Power Pack 45 - Inferno

Julie faces the toughest challenge yet - babysitting!

Power Pack #45

Special guest scripts: Julianna Jones
Special guest pencils: June Brigman
Special guest inker: Hilary Barta
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Glynis Oliver
Edits: Carl Potts
Same old Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Julie has a nightmare in which Carmody the Bogeyman taunts her about how the family will never be the same again and how she's growing up but wakes up and Katie comforts her. Later that day she graduates from her current school and has her 11th birthday party. A neighbour upstairs asks her to babysit their toddler Tommy the following evening and she agrees. She wonders if she's grown up or still a little girl and decides the test will be whether she needs to use her powers or not. Tommy proves a challenge, making messes everywhere and crawling off until she finally gets him to sleep. But with only half an hour before his parents return she calls up her sibling to help clean up with the use of their powers. She decides this means she's not very grown up. Later that night she discusses growing up with her whole family and how she'll always be her parents' little girl.

This issue has "Revenge of the Boogy Man [sic] Epilogue" on the cover and so as it's officially branded as the aftermath of the Power Pack storyline from Inferno I'm looking at it here. The cover shows Julie facing multiple images of Carmody but inside that only really occupies the first three pages reinforcing the idea that there was a sudden change of direction ordered upon the series and so rather than continuing to explore the ramifications of a major status quo changer we get this tale about Julie facing growing up.

Julie was named after co-creator Louise Simonson's daughter Julianna - and this issue is the second she's written (after #38) once again focusing on Julie. I don't know if either of her stories are fictionalised versions of events from her own childhood. And as somebody who's a youngest sibling and has never yet babysat I have no idea just what looking after a toddler for the evening is like either. But it is easy to relate to the experience of reaching the end of one school and facing moving on to another even though here we don't have school graduation ceremonies (or at least didn't when I were a lad), especially when one's birthday falls at the end of the school year. Some start evaluating just where exactly they are. Others start distancing themselves from all their previous likes in an attempt. Others still double down on the familiar. This shows Julie taking the first option which is entirely in character for her and approaching it first by drawing up a list then tackling a routine task.

It's a straightforward little character story which speaks to a very real problem children face. But it's not an aftermath issue in any real sense beyond showing the family dynamic is back to normal. The opening sequence may reference recent events but feels a little contrived to justify the cover. This issue's non-inclusion in Inferno collected editions is fully justified but for those interested it can be found in Power Pack Classic Omnibus Volume 2.

Power Pack 44 - Inferno

Power Pack continue saving lives but can they save their parents?

Power Pack #44

Special guest scripts: Julianna Jones
Special guest pencils: June Brigman
Special guest inker: Hilary Barta
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Glynis Oliver
Edits: Carl Potts
Same old Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Or not quite as the opening splash page is signed "Bogdanove & Heath" which has confused many including some online databases. The above list is what was printed in the issue but is in fact the credits for issue #45 accidentally printed in this issue as well and not the Inferno collections, neither Power Pack Classic Omnibus Volume 2 nor the digital listing online includes a correction. The letters page for a later issue reportedly lists the following as the correct team:

Jon Bogdanove - Writer & penciler
Russ Heath - Inker
...and the rest as above.

As we'll see this credit mistake matters more than most as it offers a very different perspective on what's going on editorially...

The issue opens with Power Pack fighting off demons when the portal reverses and sucks them all back into Limbo. Heading home they find their parents are in a permanent state of shock about the revelation their children are powered superheroes. Eventually Margaret breaks down, crying that she just wants her normal children back. Jim tells the kids to go out and they head off to help with the clear-up operation. Several vehicles are frozen in monstrous form and Alex's attempts to use his powers to rescue people reactivate the animated vehicles. They take a busload of passengers to a hospital which is understaffed and overwhelmed when the New Mutants show up. Mirage uses her powers to create solid images of what the head doctor wants - a small army of health care staff to cope with all the patients and a construction crew to rebuild the hospital. Together with Power Pack and the New Mutants they get the hospital into working order until an army unit shows up. Resting the Powers tell the New Mutants about how their parents now know their secret and can't cope with it. Mirage wishes they could help. Power Pack return home to find their parents in an even worse state with Margaret fantasising over a baby doll and Jim rambling on about not being fit parents good enough for their children. Then the New Mutants come in and tell Jim and Margaret that in order to protect their real children from Carmody the Bogeyman they hid them away and created super powered decoys to stop Carmody but didn't realise the parents would be in danger as well or tell them. Mirage pulls images from Jim and Margaret's mind of their desire - their children as normal. Gosamyr uses her powers to convince them then put them to sleep with the four Power Pack children then taking the place of the images then the New Mutants leave them to sleep and wake up with things back to normal.

To cut to the chase this is one of the worst reset switch stories I have ever read. The mistake with the credits will have convinced many readers that someone in Marvel editorial ordered an immediate undoing of the parents discovering their children's powers and assigned a guest writer to carry out the deed, undoing Jon Bogdanove's work. The discovery that actually this issue is written by Bogdanove complicates things but it still seems that some rapid U-turns have been happening. There was a hint on last issue's cover that the children would soon be going away to Professor Xavier's school and the cover of this issue with the children flying off with a suitcase and the New Mutants alongside them would seem to reinforce that plan, though in the issue itself there's no sign of the suitcase. There's a brief moment near the end where the parents have been put to sleep with the images and the real children assume they've been permanently replaced with duplicates as though that might have been part of the plan but that also doesn't match what's shown on the cover.

It's not clear what caused this change back though one factor may be that the planned new setting was now unavailable. This issue would have been published before the destruction of the mansion in Uncanny X-Men #243 which would leave the fate of the school up in the air. Add in the New Mutants' final loss of confidence in their headmaster Magneto after seeing him conversing with N'astirh in New Mutants #73 and it's likely that the school won't be taking in new pupils any time soon. But also there's a total change in the way Jim and Margaret are reacting to the discovery.

Last issue they were initially shocked and in denial when Carmody forced the children to reveal their powers but the parents soon accepted it and showed strength in dealing with the Bogeyman and the children's reaction to him. It's also worth noting that not only do they live in the Marvel Universe where a lot of strange stuff is public knowledge but by this point they've met aliens and superheroes and often had the child of the Fantastic Four over to stay. It was as though they had come to terms with it until a final panel cliffhanger showed their faces suggesting otherwise. Here they are shown experiencing a nervous breakdown and completely failing to cope with the situation. It's such a sudden shift that really isn't convincing as a motivation for the sudden about turn. Both have been shown as so much stronger than this and deserved better. The revelation had been so heavily debated and so built up to that to just suddenly turn around and unscramble the egg is an atrocious decision that suggests the status quo has to be reset all the time. This is a series of children growing up that has been through status quo changes already (whether moving to New York or swapping the powers around) and would do so again during the rest of its run and once committed to it should have built on the revelation with all the potential it offered. Instead this issue just tries to say it was a bad idea to ever make such a move but in doing so it has to undermine the parents in the process.

As for the means by which it's reversed, Mirage's false explanation is an extremely long speech with one of the biggest word to picture ratio ever seen in comics. It's astonishing that anyone would believe a stranger's claim that actually these are artificial duplicates and here are the real children especially as the actual real children's reaction is not in accord with this cover story. It takes a dose of Gosamyr's powers in order to reinforce convincing Jim and Margaret which may be about the only time Gosamyr has been of any use whatsoever but it's in the cause of an awful move to negate such a big development in the series so it does it not excuse the sheer tedium of the awful story that introduced her. A universe were there are many telepaths and magicians offers much easier ways to pull off this sort of reset rather than bizarre explanations and emotional manipulation but finding one with a connection to the Pack at short notice to have this all reversed in a single issue amidst the clearing up after Inferno might have been a bit of a stretch. So instead we get a lousy explanation to implement a lousy reversion.

This is the single worst issue of Power Pack in the book's whole run. Other issues may have silly stories that are best forgotten and the less said about the end of the series the better but this takes a huge development and stops it dead in its tracks through character destruction and a very silly reset method. There's clearly been an element of editorial diktat handed down and it is frustrating when story ideas get vetoed after they've started resulting in these messy U-turns but the result is this mess of an issue.

The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger 4

Crotus tries to drive Cloak and Dagger into committing suicide.

The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #4

Script: Terry Austin
Pencils: Mike Vosburg
Inks: Terry Austin
Letters: Ken Bruzenaj
Colors: Glynis Oliver
Edits: Carl Potts
Trouble: Tom DeFalco

Crotus and two other demons have avoided being sent back to Limbo and have retain Belasco's spell book. Now he plans to break open the barrier to Limbo again. For this he needs to sacrifice "two mutants whose souls are locked in black despair" and settles on Cloak and Dagger, hoping to make them kill themselves to maximise the effect. Dagger has recently lost her sight and is alone in a flat where Crotus impersonates Cloak and tries to destroy Dagger's faith in him. She realises this is not Cloak and lashes out with her light. She stumbles through the flat until realising exactly Crotus is and fires out, destroying him. Cloak is trapped in an energy bubble orbiting Earth resigned to his fate as the air runs out when the other two demons appear. They take on the forms of Cloak's close family and friends to berate him as a failure. He soon spots the repeated phrases and realises they're real so lures them into the dimension in his cloak before the air expires and he collapses. In New York several of the New Mutants plus Boom Boom are tracking the three demons and arrive at the flat where they learn Dagger has killed one. She fires light to guide them to Cloak and Warlock takes them all up into space only to find Cloak's empty cloak and Dagger declares him dead.

As the full title of this series indicates, at the time it was Marvel's position that Cloak and Dagger are mutants, something that's been gone back and forth on many times over the years. Given the soaring popularity of X-Men and related titles it's understandable that Marvel would do whatever it could to seek to attract some of that popularity to other titles and this is one of the issues where their mutant status is actually a key plot point. However it's not clear why it's taken so long for them to have anything to do Inferno. Although only the fourth issue of this series it was bimonthly and came out of a separation of the Strange Tales title which combined the pair with Dr Strange so had been running for longer than the issue number indicates.

A series that hasn't previously been part of the crossover is an odd place to put what is proclaimed on the cover as "Inferno Finale" (not quite as we'll see in a bit) and an epilogue that deals with the fate of Crotus, a character who could simply have been said to have been pulled back into Limbo when the portal reversed and closed. That said it allows Terry Austin the opportunity to write a tale exploring both lead characters under especially adverse circumstances as the demons try to drive them to suicide. Ironically Cloak is already close to death and accepting there is nothing he can do but Dagger has been resisting her situation until now when she agrees to undergo therapy to cope with her blindness. The appearance of some of the New Mutants at the end provides a way for Dagger to get to Cloak was but otherwise feels like it's just there to reinforce the crossover and advertise their presence on the cover.

On the face of it this story doesn't do the best job of introducing the current status quo for readers visiting due to the crossover. However the letters page reportedly carried a piece by Terry Austin summarising his whole run on the strip since it was in Strange Tales so in 1988 this would have been one of the best series for catering to passing visitors. Unfortunately the collected editions (all?) leave out the letters page so it's not doing so good a job at encouraging readers to check out the series (which has been collected in full across two books). But that isn't the fault of Austin or Potts.

Overall this is a straightforward story that takes the aftermath of the crossover and uses it to tell a story exploring the title characters in depth which is often the best sort of crossover issue. Neither Cloak nor Dagger is at their strongest which adds to the sense of despair and makes for a tougher story. It's just a pity that it has a needless guest appearance thrown in at the end.

Uncanny X-Men 243 - Inferno

There's a sinister presence in both Jean's mind and the mansion.

Uncanny X-Men #243

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Marc Silvestri
Guest Inker: Hilary Barta
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

In the aftermath of the Inferno Jean suddenly cries out in pain and erects a force globe. To help her Psylocke takes Cyclops, Wolverine and Storm into her mind where they find Jean's memories interspersed with Phoenix's and Madelyne's with Mr Sinister steadily destroying Phoenix's memories. It becomes clear that Jean and Madelyne's essences are merging but Mr Sinister will destroy them if not stopped. The Madelyne portion initially refuses to help, preferring to see them destroyed but after appeals by Wolverine and Storm and the appearance of Mr Sinister a united Jean erupts with power and expels Sinister from her mind. Jean discovered Sinister was coming from Professor Xavier's mansion and so most of the two teams head there in two groups, one flying and the other through the Morlock tunnel link, whilst the Beast and Longshot take Jean's parents and Nathan Christopher Charles to the surface of Ship for safety. There Longshot and the Beast argue over who should go to join the others. The group heading through the tunnel encounter the Marauder Blockbuster, still transformed into a demonic form and not reverted despite the end of the Limbo magic. Most are overwhelmed but Havok blasts him down and admits he's changed to now do what is necessary with his power. In the mansion's hanger Sabretooth attacks Psylocke and Rogue but the former mind blasts him down. The others find the mansion ransacked and are attacked by Malice/Polaris who is quickly taken down but proclaims that the two have merged into a gestalt and will be killed before being separated. Storm threatens her/them unless she/they talk when suddenly a huge explosion destroys the mansion. Mr Sinister appears and pulls Jean from the rubble then orders Malice/Polaris to kill the unconscious rest only for Longshot to arrive to defend them.

This is the issue that proclaims itself to be both "The 25th Anniversary Issue of the Uncanny X-Men and 150th Issue of the New X-Men". Although slightly late for the former it does nevertheless bring a lot of elements from the past. With the presence of Polaris all seven of the Silver Age X-Men are now present (and even Professor Xavier gets a cameo in the form of a shard of Jean's memory). There's a flashback to the most famous story in the book's history, the Dark Phoenix Saga, as well as a call-back to one of the most memorable from more recent times, the battle between Psylocke and Sabretooth. And there's a return to where it all began at the X-Men's mansion. We even get to see all of the different costumes the various versions of Jean have worn over the years. But this is no wallowing in nostalgia with continued clear signs of how the X-Men have been permanently changed by the magic of Inferno such that even their psychic forms are different. Havok has come to terms with using his power to kill when necessary. Storm is ruthless with Malice/Polaris, willing to risk killing her to obtain information. Psylocke quickly takes down Sabretooth showing how far she has come since their earlier conflict. Longshot realises what he became under the influence of the magic and worries he is still a "nastyman" who could betray his teammates. And the changes are not confined to the X-Men with Jean also transformed.

By effectively merging the memories of Jean, Jean-Phoenix and Madelyne the resulting composite is able to fully take the place of the Jean who was killed off over a hundred issues ago and easily interact with characters who don't know they were two different people. This seemingly includes the X-Men who still haven't been told how Jean was found alive and that the woman they saw die was the Phoenix force impersonating her. Along with the restoration of her telepathic powers it's a step towards fixing some of the remaining confusion caused by the requirements first to kill her off and then to bring her back that have caused so many of the problems that this whole crossover has sought to resolve. Jean is now vengeful, fully understanding Madelyne's pain and anger at being an artificial lifeform created, used and discarded by Sinister, and is determined to stop him for good. Cyclops is shocked by the implications but the X-Men do not dispute Jean's assertion that this is true to Xavier's dream that led him to found the school in the first place.

The ruthless destructive nature can be found on both sides with the mansion completely destroyed by Sinister. It's not the first time the mansion has been destroyed and won't be the last but it reflects the way that throughout much of Chris Claremont's run this has been a series about change and moving forwards, not resting on its laurels in a perpetual status quo. But it also avoids predictability by showing that not all the changes of Inferno are permanent with Longshot's fears seemingly groundless when the cliffhanger shows him standing up to Mr Sinister and Malice/Polaris in defence of his teammates.

Mr Sinister has been a presence at the edge of the X-Men's life for some time now, with the character first mentioned during the Mutant Massacre two years earlier and then first appearing in issue #221 but only fully confronting the team for the first time in this issue. It's been a steady build-up that has kept the character as a mysterious force to be reckoned with but also gives this anniversary issue another sense of moving forwards rather than back by using a significant villain for effectively the first time. The casual way in which he uses and discards others and even calmly tells Malice/Polaris this when she is trying to assert herself all add to the menace.

This presents itself as a double anniversary issue and does a lot to live up to that without becoming the sort of inconsequential wallowing in nostalgia and reunions that some anniversary issues have been. Instead it takes many elements from the series's past and fuses them together to push things on and show this is a book clearly going forwards not back.

Uncanny X-Men 242 - Inferno

The X-Men and X-Factor meet each other for the first time.

Uncanny X-Men #242

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Marc Silvestri
Inker: Dan Green
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

In Central Park the X-Men have found X-Factor and Madelyne Pryor, who is now in her civilian clothes and playing the meek manner wife. The teams are suspicious of each other, with X-Factor assuming the X-Men are dead and finding them much changed and darker, whilst the X-Men still believe X-Factor to be mutant buster bounty hunters. Several of the X-Men have become more extreme with Dazzler even more of a vain flirt, Longshot incredibly boastful, Wolverine even more ruthless and Havok ever more angry. N'astirh appears and threatens Madelyne at precisely the point when Jean is under attack by the demons who were her parents, forcing Cyclops to choose which woman to save - and he saves Jean. N'astirh takes Madelyne and Nathan Christopher away on a demonic coach with Havok grabbing onto the rear. At the Empire State Building Havok re-declares his loyalty to Madelyne who, now in the Goblin Queen costume again, proclaims him the "Goblin Prince". As they enter they are seen by Colossus, returning from helping the New Mutants, who cannot get into the building so proceeds to climb it. N'astirh plans to use Madelyne's energies to create a permanent link between Earth and Limbo by sacrificing Nathan Christopher, which his mother agrees to. In the park the battle between the two teams continues to rage until Storm takes Jean aside and the two renew their friendship. N'astirh attacks and both teams united to fight him, with Iceman directing Colossus at the demon who is pained by contact with the Russian's steel form. Combining their knowledge and powers they subject the techno organic demon to extreme cold and heat that causes his circuits to malfunction then Storm destroys him with a lightning bolt. Cyclops is displease with X-Men killing but Storm asserts her right as leader. However Madelyne now grabs Jean...

This is another double-sized issue yet curiously neither this nor the double-sized X-Factor #38 are the final issues of their series's contribution to the crossovers. This would appear to be a later change of plan as neither issues #243/#39 was included on the main advert for the event. Perhaps somebody got confused about anniversaries. As we'll see issue #243 proclaims itself to be both "The 25th Anniversary Issue of the Uncanny X-Men and 150th Issue of the New X-Men". That latter is true providing Giant-Size X-Men #1 is not included in the count which perhaps may be the source of confusion but either issue is a little late for celebrating the 25th anniversary on time which would be either an issue published in June or cover dated September so anywhere between #235 & #238 is the best guess (precise dates of publication for Silver Age comics aren't always clear due to varying sources and practices but for what it's worth in 1993 both the X-Men and Avengers - which originally came out on the same day - made the peak of their 30th anniversary celebrations the September cover dated issues released in July). But also adding to the complications are the succession of villains and key moments to be dealt with.

There's no denying the landmark significance of the issue. The original five X-Men have not appeared altogether in the series since issue #66 some eighteen years earlier. Much has happened since then, including the transformations of both the Beast and Death/Angel, the seeming death and return of Marvel Girl, the marriage and separation of Cyclops and the formation of X-Factor. It is undeniable that they have all changed in that time but they still believe in the original vision of Professor X. But it would be wrong to see them as simply a set of Silver Age characters whose presence allows for a contrast with the-then modern Dark Age successors though the scene where Cyclops and Storm argue about who is living up to the legacy of Professor Xavier's vision is more than just a continuation of their conflict over the leadership of the X-Men or a sign that X-Factor is still believed to be working as mutant bounty hunters despite the cover having been publicly abandoned some time ago.

For the X-Men have become much darker and this is not just the influence of the magic of Limbo. Over time they've become steadily harder and more ruthless with their foes, reflecting a darker world. Not all have changed at the same pace with some having noticeably found themselves disgusted at they've done but this is a team that has come a long way from even the early days of the New X-Men from before Jean was replaced by Phoenix. This is shown most dramatically in the way that Psylocke forces her way into Jean's mind without the latter's consent or when Storm calmly asserts that N'astirh needed to be destroyed and she had every right to make that decision.

Killing off N'astirh is a shocking moment even though he was only created for this storyline. Of the two feuding demons in Limbo he is by far the stronger creation and it would have been better to take advantage of Inferno to replace the far too comical S'ym with a far more dangerous threat should the realm be returned to. But the more immediate needs of this strand of the crossover is to remove the villains in succession and show the darkness of the modern X-Men so the more immediate needs take priority over the long-term needs. And removing N'astirh allows for a much greater focus on Madelyne in issues to come.

A large chunk of the extended issue is taken up with the fight between the two teams which even in 1988 had become a cliche of the genre but here it feels more natural than the average superhero fight over the smallest misunderstanding or disagreement. Instead it's a clear sign of the two very different paths the different team members have been on which makes it easy for Madelyne to manipulate them into reacting this way. This meeting has been a very long time coming because of editorial mandates to keep the two teams apart and an immediate team-up was never going to be credible. Old attitudes are brought to the forefront with many little moments between characters such as Death/Angel renewing his hostility towards Wolverine after the latter kisses Jean showing how suspicions remain. Both teams have gone through some unusual developments that add to the suspicions with the X-Men's official death and X-Factor's bounty hunter period both referenced. All this combines to make the lengthy fight a more realistic outcome.

This meeting of the two teams was a long time coming, frankly far longer than it needed to be, and so it deserves to be the main focus for a key issue of the crossover. It's a strong piece that really gets into the different characters and how they've all changed in different directions since the old days, thus giving us not a piece of nostalgia but a strong step forward.

Excalibur 7 - Inferno

Rachel is about to have the wedding of the season.

Excalibur #7

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Alan Davis
Inker: Paul Neary
Letterer: Agustin Mas
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Terry Kavanaugh
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco
Creators: Claremont & Davis

Crotus, N'astirh's lead henchman demon, is wandering through the streets of New York bemoaning this master when he sees Rachel Summers turned into a mannequin in a bridal shop and decides to take her for his own source of power by marrying her. Elsewhere a cinema drags more people off the street into its screen where it shows "Teenbimbowargoreshocker 23" starring Brian Braddock as "Fast Buck" and Kitty Pryde as "the Victim". Within the picture Kitty (Shadowcat) faces off against Brian (Captain Britain) who alternates between a violent servant of the Goblin Princess and himself. Both change appearances with Brian becoming a slasher in a mask and Kitty a cheerleader, a role she hates, and he chases her through a weird high school. Then they encounter Meggan, transformed into the Goblin Princess, who transforms them into ballroom dancers and puts them into a dance for all eternity. Meanwhile Kurt (Nightcrawler) gets eaten by a living dustcart where inside other humans attack him as demon, giving the cart such indigestion they are vomited out. He is then befriended by an animated stone gargoyle and then finds shop mannequins coming to life and attacking shoppers. He learns how the mannequins have come to life and switched places with humans, turning them into mannequins and swapping clothes with them, and realises this has happened to Rachel. Capturing the mannequin in Rachel's costume with the help of the gargoyle they head off to gate-crash the wedding. Brian collapses from exhaustion and Kitty finds herself transformed again as Illyana's Soul Sword appears which she uses to free Brian and Meggan from the spell. Rachel is restored to human form but the gargoyle is destroyed in the resulting explosion.

This is a much more intense issue than the previous one, putting all five members of Excalibur through some nightmare scenarios that manage to parody many elements of culture from crap blockbuster movies with umpteen sequels to classic Hollywood to Doctor Who to Ghostbusters to slasher movies. There's even a visit to the New York branch of Forbidden Planet. The series has firmly settled on the perimeter of the crossover event and is determined to have some fun in the process rather than exploring any of the deeper ramifications.

In part this is done by having Rachel be an inanimate object for the whole issue. Although the mannequins coming to life and attacking people is a clear homage to one of the best known scenes in classic Doctor Who, the idea of humans being switched with mannequins has a more direct influence from an issue of Superman the previous year. In the post Crisis introduction of Mr Mxyzptlk (written and drawn by John Byrne) had briefly done this to Lois Lane but the story treated this as nothing more than a shock moment and it's not hard to see this making more of the plot device as a subtle swipe by Claremont at Byrne as part of the two's ongoing feud.

But also it's notable that Kitty is not present for the final events surrounding her best friend Illyana. Instead she just experiences the Soul Sword and armour suddenly appearing on her and remembers how the last time this happened was when the Beyonder killed Illyana but they reverted when he resurrected her. She just doesn't want to think through the consequences and instead leaves this for post Inferno issues. It's as though someone suddenly remembered all the connections between the characters in this title and the other X-Men books late in the day - in terms of publication Excalibur only joined Inferno with its November issue (cover dated March) when other series had crossing over as early as August (cover dated December) - and then threw these two issues together to explain why Rachel and Kitty hadn't come to the aid of their brother/best friend respectively with a whimsical take on a very dark environment at the same time.

And so we get two inconsequential issues that are Excalibur effectively saying it's a series to stand apart from the other X-Men titles even when it gets dragged into a crossover. Given the way the comics industry was going in 1988 it's actually quite refreshing to find a series that tried to do its own thing rather than getting tied into umpteen other titles and crossovers requiring its to reader to "have" to buy loads of extra comics just to understand the story in their regular one. But for issues whose covers present themselves as core parts of the crossover and a series that was part of the emerging X-Men family of titles there is invariably a disappointment to find such a bolt-on. This is a good satellite issue but that's not what it presents itself at.

New Mutants 73 - Inferno

Illyana goes back to where it all started.

New Mutants #73

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Bret Blevins
Inker: Al Williamson & Mike Manley
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Illyana battles S'ym knowing that she could destroy him but at a terrible cost. Meanwhile others search for her. Sam (Cannonball), Rahne (Wolfsbane), Bobby (Sunspot), Warlock, Boom Boom and Rictor are delayed by a street that comes to life and won't let them pass. Colossus strides through New York alone and forces demons to take him to S'ym. Magneto and the rest of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club are confronted by N'astirh who tries to make a deal with them; Wolfsbane hears part of the conversation and she and the others are soured on their headmaster further. First Colossus and then the New Mutants reach S'ym and discover that Illyana is now entirely encased within a suit of armour. Ashamed she flees into Limbo with the New Mutants following whilst Colossus battles S'ym. Within Limbo Illyana declares she must stay there to rule it as the Darkchilde, rejecting her human side, and that her whole life has led to this moment. Things get worse on Earth with demons attacking the church where Dani (Mirage), Rusty and Skids put up a spirited defence despite their wounds. Rahne realises that because time doesn't exist in Limbo they can save Illyana's younger self from going down this path. Searching through multiple portals they find the six year old girl who first came to the realm but are then confronted by her older self who wants to kill her. Rahne tells Illyana that contrary to what N'astirh claimed there is a choice and she can save her younger self. Returning everyone to New York the older Illyana sucks most of the demons, including S'ym, back through the portal then throws away her Soul Sword. Colossus and the New Mutants find the armour with a voice crying out - inside is the younger Illyana freed from her dark path with the older self having sacrificed herself to save the day. But N'astirh is still on Earth with plans.

This is the final New Mutants issue of Inferno, a special double-sized issue that brings the title's contribution to the crossover to a conclusion. In doing so we also get a very definitive conclusion to the story of Illyana. In addition the regulars get their first encounter with any of the X-Men since the latter's apparent deaths as Colossus shows up to help his sister. Though Illyana herself gets a scene of coming to terms with the realisation that this is indeed her brother, the reaction of the others is limited to Bobby commenting that they though Colossus was dead and Magneto glimpsing from afar the X-Man being carried by two demons and deciding that it can't be him. But it's an appropriate guest appearance for a highly personal tale.

The themes of child abuse and corruption have long been central to Illyana's story as her childhood was stolen and she was brought up around men who used and abused her. One of her abusers was S'ym and now she is stronger and more powerful to fight back - but he is also more powerful than before. She cannot bring redemption through confronting her abusers and instead seems fated to forever be the corrupted being who was once an innocent little girl. Convinced she has no choice in the matter any more there seems nothing her friends can do to help her. The metaphor is strong and effective. The solution less so.

Limbo has been established as a realm where the rules of time work differently from Earth. This is reinforced early in the issue as demons remind Colossus that, "Time different in Limbo. ... One time is all time in Limbo... is part of Limbo's special magic." It's sufficient to prepare for the moment whereby the older Illyana is effectively negated when her younger self is rescued from the realm just after her arrival with the realm's magic able to overcome the logical rules of time travel and altering a character's history making it work in the narrative. But it also feels unsatisfactory given the metaphors. Real life abuse victims cannot just make their torment have not happened. At most they can suppress the memory but it is not easy to simply lock away a bad memory and never think it again. They can help save others from being abused but not turn the clock back. Thus Illyana's end is not so much overcoming the effect of the abuse to live as committing suicide. For the rest of the New Mutants may have saved her from the whole experience and triumphed but for her it's not the best outcome to a story that's been running ever since she first entered Limbo many issues earlier.

The art on this issue manages to capture the themes of darkness and salvation well. One of the main problems throughout the crossover has been the rather silly look of S'ym. Here we get him drawn in demonic poses and coloured especially darkly which makes the character look credible but he really needs to lose the cigar. Otherwise the key moments are well drawn especially Illyana's final transformation and action.

Overall this is an ending that both does and doesn't work. As a story of the New Mutants ending the threat of the demons and saving Illyana it's a viable ending. But as a conclusion to a very personal saga that has long served as a metaphor for child abuse it's utterly unsatisfactory.

Excalibur 6 - Inferno

The British based team get drawn to New York.

Excalibur #6

Writer: Claremont
Penciler: Davis
Inker: Neary
Colorist: Oliver
Letterer: Orzechowski
Editor: Kavanaugh
Boss: DeFalco

Rachel Summers (Phoenix) has a telepathic vision of her brother being tormented by demons and her mother so speeds off to New York to save him. The other members set off to follow her. At Euston station in London Brigadier Alysande Stuart leads a squad of the Weird Happenings Organisation (Who) including her brother and Who scientific advisor Professor Alistaire Stuart in investigating a mysterious steam train from an alternate timeline where the Nazis rule. Rachel flies into New York and assumes the Goblin Queen is her mother, Jean Grey, but it's Madelyne who rejects her. Rachel crashes down to the ground and into a bridal shop where someone turns her into a mannequin. The other four fly across the Atlantic, stopping off on a ship for a loo break, where Meggan finds herself struggling to control her powers to become what others desire. Arriving in New York her powers respond to the demonic energy and she becomes the "Goblin Princess". Kurt (Nightcrawler) is thrown to the ground whilst Kitty (Shadowcat) and Brian (Captain Britain) get pulled into a cinema and find themselves in an action movie.

This issue is from the early days of Excalibur which was usually the most obscure title in the growing X-Men family of titles. Although sharing a writer with Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine (which had just launched), it had a different editor and for the first few years it managed to steer clear of most crossovers, even having one-shot specials that stood on their own instead of annuals that had to be part of wider crossovers. Things changed a bit from 1993 onwards but before then it avoided just almost every X-Men and wider Marvel crossover going. But this issue and the next one are the exception as it got drawn into Inferno.

It's an awkward point in the series to do so. The team had formed in a special edition one-shot six months before the regular series launched and so this is de facto the seventh issue for the team. The title has been setting itself out as a cross between the Marvel UK Captain Britain stories and members of the X-Men who had been away from the team when it was seemingly killed of, with a strong dose of whimsy in contrast to the ever darker adventures in the other X-Men titles. The tone of the series is not a natural tie with a dark crossover like Inferno whilst this isn't the best way to introduce the series to readers passing through because of the crossover.

And yet it would be difficult to ignore it completely. With so much of Inferno revolving around the travails of the women and son of Scott Summers, could his daughter from an alternate future be ignored? But it would be complicated to work a third team into that part of the crossover and there's also the complication that the X-Men are generally presumed dead (along with Madelyne hence why Rachel automatically assumes the Goblin Queen is Jean) which was the reason Excalibur formed in the first place. And Rachel has not yet met her Jean or dealt with the implications retcon that Jean-Phoenix in this timeline was not the original Jean Grey but the Phoenix force impersonating her. That's an awful lot of baggage to handle in a crossover already working through so many other strands and thus it probably made sense to keep Excalibur out of the core rather than removing their raison d'être so soon or engaging in further complicated meetings that are best handled separately.

So instead we get this issue in which Rachel charges off to New York, gets swatted aside by the Goblin Queen before she can really do anything and then transformed into a mannequin, whilst the others make their way with a comedic stop off and then get into generic encounters with demons. For a book with the Inferno logo directly above the series logo, thus signifying a core part of the crossover (as opposed to the satellite issues with the logo in a triangle in the corner), this feels incredibly inessential and it's clear why it's been left out of most collections of the core of Inferno. (Its presence in the core rather than the crossover trade paperbacks seems to be more down to page lengths as they convert two hardcovers into three softcovers.)

There's one fun little subplot that shows a great adoration for Doctor Who. The Weird Happenings Organisation is clearly based on Unit with Brigadier Alysande Stuart's name clearly evoking Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and in a remarkable piece of prediction her brother Professor Alistaire Stuart looks and is dressed somewhat like David Tennant's Doctor but two decades before he came along.

Other than that side moment this is a really disappointing issue. As the next few years would demonstrate Excalibur did not need to be included in every crossover and this issue seems to know what it can't do and then just stumbles as it tries to unite the series's light-hearted tone with the dark sinister world of Inferno. It isn't a great introduction to the series for visiting readers either. Instead it's just an unnecessary issue.

Power Pack 43 - Inferno

The Bogeyman has captured the Pack's parents and seemingly destroyed the family forever.

Power Pack #43

Jon Bogdanove wrote without distraction
Jon Bogdanove, Sal Velluto penciled to good reaction
Stan Drake, Al Williamson and Company inked in fractions
Joe Rosen lettered-in the captions
Glynis Oliver colored this attraction
Carl Potts can't get no satisfaction
Tom DeFalco Chief of Hoo-Haa Action

Carmody the Bogeyman has captured the Pack's parents and forced the children to reveal their secret powers. He takes off across New York with the four Powers in pursuit but anger and an inability to wait to work together works against them. They come across demons attacking people and pause to deal with them. Meanwhile in space Kofi learns the Kymellians have rebuilt Friday the living smartship but the ship's essence is fading away and nobody can understand why. The Bogeyman climbs the Chrysler Building and taunts Power Pack as they approach and attack. They save their parents but are left uncertain what to do with the Bogeyman who will just keep coming back. In anger Alex determines to kill him but the parents talk the children down and tell them they love them still. The Bogeyman is outraged at this display of familial affection and charges at them but goes over the edge, falling into a raging fire. The children take their parents home as the city seems to be returning to normal.

This issue starts with one of the biggest moments in the entire series - the Powers' parents discovering their children have powers and are using them. Much debated both in the series itself and on the letters page the matter has been forced by the intervention of their revenge seeking archenemy, raising the stakes. Inferno supplies the backdrop to the changes in Carmody and also demons who provide a distraction in the chase but this is a highly personal tale focused on their true worst nightmare.

It's a story of discovery with both Alex and Julie finding new ways to use their powers - Alex can now fire multiple smaller powerballs at the same time and Julie can generate a molecular density field of condensed air - along with the family as a whole discovering about each other. At first Jim and Maggie react in disbelief but when they see their children acting to defend the family they remind them they are still their children and loved no matter what with Maggie even reminding Julie of a past conversation when she said she'd love her even if she could fly. Jim and Maggie have been put through quite a bit over the course of the series without knowing why things keep happening to their family so it makes sense they can understand what's happening and not much of a further stretch that they can accept it. However some will find it far too lubby dubby and can sympathise with the outrage of Carmody as he reacts in disgust, recalls his own harsh childhood and then cannot come to terms with the monster he has become.

However the very end of the issue suggests a different track as the children head out to help with the clear-up operation and the final panel shows their parents in total shock. Was a change forced upon this story that we'll see in the next issue? The cover to this one has a scrap of paper on it with "An introduction to Xavier's Sch... Gifted You..." and the cover to the next issue previewed at the end here shows the four children flying away from their parents with a suitcase and crying with some of the New Mutants in the background. Was there a plan to send them off to Xavier's school and overlap with the New Mutants more often?

At its heart Power Pack is a series about family and this issue challenges the dynamic like nothing before it. The dark world around them is as nothing to the darkness that has invaded their family and it's understandable how the children react in fury rather than thinking calmly, whether it's Katie charging off without the others or Alex determining to kill Carmody. And this is that rare issue that truly changes everything, doing so in spectacular style.

New Mutants 72 - Inferno

Illyana's transformation is completed.

New Mutants #72

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Bret Blevins
Inker: Al Williamson
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The demons descend upon New York as N'astirh encourages Illyana to embrace her dark side completely. S'ym shows up and the two leading demons battle whilst Illyana flees. The rest of the New Mutants see the X-Terminators in the sky fighting to destroy the pentagram and take off to help them. They succeed but with several wounded. The surviving members of both teams join together. Illyana finds herself teleporting into surreal distorted versions of life in New York with the twisted demonic forms overwhelming her and taunting her to use the Soul Sword. Eventually she does so as the demonic magics increase due to N'astirh having absorbed the transmode techno organic virus and now having magic in all his circuits. He survives an explosion and confronts Illyana, telling her there is no path of redemption. She uses the Soul Sword again on him and her armour now fully forms, encasing her completely.

This issue demonstrates a major problem with the crossover structure of Inferno. Rather than having separate issues of different series tell distinct chapters that flow smoothly from one to the next it instead has a lot of overlapping issues with characters jumping from one set of pages to another and back. This is why there are so many different orders in circulation for the event though they tend to at least line up around key moments such as the opening of the portal bringing the demons into New York. Sometimes the overlap is especially great the whole narrative jumping between titles. This happens here.

With the exception of Illyana's part of the issue it is very hard to follow in isolation. It overlaps heavily with the final issue of X-Terminators to the point that the battle between N'astirh and S'ym is only fully understandable when the two issues are read in close proximity. The team-up between the two teams is mostly covered in the limited series but here we get more of the rescue of the babies and an extension to the scene of the two teams resting at the end. The two teams are effectively fused in this issue with a redivision based on wounds rather than existing affiliations and this looks like it could lead to a future expansion.

However Illyana's story is mercifully told in a single series. Here we see her descent continue as she becomes ever more a pawn of the demons. Some proclaim to worship her but others are more overt in simply using her. The scene at the end as she sees what she has become and N'astirh tells her that there was never a right path for her once she entered Limbo and everything ultimately led her to this moment is truly chilling. Her continued destruction has driven so much and left her vulnerable to abuse and manipulation, making for a very dark cliffhanger as her only source of help seems to be S'ym (who is drawn and coloured to look more menacing here than usual).

This issue is very much in two pieces. One side is a mess because it overlaps upon another part of the crossover so heavily that it doesn't work well in isolation and even read together it feels jumpy and slightly repetitive. The other side is self-contained and shows a terrifying final descent for Illyana as she truly becomes the Darkchilde with seemingly no escape. The stakes are rising but this issue could have been better structured to get there.

Power Pack 42 - Inferno

Power Pack face their worst nightmare as they discover the Bogeyman really is under the bed.

Power Pack #42

Jon Bogdanove who both wrote and penciled lightly
Stan Drake who finished in ink tightly
Don Hudson inking the backgrounds slightly
Glynis Oliver who still colors brightly
Carl Potts editing nightly
Tom DeFalco Editor in Chief Politely
[And Joe Rosen lettering with credit overlooked unknightly]

(In case you're wondering about issue #41 it was an unrelated issue by a different team that saw the Pack dealing with a landlord committing arson so as to use the insurance to clear his debts.)

In Limbo Douglas Carmody gets changed by N'astirh and sent to Earth. The heatwave in New York coincides with all four Power children coming down with a fever and being unable to join together to use their healing powers to cure themselves as their parents are constantly around. The flat experiences more of the weirdness as living sewage and mildew invade whilst out on the streets Carmody and other demons make their presence felt. The Powers plan to leave the flat to stay at a relative's who has a water supply but Carmody sneaks into the building and confronts them in the lift. Grabbing the parents he demand the children reveal their secret.

Many of the foes thrown into Limbo in various issues have been transformed by the magic there into something far more demonic and dangerous and so it's natural to give Carmody a power upgrade beyond a simplistic man using technology into something far more powerful and dangerous. His demonic form retains his obsession with decency, attacking gangs in the street and then picking on a loud obnoxious fat man and stealing his suit to create a suitably comic appearance for this monstrous foe.

Much of the issue focuses on a seemingly ordinary family trying to survive in the madness caused by illness, the heatwave and now reports of the demons invading New York with the complication that the children could easily cure their illness and deal with many of the immediate problems but it would require them to give away their secret. Meanwhile their parents are suffering the effects of the madness with Jim worn down by the heat and long walk home through streets overflowing with rubbish when public transport packs up whilst Maggie is showing signs of collapsing under the strain.

And then the Bogeyman attacks and forces the children to reveal their identities to their parents.

The debate about whether to tell them or not had been running for a good while both in the stories themselves and on the letters page but seemingly resolved with a decision to not do so. However the cliffhanger to this issue blows so much open and offers a real prospect that a major lasting change is being made here.

This makes the slower pace of the issue feel natural. It's all building up to the key moment at the end so it helps to give us a final look at what life has been like for the parents before the bombshell. Making such a bold move is a shock but also offers true change going forward.

Uncanny X-Men 241 - Inferno

The X-Men delve further into the darkness whilst Madelyne learns she's a gene substitute and a Jean substitute.

Uncanny X-Men #240

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Marc Silvestri
Inker: Dan Green
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Taskmaster: Tom DeFalco

The X-Men find themselves battling the Marauders in the streets of New York as animated objects and demons ravage the city. Most of the X-Men are affected by the magic in the atmosphere becoming or more brutal or vainer. Only Colossus seems immune and he learns from the demons of his sister's overthrowal in Limbo so sets off to help her. In Nebraska Mr Sinister tells Madelyne how she is in fact a clone of Jean Grey created by him after he failed to reach the real one. However she didn't come to life until the Phoenix force came to her at the moment Phoenix died on the Moon. He then gave her fake memories and manipulated her into meeting and ultimately marrying Scott Summers (Cyclops) then later stole her child for his own ends. However Madelyne proves more powerful than either Mr Sinister or N'astirh expected. The demon returns her child to her.

This is one of the single most important issues of the whole series. So let's get the X-Men side of the story out of the way first. There's a clear sign that the magic is twisting them with the artwork drawing them in darker forms - Wolverine almost looks like a demon in some panels - as they become ever more brutal. Although it's not shown on panel the implication is that they killed all the Marauders bar Malice/Polaris though given some of that team have survived a previous death it would seem they're actually clones created by Mr Sinister. Havok no longer has any inhibitions about using his plasma blasts in a way that could kill whilst Dazzler is becoming ever more boastful and vain. Even Storm is seeming to relish in it all. Colossus finds he is protected because of his steel form and realises the only way to help is to try to fight the demons at the source. This is a very dark step for the team as a whole.

But it's the revelations that this issue is most remembered for. As with many of the far reaching retcons in the series how one reacts to them is often tempered by the order in which they found things out. Practically the first ever X-Men issue I read (Uncanny X-Men Annual #17) stated that Madelyne was a clone of Jean Grey and I first read Inferno before the earlier years so I've always read Madelyne with the full knowledge that she was a clone rather than wondering if it was all just one of life's coincidences.

Madelyne Pryor's entire existence has been a by-product of interference by higher powers. No not Mr Sinister but Marvel. Two different orders from on high interfered with long-term plans for the series and forced changes. Originally Jean Grey/Marvel Girl/Phoenix wasn't going to die in the Dark Phoenix Saga but be depowered completely. She and Scott would then be married and retired off, showing there was life after the X-Men. But first came an editorial order that Phoenix had to be properly punished because of the crime of genocide and so she was killed off. Some thirty issues later Scott encountered Madelyne Pryor, who looked just like Jean and suffered amnesia from a aeroplane crash at the same time as Phoenix's death but it seemed to be a coincidence. After a whirlwind romance the two married, Scott left the X-Men, they had a child and moved out west.

And then came the order to create X-Factor.

X-Factor saw the original X-Men reunited as a team and involved a lot of heavy lifting to get all five back together again. Controversially Phoenix was retconned into a separate entity who had impersonated Jean with the original found in suspended animation. And Scott rapidly abandoned Madelyne and their baby son to re-join his old team mates including his old girlfriend. His wife and child became surplus to requirements and a way had to be found to sweep them away. This was not helped by the different books taking different approaches.

(If some of this sounds a bit familiar it's because there are some obvious echoes of the Spider-Man Clone Saga including of some of the proposals for resolution. It took a long time to rebuild Scott Summers as a character after the way he rapidly abandoned his marriage and this may have been the precedent that prevented the Spider-Man writers from going down the route of divorce when they decided to end Peter Parker's marriage and try to restore something similar to the old relationship dynamic. Both characters had a happily ever after ending lined up for them to be living out west with their wife and child. Neither got very far down that route before editorial demands to restore the originals pulled them back. And some of the proposals for what to do to Mary Jane that made it into either Spider-Man 101 Ways to End the Clone Saga or the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon sound similar to the revelation here.)

Making Madelyne a clone with Mr Sinister manipulating things is a laudable attempt to try to recover Scott's character by reinforcing the idea that Jean was always the one for him and this carried over into both her duplicates. But it's not a perfect solution and still doesn't easily absolve him of desertion. Nor does it explain why Madelyne's similarity to Jean has not been explored properly. Steps have been taken by both Mr Sinister and the editors to avoid Jean and Madelyne actually meeting but there were other ways that the similarities could have been explored, especially before Jean's resurrection when many including Scott wondered if she was somehow Jean. Could neither Professor X nor Wolverine recognise a clone? Were there no detectives and/or scientists who could investigate fingerprints, blood types, DNA and so forth? The answer of course is that when those stories were written Madelyne was not intended to be a genetic duplicate of Jean but the retcon doesn't address this.

And whilst this revelation may be doing something to restore Scott the way it is delivered absolutely destroys Madelyne as a character. It's potentially possible to have both an original and a clone of the same person as characters although it does pose questions over who has prior rights. But here it reduces Madelyne to a mere tool of others, used for little more than breeding and now twisted by abandonment and demons into becoming a sinister force of her own. Notably both Mr Sinister and N'astirh soon discover that she is far more powerful than they suspected and potentially out of their control. Turning Madelyne into one of the main villains of the story offers strong potential for the crossover itself but it's difficult to see what can be done with her afterwards.

Issues with big retcons often have a lot of text and convoluted explanations as key developments have to be navigated around, sometimes including stories that aren't relevant to the current one. Here Mr Sinister's revelations all feel pretty relevant to the current situation as he first proves how Madelyne is a clone through having a key shared childhood memory before recounting her development, the encounter with the Phoenix and his manipulations to first get her together with Scott and then keep her from meeting Jean, helped by the use of the Marauders elsewhere in the issue. It serves to weave his role into events clearly and answers everything that can be reasonably addressed her.

The climax as Madelyne declares her determination to destroy is the capper for a highly memorable issue that has a lot of info dumping to impart but also moving the situation forward as almost every character is warped by the events around them into something much darker, building up strong tension for the next phase.

Uncanny X-Men 240 - Inferno

The X-Men seek revenge on the Marauders whilst Madelyne Pryor plans a longer revenge on Jean Grey.

Uncanny X-Men #240

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Marc Silvestri
Inker: Dan Green
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Madelyne and Alex go on a dinner date in New York seemingly oblivious to the odd things happening around them and endure a group of paranormal investigators who soon disappear. Back in the Outback the other X-Men relax when the computers locate the Marauders and they set off for revenge for the Mutant Massacre of the Morlocks. The battle is swift with the Marauders fleeing and the X-Men discovering something has happened to New York/ Meanwhile Madelyne visits the grave of Jean Grey and rants about her rival coming back from the dead before turning Jean's parents into goblins and meeting with N'astirh who takes her to the orphanage where they have a lead on her son. There she has memory flashes of being in a cocoon and finds her name on the side of one. She wants answers and the man who can give them appears - Mr Sinister who declares she can call him "Father".

The X-Men side of this issue is pretty straight forward and gives us a chance to see some of the characters at play. In particular Longshot has failed to understand how Dazzler sees him and starts fooling around with Rogue, oblivious to the anger this is causing. The pursuit of the Marauders has been coming for some time but when it does it's a pretty brutal showdown, reminding us how dark the X-Men are getting. However it feels more like it's marking time and providing an excuse to get the X-Men to New York than the main action.

The main focus of the issue is on Madelyne Pryor, the strange powers she's developing and her relations with various sinister figures. When on her date with Alex her dress changes shape in every single panel without comment whilst she clearly notices changes to the Empire State Building and something happening to the paranormal team (who look a bit like the Ghostbusters) but says nothing. Her anger is all too clear as she rants at what everyone thought was Jean Grey's gravestone, remembering her wedding day and Scott's vows. Her encounter with N'astirh is very different from her previous encounters with demons, now showing her power and making it clear who truly has the upper hand in the partnership. There's been a mystery about the character going back half a dozen years and it looks like answers are coming.

It's surprising that the main series is still building things up when Inferno is exploding elsewhere but this is something of a consequence of the X-Men's detachment from the rest of the Marvel universe and being based far from New York. But this issue shows a final step to the action whilst also offering resolution of one of the longest mysteries in the title's history to this time.

New Mutants 71 - Inferno

Illyana confronts her past as it collides with her present.

New Mutants #71

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Bret Blevins
Inker: Al Williamson
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

The New Mutants are trapped in Limbo but find they can escape from S'ym and his demons within it and he snatches the Soul Sword. As they flee through the realm Illyana tells them how she grew up here and the horrors she endured. Due to the different nature of time in Limbo they witness a young Illyana being assaulted by S'ym but N'astirh intervenes. This incarnation of N'astirh professes his love for Illyana and tells her how to regain her power and the ability to teleport to Earth by recovering the Soul Sword and embracing her dark side, which Illyana accepts. New York continues to suffer from objects coming to life and Magneto leads the Hellfire Club in investigating the continued growth of the Empire State Building. In Limbo Illyana overcomes S'ym, transforms into the Darkchilde and opens a portal to Earth... only to arrive in Times Square and discover N'astirh holding it open to bring all the demons through to Earth.

After a lot of build up and small scale incidents in New York we come to one of the key moments in the entire crossover. This issue also shows how some of the antagonists have been planning for a very long time. Much of this part of the crossover builds on events from the Magik (or "Storm and Illyana") limited series from five years earlier and so an issue that recounts the events and how they shaped the protagonist into what she now is very welcome. It's also a strong reminder of the themes of child abuse that ran throughout that limited series as Illyana was taken from her family, had her childhood stolen as she spent seven years in the realm and grew up around men who professed to love her but instead sought to use her for their own ends. The addition of N'astirh to the story helps to reinforce the sense in which Illyana has been a pawn all this time.

What is potentially confusing is the way that time operates in Limbo combined with Illyana's teleportation powers and the appearances of N'astirh at first adds to the confusion as it's not clear if this is the one from when she entered Limbo or the present day incarnation and it's further complicated by his having travelled back in time as well. As a result it's not immediately apparent whether he's a long term schemer who betrayed S'ym or a short term opportunist. But he still comes across as the more effective of the two main demons in Limbo even though Bret Blevins and Al Williamson have managed to make S'ym look fierce and sinister with the techno organic transmode virus compensating for the more comical aspects of his design.

Also less than clear is just how far alternate timelines can be forced in Limbo. Illyana tells how there was a timeline in which the X-Men never escaped and were either transformed or destroyed until she killed the last survivors yet she declares it's not possible to intervene to save her younger self because she has to grow up to control her teleportation discs to get them home. Why she cannot do both in the warped time is not explained.

The deception and corruption of a young girl has always been at the heart of Illyana's story and here it reaches new levels as she ultimately succumbs to the dark side of her nature and allows demons to manipulate her into opening the portal linking Limbo and Earth. This may at first seem an explanatory issue but it also serves to up the stakes for the crossover as a whole in spectacular fashion.

Uncanny X-Men 239 - Inferno

Mr Sinister reflects on the X-Men and what his plans might have come to.

Uncanny X-Men #239

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Marc Silvestri
Inker: Dan Green
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Bouncer: Tom DeFalco

In New York the Empire State Building is growing in size and one of its lifts consumes a family of tourists. Meanwhile Mr Sinister reflects on the X-Men and how he expected to one day confront them but now they are (presumed) dead. After calming down Malice who is unhappy with being permanently in the body of Polaris (Lorna Dane) Mr Sinister reflects on several of the X-Men individuality as, unbeknownst to him, they enjoy some relaxation time in Australia. Dazzler goes singing in a pub. Havok is coming to terms with the violent streak he has adopted including killed some of the Brood. Storm discovers that Jean Grey is alive and confronts Wolverine about his not telling her. Psylocke, Colossus and Rogue are training exercising with the latter temporarily taken over by Carol Danvers's psyche. And Madelyne is intriguing. She shows the ability to read Havok's thoughts and seduces him. Elsewhere Mr Sinister comments on how he had great plans for her then turns his attention to her son, Nathan Christopher Charles Summers. Madelyne and N'astirh communicate further.

This is a classic character piece between events that also serves to really introduce Mr Sinister after only one previous appearance. The character has been given a modified colour scheme with the green removed and instead his armour is now bluey-purple with red trimmings that will remain his default look for many years give or take some variation in just how blue or purple. It is a great improvement. His goals of replacing humans with mutants are straightforward but his plans remain a mystery since many of them were based around the X-Men. Otherwise he shows his power in calmly dealing with an angry Malice before continuing to reflect, not realising N'astirh is also watching.

With the X-Men relaxing one of the two big moments involves Storm discovering that Jean Grey is alive. This brings up yet another problem from the initial X-Factor set-up. Despite that title now having been around for three years the two teams have never actually met. They missed each other in the tunnels in the Mutant Massacre and then had separate contributions to both the Fall of the Mutants and the Evolutionary War. But X-Factor have not been some hidden organisation and during their mutant busters cover days their alternative disguises as the X-Terminators did not evade coverage either. It is astonishing that the X-Men have not previously seen any footage and realised who she is.

The main focus in Australia is on Madelyne as she seduces her brother-in-law, demonstrates telepathy, briefly has a flaming bird effect around her and communicates with N'astirh to arrange revenge on the Marauders and find her son. Successive issues have built up Madelyne towards this moment and there's a real sense of tragedy to her descent that makes her actions more credible.

This issue is a classic prologue character re-establishing piece and it does it well along with reintroducing Mr Sinister and making him seem a credible threat. Now the pieces are all in place for the conflagration ahead.