X-Factor 40 - Inferno

Archangel cracks an egg with a voice.

X-Factor #40

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Rob Liefeld
Inker: Allen Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

X-Factor return to Ship from Madelyne Pryor's funeral, observed from afar by Nanny and Orphan Maker. Atop Ship they set about returning the crowd to their various homes and schools. Iceman takes Leech, Artie and Taki back to their school then the other four members of X-Factor gather up the mutant babies to the FBI in Washington. The older X-Terminators have missed too much of summer school to go back until the autumn so they stay on Ship with Jean's parents to babysit Nathan Christopher. As their plane flies into Washington it is attacked by Nanny's ship. Nanny and Orphan Maker board the ship and a battle breaks out until Nanny throws Beast into her ship's control panel and is then badly wounded by Archangel, causing ships to come down in the park. Orphan Maker explains that Nanny is a human mutant who worked for the Right until discovering what her technology would be used for but the Right trapped her the egg. She escaped and started rescuing children before others like Mr Sinister could destroy them. Nanny and Orphan Maker teleport away as Jean finds and releases her nephew and niece Joey and Galen who don't recognise her due to Nanny's "pixie dust" drug. The babies and other children are transferred to the custody of Freedom Force who tell them Rusty Collins has been furloughed and so does not have to go back to jail whilst awaiting trial. X-Factor take Joey and Galen to Ship where they recognise their grandparents. Jean and Scott vow to find her sister eventually.

And so we have the wrapping up of the fates of several of the characters from across the crossover. It always seemed a little strange that Scott and Jean so easily accepted that whatever else she did Nanny would care for the children such that they could focus on saving the babies without even making any attempt to track Nanny for later. It's also unclear where the children were kept during Nanny's appearance in the Avengers issues when a good chunk of her ship was destroyed to cover her escape. Although the origin given here makes some sense to give Nanny a credible backstory and motivation she has still been an irritating character throughout too many appearances over the event.

There's also the breaking up of the X-Terminators with the youngest members returned to their school whilst the older ones are left slightly up in the air with hints that they won't be going back to school at all due to institutional nervousness about "incidents". Although it's only mentioned in a caption box at the end, the X-Terminators went on to formally join the New Mutants in issue #76 of their series, thus putting an end to any prospect of another X-Terminators series exploring young mutants living around ordinary humans. It's a pity as the idea had potential though the wards of a publicly known team were probably not the best characters to explore such a situation.

This issue is a landmark as the first Marvel story to be drawn by Rob Liefeld. And it's not the greatest though compared to some of his later work it's clear at Al Milgrom and Tom Vincent managed to rein in some of the excesses. But even through those filters the art frankly isn't very good. It took me several reads of the page to make sense of the scene where the Beast leaps atop Nanny and she throws him forward so he goes through the hole in the roof of X-Factor's ship and into Nanny's where he crashes into the control panel. Liefeld often omits backgrounds (which Vincent sometimes tries to compensate for with colour only indicating buildings and the like) and it can be very confusing as to what's just happened. There are other trade marks such as characters hovering in mid air, awkward poses, groups of characters altering their position relative to each other between panels, two left arms for Cyclops on one page, huge hair (in some panels Jean's is absolutely enormous) and even a few pouches. It's fairly easy to beat up on Liefeld's art and to make him a scapegoat for everything that went wrong with Marvel or the comics industry as a whole in the 1990s (which isn't fair but he was heavily involved in some pretty key moments) but when it makes the comic hard to read and very odd looking then it invariably gets called out. Why anybody thought this was the way forward is a mystery.

But apart from the art this is otherwise a relatively straightforward issue in wrapping up various threads on the periphery of Inferno and finishing off the Nanny subplot before it drags out for too long. There's a real sense of calm closure at the end with all the main plot points resolved and all five members are now clearly sorted out without any more heavy lifting. This is a satisfying conclusion to the main part of the crossover.

(Don't go away though. There's a few more relevant issues to come.)

X-Factor 39 - Inferno

Cyclops's eyes are fully opened.

X-Factor #39

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Walter Simonson
Inker: Allen Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

At the ruins of the mansion the newly arrived Beast and Longshot fight against Mr Sinister and Malice/Polaris whilst the rest of X-Factor and the X-Men recover. Cyclops finds Mr Sinister is blocking his eye power and starts to remember him from his youth, including how he arrived in the hospital where Scott was taken after a plane crash and intervened when the young mutant's force blast blew a hole in the roof, knocking him out for a year. Sinister explains how he discovered Scott when the latter used his powers to reduce the impact of falling from a plane then had him transferred to an orphanage he ran and arranged for his brother Alex to be adopted to keep them apart. However before he could act Scott ended up with Professor Xavier and so Sinister prepared a trap by cloning Jean Grey then using Madelyne to secure a baby with potential. When the real Jean Grey reappeared Sinister set about cutting his losses now he had the child. Havok attacks but Sinister is unaffected and has no interest in the second Summers brother, ordering Malice/Polaris to kill him. Sinister continues to explain how he put blocks on Scott's power and buried his presence so no telepath could detect it but ultimately couldn't control the blasts with mental powers and had to resort to ruby quartz glasses. The others recover and through a telepathic conference they co-ordinate an attack, first knocking out Malice/Polaris then Wolverine disposes of Sabretooth. They release Havok who taunts his brother and fires plasma blasts at him which only have the effect of powering him up. Sinister breaks free and grabs Jean to kiss her. This riles Cyclops who overcomes Sinister's block and blasts him to fragments. Cyclops congratulates Havok on his tactics in powering him up as the X-Men head for home. Cyclops reflects on how he been vaguely aware of what he now knows was Sinister's influence and it drove him to try to be perfect but failed over the years.

And so we get to the final main chapter of Inferno (though there are several epilogue issues to come) with a showdown with Mr Sinister and more retcons to establish him as a longstanding presence in Cyclops's life. Why he has been so interested in one Summers brother but doesn't want the other is not explained beyond a "I could have if I chose" boast. I'm not sure just how much of Scott's childhood from the plane accident to the orphanage had been covered before the run-up to Inferno or just what if any contradictions there were in different accounts of those days that this telling sorts out but the insertion of Mr Sinister as a presence throughout his life is clearly intended to explain some of the awkward characterisation over the years, most obviously his desertion of Madelyne. The script doesn't quite go so far as to have Mr Sinister say that the desertion was directly because of him - indeed he instead blames it on Jean luring Scott to X-Factor - but Archangel voices it. It is as if the villain is intended to be a stand-in for the higher hand of editors over the years who have forced so much upon the titles that has had to be adapted to. But whilst it's possible for readers in the know to blame editors not writers for some of the messes, and there's also the reasonable defence that this development took place before Louise Simonson started writing the title, within the narrative it is still a weakness to resort to a supervillain manipulating everything as an excuse for past terrible characterisation.

There are many alternative ways the situation could have been handled but most of them required doing things differently when the series was created. Perhaps Jean could have been left for dead after all and the fifth female member of X-Factor could have been someone else - perhaps Polaris (a Silver Age member of the X-Men) or Dazzler (as seems to have been the original plan) or even a new character. Maybe Scott could have convinced Madelyne he had to return to his days in the costume and even taken her with him rather than just leaving her the moment the news of Jean's resurrection came. Having both one's wife and ex girlfriend around could have made for some interesting dynamics especially with the complication that Madelyne looked just like Jean. But all this required doing the start of the series differently. Instead first Scott walked out, then a large amount of time passed before he even tried to contact Madelyne and then a big crossover event (the Mutant Massacre) took up multiple issues so by the time a new writer was able to get him to travel back to Alaska it was not credible for his absence to have been a sufficiently short time for an easy reconciliation. The solution of just simply making Madelyne disappear as though she had never been there was tried, with the additional question of whether she had somehow been an amnesiac Jean all along to continue the long running tease, but it was insufficient especially once another writer brought her back. And so ultimately we get a tale of long-term manipulation with this issue adding elements to make Scott look better. It may convince Archangel but it's easy to see why many fans never truly accepted the explanation and Cyclops never fully recovered as a character.

It's also surprising just how major a factor Mr Sinister has been given how few issues he's been in. This is only the seventh comic he's appeared in and six of them have been chapters of Inferno. Although built up as a series unseen force there's something awkward about one-off villains being used to explain major story developments over multiple years. Also of surprise is that Sinister's relationship with Scott at the orphanage is not explained further. The hints all point to this "father" of Madelyne being Nathan (hence the son is named after all three of his "grandfathers"), the boy who tormented Scott and this has since been revealed as the planned origin of the character. However he gets killed off pretty quickly and doesn't return from the dead until later writers were on the title who infused their own ideas. "Mr Sinister" is actually quite a silly name for a villain, the sort of thing a child would come up with and the idea that one actually did is worth exploring more. Over the whole crossover there's been a lot of potential shown for the character and it's easy to see why he went on to become one of the leading X-Men villains not just in the comics themselves but also being an early presence in the toys and 1990s cartoon but he could have used at least one more story with his creator to be refined further. Also killed off surprisingly easy is Sabretooth as Wolverine casually deploys his claws though Sinister's use of cloning technology and the surprise resurrection of other Marauders provides a clear way to revive the character.

This is a surprisingly low key resolution to such a big crossover with just the two teams and three villains on a pile of rubble at the end and only one other character shown in a flashback. But Mr Sinister has not been directly part of the story of demons from Limbo invading Earth and instead has been the driving force behind the creation of Madelyne who got out of everyone's control. This is more of an epilogue to the main event and this probably explains why this issue and Uncanny X-Men #243 were not included on the advert for Inferno back in the summer of 1988. But it's still essential to the overall story as it resolves the role of Mr Sinister and brings closure for both X-Factor and the X-Men.

As an action showdown this is a strong piece. But as a retcon trying to fix one of the biggest problems caused by the creation of the series it's not the best approach, resorting to long-term manipulation by a basically new supervillain. However at this stage, and to be honest probably for the preceding couple of years, there isn't really a way to absolve Cyclops in a fully convincing way. At best one can parody the external influence that created the situation and it's not Simonson's fault that the problem was created. So this issue does as best as it can.

X-Factor 38 - Inferno

The many versions of Jean Grey come together.

X-Factor #38

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Walter Simonson
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Madelyne Pryor prepares to sacrifice her baby son Nathan Christopher Charles and tells the combined X-Factor and X-Men how she will gain power and have revenge upon them all. There are still demons around that are loyal to her and she sets them upon the two teams whilst also influencing them. The X-Men become more demonic and attack X-Factor, calling them "mutant hunters" which Cyclops explains was a now abandoned cover but Storm says they have seen no news of any change. She then remembers Madelyne is the one who collected the news for them and realises the teams have been manipulated to keep them apart. Madelyne tells Jean how she subconsciously used her powers to make Cyclops lose a previous fight with Storm that gave her the leadership and led to him quitting the team. She then offers Death/Angel power for revenge on all who have hurt him and he starts to succumb. The fight is complicated further when Dazzler and Longshot, both now incredibly vain and seeking the spotlight, start turning on other X-Men who they see upstaging them. Death/Angel frees Jean from her bonds but then Madelyne creates a forcefield around her, Jean and the baby. Madelyne tells how she was a clone created by Mr Sinister and Jean realises that just as with Phoenix she has again been duplicated with her duplicate unleashing dark power. Madelyne continues with how she has some of Jean's memories and the two realise that when Phoenix died and tried to return the portion of Jean to the original but in suspended animation she rejected the images of destruction and so the force found the genetically identical Madelyne instead making her everything that Jean rejected. With Madelyne's influence on the X-Men now fading they start coming back to normal and along with X-Factor they try to find a way to break through the forcefield. Wolverine convinces Havok to help who agrees but tells Cyclops he still doesn't approve of his actions and his brother admits he isn't proud either. Madelyne continues with how Mr Sinister arranged for her and Cyclops to get together and then once the baby was born and Jean returned he took steps to erase all trace of her ever having existed but the X-Men prevented the Marauders from killing her. Psylocke works on Longshot and gets him to find the weak spot in the forcefield which the others all blast. Madelyne explains how she censored news to manipulate the X-Men to stay apart from X-Factor. Then came S'ym and N'astirh driving her over to the darkness. She now prepares to destroy herself despite Jean's pleas. The forcefield is breached and Cyclops rescues his son so Madelyne unleashes an explosion of energy but fails to kill the boy. Mind locked with Jean she dies and tries to take Jean with her but the piece of the Phoenix force within her emerges and returns everything to Jean who now accepts it and absorbs them all. The demons vanish and the Empire State Building is restored. Death/Angel reflects and takes the name Archangel. Both teams reflect on what they've been through - and the need to confront Mr Sinister.

And so we have the final showdown with Madelyne Pryor amidst a major infodump issue that seeks to retcon a lot of the events of the last few years. Many readers were not happy with the way Cyclops was written through them whether it was losing a duel and thus the leadership of the X-Men to a depowered Storm or leaving Madelyne the moment he heard Jean had returned from the dead or failing to search for her afterwards until she had completely disappeared. In addition the length of time it took for the two teams to meet had become far too long. Although Louise Simonson's script has Scott admitting he is not proud of his actions, much of the blame is removed from him through the destruction of Madelyne as a character. Instead of having simply been corrupted by the influence of demons it's now revealed that through her creation and the intervention of the Phoenix force she was using her power to undermine Scott much earlier and then using her position to keep the two teams apart whilst Mr Sinister intervened to keep her apart from Scott. It's written in such a way to make it seem as though it was all planned and does its best to redeem Scott without going the whole hog and just having him mentally manipulated for years. It also makes a lot more sense of some of the more problematic elements caused by the creation of X-Factor. But in doing so it's making Madelyne a far worse character than a woman corrupted by outside influences.

With the Phoenix revelation Inferno effectively becomes an explicit sequel to the Dark Phoenix Saga as now seen through the lens of other retcons. Both stories involved a duplicate of Jean Grey being manipulated by others, ultimately succumbing to the power within her and turning dark (even down to the similar names and costumes for the Black Queen and the Goblin Queen), bringing down great destruction and finally committing suicide. Given the anniversary nature of the event it's perhaps unsurprising that the X-Men titles would return to their most famous story. And it's also clear that editorial demands wanted Madelyne removed completely with earlier attempts not succeeding. Having a little seen sinister force manipulating events doubtless reflects the editorial interference in the titles over the previous few years. But it can't take away from the fact that Madelyne had been built up as a character in her own right beyond someone who happened to be the spitting image of Jean and had shown herself to be a strong independent female character. Now she's been turned into literally a manipulative witch, used and sacrificed to satisfy the demands of others. It's hard to see how one spouse could have been so heavily absolved without such character assassination of the other but it doesn't sit easily. The reactions of others such as Havok's outrage at how his brother treated his sister-in-law or Jean's reaction to a duplicate of her becoming destructive again do feel credible.

But there's also redemption in these issues with Warren finally coming to terms with his own corruption at the hands of Apocalypse and resisting Madelyne's attempts to bring it out. In adopting the name "Archangel" he makes a clear rejection of all that others have done to him and can now fly tall. However it's surprising that he takes so many years to get rid of the costume Apocalypse gave him - had someone in Marvel signed a licensing agreement that locked him into that look? (He was in the first line of Toy Biz figures in 1991 but that agreement wasn't signed until 1990.) It's a final step up in empowering the character beyond the rich guy who could fly that he had been for so many years.

As a retcon heavy issue much of the action is limited with the further fight between the two teams largely serving to delay them from going after Madelyne but it does also allow for X-Factor to explain once more about how their initial set-up cover got out of control due to the manipulation of another and for the X-Men to realise how they too have been manipulated. The uneasiness between the two teams remains and shows you can't just remove a single point of disagreement and have everyone happy with each other. But all this is the sideshow to a very dramatic ending for Madelyne as she and the writers bring destruction down upon her. It's a well written issue and it solves the problem of Madelyne in the narrative once and for all but as was often the case with X-Factor a lot of heavy lifting was required to get the team to where editorial wanted it to be and this is perhaps the biggest lifting of all through destroying her character completely.

X-Terminators 4 - Inferno

The X-Terminators and the New Mutants team up to try to close the portal and save the babies.

X-Terminators #4

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Jon Bogdanove
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

With demons flowing through the portal Taki realises he's been tricked and tries to shut down the computer but N'astirh and Crotus stop him and more demons come to guard the computer. The other X-Terminators have been freed and Taki creates planes for them to take to the sky to take on the demons and rescue the babies. They are joined by the New Mutants who have also come through the portal whilst N'astirh confront S'ym. N'astirh cannot touch the computer himself without shorting it out so opts to be transformed by the techno-organic transmode virus to allow him to interface with it. As he does so Taki uses his own power to revert the computer to its components causing it to explode, taking N'astirh and the portal with it.

This issue brings the limited series to a conclusion and really exposes the problem with it - there's too much Taki. The character has been on an arc of self-discovery as he evolves from the embittered self-centred kid seen in the first issue to the brave and cunning child who pulls himself to the computer and is willing to give his life to destroy it. But ultimately it cannot disguise that he's an entirely new character to the series that combines a host of unfortunate stereotypes about east Asian Americans and the disabled and he's ultimately taken much of the focus away from the existing characters who are the main attraction of the series.

Although Leech and Artie do little more than pull out the power cord on the computer (which Crotus soon replaces), the other four do get some good moments in the battle as they each deploy their powers and show skills. But there's a strong hint of just where the team is going as the New Mutants fly up to join them with a strong hint that the two groups will soon be merged. As a result this limited series has ultimately been less of a solo showcase for the X-Factor kids and more an additional Inferno story that doubles as a way to bring the two groups together with the addition of a character who is best either totally forgotten or radically overhauled. It reinforces the idea that what was planned as a series based around five of them being at neighbouring boarding schools whilst Rusty started off in jail was hurriedly co-opted to instead serve as the main official build-up for the crossover. This explains the rather limited plot that isn't sufficient to sustain four over sized issues or even give a full conclusion to the saga.

The art is especially cartoony here and doesn't feel the most appropriate for a tale of demons invading Earth. In contrast to the first issue S'ym is now drawn in a more traditional comical form that continues to undermine the character given his role in the story. By contrast N'astirh retains a credible look as a dangerous force and this is even more so after he absorbs the transmode virus.

This issue invariably feels anti-climactic. It's clear that things have only been temporarily stopped for now because there's still so much of the crossover to come. It also feels like the series as a whole has gone in a completely different direction from planned. If there was any plan to give the X-Terminators their own ongoing series then this is not a good sample as to what it would be about. The whole thing would probably have been better done in a single special edition issue rather than bring dragged out like this.

X-Terminators 3 - Inferno

The X-Terminators journey to the mausoleum where Taki has agreed to create a spell casting computer for N'astirh.

X-Terminators #3

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Jon Bogdanove
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: John Wellington
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

There's not a great deal of plot to this issue beyond the introductory sentence above. Instead the focus is on how the X-Terminators use their skills and powers on the journey whilst Taki and N'astirh engage in a battle of wills to get the special computer built in time to hold open the portal to bring the demons to Earth.

The issue opens with the four free kids in a library consulting maps to find the cemetery in Artie's image, a reminder of the very different information age compared to now. It's also a bit reminiscent of a scene in the original Ghostbusters film and one of the panicking readers even mentions the film. The journey to the cemetery then involves tackling a possessed subway train followed by a run in with a biker gang who don't like how close the kids are standing to their bikes - and get them "borrowed" for their troubles. Once again we get to see all four demonstrating their powers and also the constraints such as Rusty being unable to use flame powers in a library or Boom Boom's timebombs being unable to free Rictor's hands from the train doors without blowing up his hands. Skids's powers feel the weakest but she gets to show off other skills such as knowing how to stop the train, a trick all the Morlocks learned. This side of the issue is a lot of fun even though it takes up more pages than it needs, a side effect perhaps of each issue having 28 pages of story.

Meanwhile at the cemetery things are not so good. Taki opts to enter into a game of stalling with N'astirh by insisting on lots of supplies and repeatedly threatening to be too upset to deliver the promised technology. The problem is that this brings out all the worst characteristics of the now code-named "Wiz Kid" (could the character get any more stereotypical?) as he smugly tells the demon what he needs as though he's untouchable. However others are not so safe with two policemen who investigate the cemetery getting captured, one turned into a demon and the other eaten to force Taki to speed up. It's a relief when the X-Terminators arrive and try to save them but by this point the computer is complete and N'astirh is able to use it.

This issue feels overlong for all that happens in it and really suffers from the focus on Taki. Although there are moments where he shows concern for others it's also hard not to see his self-centred attitude being genuine, especially given some of the poses he's drawn in, that shifts his delaying tactics from a genuine strategy into a deliberate strop. Four parts is sometimes too much for a limited series especially when the issues are longer than the normal and this is a series that could have done better in three.

X-Terminators 2 - Inferno

The X-Factor kids find a name and costumes as they pursue Artie and Leech's kidnappers.

X-Terminators #2

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Jon Bogdanove
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: John Wellington
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

N'astirh cannot get the staff it seems with Crotus having failed to grasp just what a baby is having kidnapped Leech and Artie. But the two young mutants soon display their power and Archie briefly transmits an image of his location. The other X-Factor kids and Taki see the image and realise they must head to New York. On the way they break into a clothes shop and adopt new outfits with Taki creating a computer on his chair to access his trust fund and pay for it as well as announcing his machine has a spelling checker which the demons overhear. The kids adopt the name "X-Terminators" and arrive in New York only to find they cannot contact help so will have to find Artie and Leech themselves. Taki notices demons but the others don't believe him until Crotus carries him off. Crotus presents him to N'astirh and declares the boy can use his computer to process information - such as spells.

This issue is rather thin on plot and instead focuses on establishing the characters and also showing the continued kidnapping of actual babies. Everyone gets at least one scene to show their powers whether it's Rictor shaking a coin for the phone out of an old Pepsi machine, Boom Boom blowing up the machine, Skids protecting everyone with her forcefield, Taki rebuilding the machine (to the modern design) or Rusty keeping everyone warm until they get some proper clothes. In the shop Boom Boom and Skids pick new outfits for everyone. Apart from Rusty's top they look more like clothes than superhero costumes and typically for Boom Boom they are very much of their time (and thus now very dated). The demons also get some good moments especially Crotus who is largely played for laughs but shows a determination to get back into N'astirh's good books and then get to eat Artie and Leech. It's not all fun as we see some particularly nasty kidnappings of babies.

But overall this issue prompts the idea that most stories come in three acts and a four part story or mini-series will invariably have one issue that's largely about marking time and focusing on highlighting the characters. This is that issue and whether it works or not depends heavily on whether the characters work. Some work better than others with Rictor feeling a bit of a cipher whilst Taki gets much of the focus but feels too much of a stereotype. But overall they're a likeable enough group to keep the interest going.

X-Terminators 1 - Inferno

The X-Factor children go off to boarding school but don't stay for long.

X-Terminators #1

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Jon Bogdanove
Inkers: Al Williamson & Al Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: John Wellington
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

In Limbo the demons S'ym and N'astirh confront each other with S'ym winning the encounter and declaring his plans to rule Limbo and the realm beyond. He orders N'astirh to kidnap thirteen "power-filled babies" to be used in a rite to achieve this. N'astirh and his followers, the N'astiri, arrive on Earth but are limited by their lack of knowledge of the world and so hunt out small humans "with large heads... no hair... and round... innocent... little eyes..." Meanwhile the children under X-Factor's care are leaving in different directions. Rusty Collins voluntarily surrenders to the naval police in the hope the publicity will help discredit the Mutant Registration Act and help the mutant cause. However instead the authorities plan to make an example of him. The other children are taken to two private boarding schools in New Hampshire. Leech and Artie are placed at St Simons for younger children where they encounter Taki, a young orphan boy embittered by the accident that left him in a wheelchair. It soon becomes clear he has the mutant power to rearrange technology as he slowly befriends Artie and Leech. Skids, Rictor and Boom-Boom are placed at Phillips Academy, a prestigious "prep school" (we'd say "public school") with a number of especially obnoxious pupils. But their time at boarding school doesn't last long as one night the N'astiri kidnap Artie and Leech. With X-Factor uncontactable and the Phillips dorm phone answered by an obnoxious pupil who treats it as joke, Taki sets out to find the others, converting his wheelchair into a helicopter and then a plane. First he recruits the three from Phillips and then they fly to the prison and break out Rusty. The still nameless team fly off to rescue Artie and Leech.

"Now begins Inferno" proclaims the cover. This limited series has long been the overlooked part of the event. It began publication months before Inferno took off and was not mentioned on the adverts for the main part of it. Later in 1996 a trade paperback of the core of Inferno was released and did not include it. It's only been in the 21st century that this omission has been rectified with both the core oversized hardcover and the main two trade paperback volumes including with. Was this omission rooted in 1988? Did the plans for the limited series change suddenly? The build-up in X-Factor had concentrated on the kids going away to boarding school and yet this setting is ditched even in the first issue. Was the series instead conceived as a more or less self-contained affair and only late in the day switched to being a builder for the big crossover event?

It's not clear but it's probably for best that we got something other than a series based around heroes with powers at a boarding school. There's a lot of boarding school fiction around with plenty of possibilities and for a superhero series it would make a contrast to have kids with powers at a regular (in so far as a prep/public school is remotely regular) school as opposed to a small self-contained dedicated school (the New Mutants) or a family of children with glimpses of day school (Power Pack). But it would really require the powers to be hidden in secret rather than for the pupils to be public figures. Over the years the mutant analogy has shifted from race to sexuality and a boarding school set-up would really need the characters' powers to stay a secret to work well. But it's also a tricky scenario to write without descending into cliche about the various pupil types. Not everyone at such a school is an obnoxious tosser who thinks themselves superior because their family can afford to send them there (traditionally the worst are new money) but the other pupils we see at Phillips are all of this type and that's a rather restrictive character base. We learn less about St Simons and it's not even clear if it's a regular junior school or a school for children with special needs as the only other pupil we meet is Taki. Also the plot about Rusty voluntarily returning to prison in the hope of bringing down the Mutant Registration Act is rapidly abandoned.

Instead we get the build up for Inferno. The opening scenes are set in Limbo and establish the two main demons for the event. And S'ym looks a lot better than in previous issues. Gone are the waistcoat and the odd comical poses. He still has a cigar but otherwise he looks much tougher and fiercer, vastly improving the character's credibility. It's astonishing that this comes from the same pencil as the more cartoony pupils at Phillips or indeed Jon Bogdanove's general style. There's also a fun scene when N'astirh and the N'astiris arrive on Earth and encounter a parody of William Gaines, the publisher of EC Comics, in a cemetery that includes a grave for Fredric Wertham, the psychiatrist who led the mid 1950s campaign against comics that drove many out of business and led to the constraints of the Comics Code Authority. The Code was revised multiple times over the years and it's hard to imagine a horror story like Inferno would have been allowed in the early years so it's nice to see such a retort.

This first issue has a lot of setting up to do and so most of the existing characters don't get much development at this point. Instead we get the various shifts to get the kids back together and out to rescue Artie and Leech. Although it has a lot to do in setting things up it works to pull everything together by the end of the issue and get things going.

West Coast Avengers Annual 3 - The Evolutionary War

The West Coast Avengers have split in two as the High Evolutionary's plans step up a gear.

West Coast Avengers Annual #3

This annual is unusual in that instead of one big story focused on The Evolutionary War followed by some shorter back-ups it has two separate stories from the war. This is because it came out at a point where the West Coast Avengers had split with Mockingbird, Tigra and Moon Knight leaving the others amidst the break-up of Mockingbird and Hawkeye's marriage. It's notable that all three of Steve Englehart's annuals are set very specifically between issues of the relevant ongoing titles which helps continuity and those constructing chronologies but it can also present a slightly confusing status quo. Here the details of the split are not gone into and instead we have two tales of the separate factions that both end with the same scene of Hawkeye's team discovering a hole in the Savage Land.

1st story: Head you lose --!
Story: Steve Englehart
Layouts: Al Milgrom
Finishes: Gerry Talaoc
Letters: Bill Oakley
Colors: Marc Siry
Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Chief: Tom DeFalco

The first story focuses on the High Evolutionary's attempts to steal a supply of vibranium from the Black Panther's kingdom of Wakanda. One of his technicians turns out to be Bill Foster, the former second Giant Man, who hides a note on one of the Gatherers who are easily defeated by the Wakanda forces. The note informs the Panther there is a much bigger scheme afoot and to call in Hank Pym. Pym himself is unavailable but the rump of the West Coast Avengers arrive and face down another squad of the Evolutionary's called the "Sensors" - Sight, Touch, Sound, Smell, Taste and Intuition - who battle the team whilst the vibranium is stolen.

This story is particularly notable for making use of previous chapters and we see there was a purpose to the High Evolutionary's restoration of the Savage Land back in X-Men Annual #12 as he is now operating out of a base there so it's good to see later chapters of the saga building on earlier events. It's also notable for the odd way Mantis is written with very little dialogue even in panels when she is the main focus and clearly drawn to be speaking. This was reportedly another effect of the breakdown in relations between Englehart and his editors with Mantis at the centre of the storm.

Unfortunately the short length of this story combined the initial scenes set in the Evolutionary's base and the battle between the Gatherers and the Wakandan forces means the official West Coast Avengers are only seen for eleven pages of their own annual. The split nature of the team and the story may have created such a constraint but the outcome is a rather slight contribution by one side.


2nd story: Tales you win!
Story: Steve Englehart
Layouts: Al Milgrom
Finishes: Chris Ivy
Letters: Bill Oakley
Colors: Marc Siry
Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Chief: Tom DeFalco

The breakaway team have travelled to the Savage Land for reasons not given here and spend the first part of the story meeting with Kazar and learning how the Savage Land was restored before deciding to investigate the Evolutionary and his base. They just knock on the door and are surprised to be let in and taken to the Evolutionary himself who calmly announces his plan as, "I'm building a bomb which, when detonated, will mutate everyone on Earth!" He subdues them with gas and puts them into a hi-tech maze to test their suitability for genetic experiments. All three quickly overcome the respective robot sent to deal with them but Tigra and Moon Knight seem to spend too much time interested in each other's company to advance far through the maze and so only Mockingbird reaches the Evolutionary who expands in size. But so do does Bill Foster who resumes his role of Giant Man (although not the costume despite what the cover shows). With the vibranium captured in the other story the Evolutionary opts to relocate to build his bomb and so abandons the base, blowing it up.

The return of Giant Man is clearly meant to be a big thing in the annual with both stories quickly summarising his origin (and his original risky name of "Black Goliath) and also how he contracted cancer but was cured by a transfusion from the original Spider-Woman; however his body could no longer stand the strain of size changing. However he infiltrated the Evolutionary's operations to use the equipment to develop a serum to restore growth and use the gained mass to cleanse his body. There's a bit too much technobabble about how it works but the result is that a real life terminal disease is cured through fantastical elements which is a bit insensitive (although up to the transfusion the detail was first shown in earlier comics rather than here).

This chapter is more focused on the series's actual characters and provides some good action scenes. Unfortunately it fails to explain just why they happen to be in the Savage Land in the first place and the way Tigra and Moon Knight seemingly hook up in the middle of the maze does neither character any favours. But it does take a strong step forward to advance the Evolutionary's plans rather than being yet another side element in the overall scheme. The split narrative allows for different elements of the story to be given equal weight but it comes at the effect of atomising the individual strands so that neither feels too satisfactory. This is an innovation in story telling that doesn't work.

3rd story: The High Evolutionary: The Final Frontier
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Ron Lim
Inks: Tony DeZuniga
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The saga has now reached the original stories featuring the High Evolutionary. Curiously very little of his first appearance in the pages of Thor is retold here and instead the chapter opens with the Citadel of Science launching for the stars at the end of his encounter. Then we see how out in pace the Evolutionary found a new planet and settled there with the New Men, mutating more animals to provide them with wives and leaving them to build the world whilst he continued with his experiments. But instead the New Men devolved into savagery and he had to find a being to bring order to the planet - who turned out to be the Hulk. But the Evolutionary was mortally wounded in battle and could only survive by submitting himself to the genetic accelerator becoming a being of pure thought.

There's less to say about this chapter as it's recounting mid Silver Age stories that had the same writer and a greater element of consistency compared to the massive accumulation of back story the first eight chapters had to wade through. It's a pity the Evolutionary's first appearance is not recounted in more detail as it would be interesting to see how readers first encountered him. Also omitted is an explanation as to how he managed to stay looking so young when he would have been in his 60s or even older at the time of these tales. Instead we get the first big sign that the Evolutionary has made mistakes with his New Men not proving the successful new race he hoped for and the first sign of how he would repeatedly have to turn to outside help to get the products of his experiments under control.

Also included is a pin-up gallery which takes a more whimsical approach than most. There's also the unused cover for issue #14 (which was replaced by the line-wide 25th anniversary format of a headshot of a single character in a uniform frame).

Overall this annual is aiming high but rather misses the target. It's trying a different formula for telling the story but it results in two separate chapters that each feel in substantial when a combined single tale could have felt much stronger. This also pushes out any back-up stories that could have enhanced the overall feel of the special and the result is a bit of a disappointment.

X-Factor Annual 3 - Inferno Prologue/The Evolutionary War

The High Evolutionary's grand scheme begins with the forced sterilisation of the Subterraneans.

X-Factor Annual #3

1st story: Unnatural Selection
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Terry Shoemaker
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

It's not immediately clear what the rationale behind the order of The Evolutionary War annuals is. As we'll see the mutant and Spider-Man books are not evenly spread throughout the whole affair. Nor is there any pattern to the power levels of the lead characters in individual annuals. Instead the order seems to be somewhat at random. Sometimes the High Evolutionary's schemes will specifically draw him into the world of some characters. But on other occasions it's random as to which heroes will turn up to deal with any particular problem as happens here.

The High Evolutionary has put together a squad known as the Purifiers who are here charged with sterilising the Subterranean races as they have been deemed an evolutionary dead end who need to be cleared before accelerating the evolution of Earth as a whole. But one Moloid, who calls himself Val-Or, has developed a form of telepathy and cries out with most psychic beings around the world hearing the cry. X-Factor go to the rescue of the Subterraneans and rescue Val-Or then fight back. Meanwhile the High Evolutionary's activities have attracted the attention of Apocalypse. Both seek to use evolution to push humanity forwards but Apocalypse prefers caution and natural selection, initially seeing the High Evolutionary as impatient and forcing evolution. The two engage in a conflict both physical and verbal as they trade their differing philosophies until they teleport underground where Val-Or's survival and fighting back persuades Apocalypse that the Evolutionary's methods are indeed encouraging natural selection after all.

As the opening chapter of a grand event there's a lot riding on this issue but unfortunately it doesn't impress well. The confrontation with Apocalypse is clearly intended to help introduce the High Evolutionary by exploring his goals but it also demonstrates that X-Factor has its own evolutionary focused villain who comes across as more impressive. Also the Subterraneans are not natural X-Factor/X-Men characters so it's a little odd to find the team being the ones to come to the rescue when the cry is also shown being heard by members of other teams such as the Avengers who are not shown either coming to the rescue or failing to locate the incident.

This leaves a rather unimpressive issue that is an okay X-Factor story as they rescue a mutant from another species but a very poor opening to the whole saga. The lead villain is poorly introduced and undermined at the same time whilst there's limited encouragement to go out and get the rest of the saga. Back in 1988 an annual cost almost twice as much as a regular issue and so for a regular reader of only a few of the titles getting the whole saga would involve paying a lot more than their regular expenditure. On the basis of this chapter alone there's little encouragement for anyone but a completist to do so.


2nd story: Changes!
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Tom Artis
Inker: Joe Rubinstein
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

X-Factor's young charges are fooling around on Ship when they come across the Beast and his photo album. Through the photos the kids see how each of the team members has changed over the years and how X-Factor itself has evolved. They then look ahead to being sent away to school.

This is a straightforward infodump story. There's no real substance to this and there isn't meant to be. Instead it's a handy little refresher on the history of the main characters that also serves to introduce them better for anyone picking up this annual because of the wider crossover. There's also a hint dropped for the X-Terminators limited series coming up soon. This year saw annuals increased to 64 pages overall (including ads) and rather than extending the stories even further it's good to see a return of such features that spotlight history and/or supporting characters not normally given the limelight.


3rd story: The High Evolutionary: The Gift
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Paris Cullins
Inks: Tony DeZuniga
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Herbert Edgar Wyndham, an amateur British scientist in 1928, is experimenting with using radiation to mutate rats. Having exhausted his inheritance he seeks academic recognition and sponsorship to advance to the next stage. At an international conference on genetics he meets an American student called Jonathan Drew but also receives a setback when a leading geneticist of the day argues against experiments until the genetic code is mapped, fearing financial and political masters will have their own ends (one of the other attendees is a young Arnim Zola who would go on to be a leading Captain America foe). But Wyndham doesn't want to wait. That evening in the bar a mysterious stranger with a glowing face hands him instructions on how to break the genetic code.

This is the opening chapter of a recounting of the history of the High Evolutionary that is sometimes left out when this annual is reprinted outside of The Evolutionary War. It is unsurprising to find this was written by Mark Gruenwald, so often the keeper of Marvel continuity in this period. By this point the High Evolutionary had been around for more than twenty years with stories by many different writers and the result was a convoluted mess that Gruenwald here sets out to untangle.

It's a straightforward opener that establishes Wyndham as a young man in a hurry who rashly overspends his inheritance and then finds his research dead ended until the sudden breakthrough comes. The themes of the High Evolutionary's character are there to see from the outset. The mysterious stranger is glimpsed in the background throughout the conference and creates an intriguing mystery as to who he is and why he has chosen to given Wyndham the secret. This saga is off to a good start and does far more than the main story to encourage people to keep buying and reading.

Other material includes pin-ups of Jean Grey by Walter Simonson, the original X-Men by John Byrne and the original covers to X-Factor #8 by Jerry Ordway and #16 by David Mazzuchelli. Overall this annual is only so-so. The problem is the lead story isn't the best example of X-Factor going and does a poor job of opening the overall saga The other features are more interesting and show a good use of the expanded format but it's the lead feature on which things hang.

X-Factor 50 - Acts of Vengeance

A simple glance at the cover shows the struggling demands, with banners for both "Acts of Vengeance" and the conclusion of "Judgement War" trying to fit into the top right-hand corner. Being a double-sized anniversary issue the prospect of having to give it over to a line-wide crossover must have irked even more than most. And so this issue is divided into two stories covering the two demands.

X-Factor #50

Writer: Louise Simonson (all)
Penciler: Rich Buckler (main)
Penciler: Terry Shoemaker (back-up)
Inker: Allen Milgom (main)
Inker: Hilary Barta (back-up)
Letterer: Joe Rosen (main)
Letterer: Michael Heisler (back-up)
Colourist: Tom Vincent (all)
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The lead story sees the conclusion of X-Factor's adventures on an alien world full of mutants as they seek to free themselves before the Celestials destroy the planet, eventually coming to unite the planet's different factions. The story is very much a metaphor for the team's aims on Earth as they inspire others to rise up and work together. It's also the conclusion of some long running threads in the series, in particular Marvel Girl struggling from having absorbed the personality and memories of Madelyne Pryor and in turn Phoenix. This is one of the least explained elements so for new readers dipping in it becomes a confusing struggle. It seems clear that this story was written under the assumption that issue #49 would also carry an "Acts of Vengeance" banner and thus that issue would serve as the introduction for readers arriving via the crossover, whereas here everything gets on with the action. Read in isolation this tale offers classic new reader confusion.

The back-up story is a six-page piece "Meanwhile on Earth" as Apocalypse confronts the mysterious strange who soon reveals himself as Loki. This issue officially came out the same day as Thor #413 and so in theory this would not have broken the secret. However big crossovers have a frustrating habit of shipping out of order, made worse by the higher demand sometimes making it harder to find regular issues. And there's nothing in either of the two issues explicitly stating which way round they should be read. (It's a problem repeated by some of the attempts to create a general Marvel chronology that have found the off-Earth epics in both X-Factor and New Mutants to be significant problems for the chronologies of both "Acts of Vengeance" and "Atlantis Attacks" in the 1989 annuals and wind up having to put this issue right near the start.) It's also a surprise that Loki so willingly reveals his identity, shocked that Apocalypse hasn't worked it out. Notably Loki is depicted here in the costume introduced by Simonson's husband Walter during his run on Thor, whereas the main chapters of the crossover opt for his classic Silver Age look, again emphasising the disjointed nature of the story. Both this and the revelation feel like more failures of co-ordination and communication. The rest of the story is predominantly a fight in both physical and verbal form as Loki and Apocalypse trade blows and arguments about why the "Acts of Vengeance" are failing, the nature of humans and of being worshipped, until Caliban intervenes and then Apocalypse demonstrates the Celestial technology under his control. Loki some storms off in a huff.

Overall this issue is trying its best with demands that are clearly irritating the writer. It may not do a good job at explaining the ongoing storyline to new readers drawn in by the crossover banner, but given how well the previous issue did that one must assume that it was meant to have the banner as well. And although the "Acts of Vengeance" demands clearly irritate Simonson to the point of having the book's lead villain drive Loki out of the issue, it's done in a reasonably solid way. But given when this issue was published it was a very dubious idea to use Loki's real identity as it could have wound up as a spoiler. Overall this back-up is an okay little sideshow, but the lead story isn't really of interest on its own.

X-Factor #50 has been reprinted in:

• Essential X-Factor volume 3 (2009)
• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011 - second story only)

X-Factor 49 - Acts of Vengeance

This issue doesn't carry an "Acts of Vengeance" banner but does contain a couple of pages that touch on the crossover. Otherwise it's a chapter of an ongoing storyline with the regular characters off world. Perhaps some other issues might have taken a similar approach. Oddly two of the worst offenders have the same writer and editor.

X-Factor #49

Writer: Louise Simonson
Layouts: Paul Smith
Finishes: Allen Milgom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colourist: Tom Vincent
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

This issue is faced with the difficulty that it's not possible to have the heroes take part in the crossover because of where the regular storyline has taken them. Nor is there a regular member or associate left behind on Earth who can carry the show. So instead the task of participating in the event falls to the book's main villain, Apocalypse, as he monitors the situation and finds the central alliance bizarre. His comments are telling:

Most of these evil masterminds would not, of their own wills, associate with each other. They behave oddly, so much out of character -- in some cases as to be baffling. Someone else is behind this conspiracy. Someone whose motives are quixotic and strange... but whose will... and powers... are overwhelmingly strong.

It's hard to disguise the author's commentary on the situation, pointing out the plot holes in the centre of the story and, perhaps, criticising the mastermind behind it in real life as well as the one in fiction. "Acts of Vengeance" created more problems for both X-Factor and New Mutants than for most titles and Simonson's irritation at what was no doubt a compulsory participation (whereas it seems to have been voluntary to take part in "Inferno", for which Simonson wrote the majority of the core titles) is understandable. The arrival of the mysterious stranger with an offer to join the alliance suggests further discussion on the subject.

Otherwise the issue is the penultimate part of "Judgement War" in which X-Factor have been transported to a planet with a technologically advanced but culturally mediaeval society. In this chapter a brainwashed Iceman has to fight Archangel in the arena as part of the power struggles, whilst the Beast and Cyclops work with rebels to free their friends. It's amazing to realise this issue is by the same writer as New Mutants #84. Both are the penultimate parts of long running sagas with the team away from Earth and both have just two pages taking part in "Acts of Vengeance", although New Mutants is the only one to include a banner on the cover. But whereas that issue is an impenetrable mess for new readers brought in by the crossover, this one is careful to introduce the characters and situation through narrative captions to make it clear just what's going on. It's almost a pity it doesn't have the banner, because this is how to make the best of such a situation.

This is a series that's firmly sticking to doing its own thing and bluntly saying so. However it's also doing it in a way that any extra readers brought in by the broader event are catered for. The Apocalypse scenes are good in themselves but the issue as a whole isn't that essential to the crossover, but does get credit for doing the best it can to meet the conflicting needs of the varied readership.

X-Factor #49 has been reprinted in:

• Essential X-Factor volume 3 (2009)
• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011 - just the Apocalypse pages)

Punisher War Journal 12 - Acts of Vengeance

The late 1980s saw the Punisher surge to such popularity that within two years he had gone from having no series at all to being only the second Marvel character to have two ongoing monthly series. The two titles largely orbited each other in their early years, making passing reference to events in the other series but normally avoiding crossovers. Companywide events can be harder to avoid but rather than running one long story told over all titles (as with the Spider-Man books both here and during "Inferno"), it instead goes for a two-parter in the older title and then a sequel that readers of the other series don't need to be aware of. It's not immediately obvious why this is, although if Punisher War Journal was only sold in the direct market then it may have been to avoid confusing newsstand readers who would only have been able to access half of the story. It also means that sequential collections of either title don't contain the parts from the other.

Punisher War Journal #12

Story: Carl Potts
Pencils: Jim Lee
Inks: Al Milgrom
Background inks: Don Hudson
Letters: Jim Novak
Colours: Gregory Wright
Assistant Editor: Rob Tokar
Editor: Don Daley
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Unfortunately for contemporary readers this would all have fallen down due to the order in which the books were released. Despite clearly taking place in the order Punisher #28, Punisher #29, Punisher War Journal #12 and Punisher War Journal #13, they were instead released in the order Punisher War Journal #12, Punisher #28, Punisher War Journal #13 and Punisher #29, thus beginning the sequel even before the original story. This arrangement looks even odder when noting that Carl Potts was the editor on Punisher and the writer on Punisher War Journal. One possible explanation is that Punisher War Journal began coming out approximately every six weeks but stepped up the frequency to monthly with issue #10 and this threw the planned schedule with no time to insert a fill-in to restore it.

The problems don't arise until nearly halfway through the issue when we get a scene of the Kingpin and Doctor Doom continuing their taunting of one another about how easy it would be to take the Punisher down, with Doom brushing aside his reasons for not doing so in the earlier story before the Kingpin takes on the task and opts to contract Bushwhacker, a former foe of Daredevil. The method of recruitment is interesting, with the mysterious stranger first sent to bribe a news anchor on "CMN", a twenty-four-hour news channel that Bushwhacker watches, to deliver coverage that approves of the vigilante but disapproves of the mercenary. Then he contacts Bushwhacker, claiming the Punisher is an ally of Daredevil as the clincher.

Earlier in the issue we get a classic use of the split page technique to provide parallels and contrasts between the two strands of the story, as Bushwhacker is introduced whilst on a missing to kill a modern artist who is also a low-level mutant, whilst the Punisher attacks a group of drug importers by the dock. It's a good sequence in its own right but it also helps to introduce the Punisher to readers who may be encountering him for the first time, though this effect is limited when the issues are put in chronological order. Later the Punisher's origin is used in the story, further introducing him but also providing a rationale for how Bushwhacker is able to locate him when he makes his annual pilgrimage to the site where his family were killed.

Normally the villains in Punisher stories don't live past the end of the story, making it difficult to accumulate a long-term set of recurring foes. However as Bushwhacker originated from another series there's a possibility he could be an exception. An ex-priest who then worked for the CIA before turning mercenary, he has a cybernetic arm that can form itself into a variety of guns, making him difficult to literally disarm. His history compares and contrasts well with the Punisher, suggesting good future potential.

Overall this is a pretty strong issue that works well in introducing both the hero and foe and setting up the conflict in a way that works for both new and regular readers. It's unfortunate that at the time this came out of sequence but now that's no longer an issue.

Punisher War Journal #12 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011)
• Punisher War Journal by Carl Potts & Jim Lee (2016)

Avengers Spotlight 28 - Acts of Vengeance

It's been a recurring theme throughout these reviews that "Acts of Vengeance" as a whole hasn't made the best use of the big public debate about whether superheroes should be cheered or feared and if there should be government registration of them. By and large this has been left to one title with others only making passing reference. So it's nice to see that both stories in this issue address the themes, coming from different angles.

Avengers Spotlight #28

Writer: Howard Mackie (first)
Writer: Dwayne McDuffie (second
Penciler: Al Milgom (first)
Penciler: Dwayne Turner (second)
Inker: Don Heck (first)
Inker: Chris Ivy (second)
Letterer: Jack Morelli (all)
Colourist: Paul Becton (first)
Colourist: Mike Rockwitz (second)
Managing Editor: Gregory Wight (second only)
Editor: Mark Gruenwald (all)
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco (all)

The first, written by Howard Mackie and drawn by Al Milgrom, is a straightforward tale of Hawkeye and Mockingbird discovering that criminals are posing as them to commit a string of bank robberies in Denver at a time when superheroes are increasingly blamed for the upswing in attacks and destruction. So they fly out to the city to clear their names and discover the truth of what's going on. The resolution to the fight involves one of the best uses of Hawkeye's particular characteristics and couldn't have been done by most other heroes. All in all it's quite a simple little piece.

The second is an interesting tale of the Mad Thinker setting out to help the heroes. Invited to join the leaders' alliance (in a flashback) he declines and instead makes clear he has worked out who the mysterious stranger is - "It's obvious if one thinks about it." Indeed it does seem that way. The Thinker is more concerned with the potential backlash that could undermine his own plans, so he commissions obscure giant-sized villain Leviathan, renames him "Gargantua" and sends him to attack a rally against the proposed registration act that the Wasp and Wonder Man are about to address. Gargantua isn't the most threatening villain ever and is entirely reliant on transmitted instructions but that isn't the real aim of the attack and instead everyone else wins.

Neither tale is particularly substantial but that's in part down to the restrictive format of just eleven pages with the rotating strip not really being able to carry things forward. However at this stage it's good to see some uses of the wider situation around and variations on the formula to produce some more original stories.

Avengers Spotlight #28 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Omnibus (2011)

Avengers Spotlight 27 - Acts of Vengeance

This series now returns to the usual format of two separate strips with different creative teams, though both take part in the crossover.

Avengers Spotlight #27

Writer: Howard Mackie (first)
Writer: Dwayne McDuffie (second
Penciler: Al Milgrom (first)
Penciler: Dwayne Turner (second)
Inker: Don Heck (first)
Inker: Chris Ivy (second)
Letterer: Jack Morelli (all)
Colourist: George Roussos (first)
Colourist: Mike Rockwitz (second)
Editor: Mark Gruenwald (all)
Editor II: Gregory Wight (second only)
Editor III: Tom DeFalco (all)

First up is the series's regular Hawkeye strip. This is quite a straightforward tale of Boomerang being recruited by the mysterious stranger who convinces him he can't beat Iron Man but can instead score a victory over Hawkeye. The two clash in New York with explosive results. It's interesting to note that it's the mysterious stranger who here recruits Boomerang, rather than one of the six leaders he's assembled, and given the stranger's powers such as being able to transport himself instantaneously it does raise the question as to why he even needed to assemble an alliance of leading villains, especially as they haven't yet done much together. The combination of boomerangs against arrows seems so obvious that it's a surprise that it hadn't been done before, though as Hawkeye had only had a regular solo strip since the start of this series there may not have been the opportunity. The fight results in a lot of damage from Boomerang's weapons, setting a building on fire. Hawkeye has to rescue a woman trapped on the upper level, but her reaction is a reminder that not everyone is so grateful for superheroes and all they bring. It's good to see the proposed Super Human Registration Act is having an impact beyond the Fantastic Four issues in which it's being discussed and that heroes bring trouble as well as salvation.

The second strip headlines no less than five of the reserve Avengers, Firebird, Captain Marvel (this is Monica Rambeau), Moondragon, Black Widow and Hellcat, as they struggle with the Awesome Android near the site of the sunken Avengers Island. This gives the opportunity for a lot of former female members to be seen again. It's also a good consequential story as it focuses on the continued salvage efforts, with the discovery that several androids that were held in suspended animation have escaped, making for good use of continuity and allowing for the fact that with such a disparate group drawn from different eras it's probable that some of them will have encountered the foe - indeed Captain Marvel was leading the team at the time the Android was taken down. Unfortunately with five leads plus Stingray all competing for attention in the space of eleven pages there's not a great deal of development and the resolution is totally deus ex machina as Captain Marvel shows up and immediately fishes out the right equipment to neutralise a foe against whom the use of powers is counterproductive.

The two-strip nature means both tales are relatively brief but the lead puts in a standard piece of foe switching whilst the latter takes a different angle of foes released in the action. Unfortunately there's not enough space for much development and the latter has too great a cast of heroes for the space available but otherwise these are making a good effort to build on the wider events and show the consequences.

Avengers Spotlight #27 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Omnibus (2011)