X-Factor 40 - Inferno

Archangel cracks an egg with a voice.

X-Factor #40

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

X-Factor 39 - Inferno

Cyclops's eyes are fully opened.

X-Factor #39

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

X-Factor 38 - Inferno

The many versions of Jean Grey come together.

X-Factor #38

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

X-Terminators 4 - Inferno

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

X-Terminators #4

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

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

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

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

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

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

X-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-Terminators 3 - Inferno

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

X-Terminators #3

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

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

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

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

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

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.

X-Terminators 2 - Inferno

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

X-Terminators #2

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

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

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

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

X-Factor 35 - Inferno

An orphanage is visited by three different groups searching for babies.

X-Factor #35

Writer: Louise Simonson
Guest Penciler: Terry Shoemaker
Guest Inker: Joe Rubinstein
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Whilst Iceman and Beast tackle a living road tanker in New York Cyclops and Marvel Girl have come to the mansion containing the orphanage where Scott grew up. Inside the staff and children are under some strange hypnosis and don't detect them. Scott recalls various moments from his childhood but struggles to reconcile them as they don't match the chronology of his life and also a boy who bossed everyone around even the staff who was nicknamed "Lefty" but really called Nathan. The orphanage is also visited by Nanny, the strange being in a anthropomorphic metal egg suit, together with her orphan maker and a group of children she calls lost Boys (and Girls). Exploring the building Cyclops and Marvel Girl discover a hi tech operation on the lower levels and many babies in suspended animation including Scott's son Christopher. However the area is invaded by Nanny but whilst they are distracted fighting N'astirh's demons also invade and make off with the baby mutant children.

Several long running subplots converge on this issue with mixed effects. After all the build-up Nanny seems rather a disappointment. The idea of a villain who kidnaps children and turns them into her minions has long been seen in fiction and here the addition of fantastical elements such as her mind control powers and drugs as well as her ship and the Orphan Maker's armour helps to get away from some of the more awkward stereotypes that have attached to some such characters over the year. She's also portrayed as genuinely caring for children - so much so that Jean feels that her niece and nephew will be safe with Nanny for now whilst Christopher needs rescuing first. But it's hard to take the egg with a voice seriously. At times she is almost comical, at others highly violent in the way she casually orders the killing of parents. It's a tricky mix and this doesn't really succeed in pulling it off. The demons flying in to take the babies means that Nanny's storyline will not be returned to for a while which feels like it could go on for way too long. But it will need resolving as two of the children Nanny has kidnapped are Jean's sister's.

The exploration of Scott's childhood home is more interesting though why he and Jean don't express more concern about everyone being in a state of hypnosis or the hi tech base on site is surprising. But instead we get a walk through Memory Lane - or in his case Memory Maze as he recalls moments of his powers going off or having to contain them that he can't reconcile with them not developing until later or only being able to watch as Alex was adopted and taken away from the orphanage when Scott was still in a separate hospital. Although there aren't any footnotes it's not hard to see this sounds like an exercise in reconciling continuity problems caused by multiple flashbacks over the years. But there are also hints at something more sinister afoot both from the childhood bully Nathan and in the present.

Although much of the issue is taken up with the battle with Nanny and the demons taking advantage of it there's also a strong story seed here as the mystery of Cyclops's childhood is built on with clear signs this is not merely an exercise in continuity tidying but a major part of the present day story as things heat up.

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-Terminators 1 - Inferno

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

X-Terminators #1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

New Mutants 70 - Inferno Prologue

The New Mutants try to escape Spyder and rescue Gosamyr's parents.

New Mutants #70

Writer: Louise Simonson

Penciler: Terry Shoemaker
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Magneto fights two battles in New York, one against a fire escape that has come to light and another as the leaders of the Hellfire Club start manoeuvring against each other. Meanwhile the New Mutants have been captured and imprisoned by Spyder, only escaping when Gosamyr sacrifices her power to influence those around her. Rushing to rescue Lila and Gosamyr's parents they find the latter have been used by Spyder as silk worms at the cost of a shortened hibernation that brings them to life as solar system destroying monsters. Only a sacrifice can save the day.

This story arc is finally over and it says a lot that the subplots about the takeover of Limbo, strange happenings in New York City and machinations in the Hellfire Club are far more interesting than the main material in this issue. There's an attempt to redeem Gosamyr by having her seemingly lose her powers when she undergoes a change known as "minor death" to flee her bonds and release the New Mutants from an electric cage but though she's explicitly acknowledged as acting in a less selfish way and developing it does little to endear the character. Nor does the horrific fate of her parents who have been forced out of their cocoons thousands of years early and so emerge as ferocious giant monsters instead of peaceful beings. However it's hard to believe that two creatures their size can eat their way through to the core of a planet and destroy it so when Lila Cheney uses her powers to teleport them and herself into the planet's sun her sacrifice doesn't seem particularly spectacular.

Instead it's just a relief to be at the end of this wretched story. It could easily have been cut to two issues or even better ignored completely. Gosamyr looks set to stick around for now which is a pain but excitement looms as the New Mutants teleport into Limbo to discover S'ym has conquered it.

New Mutants 69 - Inferno Prologue

The New Mutants make their way to Spyder's parlour as they discover the truth about Gosamyr.

New Mutants #69

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciller: Bret Blevins
Inker: Al Williamson
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Spyder arranges for the New Mutants to land safely on his planet but Gosamyr's powers continue to wreak havoc amongst them with Dani (Mirage) running off the ship at the first opportunity to get attack by thugs whilst Illyana (Magik) retreats into depression and the others get ever more tense with each other. Only Warlock seems immune and he eventually realises what Gosamyr is and how her powers have affected the others. Rushing to rescue Dani the New Mutants pass through Limbo where Illyana transforms into the Darkchilde and back on Spyder's world she finds she cannot change back. Back on Earth Magneto is also descending as he reflects on how he thought he had found a better way to the old days but his students refuse protection and so he must protect them in the way he knows best. The New Mutants come to Dani's rescue but Illyana's sword turns a robot into a monstrous demon and then she attacks Gosamyr revealing a monstrous true self. Gosamyr comes to realise that not every being acts the way her culture has brought her up and they head for Spyder's lair to rescue Lila.

This is a more action packed chapter than the previous ones but there's still far too much emphasis on the effect Gosamyr has on those around her. It's meant to parallel how a group of friends can be broken up by a single attraction but here it struggles as the script is trying to make Gosamyr both sympathetic and devious and it doesn't always succeed. Of more interest is Illyana's continued breakdown, being unable to change back out of her Darkchilde form and getting ever angrier and bloodthirsty. The contrast with the way Magneto is calmly drifting back into his old ways, shown most vividly by the way he dons his old helmet, out of frustration at his failures to keep his students safe is striking. Otherwise Spyder's world is not a terribly interesting environment and the alien inhabitants are completely forgettable.

Once again we have a slow chapter of a story arc with more issues than it can really sustain based around a character who's been terribly thought through. This arc is easily the worst story in the whole of X-Men: Inferno Prologue and it's a relief there's only one more issue to go.