Damage Control Vol 1 4 - Inferno

A flashback to the time Wolverine got a pie in the face.

Damage Control #4

Writer: Dwayne McDuffie
Penciler: Ernie Colon
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colorist: John Wellington
Editor: Sid Jacobson
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Multiple construction sites have been raided with a large quantity of building materials stolen. The police turn to Damage Control to investigate and John Porter immediately spots a pattern so takes a team to investigate the site of the X-Mansion. John and Bart Rozum see rubble after its recent destruction but Robin Chapel, Lenny Ballinger, Gene Strausser and Albert Cleary see a mansion as normal and Robin remembers visiting before John and Bart joined the company. She remembers how Damage Control did repair work for Professor Xavier during which Gene fiddled with the electronics of the Danger Room. The members of Damage Control and the X-Men found themselves trapped in the room as a simulation of Groucho Marx led a stream of clowns in attacking them as they tried to reach the emergency controls to shut it down. Professor X declared that he had to protect knowledge of the Shi'ar technology in the Danger Room so he used his powers to remove Damage Control's memory and make them see nothing out of the ordinary at the house until their wills overcome it. Back in the present this has caused the team to not see the ruins until now. It transpires the Danger Room's systems are stealing the building materials to rebuild the mansion so they shut off the power. As the company hasn't been contracted it doesn't try to rebuild the mansion. The materials are returned and John tells the police he will maintain confidentiality, privately telling Robin the X-Men died as heroes and he wants to honour their memory.

"Inferno continues... interminably" proclaims a triangle on the cover but complicating matters is that this limited series was clearly delayed in publication with earlier issues featuring either the Avengers line-up of Dr Druid, She-Hulk, Thor and the Black Knight or the Thing in his extreme mutated "pineapple" form after both those were no longer the status quo in their own titles. Similarly here we get an Inferno issue four months after the event is over. To be honest this is more of a satire on the way some crossover events seemingly go on for ever rather than a forgotten part of the story that successive collected editions keep overlooking and I guess in 1989 this was more funny than "Secret Wars II continues in this issue" which at the time could still send people running for the hills.

Damage Control is a very tongue in cheek series, taking a serious concept such as how all the damage from superhero fights gets fixed so quickly and adding in a lot of satire. This first series starts by playing on the various conventions of superhero comics but then evolves into more general humour with the third issue poking fun at corporate publicity and stunts whilst this issue is mainly an excuse for slapstick comedy. Dwayne McDuffie would later admit one of his ambitions had been to throw a custard pie in Wolverine's face and he gets to do that here both on the cover (which wrongly depicts Wolverine in his costume from his solo series) and in the book, with Professor X declining to erase that memory. The flashback is played straight, an invariable consequence of the X-Men's current status quo that makes it difficult to do this sort of guest appearance in the present day, rather than parodying the way series often resort to this mechanism to insert extra adventures, usually emergency fill-in issues.

Overall this issue isn't trying to make any wider points about comic conventions or the industry or wider corporate practices. Even the way some characters use their powers to keep things secret for the public is played straight to force a flashback rather than explored as a means by which the illusion of the ordinary world is maintained. There's a moment where John immediately spots a pattern in the robberies that points to the site that nobody else can see which may parody contemporary amateur detective fiction that often had such moments of instant deduction but otherwise this is really just an excuse to get a pie into Wolverine's face and have him on panel with Groucho Marx. Inferno collected editions are missing nothing by not including it but it's a fun little tale nonetheless.

X-Factor 37 - Inferno

The team find themselves caught up in a rather messy divorce.

X-Factor #37

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Walter Simonson
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Fighting through the demons X-Factor are confronted first by N'astirh, reformed through the transmode virus and now far more powerful, carrying Nathan Christopher Charles Summers. Then appears Madelyne Pryor to confront her husband for the first time since he left her and her rival. The confrontation is explosive with the baby (called Christopher by his father and Nathan by his mother) distressed and threatened for sacrifice whilst N'astirh finds that Madelyne has gotten out of his control and can now only manipulate her through suggestions. The rest of X-Factor advise Cyclops that they must take tougher measures and he reluctantly agrees but Madelyne is extremely powerful.

Looking back it's astonishing that it took a whole three years for this encounter to happen. As discussed in previous posts the whole Scott and Madelyne situation came about because of a clash of visions with Scott having been given a retirement happy ending when suddenly an editorial order came down to reunite the original X-Men causing Madelyne and their child to be casually abandoned both by Scott and the creative team. Madelyne then became an awkward element to tidy away and demonstrated how difficult it can be to undo a superhero marriage when external demands change. Worse still came when one writer had her disappear with all records as though she had never existed but another brought her back into the frame. And in all that time there was no direct confrontation between her and either Scott or Jean.

This issue gives us that confrontation and it's brutal. The ex-couple cannot even agree on what their child is called. Scott seeks to justify his recent behaviour by his belief that Madelyne was dead. Madelyne blames the demons for distorting her through their influence but N'astirh thinks about how the manipulation of Madelyne has gone wrong, as though there's something deeper to her. Although both spouses' sins are touched on and given depth there's a sense that there's something deeper in Madelyne that has made her so willing, as though she bears more guilt for her actions than just the influence of others. There's even a hint that when Scott lost a dual for the leadership of the X-Men to a depowered Storm and opted to leave the team it was because of Madelyne somehow influencing it. Her encounter with Jean is less direct, reacting in anger at her rival trying to comfort her son and siccing demons on her, including her own distorted parents, then declaring her hatred. Madelyne's power is intense and there's something more to it than a mere tool of demons.

There are some other good moments in the issue with one of the more subtle fixes as the Beast literally shreds his uniform and restores his more traditional bare chested look whilst the re-emergence of N'astirh with enhanced powers is handled well to make the demon more credible as the stakes increase. But overall this is very much the eventual meeting of Scott, Madelyne and Jean that we've been long awaiting and it does so in brutal form.

X-Factor 36 - Inferno

The team is finally reunited.

X-Factor #36

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Walter Simonson
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Beast is working with Iceman to deal with more inanimate objects coming to life and attacking people including a whole subway train and also trying to rebuild his relations with Trish Tilby who is struggling to come to terms with the recent changes in Hank but eventually realises he is the same man inside. Meanwhile N'astirh continues to scheme, thinking he has fooled Madelyne Pryor, and communicating with Death/Angel about his deal with Cameron Hodge. Warren determines to track down the demon and his schemes. Marvel Girl is finding her telepathic powers slowly returning as she tries to locate the baby Christopher whilst she and Scott's plane returns to New York. Suddenly a giant portal opens and demons enter Manhattan. All five members of X-Factor reunite in battle and set off to save Christopher from the demons.

This is an issue of coming to terms with recent changes. Warren has spent recent issues on a mission of vengeance and now that's completed he turns to Hodge's allies and protecting his friends. The end of the issue sees all five founding members together in action for the first time since the Mutant Massacre and the final panel is a delight although images of whole teams running forwards are at risk of getting a bit repetitive throughout Inferno. But the bigger acceptance comes from Trish Tilby as she struggles to accept the "strong, cocky genius with fur and fangs and a glib rap" is still the same person as "the Hank I knew... well, he was special. Handsome, gentle, and vulnerable... if not too bright." It's a reminder of just how long it's been since the Beast's mind started deteriorating and how people react to the big changes that often get made to characters. Also highlighted is how Hank uses a glib tongue to downplay the seriousness of a situation for those around him and reduce panic even as he's thinking how to deal with it.

Marvel Girl's development continues as her telepathic link to Christopher seems to be restoring her powers but she's also struggling with why the connection is so strong when he is not her son. N'astirh has also notice how similar she is to Madelyne but also of no use as there is far less darkness to play on. Across both this series and Uncanny X-Men the Jean-Scott-Madelyne triangle has been building up steadily and it's good to see the differing perspectives hinting at the build-up.

Again we get an issue that doesn't advance the overall Inferno plot too much but instead develops the characters and ties up one of the lesser loose ends with the Hank and Trish relationship. The overall crossover has had a massive build-up over many issues but at the Earth end of things the main titles have been dancing around the edges of the build-up. The opening of the portal to bring the demons through should step things up a gear but it's hard to shake the feeling that a relationship between one of the team and a supporting cast member is not the best use of the first issue of a core title in a big event.

X-Factor 34 - Inferno

Death/Angel has his showdown with Cameron Hodge.

X-Factor #34

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Walt Simonson
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Death/Angel breaks into the Right's base in Chicago and smashes his way through both the Right's troopers and demons supplied by N'astirh. It transpires that Cameron Hodge has made a deal with the demon from Limbo to supply a list of mutant children. However the list is intercepted by Nanny, the strange egg creature, who goes to rescue the children first (and kill their parents in the process). This causes N'astirh to withdraw his demons to focus on the collection leaving Hodge to the mercy of Death/Angel. Hodge has captured Candy Southern and is slowly killing her when Warren smashes through and the two have their final showdown. Elsewhere Cyclops has deduced that his son may be held in the orphanage he grew up in in Nebraska so heads off there with Marvel Girl.

This is another issue the pointedly tears down part of the legacy of the beginning of this series. It's doubtful that Cameron Hodge was ever originally conceived as anything more than Angel's school contemporary turned publicity director but over the course of successive issues Louise Simonson built him up into a manipulating villain whose schemes could explain away a lot of the awkwardness about the whole mutant busters cover set-up. Hodge has also driven the destruction of Angel in so many ways, with Apocalypse providing the rebirth.

The issue gives us a strong insight into Hodge's motivation and some of it's tricky. The prep/public school educated snob who thinks himself superior by virtue of wealth and education is a recognisable character trope and his horror at the idea of actual "homo superior" is easy to understand. But his attitude to Warren is complex with hints of homosexual feelings for his school friend that turned to hatred of everything else that made Warren happy - the wings, the team and Candy - and a determination to bring them all down. There are also hints that his bigotry is also driven by an element of religious zeal. The problem is that this all adds up to some rather ugly stereotypes of the villain driven by a spurned gay crush combined with the bigoted religious zealot conservative homosexual. It's a relief when Warren loses control of his wings and they decapitate Hodge. However the effect is reduced by this not being Hodge's first seeming death.

Also conforming to an unfortunate stereotype is the fate of Candy Southern. She hasn't actually been seen on panel for a couple of years and here she is unconscious throughout with her mind already destroyed. It's one of the most casual dismissals of a female supporting character going. Worse still she's not some recent creation but someone who's been around since the Silver Age and was actually the leader of the New Defenders. She deserved so much better than die on the slab.

This is very much Warren's issue though both subplots of Nanny's child collection and Cyclops's search for his son seem to be advancing towards resolution soon. But otherwise we have a mostly action and philosophical issue that resolves his quest and prepares the character for redemption in truly spectacular fashion.

X-Factor 33 - Inferno

X-Factor face the twin threats of the Alliance of Evil and jumpers.

X-Factor #33

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Walt Simonson
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Marvel Girl and Iceman take the younger mutants shopping for items for boarding school but something strange in New York amidst a heatwave with inanimate objects coming to life and attacking people. This includes some of the clothes in the shop. It also transpires that jails have been releasing inmates including the Alliance of Evil who go on an attack spry that brings them to the shop. Meanwhile the Beast's body is fighting off all the outside influences that have been in it over the course of the series and his external form keeps changing between flesh and blue fur, eventually emerging in his fury form with both his strength and intellect restored. Elsewhere the mysterious egg creature arranges a kidnapping of two young mutant children with its henchman living up to the description "Orphan Maker" as it kills their parents. Amidst all this is the looming threat of the Mutant Registration Act with mutants divided over whether to register their identities and powers. Elsewhere Death/Angel is closing in on the Right and Cameron Hodge takes steps to prepare.

Although this is often presented as the first issue of Inferno the crossover name won't appear on the series cover for several more issues and at present the changes to New York are primarily only a backdrop to current events. Instead this issue concentrates on several over developments. The children will soon be going off to school in their own series but also Rusty Collins is still wanted by the naval police for an incident with his powers. This issues brings that to a head as he is finally publicly identified despite his best efforts and decides to turn himself in. The Mutant Registration Act is also a looming shadow with the Alliance of Evil telling the media and the world that they are motivated by opposition to it whilst most of the adult X-Factor members opt to sign but only under their public names. As the Beast's identity is public he has no problems signing completely but still expresses a rebellious streak by making a paper aeroplane out of his form and throwing it at Freedom Force who turn up at the end. Notably though Rusty, the only one of the younger mutants old enough to be legally required to sign, refuses to do so and makes a statement about freedom and human rights. The two ongoing subplots about the children kidnapping and Death/Angel's search for Candy Southern continue apiece. The former is stepping up the action with a very graphic shooting of the parents whilst the latter has surprisingly revealed the organisation he's targeting revealed to be the Right with Cameron Hodge suddenly shown to be alive again despite seemingly dying over in New Mutants #60.

But the big moment of this issue is the restoration of the Beast's blue furry form. Exactly which is the "normal" look for the Beast is a matter of debate. Throughout the original 1960s run of X-Men he was in fleshy form and it was only in the wilderness years of the early 1970s that he got the furry form. But it was as his blue furred form that he gained greater prominence in first Avengers and then Defenders/New Defenders. However when X-Factor began he was soon reverted to the fleshy form as yet another step taken in order to restore even the look of the original five X-Men. Much has been written about the way that big changes and retcons were wreaked on both Cyclops and Marvel Girl in order to get them into place for the launch of the series but it's easy to forget that the other three founding members also underwent changes even though in the case of Beast he didn't lose the fur until the third issue of the series and so was still furry on the cover of issue #1. The next issue caption at the end of issue #32 had proclaimed "...and the change you've all been waiting for!" suggesting that the letters bag at least was not happy with this change.

Much of Louise Simonson's run on the series so far has been the steady dismantling of many of the worst elements from the first five issues of the series that had required a lot of heavy building to get the characters in place for a rather bizarre set-up. To her credit she didn't retcon everything away in the space of a couple of issues but instead slowly used successive storylines to tackle awkward elements like the mutant busters cover or the way Scott had simply walked out on his marriage and child. Not all the changes were complete by this stage but bringing back the Beast's Bronze Age look was another step away. As someone who only discovered the character in his furry form it's natural to see the furry form as the default even though there was a case to retaining the fleshy Silver Age look but Walter Simonson does some striking artwork on the restored Beast both on the cover and in the interior to really make the most of the restored look. However once in action his continuing to wear the full jump suit (though not the cowl) does create a slightly odd look and it's easy to see why this didn't last.

This issue almost hurls the Beast back into action but it doesn't just stop there with the other storylines continuing to develop. But it's the restoration that it's most prominent for as the series continues to determinedly get away from the odd mix of wallowing in Silver Age nostalgia and operating under a cover set-up that bogged down the early days. This is another sign of a title with a strong mojo.

X-Factor 31 - Inferno Prologue

Infectia tries her hardest to get a kiss with Iceman.

X-Factor #31

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Walter Simonson
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Greg Wright
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Infectia storyline reaches its conclusion in this issue. Much of the early part is taken up with Iceman and Infectia's attempts to be alone and intimate on Ship as all the kids and the vessel itself do everything they can to prevent a kiss having been warned by Beast that there's something about Infectia only he can't remember what it is. There's a lot of humour to an operation with a quite serious undertone but Bobby doesn't realise this is anything more than the equivalent of younger siblings being pests. Eventually Infectia tries her power on Ship and manages to persuade it to supply a plane to fly her and Iceman to her home. The other subplots continue steadily. The strange egg creature prepares a being in armour who invades a house and shoots the parents of an infant. A group of hooded people discuss Death/Angel's recent transformation and his search for Candy Southern, noting it will bring him to them. And Cyclops and Marvel Girl face down Freedom Force then learn from Destiny that Cyclops's son is alive and they must return to New York. But the main action comes at Infectia's home as she restrains Iceman then gloats by transforming another man into a monstrous antibody to show him what he has planned for her. However the Beast has realised the danger and arrives in time to take the kiss himself.

This is a storyline that has run on for a few too many issues so it's good to see it finally resolved even though the ending is shocking and also confused as the Beast is depicted in both flesh and furry forms. There's also a decent logic to it as nobody knows for certain just why it's dangerous for Infectia to kiss Iceman so nobody tries talking to him and he later admits he wasn't listening anyway. Instead they go for the less subtle approach of interruption. Infectia is written in a mixed form. She shows cunning when she tries her power on Ship and manages to coerce it into briefly helping her but she also shows foolishness in gloating rather than getting the long awaited kiss over and done with. And it's still never explained just why she is so desperate to get hold of Ship.

The other subplots are continuing but risk overstaying their welcome. Both the egg and Death/Angel get a single page each. The egg storyline continues to be highly mysterious without much sign of just where it's going. Death/Angel's search looks like it will soon reach a climax. But for readers of only X-Factor the conclusion of the encounter with Freedom Force must be something of a disappointment. Although Uncanny X-Men readers would already know that Madelyne didn't know where her son was, those readers that lacked this knowledge would be disappointed to find no great clues come out of the whole encounter. Instead it ultimately boils down to a quick fight and then Destiny muttering some obscure comments about threads of the future being tangled in the past and a displacement of place and time. The whole trip to Dallas has been necessary but this is ultimately not very revealing in the overall search.

Overall this is a mixed issue. There's some good comedy and tragedy in it but it also shows just how long one story strand has been running for and doesn't do too much to advance the big quest. The shocking climax does make it highly memorable and provides for a strong cliffhanger.

X-Factor 30 - Inferno Prologue

Infectia sets out to seduce Iceman...

X-Factor #30

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Walter Simonson
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

This is an issue with quite a lot going on over several different strands. Death/Angel continues his search for Candy Southern. A strange egg shaped creature is stalking the suburbs of Omaha. The kids are continuing to practice their powers through playing with Iceman in ways that Cyclops does not approve. Cyclops and Marvel Girl fly off to Dallas to confront Freedom Force about the last moments of the X-Men and Madelyne Pryor. But the main thread comes as Iceman and the Beast go out on the town to enjoy X-Factor's popularity only to encounter a monster pursuing Infectia.

The underlying concept of X-Factor may be that the original X-Men have grown up and are taking their mentor's vision to the next level but it's clear some have grown up rather more than others. Iceman is still very carefree, playing around with the younger mutants like an elder brother rather than acting like a teacher to sensibly develop their powers. Although he's been on several teams over the years (including the X-Men, the Champions and the New Defenders) it's only now that he's found true fame and popularity and willingly accepts the invitation to the Hard Rock Cafe to enjoy his adoring fans. Meanwhile the Beast's intellect continues to deteriorate to the point that he flees when a woman approaches him and later struggles to articulate what he sees in an alley and so Iceman won't listen to his warnings. Instead when Infectia runs in pursued by a monster Bobby rushes to defend her and accepts her word that the monster pursuing her is lying, rapidly succumbing to her charms though they don't yet kiss in this issue.

There are some fun moments in this issue and the best is when Bobby and Hank are about to leave Ship and are reassured by the living vessel that the kids will be looked after sensibly with "a nutritious dinner and then we shall view a film explicating the political situation in Central America..." Once they have taken off Ship suggests "Chiliburgers with French Fries. And Apple Pie for dessert?" plus a Rambo film. It's delightful to see how Ship is not a mere processor but has a real personality and cheekiness to it.

Unfortunately it's still not clear just why Infectia wants to get control of Ship and so this story is starting to drag out even though it offers many good individual moments. The multiple subplots are building steadily but it can be tricky to have too many on the go at once. Tension is building but there is only so long it can build for.

X-Men Annual 12 - Inferno Prologue/The Evolutionary War

The X-Men face Terminus in the ruins of the Savage Land but not all is as it seems.

X-Men Annual #12

1st story: Resurrection!
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Art Adams
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Bob Harras
Chief: Tom DeFalco

The X-Men are drawn to the ruins of the Savage Land where they encounter the High Evolutionary as he seeks to restore it and what appears to be the destructive alien robot Terminus. Teaming up with the Land's survivors they defeat the robot and discover its true nature. En route Colossus meets an old friend and her young son.

This is a rather odd entry in The Evolutionary War. The Evolutionary's aim to restore the Savage Land ultimately succeeds but it's never made clear just why he's seeking this. Nor do we get conventional conflict even though he is working with the Savage Land's Mutates who have some plans of their own. The encounter with the Fall People is also convoluted from a modern perspective as it draws heavily on events only seen in the pages of Classic X-Men.

Classic X-Men is now one of the most obscure sources of Marvel continuity of all (perhaps only rivalled by scenes and revelations set in the main reality that appeared in the pages of What If...?). This series reprinted most of the first 100+ issues of the series and in the early years it expanded out the page count with extra scenes and back-up stories. But in general these have been ignored with other reprints omitting the extra pages and guides generally not stopping to include details. However in 1988 things would have been very different and for many readers Classic X-Men would have been how most regular readers of the series would have known the early years of the New X-Men if at all. So drawing heavily on material that had only appeared in Classic X-Men made sense in 1988 but less so when reading issues in later reprint runs.

So characters like M'Rin, the chief of the surviving Fall People, and C'Jime, the giant flying fox with a ship on his back (no really) are introduced as familiar to Storm and readers but confuse later readers. It's also clear that Colossus and the Fall woman Nereel had a brief relationship on his previous visit with her son Peter being the product but she declines to tell him and he doesn't realise this despite so many clues including her son having the same name as him. Also treated poorly in this story is Dazzler who spends a lot of time first crying about Longshot's disappearance and then worrying when Rogue absorbs his power and realises this means she's also going to find out how Longshot feels about Dazzler. This trend of treating the character as a ditz is prominent in both X-Men stories in this annual and won't end here. This is a far cry from the confident young woman trying to pursue her career and handle her powers who held her own series for several years.

There's also a resort to undoing a lot in this story. The Savage Land had been destroyed for several years in real time, a change that lasted surprisingly long, but is now returned to its traditional form. The true foe is brought back from the dead along with convoluted revelations that neither the Terminus seen here nor the one who destroyed the Savage Land are the real one. And at the end of the story Psylocke mindwipes all the inhabitants to cover up the X-Men's involvement. The accusation that around this time Marvel wanted to "end innovation" has been made elsewhere and disputed in other places but it's hard to deny that this story is one massive reset switch.

All in all this is a rather disappointing tale with the plot stretched out more than it needs be and some of the characters treated as idiots. However Art Adams's art does a lot to rescue it but it can't hide the feeling that this crossover was regarded as an unwanted intruder on the series.


2nd story: I want my X-Men!
(No specific credits are printed. All the listings I've seen online credit exactly the same team as the first story.)

This is a satire on trends in the comics and more general media industry as Mojo reacts to the apparent death of the X-Men with fury... because their adventures are his top rated show. So he sets out to find some new stars and auditions numerous variant X-Men until along come the X-Babies who evade execution and rapidly prove a ratings hit.

As a protracted satirical piece there's more emphasis on humour than plot with some fun scenes such as Mojo's discussion with his "Brains Trust" who are drawn as the creative team (though the one who should be Glynis Oliver looks more like former editor Ann Nocenti to the point online guides are divided over who she is; confusingly Nocenti is also the basis for the returning character Ricochet Rita) with Chris Claremont taking a stand for quality over quantity and getting firmly told just who owns the property or the auditions of just about every conceivable alternative form of the X-Men imaginable - ones we see include a sex swapped team, a version as Transformers (now there's some ideas for Hasbro), a "naughty" team in more sexually revealing outfits (predicting one particular 1990s comics trend), a version of the team as animals, numerous more only mentioned and finally a version as young children. This parodied the trend to do versions of cartoons reimagining the characters as children that started with Muppet Babies and had already spawned The Flintstone Kids and The New Archies with A Pup Named Scooby-Doo about to debut that autumn.

Being more comedy than story this is a nice fun tale though it does continue the trend of making Dazzler ever more ditzy - here her child self spends several pages obsessing over Longshot when he gets turned into a picture by an angry Mojo. Otherwise the younger versions are generally in character albeit with some magnified traits such as Wolverine's naughtiness. The digs at the way the industry works in finding spin-off material are surprisingly prescient given the way the comics industry and especially the X-Men titles were already starting to go. This is a good fun piece.


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

We come to one of the most retconned pieces of Marvel history - the birth of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. I have lost count of just how many times this has been revisited over the years and just how many different parents they've been given. But back in 1988 there were *only* three couples who at one point or another had been assumed to be their parents and this retelling will take multiple chapters to work through them. This chapter tells how a heavily pregnant woman called Magda came to Mount Wundagore and gave birth to twins the night the demon Cthon arose but was driven off by a combination of the High Evolutionary's New Men and the sorcerer Magnus. But as the end of the chapter tells us Cthon had formed a link with the Scarlet Witch that would come to fruition decades later.

Some time has clearly passed since the previous chapter but exactly how much is never specified beyond a period of "over a decade" in which Herbert Edgar Wyndham has continued the genetic transformation of animals into humanoids and Magnus has trained them as knights. This would mean that Magnus has been occupying the body of Jonathan Drew for a long time but it's not clarified if Drew is dead or has been suppressed all this time. As Wyndham refuses to accept the claim that his friend's body is possessed by a sixth century sorcerer the point is not elaborated on. There is also no mention at all of the Second World War even though the length of time given indicates we should be at least midway through it by now. Perhaps Mark Gruenwald saw wisdom in not using the Evolutionary to explain anything either from the Golden Age itself or how particular characters had lived all the way up to the present day which was getting ever further from the war.

It's difficult to tell the story of a monumental battle in a mere two pages but given how much history there still is to wade through it's not clear what could have been dropped for a foe who hadn't actually appeared in that many stories at this point. Nor is the father of Magda's children explicitly identified at this stage, replicating the way it was originally left to fans to guess and marry up information from different series but given his significance in the Marvel Universe it's a surprising omission and it must be remembered that this chapter was going to read by more than just regular Uncanny X-Men readers. The chapter stops before reaching the other two pairs of parents but otherwise shows the backstory to one of the more memorable Avengers stories.


There are no pin-ups or other features in the annual. All in all it's a mixed affair with the lead story serving more as an excuse to restore one of the traditional settings of the Marvel Universe than a tale to develop either the lead characters or the crossover event. The saga chapter also shows the strain of having to retell and co-ordinate so much history in one go. However the X-Babies story is a wonderful piece of comedy and worth the price of admission alone.

X-Factor 29 - Inferno Prologue

New villainess Infectia tries to steal Ship from X-Factor...

X-Factor #29

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Walter Simonson
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

This issue sees the introduction of a new villain, one whom it's hard to imagine would be created today. But this era of comics often still saw new seductresses created, frequently with Walter Simonson involved. Infectia is shown picking up a succession of men in bars and taking them home to kiss - only to transform them into monstrous forms to become her slaves in her initial assault on ship.

It's hard to imagine Infectia being created today. But the 1980s was another era and for now she takes on the role of a femme fatale as she lures multiple men into becoming her slaves for her unsuccessful first attempt to seize Ship. This raises the curiosity that the established rule that only mutants can enter Ship's forcefields doesn't apply to Infectia's slaves as they attack. The resulting battle is fierce and only resolved when Marvel Girl unleashes her full power and causes them to burn out and crumble to dust. It's a pretty dark moment as Jean comes to terms with what she's done.

The main focus of the issue is on character as Jean comes to terms with the believed to be dead Madelyne Pryor and the situation Scott is in. Meanwhile the Beast tries to discuss his situation with Trishy Tilby but is interrupted by Death/Angel searching for information about where Candy Southern has gone. And Iceman is coming into his own role as the team's spokesperson when he finds himself taking command of a press conference about the team's plans to move Ship out into the Atlantic Ocean so it will no longer disrupt New York's shipping lanes. There's a lot of threads continuing to build in this issue but a curse of starting where we have is that no big moments have come just yet.

X-Factor 28 - Inferno Prologue

The team battle Apocalypse's ship as both Cyclops and Death/Angel search for their closest ones...

X-Factor #28

Plot/Scripter: Louise Simonson
Plot/Penciler: Walter Simonson
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

This issue is a further step in establishing the new status quo for the series as the team comes into full control of Apocalypse's ship, discovering its artificial intelligence in the process. There's something almost goofy and retro about "Ship" being a fully sentient character but then the core concept of the series is a throwback to the Silver Age. However the execution of the idea isn't so great as it merely results in the team and the younger mutants battling against a series of mechanical traps as they seek to overpower the system's defences then getting a bomb away before it explodes.

The issue continues the Beast's problems as he struggles with his intellect disintegrating every time he uses his strength ever since Pestilence touched him some issues back. Hank's determination to save his friends and their determination to save him often clash and here we have the spectacle of Iceman freezing the Beast to the floor to prevent him from getting involved in the action; however ice is not shatterproof. Meanwhile both Cyclops and Death/Angel are seeking to reconnect with their closest ones. The latter discovers that his girlfriend Candy Southern has been kidnapped setting things up for later issues. Scott is heading to Dallas to see if he find any clues about the whereabouts of his son but only gets as far as the airport before seeing the news about the ship attacking X-Factor and hurries back. Although he's chosen the hot action over the cold trail, once again we see how readily Scott will drop everything to be by the others' sides, especially Jean's. By contrast Death/Angel's reaction is to leave X-Factor to it, still feeling abandoned by them.

There are some good ideas in this issue but the execution of the core concept is poor resulting in a rather stilted battle that marks the final triumph over Apocalypse. However the long term searches are building up as the key themes going forwards.

X-Factor 27 - Inferno Prologue

We kick off with a sedate character issue that allows us to catch up with the new status quo for the team and series along with some of the key threads going forward.

X-Factor #27

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Walter Simonson
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

X-Factor was a title that by rights should have been a disaster. An editorial mandate to launch a new team reuniting the original X-Men resulted in a lot of heavy lifting to get all five back together. In the process retcons were deployed to resurrect Marvel Girl (Jean Grey) and exonerate her from Phoenix's guilt of committing genocide whilst Cyclops (Scott Summers) had to be hurriedly yanked away from his marriage and newly born child. Along with the apocalyptic end of the New Defenders the result was a mess made worse by the very poor state the series was in at the start. That the title turned around so well was down to Louise Simonson taking over the writing early on and slowly setting about clearing through the various messes of set-up and character actions. To her credit she didn't bring in sweeping changes quickly but instead developed them over lengthy storylines. By the time of this issue the premise of the team has been transformed, ditching the "rescuers posing as Mutantbusters" and instead our heroes have just won popular acclaim and backing. But there's still a lot of work to be done relating to Cyclops and the women in his life, his original girlfriend Jean and his wife Madelyne who astonishingly looks just like Jean.

Looking back on the early years of X-Factor it's easy to see some similarities to the later Spider-Man Clone Saga and indeed the Spider-writers may well have had the fate of Scott, Jean and Madelyne in mind as they struggled to find ways to get Peter Parker back into the webs with his child and possibly also his marriage removed in such a way that didn't denigrate the character. (Indeed some of the office ideas that floated around during the Clone Saga that have made it to public do have a whiff of repeating things done on X-Factor.) Because unfortunately Scott was severely damaged as a character by the way he walked out on his marriage to go and play with his school girlfriend and other mates. Early on Madelyne and their son (who wasn't actually named on page for a good while) vanished with no records existing of them and there was a possibility that Madelyne had indeed been Jean all along. Or there was a corpse found. But Madelyne turned up alive over in the pages of Uncanny X-Men and eventually this would have to be resolved. This issue sees Scott watching the footage of Madelyne and the X-Men seemingly dying but as we'll see that only kicked the can further down the road whilst Scott has renewed reason to find his son.

Otherwise the issue itself is full of character moments as X-Factor and the young mutants they've rescued enjoy public adulation at Christmas and bring joy to others particularly children in hospital. Jean opts to reveal herself to her parents and discovers her sister is missing following a firebombing. Meanwhile the Beast continues to struggle with his intellect failing as he uses his strength. And Apocalypse has repaired Ship and gifted it to X-Factor.

A slow paced character piece is actually a very good place to start all this, bringing readers up to scratch with the current characters and events whilst also seeding of the threads for the issues to come. There are some nice moments such as the kids arguing about Leech's idea to donate the gifts they've received to a children's hospital or Apocalypse giving a rather sinister Christmas toast. The Simonsons have a strong grasp of the characters and the series is now free of the chaotic set-up it began with. This is a title definitely moving forwards.

New Mutants 86 - Acts of Vengeance

Given the protracted build-up for this issue it's fair to see expectations are higher than usual. And not only is this the series finally devoting a full issue to "Acts of Vengeance", but this is also a landmark for the creative team. It's the start of the run by Rob Liefeld.

New Mutants #86

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Rob Liefeld
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colourist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Ah Rob Liefeld. It's astonishing to see that at the end of last issue he was actually billed strongly as about to start on the book. This is incredible for someone whose first published story had only appeared twenty months earlier and who had worked on a grand total of just a dozen issues before getting the gig. It's one thing to try a relatively new artist on a long-running book, it's another altogether to be heavily billing their arrival. Looking at this it seems clear that Liefeld peaked way too early and his style got stuck before it developed. Liefeld has his fans, as his sales over the years certainly demonstrate, but also his detractors, particularly given the way large charge of the comics industry started pursuing the style. I'm invariably biased as in the early 1990s I was largely reading titles that had avoided the trend and only first encountered Liefeld's work on a permanent(ish) basis with "Heroes Reborn", which wasn't the best circumstances.

Here the art shows a dynamism but also the odd awkward poses, extra-long legs and titillating shots that Liefeld would go on to be known for, though given the characters involved and Skids's established costume, the most overt are some of the angles of the Vulture's rear. It may be a theme of his story that he's showing there's life in the old man yet but there are some places better not gone. The multiple lines on faces actually works quite well for both the Vulture and Tinkerer, really emphasising that these are wrinkled old men. However the fight scenes are rather confused, with a limited sense of how the five characters are all positioned in relation to each other, and the explosive climax has captions describing what's happening over a two-panel spread that really fails to show the key moments of the sequence.

The plot is straightforward though we get a further dismissal of the wider crossover from Simonson with the Vulture receiving orders from an unseen stranger (but no doubt that particular mysterious stranger) to attack Speedball but decides this is beneath him, later bemoaning "Where's the villainy in that? Where's the prestige? Where's the vengeance?" and instead sets out to free Nitro, another old man being help sedated in a cannister to prevent him using his exploding powers. The Vulture aims to use those powers to show he's a force to be reckoned with. Meanwhile Rusty and Skids escape jail in the hope of capturing the Vulture and proving the value of mutants. However at the end Freedom Force show up, seemingly working for the government once more (another sign of the series's reluctance to integrate well with the wider crossover) to take them away. Later there's an attack on an energy research facility by a new terrorist group, the Mutant Liberation Front, and we also get our first glimpse of the mysterious Cable.

Given all the build-up to this issue and the high billing given to the series's new artist, expectations are flying higher than the Vulture. Unfortunately they're not met with a somewhat simplistic tale let down at key moments by the artwork. However it's good to see some villains rejecting the stock structure and heroes the overall scheme has assigned them as well as to show a villain at times written off as a feeble joke (and subject to more attempts at replacement than just about any without "goblin" in the name) striving to restore his reputation.

New Mutants #86 has been reprinted in:

• Cable and the New Mutants (1992)
• X-Force: Cable & the New Mutants Marvel Premiere Edition (2010)
• Acts of Vengeance Crossover Omnibus (2011)