X-Factor Annual 4 - Inferno Epilogue

Two FBI agents try to find out what happened in New York.

X-Factor Annual #4

(I'll leave the rest of the annual to another time if/when I look at Atlantis Attacks so this is just the Inferno story.)

Inferno Aftermath
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Jim Fern
Inks: Joe Rubinstein
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

FBI agent Jacob Farber narrates how he and his partner Elwood McNulty were sent to investigate exactly what happened in New York to cause so much costly damage. They start by interviewing the dentist who turned demonic then a police officer tips them off about the paranormal investigators who got eaten by the lift in the Empire State Building but woke up in a normal lift and found their instruments showed nothing. At the Daily Bugle newsroom J. Jonah Jameson recounts the attack by the demons but all the photographs turned out blank. They then go to speak to the Avengers but Gilgamesh is no help and Captain America is still in poor relations with Washington. Next they ring X-Factor and Ship tells them the team are out so Jake gives them two hours to call back. X-Factor discuss what to say and agree that telling the truth about demons from the netherworld would be damaging to the public. So they decide to give a cover story that it was fake. After consulting with Reed Richards they say some unclear group used a hynoptic ray beam and they suspect hi-tech terrorists. The story is released and the man in the street accepts it but a lurking demon is more surprised.

This back-up story is an interesting look at how the authorities and the public cope with the bizarre incidents that happen in the Marvel universe with plausible cover stories fed to keep people from having to confront the implications of what happens. Bizarrely for a story by Mark Gruenwald, normally the king of continuity, there are some discontinuities here with the whole event from the first animated objects to the final closure of the portal said to have taken place in a single night when the issues took place over a longer period. The closure of the portal seems to have reverted all the actual magic, with the damage stemming from looting, rioting and battles, whereas other issues showed lasting damage. And the newspaper at the end says Inferno was "two days ago" but is dated "January 30 1989" which just adds to the confusion of when in the year Inferno took place. In addition Gilgamesh lists some of the names he has used in the past including "Heracles", a reminder of the total mess with having the Eternals in the same universe as the various gods.

Also just why are the Blues Brothers working for the FBI? Jake and Elwood had previously appeared in a few of Gruenwald's Captain America issues but only with this issue are they drawn so clearly as the band characters.

Overall this is a tame little piece that focuses upon showing how New York returns to normal, that some of the more prominent one-off characters survived and how the public shrug off the whole event given a convincing explanation and the magic not leaving any lasting effects. It's a good effort that would have worked in 1989 when it came out some months after the event but when collected together with the issues it stands out the more how it doesn't quite match the actual aftermath.