Uncanny X-Men #229

From Uncanny X-Men #229 until UXM #269, the lives of the various members of the team were in total upheaval.  It all started when, in the aftermath of "Fall of the Mutants", the team elected to fake their deaths in order to (a) protect their loved ones while (b) striking at their enemies.  It was an idea first floated out by Chris Claremont maybe two years prior in the aftermath of the "Mutant Massacre" but, in typical Claremont fashion, took years to come to fruition.

These forty issues saw the team set-up shop in Australia after deposing The Reavers from their very unique home, it saw the return of The Brood, the introduction of Genosha, Inferno, the team crumble in the absence of Wolverine & the "death" of Storm, the Siege Perilous, the Mandarin, Captain American, it saw a newer & stranger team born on Muir Island under the leadership of the repowered Banshee, it saw Jim Lee come to the fold as an artist, saw Gambit and Jubilee make their first appearances, did some crazy shit to Jean Grey in the Morlock tunnels, and eventually came full circle right before the "X-Tinction Agenda" by bringing Rogue back to Australia.

It was a crazy, experimental, unique time frame in X-history in which...for a long time...the traditional idea of what the X-Men team were did not exist.  There was no mansion, no Blackbird or Cerebro, no Xavier, it was an adventure unlike any that came before it or any that has followed it.  I think it is safe to say that, aside from Morrison's run, this is the most original section in the long history of the x-books and it was all guided by the words of Chris Claremont with the pens of men like Mark Silvestri, Jim Lee, Rick Leonardi, and Kieron Dwyer to bring those words to life.

If there is one issue though that I find a must-read over all the others it is this:

Uncanny X-Men #251

There are dozens upon dozens of stories in the 50 year publishing history of the X-Men that are worth your time.  These are only a tiny handful of those that have sprung to my mind in the process of writing this up.  Be it in trade form, in back issue hunting, or by downloading at Comixology or whatever website does stuff like that, these are well worth the read. 

In fact, the only X-Men stuff I would tell you to avoid is any crap written by Chuck Austen or Frank Tieri.  The worst....

Now bring on The Battle Of The Atom!!!

Man of Steel and X-Love! (SPOILERS CONTAINED)

So last night I saw Man of Steel for the second time...wanted to make sure I did before I commented on it primarily because I feel, as a former film professor of mine at MSU passed on to his students, it can be a difficult thing to watch a movie critically the first time you see it. I mean I definitely formulated an opinion after my first viewing but I do like to watch a movie twice when possible before rambling on about it.

My first time around was an opening weekend Saturday afternoon show with a barely half-full IMAX theater (no 3D) and I sat on the edge of my seat the vast majority of the 2 1/2 hours.  From the chaos on Krypton to the "Superman:Birthright" inspired transition to Earth, I was hooked into this new Superman world. I thought Henry Cavill did a great job as Clark/Superman, he certainly looks the part, and I enjoyed Amy Adams take on Lois Lane. I highly enjoyed Michael Shannon's take on Zod and his facials, his eyes, they showed the slow descent into madness, especially when he realizes, after the disaster-porn battle, that the job he was born for is no longer relevant.

Diane Lane and Kevin Costner where decent in their roles as Jonathan and Martha Kent.  In particular I loved the scene with Martha and young Clark when his powers kick in during class and the barn scene with Jonathan, Clark, and the "You are my son" line that legit brought a tear to me eye.  The different take on Jonathan did not bother me, perhaps because I am not a "Superman guy", but I understood it as a parent doing everything he can to protect his child for the harsh realities of the real world.  The "maybe you should have let them die" bit after the school bus incident...that was a bit awkward BUT it was Jonathan basically saying he did not know what the best thing to do was.  Yes saving the kids was the right thing to do but what kind of risk did Clark put himself at in doing so?  Jonathan's fears seem to be that someone will come take his child away and he will do anything he can to prevent that from happening, even if that includes keeping Clark from being the hero that's in his heart.

I hated the tornado moment but I do see Jonathan holding up his hand in that "stop, no" gesture and Clark actually doing it as an odd moment of mutual understanding.  Clark sees his dad being a hero, saving a child, saving the dog, and sacrificing himself to keep Clark's secret.  It's motivation and regret, inspiration and loss, and it drives Clark.

As for the ending, the killing of Zod....well the arguments of "Superman doesn't kill" do not hold any water as there is plenty of evidence to the contrary in both comic and film. He has killed.  He is not a killer, he does not wantonly execute a villain, but Superman has been responsible for the death of others before and I'm sure will be again. The Zod "death by cop" scene (as I have read it being called around the 'net) was done about as well as it could possible have been done.  It was a moment of few options for a very inexperienced Superman who, in his first outing in the tights, saw no other option.  It wasn't JUST about saving the family in immediate peril, it was also about saving everyone else on Earth that Zod would execute should he continue to live.  Can't lock him up in prison, the Phantom Zone option is off the table, Kryptonite doesn't exist (yet) to depower him, so what would you do?  I cringed...I felt the agony of the decision...and I felt for Clark when he let out that post-homicide howl.

Sure there was some disaster-porn aspects of the big fight BUT what would you expect from two god-like beings fighting in Metropolis; that fight scene is arguably the best & most comic booky of the super hero movies.  Funny thing though, after I saw it the second time with friends who were seeing it for the first time (my first time was solo), there wasn't much thought given to the whole "millions of people had to have died in the fight" idea.  Their opinions were that every time you saw the interiors of a building it was empty and that you don't actually see anyone die...it is really just the viewer putting the bodies in there themselves.  Yes logically it makes sense there are people in these buildings BUT, with film, if you don't see them are they there?  Just a thought...

Oh yeah, and Avengers does its fair share of destroying the city with little/no consequence.  Hell, between the end of the big fight and the scene of Thor taking Loki back to Asgard (which logic would tell me happens pretty immediately, the next day at best) New York City is basically all fixed up and back to normal.  At least in Man of Steel there isn't a real sense of how much time has elapsed between the fight and Clark walking into the Daily Planet....could have been weeks, months, or just a day...

I do understand a lot of the complaints, and I find some of them have merit....I like the movie BUT it can be a bit joyless and isn't all that hopeful for a character whose symbol represents the concept. It is a Bruckheimer-level disaster movie, it is a sci-fi movie as much as a super hero movie, and maybe that kiss was kind of rushed.

Still, it's action-packed and features a Superman who actually hits things, it doesn't rely on Kryptonite or Lex Luthor or dumbing down Supes power-set. He is both human and not human, he is in his infancy as a hero, and hopefully the sequels play out some repercussions from this movie.  Although I think I could be happy without having Lex in another movie, the fallout from Man of Steel could very easily parlay into his introduction, particularly if it's a xenophobic Lex who sees the financial toll it takes on Metropolis & the world in having a Superman around: "Sure he saved us but he cost the city a billion dollars!".  My fantasy booking of Lex Luthor would have him in the role of puppet master, controlling/manipulating someone else who can go toe-to-toe with Superman because otherwise you have to dumb Clark down with Kryptonite. Either that or you upgrade Lex with his Kryptonian Warsuit.

Putting the positives, negatives, and the stuff in-between aside...the movie certainly accomplished what SHOULD be a goal of every comic book based movie, it sent me to the Barnes & Noble in my mall to finally pick up a copy of "Superman: Birthright" in trade.  Between the moments borrowed and adapted to the movie from that Mark Waid/Lenil Francis Yu masterpiece to the straight-up usage of this from Grant Morrison's "All Star Superman":

...you can certainly see the influence of the comics on the movie beyond just using a comic book character in an action movie.  If you haven't seen the movie, please check it out...there is nothing worse than damning, or praising, something you haven't even given a chance.  If you hate or love it after you see it, at least your opinion is based on your own viewing and not on reading reviews. Oh yeah, and if you like/dislike the movie...or anything really...and all you have to say is "If you like/dislike this you're dumb" then please just do the world a favor and don't bother commenting....and yes that is based off something I saw on CBR.

So as I've said before in this blog, the X-Men family was my introduction to comics and the line that I followed the closest for the longest time.  Uncanny X-Men, Classic X-Men, Wolverine, New Mutants, X-Factor, sadly no Excalibur though because 6 books in one month was too much money when I was a pre-teen.  It continued on into X-Force, the 90s X-Men book, Cable, the glut of mini's featuring Deadpool, Storm, Rogue, & Gambit just to name a few, X-Man, Generation X, if it had an X in the title there was a very likely chance I bought it.  I even had (maybe still have) bagged copies of the X-Cutioner's Song issues with their little card, if Wolverine was in the book then I probably picked it up, I could tell you exactly what happened in every issue, but at some point along the line I stopped being quite so invested in the mutant clan.

I never stopped collecting but I know my interest waned (nearly died actually) when Chuck Austin was on the main book but I think what really hurt my love was Marvel's retcon of Grant Morrison's saga, or at least the Magneto part of it.  Grant's take on X-Men was what made me fall in love with his writing.  I was totally infatuated with his JLA but X-Men is what made me a devoted follower of Grant to the point that I now own pretty much every trade that I can conceivably get INCLUDING the Zenith HC that 2000AD just released earlier today (happy dance).  So when this big master stroke of Wolverine killing Magneto and having to kill Jean (the second time he has had to put one of his loves out of her misery) was retconned away, it upset me to no end.

I continued to read of course but books fell by the wayside.  I didn't bother with the new Excalibur books, didn't bother with Exiles, lost X-Statix after a bit, didn't stay with Wolverine after their first renumbering (a landmark decision in my collecting career), nor did I gravitate to the X-Factor relaunch.  Part of that was due to my tastes expanding outside of the Marvel U, part of it was due to a general lack of interest...even Uncanny I just kind of read but nothing stuck for a long time. It wasn't until Matt Fraction got a few months under his belt that my interest began to swing back again...then Uncanny X-Force hit...and now I must say it is a great time to be an X-Fan!

All New X-Men, X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine & The X-Men...those four books alone are amazing, top of the list every month.  I disliked Legacy at first, even dropped it from my pull, but its extremely unique take on Legion has finally begun to intrigue me (even if I'm not a fan of the art). Uncanny X-Force is a fun ride that plays off the legacy of the previous Rick Remender X-Force book, the first arc on Savage Wolverine was cheesecakey fun and seeing Joe Madureira art on the new arc is awesome.  Wolverine under Paul Cornell and Alan Davis is reminiscent of the old Wolvie series that I fell in love with under Claremont/Hama...and Killable sounds like it could be a very interesting arc.

All in all, it is a good time to be an X-Fan and I just want to put that out there.  If you're not into reading these books yet, seriously go pick up All New X-Men, X-Men, and/or Uncanny X-Men at the very least.  You won't regret it...great writing, great art, a great time!

SNIKT!: Thinking about Wolverine....

   

It is safe to say that those are as close to my first visuals of Wolverine as I can find on Google images. The first from Marc Silvestri & Dan Green and the second from John Byrne & Terry Austin.  Technically my first Uncanny X-Men issue was #224 but he's not on the cover and image finder was no help getting an interior page of Wolvie from that ish.  The second image is originally from UXM #113 but I first read it as part of the wonderful Classic X-Men series...ish #19 to be exact.  That series enabled me to essentially read the entire history of the All New, All Different team from their Giant Size intro until the Classic issues and my back-issue collection met up somewhere around issue #170.

They were a great way to immerse myself in the history of the team plus, for the first 44 issues, they contained great back-up stories that further fleshed out the characters.  Several of them are quite memorable for me including the Magneto back-up from #19, several great Wolverine back-ups with him & Crawler, him and Jean, a story about what happened between panels when Jean became Phoenix, when Proteus played with Wolverine, not to mention awesome covers & page art like these from John Bolton:

It was a phenomenal introduction as an 8 or 9 year old kid to these characters and while this blog is not intended as a a reflection on that series (the back-ups are largely available in the X-Men:Vignettes collections), it is because of stories like these, and in the way in which he was presented, that I fell in love with Wolverine.

I imagine the hairy little (at least back then) Canadian guy with his adamantium claws was a gateway into comics for many a kid.  He was tough, hell everything about him screamed tough.  He fought tough, talked tough, healed from everything, and HE HAD FREAKIN' CLAWS!  Created by Len Wein and first drawn by Herb Trimpe for an Incredible Hulk story, he immediately demanded my attention more than any other character in that first UXM issue I bought (Longshot and Havok were distant seconds).  I followed him everywhere, into Alpha Flight, into his own solo on-going series (the Claremont/Miller book was before my time so I read it much later), into Marvel Comics Presents, basically if Wolverine was there so was my (dad's) money.  I even remember him freaking out when I asked him to buy me the Wolverine Saga books because they were priced at the insanely high tag of $3.95!!!!

So yeah, suffice it to say that I was a huge fan of Wolverine...I'd dig up my Halloween costume picture if I had the slightest clue where it was located...so it slightly saddens me to realize how little I actually follow the character anymore.  I mean I still put my money down for Wolverine & The X-Men every month, or rather twice a month now, but I haven't purchased a single issue of his solo books in several years.  What happened? 

I suppose I'll show you some of the highlights of a text conversation between me and my friend that put this whole thing in my head in the first place:


ME: I want to write a Wolvie tale but despite reading the guy for 20+ years I find I have nothing original to say

RYAN: That's probably part of the problem...

ME: Aside from Jason Aaron...I can't think of the last good take on Wolvie

RYAN: Last Wolvie run that stick in my head is Millar

ME: Old Man Logan?

RYAN: Yeah

ME: All I think of was how insanely delayed it was because they though McNiven could do a monthly...

RYAN: Or even Enemy of the State

ME: Enemy of the State was good

 

 

RYAN: They need to treat Wolverine like Spidey...make it a flagship title, put one committed writer on it with a long-term plan, like Slott, and rotate a few regular artists

 

2004/5 and 2008/9....comics from eight and four years ago respectively were the last standout Wolverine story arcs either of us could think of...that's not a good thing for someone who is such a flagship character for Marvel and the X-Franchise.  Look at other flagship characters; you have Captain America under Ed Brubaker, Spider-Man under Dan Slott, Daredevil under Bendis/Brubaker/Waid, and Iron Man under Matt Fraction who have had lengthy, critically acclaimed runs.  They have told long form stories with their characters and I find myself unable to think the last time this happened for Wolverine.  I suppose it would be Millar's run from #20-#32 of Volume 2 or perhaps Jason Aaron's extended tryst with Logan across multiple books over the last several years that still continues in Wolvie & The X-Men. Still, as much as I love that book, it's not so much a Wolverine book (despite the title) but more an ensemble piece.

 

Oh wait!

 

 

Daniel Way wrote all 50 issues of this book! That's the longest run I can remember on a Wolverine book since Larry Hama wrote basically every issue save four from 31-118 and yet, despite that four year run, Origins has largely faded from my memory.  Started with lots of promise to unravel the ridiculously convoluted history of Logan and somehow managed to make it even MORE convoluted with the stupid Romulus character's involvement (which now Jeph Loeb has made even worse and I hope everyone who touches a Wolvie book from now until the end of time pretends it never happened).  Also, Way is not the caliber writer in terms of skill and recognition that a Brubaker, Bendis, Fraction, or Aaron are...

 

Anyway, before I move on, let me say that Aaron is responsible for what I think is the best single issue in recent memory of a Wolverine book:

ME: I gave up on Wolvie after its first relaunch...picked it up again after House of M...dropped it again and have DL'd ever since...bought some Weapon X

RYAN: Aaron started out great, got silly towards the end. Bunn started out ok, got lame. I'm gonna DL the new titles, not buying. "The Best There Is" kinda scared me off extra Wolvie titles

ME: Best There Is was awful...and Loeb's arc was shit. I hated that story where his memories got cut up too...was that Bunn?

RYAN: Yeah, think so. Bunn continued the Dr. Rott thing which started w/ Aaron...but I think Bunn screwed with his memories. Don't remember.

ME: It just pissed me off...like he thought "I like Wolvie better when he couldn't remember stuff" so he just found a way to make it happen

I read an interview with Mark Waid where he said "...the next guy who does Daredevil will either drop a safe on everything I did, or go back because he remembers what Ann  Nocenti did with great fondness and he wants to do that". 

It immediately came back to my mind when we were talking about Wolvie and Bunn's decision to erase his memories (I am not even sure if Aaron has incorporated that into his book now that I think about it). For the longest time, right up until post-House of M and this:

Wolverine had little memories of his past prior to the Weapon X program and the adamantium bonding process.  It made for a fun sandbox for various writers to play in because, since he had no concrete origin or history, it was possible for Logan to have been everywhere and seen everything.  He could know anybody, could have had experiences and adventures in every country around the globe, and it was a game that writers milked to death. 

It made for fun stories as Chris Claremont, Larry Hama, Fabian Nicieza, Scott Lobdell, and a slew of others over the years explored the endless possibilities that Wolverine's tabula rasa state provided.  So when the moment happened, when Marvel showed some balls by having Logan remember it all, it closed some doors creatively I imagine.  Essentially writers were now in the game of creating a true history of Wolvie, of cementing his memories as fact, and sorting out the chaos of a history that had been created over the years. 

It all really started with the Origin mini written by Paul Jenkins that predated this memory unlocking.  That story set-up his age, his true name, his love for redheads, and then it was the Origins series by Way that spun out of the returned memories that was supposed to explore this stuff.  Instead it gave us Dakken, Romulus, and a whole lot more confusion if you ask me.


RYAN: I actually think its his character in general that people have trouble with. Too man contradictions over the years. He's a killer...he's not a killer. He's a loyal boyfriend...he's a ladies man. He's a team player...he's a loner. It changes writer by writer. Doesn't help that his very memories keep changing writer to writer

ME: Yeah...it helped when you only had two writers handling him for his first 15 years but now...Remender may be the closest to what I think of

RYAN: Yeah...everyones got diff idea for what he's like, its confusing. Its easier with a character like Spidey
 
ME: To me he is Claremont & Hama's failed samurai...loyal and cares about the kids, the guy who stayed loyal to Mariko until she died

RYAN: I actually really grew to like Morrison's version.

ME: I did too...Its Grant after all

RYAN: Yeah, Just felt...different.

ME: Wolvie stripped down to his "I am 200 yrs old and have seen it all" badass core

RYAN: Yeah, I mean seriously, he's THAT old and he's still trying to "find himself"...

Peter Parker is largely the science guy for whom nothing seems to go right a vast majority of the time (except for his ability to attract the hotties), which is actually why the Big Time arc was so different.  He got the job, the girl, the respect, etc.
Reed Richards is the genius & family man, Tony Stark is the genius playboy industrialist, they all have a very concrete identity and although they may slightly stray from type occasionally, they always come back to form.

Wolverine, on the other hand, is a huge contradiction in almost every aspect of his personality.  As Ryan pointed out, and as the recent X-Force books have played up, he is a killer...for awhile he was the only true killer on the X-teams.  Sure other X-people had killed but part of the struggle of Wolverine's life was his battle with the killer inside, with the berzerker. It's part of where the Claremont ideal of "failed samurai" came into play.

He's a father figure...very evident now with the running of the school and whatnot...but it is a role he has always filled to some degree.  The list of children he has mentored or played big brother/father for is endless...and filled with females.  Kitty Pryde, Rachel Summers, Jubilee, Black Widow, Psylocke, X-23, one of my favorite Uncanny issues of all time is basically all about this:

It's Barry Windsor-Smith art for one, but the story by Claremont is amazing as well.  On the surface it seems like another tale of Wolvie fighting baddies while on the run and at the end of his rope, but the true beauty of it is in his interaction with Katie Power.  Despite being in what was essentially an animal state, he still does everything in his power (no pun) to protect Katie just as she protects him to the best of her ability until he recovers. 

He adopts a daughter in Amiko after finding her in the rubble of a building and Tyger Tiger came into existence because Wolverine chose to save a woman, a complete stranger, who the Reavers mentally violated.  He treated a robot child who tried to blow him up named Elsie Dee (ya know I don't think I go that LCD pun when I was 10) just as a normal human girl. Even in the movies he takes care of Rogue.  Simply put, he is a caretaker for the next generation and that is why the idea of him running the new school is actually perfect.

Wolverine is a loner but yet is friends with the entire Marvel U.  Captain America, Spidey, Thing, Fat Cobra, fn Squirrel Girl (which is a whole other creepy story considering she is likely very young), he has some relationship to any every character you can think of.  He had an extraordinarily close friendship with Nightcrawler and was also quite tight with Colossus. 

RYAN: Felt to me like he wanted an excuse to write Melita out

ME: That too

RYAN: Or like he didn't wanna deal w/ the relationship so he contrives a way around it

ME: Yeah

RYAN: Kinda felt like Aaron botched it with Melita too, which is odd because he created it

ME: Yeah...part of me feels like writers have little clue how to handle his love life

He is a "ladies man" but also one of the most loyal men to have on your side.  His sexual resume is quite lengthy including Mystique, Yukio, Melita, Silver Fox, Domino, Gahck (Savage Land woman with whom he has a forgotten child), someone compiled a list here and here. Yet, despite all of those women, I will always think of these:

 

Mariko Yashida will always be the love of Logan's life.  He tried to be a better man for her, he wanted to marry her of his own free will (as opposed to Viper who he was obligated to marry), he was different...for her.  Jean Grey may be his biggest unrequited love, but Mariko is the one who truly had his heart and I wish some writer would occasionally bring back the idea of Logan visiting her grave every so often (Silver Fox's too).  It may seem like continuity porn but I think it is a way to remind everyone of who Wolvie is, where he came from, and a way to let newer readers into his rich history.

Ultimately I think that's what I am looking for...that sort of powerful story like ish #57 of Volume 1 up there. A story that resonates with me and I still remember vividly fifteen, twenty, thirty years later.  Maybe it's the tenure I have with comics, maybe it's the volume of comics I read now as opposed to back then when it was maybe four books in an entire month, but there are so few stories that linger for me.  It's not just a Wolverine thing, it's a comic book thing in general, I guess I just choose to filter it through the lens of Logan since he who I was a fan of first.

Before Batman, before Brubaker's Captain America, before Johns' Hal Jordan, there was Wolverine. Chris Claremont, Larry Hama, John Byrne, Marc Silvestri, John Buscema, BWS, Romita Jr, just to name a few, they shaped the SHORT and hairy Canadian berserker samurai for me.

Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, the Kubert brothers, Jim Lee, the brought him to another life as I got older.

Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Jason Aaron, Nick Bradshaw, those are the guys who have defined, and are continuing to define, Wolverine for me as an adult, and despite the fact that he looks absolutely nothing like any comic book incarnation of Wolverine that ever existed prior to the movies, Hugh Jackman has done a pretty decent job of bringing him to life on the silver screen.

Wolverine is marketable, and just as well known to the masses as Cap or Spidey or Thor. He deserves greatness in both story and art, not to mention in cinema.  Now with Paul Cornell & Alan Davis on one upcoming book and Frank Cho on the recently released Savage Wolverine perhaps he will get that classic story for the modern audiences.  He deserves his "Winter Soldier", his "Big Time", his article in USA Today announcing something huge to the world. 

Hopefully that day is coming soon and with the movie on the horizon, I certainly wouldn't be surprised.  He is the best in the world at what he does after all....

AvX or if you prefer...why it might all Captain America's fault...

So at first I was planning on sitting down and re-reading the entire 13 issue series (Zero issue + 12), none of the tie-ins...not Versus or Uncanny or Wolvie & The X-Men, nada, and see how it read in-completion on its own merit.

...Then I changed my mind...

Well, not exactly...

See I am still going to do that, just not right now.  Rather I am going to sit here at my computer on October 26th, and right down what my more immediate thoughts are on Marvel's big crossover of the year without notes or even a single issue of the comic right in front of me.  These are simply the notions that come to my head when reflecting back on the last six months that was supposed to change the face of the Marvel landscape.  Did it? I guess I will see when I get to that point in my random train of thought of which I guarantee will contain multiple jumping of the tracks. 

After I'm done with this...rambling (?)...then I will sit down, read the crossover in a proper fashion, and add on to this blog with my post-reading reflections, demarcating the date to show when I start the re-read. On to the stream of consciousness:

First off when I think of the idea of Avengers versus X-Men, I think of something more along the lines of what Civil War was with the Pro-Registration vs. Anti-Registration idea. 

It's a story where you can truly get behind one team or the other depending on whose perspective you agree with and essentially that is how I felt this story started out with Captain American deciding he needed to take Hope into custody to protect the world from the Phoenix Force while Cyke, who has been banking his hopes for the mutant race on this girl for the last five years (real time), wants to let the Phoenix Force come and save them all.

Okay now given the whole conceit of this story being their differing opinions on Hope & the Phoenix Force, my immediate question was why the hell does Captain America suddenly give a flying fuck about the Phoenix and on what personal experience is he basing his fears?

The original Phoenix, the one who took on Jean Grey's form, had zero interaction with the larger Marvel U outside of one panel with Spider-Man and Dr. Strange acknowledging something was happening...no Cap to be seen there. He, nor any Avenger save Beast, were a factor when she killed the planet of the broccoli people, came back to Earth, ended up on the moon, and sacrificed herself when Cyclops couldn't bring himself to kill her.

The next time we saw the Phoenix force it was in the form of the time-traveling Rachel Grey and she was nowhere near the power-level of her "mom" nor was she ever the Dark Phoenix threat...nor were there any Avengers...

Let's see then we have the dance of the Phoenix around Inferno time between Madelyne Pryor & the real Jean Grey around who had been hanging out recovering in a chrysalis at the bottom of the ocean since the Phoenix entity assumed her form. Rachel Summers was back in the picture around that time too and was rocking some kind of Phoenix power. No Dark Phoenix threat there...no Avengers either.

Jean reclaimed some aspect of the Phoenix power during a jaunt into space with X-Factor with the Celestial War. Not to get too detailed but Jean was struggling with her own memories, Pryor's memories, and the Phoenix as Jean Grey memories all residing in her brain and was shifting personalities.  It all got resolved, no Dark Phoenix threat here...

Over the years, various writers have teased at a full-on return of Jean Grey as Phoenix, including her redonning the Grey & Gold costume and reclaiming the codename, but it wasn't until Grant Morrison that Jean Grey became the full-on Phoenix...just in time to die at the hands of Xorneto (don't ask). From there the Phoenix force splintered...I guess....because Rachel Summer (now Grey) still had a piece of it, the Stepford Cuckoos had some, Quentin Quire did at one point, some Shi'ar guy had a sword made of a piece of the Phoenix, it came back to Earth in a pair of 'Song mini-series' barely acknowledged anywhere but of which elements have been used (Stepfords & Quire) elsewhere. All that random Phoenix-ness but in none of it did Captain America get involved nor seem to give a damn about what was going on with the mutantverse but more on that in a second. 

My point in all that Phoenix talk, the initial thought that went through my head in this whole Cyke-Cap debate, was that only once in it's comic book history was the Phoenix ever depicted as the universe destroying threat, only once was the Dark Phoenix ever truly in existence.  The odds are that it won't be a bad thing for the Phoenix to come back to Earth & given how many times it emerged between Dark Phoenix and AvX, it was uber-irritating to have that be treated like the ONLY Phoenix incarnation that ever occurred.

That's just a random assortment of Phoenix images for your perusal...only two of them were evil, the rest were benevolent and heroic types.

So back to Captain American real quick, he's a dick...bottom line...from a story standpoint, from a character standpoint, if some guy who had never shown the least bit of interest in your life suddenly swung by your house and told you that everything you're doing is wrong and that he's going to tell you how to run your life and your family and that he knows better than you, how would you feel? 

Because that is essentially how I read this completely out-of-character version of Captain America...he's a bully and a dick and is talking about issues which neither he nor Tony Stark nor the rest of the Avengers really know anything about and Scott reacts accordingly.  That is why in the title up there I say Captain America might be the one to blame here and this entire knee-jerk reaction from he and The Avengers could very well be the cause of all of this crap that goes down over the rest of the story.

For a story that is 13 issues long overall, it certainly felt like the escalation of the conflict is very rushed though when it could have used some time to truly build up to it. I mean it's not like there was any real concern from the Avengers or Cap about what Scott had been doing on Utopia for the last few years. It was just "hey don't do that" then "ZAAAP eat my optic blast"....

Then we get a Wolverine I don't know if I recognize who is flip-flopping from side to side and rather indecisive about where he stands which is not a Logan I really have ever seen.  He is, and has always been, a man of certain honor and conviction, obviously based on the nature of Schism (which, by the way, drives me nuts when the characters actually refer to it as "the schism" when they talk about the Cyke/Wolvie situation). So his whole sleight of hand or indecision or whatever it was supposed to be with Hope just, well it just didn't work for me him saving her then deciding to turn her over to the Avengers. 

And in that same vein, and I did warn my mental train would jump tracks, what the hell was up with this:

Seriously what the hell was up with deciding to, out of nowhere, merge the Iron Fist history with the Phoenix Force history?  Wasn't feeling it, didn't see the point, just felt like a forced way to create a shared back story and a way to kill time with Hope by having her train in Kun'Lun.  It disappointed me the way Hope became an afterthought in a story she should have owned but then again, I suppose if she had been an actual part of her own story the AvX maxi-series would have been a much shorter mini-series.  Instead we get the split of the Phoenix Force between these five:

And, from what I can recall, not a great deal of explanation for the reasons why it bailed on Hope and took those five instead.  My brain tells me that the Phoenix Force was always intended (by the entity not the writers) to be split over some form of multiple people, hence the Five Lights but now one is dead so it looks like Phoenix is finding the next closest thing and ends up in five of the most powerful mutants around.  Still this is all assumption because to the best of what I remember in the mini, the issue wasn't really addressed as to why the Five Lights mattered and their presence was nonexistant after all that build up, but I guess we shall see with the re-read later on if this question was answered.

So the Five go about saving the world but slowly are losing their shit because, as it often does "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and in the meanwhile Captain America is making the situation worse by rallying his troops to....stop them from saving the world and exacerbating the 5's control over their pieces of the Phoenix Force.  So it is a bad thing that Cyke & crew are stopping war and ending famine because of what they MIGHT turn into if they lose control over the Phoenix force.  Regardless of the fact that all of them DID lose control, the battle was being fought by Cap & The Avengers based on the idea of what MIGHT happen...

Cyke is obviously getting more out of hand as the story progresses, Magik is keeping Avengers prisoners in Limbo, we get a neat little callback to House of M with the "No More Avengers", Emma Frost knows she is losing control, Namor goes batshit and decimates Wakanda which then leads up to the whole Highlander twist.  "Kill" one Phoenix entity and its power then disperses between the remaining hosts...cute.  Namor gets beaten first, then Colossus & Magik knock each other out thanks to Spidey (probably the best issue of the whole series because Peter Parker comes off amazing...yes that pun was intended), leaving Emma Frost to get taken out by Cyke to officially make him the complete Phoenix.  Then, just to insure we know he is the big bad of the series and that it is absolutely impossible to take his side, he offs Professor Xavier to which I utter "really?" and then groan because it is possibly the tenth time I have seen him "die" in my comic book reading career. Besides...that body was a clone body anyway, not even the original Charles Xavier body, just his original brain...look up the original Brood story if you are curious...

So now Cyke is the Dark Phoenix and I seriously believe this wasn't JUST a case of Scott Summers losing control here. As with the original Dark Phoenix incarnation, he had a prodding factor.  For Jean Grey it was the machinations of Mastermind and the Hellfire Club that truly allowed the darker side to take charge. In the case of Cyke, Namor, Collosus, Magik, and Emma Frost I do believe it was the constant barrage of Captain American and his army that kept pushing and pushing until that above image became a reality.

So after 12 issues of build-up to this moment, it does make sense that murdering Xavier would be the final push over the edge...it is just so unfortunate that Xavier has become such a non-factor that his death is nowhere near as meaningful as it SHOULD be in my mind.  Charles Xavier had become irrelevant to Cyke after the revelations of Deadly Genesis in which Scott found out Chuck hid the existence of brother Gabriel from him and Alex....

...Speaking of which, how is it we got no interaction between Cyke & Alex after Havok returned to Earth where Scott at least said "hey what happened to our other brother anyway?"...

The state of the relationship between Chuck & Scott not withstanding, I'm not saying a...sober...Cyclops would be just as willing to kill of Xavier, just saying that Cyclops had written Chucky out of his life in anyway that truly mattered.  Hell, mutantkind had basically written him out and his opposite Magneto had become Cyke's right hand man and do you know why?  It's because Cyclops achieved what NEITHER of them could...he unified the majority of remaining 198 (or whatever number it was) post M-Day.  He may have segregated them to an island but they were generally together (like Xavier wanted) and weren't trying to slaughter humans (like Mags wanted once upon a time).  In fact, Cyclops had even put his team out there as a force for good a la The Avengers or FF if they were wanted but the government, under the leadership of Norman Osborn mind you, screwed the pooch on that one.

Yeah so killing Xavier is a whatever gesture after all these years and for me didn't have the weight of say...Nightcrawler's death during Second Coming.  That brought tears to my eyes, that was powerful...

So after all this fighting, after intentionally putting all the power of the Phoenix into the hands of one man, the day gets saved by Hope (finally becoming relevant to a story that should have been her's all along) holding hands with Scarlet Witch (the cause...kind of, apparently Dr. Doom has some blame thereby making Wanda look not quite so evil...of all this to begin with with her "No More Mutants" wish) and wishing for "No More Phoenix".

Cyke goes to jail (which kinda reminded me of Xavier post-Onslaught), a new mutant spontaneously generates powers thus somewhat justifying Cyclops' stand in the first place, and Captain American FINALLY realizes that he might have some responsibility in creating this situation in the first place. Glad it took him 12 issues, forcing an empty war based on MAYBE and WHAT IF, and nearly destroying the globe to realize that one...

Overall I can say this was an empty war and not one in which the reader really had the option of choosing sides after a certain point.  It wasn't something that crossed my mind until a conversation with one @DukeMcNulty but yeah, I would say Marvel took the idea of choosing sides completely out of the equation at a certain point.  When it became obvious that the Phoenix Five were off their collective rocker and tossing dudes in Limbo if they were dissenters, the possibility of even supporting their efforts went out the window...multiply that feeling times a thousand when Cyke killed Xavier.  By then end it wasn't a Civil War type battle where both sides had valid points, it was more like Shadowland where one guy ended up completely batshit and nearly irredeemable.

Which brings me to the biggest, most nagging thing for me about this whole crossover.  The Cyclops we saw at the end of AvX, the "see I was right" Cyke that has been portrayed in Consequences, that Cyclops WOULD have become the reality even without the possession by the Phoenix Force.  Hear (read?) me out...

Ever since the beginning of Morrison's New X-Men run, and stemming from his possession by Apocalypse, we have seen Cyclops grow into a true leader, a force to be reckoned with, all the best elements of both Xavier and Magneto to be frank.  Following M-Day he had to kick it up another notch because he was now fighting for species survival, the birth of Hope took him down an even darker path because he allowed her to be shipped off in time to protect her (as he did with his own son who would become Cable), he formed X-Force to take care of problems in a very direct, murderous fashion, took on a piece of the Void (who knows if anyone remembers that plot point), exiled his people to their own nation, then saw Hope return and his goal start to come to fruition when she began to activate new mutants.  Then the Phoenix force shows up and of course he thinks it's a sign that he's been on the right path all along despite his questionable actions and decisions.  He was the guy ultimately willing to take any bullet, to risk everything, to become the villain if it meant his people were saved. That path would either have led to glory or to gore, and honestly if you extend it down a slightly longer timeline, if you allow for his increasingly militant nature to consume him, Cyke would have lost his shit all by himself without need for the Phoenix Force.

That is where I think I have an issue...I hate the out that possession allows for, that's a big part of the reason I hated Shadowland.  Daredevil didn't need to be possessed to fall down that hole, his entire life had been heading there since the day Kevin Smith killed off Karen Page and then Bendis, Brubaker, and Diggle sent him through 900,000 forms of hell.  That possession gave him an out and made it so Matt Murdock wasn't quite so terrible a person...same goes for having Dr. Doom play a role in Wanda's breakdown...takes away from the reality of what happens when people lose it all.  I know reality is a loose term given we are playing in the world of superheroes, but part of the fun is putting them in a real situation and seeing how it would play out. 

Every day people...good people...they break, they lose their minds to depression and heartbreak and sadness and fall to pieces in often horrible ways.  Multiply that times a million for the world of superheroes and you can see what happens when a person of great power naturally loses their control. Daredevil would have killed Bullseye on his own, Scarlet Witch would want to get rid of the people she blamed for his troubles, and Cyclops would willing go down a dark path to save his people...they didn't need outside influences to push them down that road and having that just gives them an out to make them seem not quite so bad.

As far as the aftermath, well again thanks to @DukeMcNulty, I was given a nugget to think about.  Cyclops did all of this terrible stuff under the influence of another entity...a cosmically powerful, potentially world destroying entity, but an outside force nonetheless.  When did Daredevil, Scarlet Witch, and Winter Soldier all commit their worst crimes? And did that stop any of them from becoming Avengers or put them away in jail?  Hell part of my problem with the new DD series initially was how the Shadowland stuff was just swept under the rug like it never happened and Murdock just started lawyering it up again like no big deal.  It's not exactly unprecedented for some hero to commit terrible acts under the influence of another force and end up protected by their fellow heroes.  To be fair, off the top of my head, only Wanda, Scott, and Xavier as Onslaught nearly decimated the world though...

Not a big fan of some of the ways Cyclops has been portrayed post-AvX....I do think he would proudly walk around wearing a "Cyke was right" T-Shirt but I do not, could not, ever see him calling himself a martyr for the cause.  My perspective on Cyke is that, despite all of this, despite killing his one-time father figure, he would tell you to look at the evidence and then tell him if you still think he was wrong. Scott Summers would not back down from his convictions even under lock and key, but the Cyclops I have seen evolve in the last ten years would not want Wolverine to "martyr" him, much less refer to himself as one, unless he was perhaps doing it to get one last "fuck you" at Logan for picking the side he did.

Do I think Cyclops is irredeemable? No, no I don't but I do think he has a loooooong road to travel before he can show his face in public. I also would like to see more of the general public's reaction to the events of AvX...it was series I actually think could have benefited from a Frontline-type book rather than the overall pointless Versus series. How did the public view these mutants saving the world, feeding them, ending wars? How did they view Cap & the Avengers trying to stop them?  What's the feeling towards mutants now?  These are the questions I have and I guess I will have to see if they are answered in any form, if the wake of AvX is long-lasting or only felt in the MarvelNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! short-term. 

Well this rambling is at a logical close I suppose...I will revisit this subject after I have a chance to sit down, reread the series, and take notes as I go. Until then, I've got half of the Invincible Omnibus Vol. 1 to finish reading, half of "Clash of Kings" to finish reading, and a bunch of other random discount bookstore Marvel Hardcover purchases to knock off too!