Uncanny X-Men 236 - Inferno Prologue

Rogue and Wolverine find themselves imprisoned without their powers.

Uncanny X-Men #236

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Marc Silvestri
Inker: Dan Green
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Bob Harras
Magistrate: Tom DeFalco

This second part of the Genosha story builds on the first by giving us a good look at the island's society and the bigoted hypocrisy upon which it rests. This is shown most vividly with the Moreaus. The father is the "Genengineer" - the geneticist responsible for changing mutants to alter their powers and make them into docile slaves of the regime. The son Philip initially just accepts the way things are as shown by the way he casually orders around their gardener mutate as though he's a trained dog. But then Philip discovers that his fiancée Jennifer has been found to be a latent mutant and is horrified as his father calmly reminds him what the law is and how Jennifer is being changed to become a mere rock and metal worker. The scene as Philip jogs through his respectable middle class neighbourhood only to see a squad of magistrates arrest Jennifer's parents (for trying to conceal her mutation) is a vivid example of how his world comes crashing down upon contact with the truth of the matter. Elsewhere we see the capital city of Hammer Bay, one of the most advanced modern cities in the world - but as Dr Moreau flies through it discussing the situation with captured mutants the truth of the foundations is felt.

A darker image is presented when Psylocke scans the magistrates captured in Sydney and experiences directly how mutants are captured, tortured, genetically engineered and used as mere slaves. It is a chilling vision of a society where mutants are not merely feared and hated but are actively repressed and controlled. This is no potential future to be averted, this is a present day reality. In the space of just a couple of issues a truly terrifying concept has been introduced to the series, drawing on real life parallels from the time.

The rest of the issue focuses upon the other captives who perplex the Genoshan authorities by their invisibility to all electronic equipment making it very hard to examine them. Madelyne is being examined with the demon N'astirh appears on the screen trying to communicate with her - and somehow the whole complex suffers a power cut as the screen explodes. Rogue and Wolverine have been captured and a mutate appropriate named Wipeout cancels their powers. As a result Wolverine's body starts suffering heavily without his healing factor to keep it in check. Meanwhile Rogue finds she can now be touched - and is assaulted by the guards (though the script takes steps to make clear she is not raped). Retreating into herself she finds her psyche contains traces of everyone she's used her power on over the years - and the traces want revenge. Salvation comes in the surprising form of Ms. Marvel who exists as a full personality and offers help by taking control of Rogue's body as the only way to survive since she has FBI training and knows Wolverine of old. And so she and Wolverine set out to escape.

This issue has generated controversy because of misunderstanding over just what happens to Rogue at the hands of the guards and in part that's because the clarifying text is in a later scene so it's easy to see how the panels can be misunderstood out of context. But otherwise it's a strong issue that continues to build the world around it through the characters involved, showing the horrific nature of the regime and how anyone, no matter how important their family, can be taken if they turn out to be a mutant.

Uncanny X-Men 235 - Inferno Prologue

The Genoshan security services pursue their citizens abroad without mercy.

Uncanny X-Men #235

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Rick Leonardi
Inker: P. Craig Russell
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

We come to the introduction of one of the most significant fictional countries in the X-Men's universe, Genosha. A sign on the opening splash page tells us it is "A Green and Pleasant Land of Hope and Opportunity where the Watchword is Freedom!" But as we'll see over this story arc that freedom isn't for everyone. This issue is largely set outside the country with only an airport seen at the start when a man sneaks into it to smuggle his baby onto a plane before the authorities track him down and kill him. The repressive nature of the regime doesn't stay on the island with a squad sent to Australia to kidnap Jennifer Ransome, a Genoshan ex pat, even though she has now naturalised citizenship. Madelyne Pryor, volunteering for the Flying Doctor Service alongside Jennifer, is also captured and both are sent to Genosha. The Genoshan "Press Gang" squad then go after the baby now in Sydney with the X-Men following them there for a showdown at a hospital. However the Press Gang are able to bring in far more reinforcements than expected and Rogue and Wolverine are captured.

Much of the detail of Genosha will be sketched out in later issues set on the island itself but already there are clear signs of how it is based on South Africa which was still under apartheid when this issue was first printed. The parallels with the alleged activities of the South African security services in pursuing dissidents overseas and showing utter disregard for other countries' laws are all too obvious especially when they tell Jennifer that they do not recognise her as having any citizenship over than Genoshan for life. But also the glimpse of Genosha and its society parallels the way South Africa sought to present itself as a happy stable society that had harmonious racial relations - by which the South African state meant the Afrikaners and British and the Genoshan state mean white and black - without mentioning the other races who were repressed and hidden away. Another of the horrors comes in the way some of the repressed people work for the repressive state and actively enjoy it with the Press Gang made up of several mutants. Of particular note is Pipeline who is able to convert people to digital signals and transmit them over a modem. Luckily this particular modem is a lot faster than the ones that actually existed in 1988 otherwise we'd be waiting until issue #300 until anyone arrives. Hawkshaw has the ability to scan and detect mutants but the spells on the X-Men and Madelyne render them undetectable except by sight.

As a first issue of a multi-part story this does a good job in drawing the X-Men into the situation and establishing enough about Genosha to generate curiosity without too much info dumping at the expense of narrative. All the X-Men see some action and get good moments. The only slight curiosity is why Madelyne has joined the auxiliary service for the Flying Doctor in the first place when the X-Men are supposed to be hiding in secret in the Outback. This deviation from the current status quo feels a little too contrived to set up the initial kidnapping but otherwise this is a strong start to the story.

X-Factor 32 - Inferno Prologue

X-Factor battle with the Avengers - or do they?

X-Factor #32

Plotter/Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco
Scripter: Louise Simonson
Guest Artist: Steve Lightle
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras

We're in the period when Walter Simonson was writing Avengers so it was perhaps inevitable that there would be an encounter with X-Factor at some point. But this comes on an issue from which Walter Simonson is notably absent and instead there's a plot from Tom DeFalco, who at this time was also now writing Thor. So rather than a natural encounter we get what has all the hallmarks of a fill-in issue just when major developments appear to be on the horizon.

In fairness the issue feels like it's been woven into the regular narrative rather than simply having a character suddenly flashback to a hitherto unseen adventure. That's particularly helpful as this issue came out and is set during a period of great flux in the Avengers. The Fall of the Avengers was an especially dark period for the team and this issue comes out midway through that storyline when the roster is down to four members - Thor, the Black Knight, She Hulk and Dr Druid - and this particular combination would last all of four issue. Things don't seem so bad on the opening pages as the team donate the site of the former Avengers Mansion as a public park but amongst the crowd are some mysterious strangers who analyse the Avengers and then turn out to be aliens. On board their ship they change into duplicates of the Avengers and reveal their plan - revenge on Thor for a past defeat that led to the leader's father's overthrowal as Supreme Warlord of Xarta, then conquest of Earth to use its resources to launch a bid to retake Xarta. However then they detect Ship over the Atlantic and opt to attack it.

Unfortunately there are no footnotes present to denote that these are the Carbon Copy Men from one of the earliest Thor stories in Journey into Mystery #90. In their original appearance they were poor copies of the Skrulls and even defeated the same way. DeFalco and Ron Frenz's Thor run was notable for being a particularly strong homage to the Lee-Kirby years with several obscure characters revisited so it's not that surprising to find the Xartans revisited. And shapeshifters allow for a battle that visually shows the two teams fighting in an era when it was no longer easy to engineer a fight between two superhero teams over some casual disagreement. But it is a very odd choice of foes for a fill-in issue of another series and so the main encounter is extremely forgettable. However there are attempts to weave ongoing development into the issue with the kids successfully convincing Ship to break its orders so as to let them help save the team from the aliens whilst Iceman reflects on his failures that led to the Beast nearly dying. We also get the introduction to the series of the demon N'astirh who has made a deal with the hooded leader of the mysterious group introduced last issue to have infant mutants kidnapped to serve as sacrifices in a special rite.

Despite these best intentions it's hard to deny the sense of frustration that the cliffhanger of the Beast's fate from last issue is left dangling as Hank lies on life-support throughout this issue rather than attempting to explain just what happened to him at the end. Some fill-in issues can hold up well when they don't feel too intrusive but this one comes at a very awkward time and so is less than welcome.

X-Factor 31 - Inferno Prologue

Infectia tries her hardest to get a kiss with Iceman.

X-Factor #31

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

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

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

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

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

X-Factor 30 - Inferno Prologue

Infectia sets out to seduce Iceman...

X-Factor #30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

X-Men Annual #12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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


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

Fantastic Four Annual 21 - The Evolutionary War

Multiple higher powers demand that Crystal returns to her husband.

As noted on Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22 that annual and this one have the lead and back-up features in opposite orders. So I'm publishing these post simultaneously to keep the sequences as clear as possible.

Fantastic Four Annual #21

1st story: Crystal Blue Persuasion
Story: Steve Englehart
Breakdowns: Kieron Dwyer
Finishes: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Lopez
Colors: Wright
Editor: Macchio
Chief: DeFalco

This annual comes from one of the more unusual periods of Fantastic Four history. Steve Englehart had shaken up the team by retiring Mr Fantastic and the Invisible Woman off to spend more time raising their son and in their placed added Crystal and the second Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura). Ms. Marvel had then been transformed into a female version of the Thing whilst the Thing (Ben Grimm) himself had been subject to an even further mutation into an almost pineapple form. And there were multiple tensions surrounding the Four. Not long before Englehart's run began the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) had married Alicia Masters, once Ben Grimm's long-term girlfriend. Now Johnny was on a team with his first true girlfriend Crystal, estranged from her husband Quicksilver (Pietro... his surname seems to wander between Maximoff, Magnus and Frank reflecting the numerous revelations and retcons about his parentage over the years) after an affair. It was quite a different set-up from before.

Whether it was more popular is disputed. The opening scene sees the Four's robotic receptionist Roberta hand the Thing fan mail and declare "I can't get over how popular the team has become since you revamped it!", a claim that is similarly reflected on Englehart's website. But others have pointed to the figures in the annual Statement of Ownership showing the title's sales were flatlining or even declining. And when at the start of 1988 Marvel introduced a two-tier pricing on their regular titles by raising the cover price on the nine top sellers, Fantastic Four was noticeably absent from the list. It wouldn't be the first or last time that the sales figures surrounding a controversial period are in dispute but it's unusual to find one side's claims so blatantly placed in the title itself.

(It will come as little surprise that the nine titles that had the price raised all have annuals in The Evolutionary War - the three Spider-Man titles, the three mutant books, Silver Surfer, Punisher and Avengers. Fantastic Four and West Coast Avengers - the third title written by Englehart at this time - were the only other two regular superhero series so blessed.)

And that's part of wider disputes that are partially well known because Englehart has put his side of the story out there including on his own website, though his editors' position is not so well known. Editor Ralph Macchio is interviewed by Tom DeFalco in the latter's Comics Creators on Fantastic Four (London; Titan Books, 2005) and is specifically asked about Englehart's eventual departure but just alludes to creative differences without being specific - "We had a part of the ways, creatively. I remember there was a storyline he embarked on and I knew right away that we were beginning to see the characters differently. There were stories that he wanted to do that just didn't work for me. I liked a lot of his run, but I didn't like the way he wanted to go so I made a change." (p.166) Englehart is not interviewed in the book but the-then regular artist (although not drawing the annual) Keith Pollard is. He doesn't comment on Englehart's departure directly but notes that he was told sales were up and fine but later heard a rumour third hand that he had been fired and discovered that Macchio wanted to bring back the traditional line up "in a bid to increase sales". (p.71)

It would appear that ultimately the problem was that Englehart had signed up for a run when Don Daley was Editor and Jim Shooter Editor-in-Chief but almost immediately they were replaced by Macchio and DeFalco respectively and once everyone was fully settled in disputes emerged over which way the series should go. It is not unusual for new management to not agree with or stick to what their predecessors had agreed and this has led to many a dispute. This is not the last time we'll be encountering Englehart's writing in a rather extended departure from Marvel and we'll see a number of effects of this departure as we go.

Here the main effect is the enforced writing out of Crystal from the team as her family, the Royal Family of the Inhumans, turn up and simply demand she return to her husband and family on the Moon. It is a very blunt assertion of authority perhaps reflecting the behind the scenes struggle and the result is a battle between the Four and the Royal Family. Meanwhile the High Evolutionary arrives on the Moon seeking to steal the mutagenic Terrigen Mist to advance his schemes. This leads to a brief encounter with Uatu the Watcher in which the whole event so far is recapped (hence why the disconnect between the order of the lead and back-up strips stands out) though a few errors appear in recapping the events of New Mutants Annual #4 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22. The battle between the Evolutionary's forces and the Inhumans is fierce with Quicksilver taking a leadership role and turning the tide, earning redemption amongst his in-laws. In the aftermath Black Bolt tries a new tactic with Crystal and actually talks her into staying. The rest of the Four depart for home.

This annual is firmly wedged between issues of the regular series and so references to a quest into the Negative Zone to find a race of aliens called the Beyonders can be a little confusing to the visiting reader, as is an appearance by a second Watcher who seems about to reveal where the Evolutionary and his forces have teleported away to until Uatu suddenly intervenes to stop him. But in general this story manages to work well as a big development for the team and stand alone sufficiently well. However as the first chapter of The Evolutionary War in which the High Evolutionary has taken an active role in the field it's a surprisingly low key encounter with the battle serving more to drive the character developments for Quicksilver than to seriously advance the lead villain's plans.


2nd story: Crystal
Story: Edward L. Norton
Breakdowns: Jackson Guice
Finishes: Jose Marzan
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Chief: Tom DeFalco

"Edward L. Norton" has a history of being used as a pseudonym in various Marvel issues. Here it hints at the dispute over the series. This is a very odd little story where the dialogue and pictures rarely seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet, suggesting a significant rewrite. It would appear that this story was meant to establish Crystal agreeing to go with the Fantastic Four to see out their quest with the Beyonders but was instead rewritten so that she stays permanently on the Moon with Quicksilver and the Inhumans. In story Crystal is even told that she is expected to look as though she likes living with her husband to set a public example. It's hard to not think of real life Royals also forced into such public displays of affection despite private strife even though this annual came out a few years before some of the most famous revelations.

Quicksilver had been on an odd character journey through the 1980s in large part because Englehart didn't agree with him being a hero and not always accepting other writers' attempts to row the character back. So at times he was written as mad and other times this was explained as the influence of the insane Inhuman Maximus the Mad only for later Englehart stories to revert the character to villainy. Here he's shown regaining his speed powers which had been temporarily constrained by a mental block but he's also shown acting suspiciously when at the end of the story he leaks details of the Fantastic Four's quest to none other than Doctor Doom. The dialogue has him stating that he wants revenge on Kristoff, the other Doom who is currently ruling Latveria, and that an empowered Doom is best placed to defeat him but this reads so oddly that it is almost certainly a rewrite of the script working against the dialogue.

As a result we're left with a short story that's trying to settle Crystal back into married life but it just doesn't hold together well because of all the conflicting forces pulling on it.


3rd story: The High Evolutionary: Silver and Crimson
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Ron Lim
Inks: Tony DeZuniga
Letters: Ken Lopez & Joe Albelo
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

This is more of a straightforward single incident chapter as Herbert Edgar Wyndham finally encounters the Werewolf that killed Merriam Drew and creates his armour in order to protect himself in future encounters then captures it when it later invades the citadel. However it seems to have driven away the Moloids for good. The biggest developments come in side moments as we learn that Jonathan Drew has departed in grief, even though he has left his daughter behind in suspended animation, and that the uranium mine has generated enough wealth to buy the most advanced technology and expertise available.

It's a good attempt to explain just how a man from the 1930s could have come up with all the long-term technology the High Evolutionary has been shown to have over the years but it does ring a little hollow to suggest the solution was merely wealth. However the alternative would have required adding either another mysterious benefactor or some alien influence which doesn't quite fit with the character's outlook. Otherwise this chapter is straightforward and the only real problem is the out of sequence printing.

Other material includes a pin-up gallery by Keith Pollard and Joe Sinnott of the Fantastic Four and other key characters including the Invisible Woman (who expresses her surprise at some recent letters to the comic) and Crystal who declares "I'll never leave again!" with an editor's note explaining "this feature was compiled before the astounding events of this issue". It's another sign of the conflict over the direction of this series. Sadly this conflict means the annual as a whole is a rather disappointing package even though the lead story works well on its own.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual 22 - The Evolutionary War

Spider-Man and Daredevil team up to solve a drug wars murder but bigger plans are afoot.

Okay we've hit a publishing mistake here. The back-up feature "The High Evolutionary" has a strict chapter order and the next one should be Fantastic Four Annual #21. However the lead feature in that has the first recap of the event so far in chronological order and places it after this issue. So I've opted to publish these two posts simultaneously in lead feature order.

(And this is another annual with a lot of creators so some of the labels are in a separate post.)

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22

1st story: Drug War Rages
By Tom DeFalco
As told to David Michelinie
Photos: Mark Bagley & Mike Esposito
R. Parker signs on
B. Sharen in the red
J. Salicrup indicted
T. DeFalco shrieks

This is the first annual in The Evolutionary War to actually build on events earlier in the saga as New York deals with the consequences of the interruption of the drugs supply in Punisher Annual #1. Otherwise this annual feels quite traditional, perhaps in part because Tom DeFalco is plotting but also Mark Bagley adopts a very traditional approach to the artwork that stands in strong contrast to Todd McFarlane's contemporary work on the regular series at this time. It's a nice suitable retro feel for a story that also resorts to some traditional moves such as Spider-Man being falsely accused of a crime and J. Jonah Jameson being delighted at being proved right. There's a team-up with Daredevil and a good use of the Kingpin. But there's also the debut of a new superhero.

Speedball was the newest hero Marvel was about to launch in his own title and he's given a preview here. But it's not a very good one. There's no origin story, just a quick mention of an "accident" that gave him his powers, and the character comes across as a mess. When Robbie Baldwin encounters a force it triggers a kinetic power that sends him jumping all over the place which he tries to use to fight street level crime. There's a half decent idea in that and with some refinement to give him a degree of control that could at least all him to walk around without being terrified of brushing into anyone it might work. But the problem here is that we're given neither the origin of a new hero when he can be expected to have difficulty controlling his powers nor an appearance once he's fully come to terms with them. To add to the problems neither his creator Steve Ditko nor his regular scripter Roger Stern is working on this story and so Speedball is just thrown into this story to bounce around without contributing much that couldn't have been handled by either Spider-Man or Daredevil.

The story focuses on the mystery of the disruption to the drug supply which turns out to be down to the High Evolutionary's Purifiers killing several distributors and dealers whilst preparing a scheme to render everyone in New York unconscious and then sterilise everyone with unacceptable DNA. Although both aims have been pursued by the Evolutionary's forces in earlier annuals it's surprising to see the same team attempting both at the same time and the result is they attract too much attention with the Kingpin forcing the details out of a captured Purifier then manipulating Spider-Man and Daredevil into attacking the Purifiers' base whilst Speedball has also stumbled across the plan. There's a good complex take on the Kingpin, concerned not merely with the immediate profit margin but also with ensuring his city is kept safe and using his resources to help the heroes where necessary. He even gets the Arranger to clear Spider-Man's name by getting the real criminal to confess to the murder of the drug distributors at the start of the story. Then at the very end he is shown expressing real concern about the wider threat. It's a reminder how he prefers the stability of the existing order and is prepared to help preserve it if needs be whereas a more simplistic villain would simply throw in with the bigger foe in town.

Overall this is a pretty good example of a traditional Spider-Man story with a double team-up thrown in for good measure. Spider-Man and Daredevil work well together and the menace is pitched at the right level for them. It's just unfortunate that space is devoted to introducing Speedball who really adds nothing to this tale and does not get a very impressive introduction.


2nd story: He who laughs...
Plotter & Penciler: Steve Ditko
Scripter: Roger Stern
Inking: Jackson Guice
Lettering: Rick Parker
Coloring: Tom Vincent
Editing: Jim Salicrup

Yes that's that Steve Ditko doing the plot and pencils. It's his first work on a Spider-Man book since 1966 - but he always refused to return to the main character and so is only drawing a back-up feature. Over the next few years he would appear in several more Spider-Man annuals in this way and so it's natural to wish he could have opted to return to the main character just one more time. Instead here is what was then his newest creation.

This could almost be from Speedball's own series which launched at this time and had almost exactly the same creative team at the start. One of the curiosities of the series is how many issues have multiple stories. There were a number of anthology titles around this time - examples include Strange Tales, Marvel Comics Presents, Solo Avengers and, over at DC, Action Comics Weekly - that offered multiple shorter stories but headed titles tended to have a single story each issue or at most a back-up story that focused on some of the other cast members in a separate story strand. Doing an ongoing headed series with multiple tales of the title character(s) was an extremely retro step.

And this story feels very retro. It's about thwarted ambition fuelling false revenge as an unsuccessful ex actor tries to murder Speedball's mother, believing she turned a director against him and so he failed to get a key break part. Now working as a janitor in a theatre he plans to attack her when she visits a friend there but first has to dispose of her son. This results in Speedball (who doesn't actually call himself by that name yet; instead he thinks of himself as "The Masked Marvel", his book's subtitle) bouncing around trying to distract and knock out the would-be killer before his mother can see him.

It's a rather weak story that's constrained by the need to have Speedball's powers triggered at key moments to advance the plot. The villain's motivation is believable but his attempts get sillier and sillier. Nor is it even resolved by the hero. Again this is not a good advert for Speedball and his series.


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

This is another info dump heavy chapter that rushes through the introduction of the New Men, with Bova, perhaps their best known member, being shown being genetically accelerated from a Guernsey cow, then more explanation about the nature of the Werewolf, though the High Evolutionary remains sceptical about the supernatural explanations, before the body of Jonathan Drew returns animated by a sixth century ghost called Magnus to explain how the spirit of the demon Cthon has been bound to Mount Wundagore and could be awakened by the Evolutionary's work. That's a lot to take in in just six pages but it does once again reinforce just how Marvel had let Wundagore get overused in far too many characters' histories so as to produce this mix of technology and magic and even Mark Gruenwald was starting to struggle to make it all seem consistent.

One thing that does stand out is that Gruenwald (or Macchio) isn't always writing the Evolutionary's dialogue consistently as an interwar British scientist. So some of his dialogue includes stereotypical upper class phrases like "old girl" whilst he also uses the American dating format for recording his experiments. More consistent is the way the way Herbert Edgar Wyndham is now wearing his armour full time as a sign of how he is retreating ever more from the outside world into a shell. The character is portrayed consistently as a rational scientist refusing to believe tales of magic even though he admits he does not understand the Werewolf. Although the amount of backstory to wade through can be overwhelming at times this saga so far has done a good job of building up the lead character.

Other material includes the plans for Peter and Mary Jane's apartment plus two unused covers by Larry Lieber & Jack Abel and Bob Layton from the black costume era and a plug for the Spider-Man newspaper strip. This annual may not be the best example of its series at the time as the latter was in quite a bold experimental phase but it's good traditional Spider-Man and a good introduction to crossover visitors as well as making good use of the event to tell a strong story. It's just a pity that it's had a new hero thrown in to poorly promote.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual 22 - Labels post

Due to the large number of creators on this annual some of the labels have been moved to a separate post.

New Mutants Annual 4 - Inferno Prologue/The Evolutionary War

The High Evolutionary seeks to remove the powers of particular mutants...

New Mutants Annual #4

1st story: Mind Games
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: June Brigman
Inker: Bob McLeod
Letterer: John Workman
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editors: Ann Nocenti & Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Mutants are the next stage in human evolution and so it's natural they will attract the attention of the High Evolutionary sooner rather than later. Here his plan is to remove the powers of high level mutants through the use of a machine that can strip them of their powers. In the process we get a subtle explanation for some of the inconsistencies in the event.

The Evolutionary himself is shown as sympathetic to mutants and not wishing to kill them but the same cannot be said for some of his subordinates including Dr Stack and Major Purge. Given the scale of the Evolutionary's overall plans it's unsurprising that many individual tasks are handled by underlings but he doesn't seem to have realised just how dangerous some of them are. This disparity in goals can help to explain some of the variation in the overall story as well as showing potential problems for further down the line.

After having captured and depowered the mutants Glow Worm and Bulk from an early X-Factor adventure the Evolutionary's Purifiers turn their attention to Magma (Amara), now living in Nova Roma and hating the prospect of an arranged marriage. The Hellion Empath is with her and there's a clear confirmation from Purifiers' scans that Empath is subconsciously using his power on Amara without perhaps realising it. Elsewhere at least some of the New Mutants suspect the power is being used but seem very relaxed about it. This can't be dismissed as an "of its time" blunder since this came out not longer after the West Coast Avengers storyline where Mockingbird was drugged and seduced by the Phantom Rider against her free will. At this point they are completely grounded by Magneto who also bans them from using their powers without supervision, still angry about how Doug Ramsey died. But this has never stopped them and news of Amara's kidnapping results in the New Mutants sneaking off to rescue her whilst Emma Frost recruits allies in the Hellfire Club including Magneto.

The battle in the Purifiers' base is straightforward bar a moment when Mirage (Danielle) gets caught in the depowering machine. Before she can even realise she's lost her powers a dying Bulk and Glow Worm give their last breaths to reverse the effect. When Mirage comes round the images she creates are now solid and the New Mutants are able to rescue Amara and escape just before Magneto and the Hellfire Club arrive.

This is the best chapter of The Evolutionary War so far as it manages to use the overall event well in order to generate a small but significant change for the regular series. Mirage has long suffered from fairly weak powers and a limited opportunity to build up her leadership skills so it's understandable that multiple writers have sought to beef her up whether through making her a Valkyrie or now making her illusions solid. That she cannot get rid of them without making another also adds a constraint to their use. Otherwise this is a good showcase for all the characters in the series at this stage, showing how Magneto is trying to do his best to protect his students but alienating them in the process, how the New Mutants themselves are easily getting round the restrictions placed on them, how Illyana is becoming ever more ruthless in sending foes to Limbo and also how Amara is adapting to life back home. This is just the sort of showcase a crossover chapter should be.


2nd story: If Wishes Were Horses
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: June Brigman
Inker: Roy Richardson
Letterer: John E. Workman Jr
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

This is a surprisingly long tale at 15 pages considering the brevity of the story material. It could easily have become an issue of the regular series with plenty of space for subplots but instead it appears here as character and art showcase as we get a Mirage solo tale in which she discovers more about her newly changed powers and how best to handle them. There's plenty of comedy as her powers go wrong such as when they create a mate for Brightwind whilst she's flying on him and so gets thrown off or an encounter with a police officer who tries to make sense of all the weird things going on, first wondering if he's on a prankster television show and then assuming he's encountering aliens. This leads to an especially good moment when Brightwind reappears and firmly confronts the officer until he releases Mirage.

Otherwise this is primarily about Mirage steadily working out how to make use of her new powers that pull images out of people's heads and bring them to life as now solid objects and also how they won't disappear until she creates another. It's a good idea but it feels like it just takes up too many pages even though the story ends with Magneto returning home in a good mood and admitting to his students that he can be harsh at times. Overall this is okay but I wonder what else could have appeared had this been cut down to a more natural length.


3rd story: The High Evolutionary: Blood Drawn, Blood Spilt
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Ron Lim
Inks: Jim Sinclair
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

The saga continues as we start ploughing through the various characters whose backstories have been tied to Mount Wundagore. So in the space of one day we see how the Drew family fell apart when the future Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) collapsed whilst playing with clay with the future Puppet Master (Phillip Masters) and was subjected to an experimental spider-serum in the hope of saving her from radiation poisoning before arguments about further treatments caused her mother Merriem to go for a walk where she was killed with the prime suspect appearing to be the father of the Werewolf. It's a sudden rush but in just six pages it's a reminder of just how many different characters had been given ties to the mountain and/or Mount Wundagore. But it also establishes a devious side to Herbert Edgar Wyndham as he repeatedly places keeping the Moloids above other concerns, refusing to investigate them despite being a scientist and hiding the true cause of Merriem Drew's death from her husband out of fear that Jonathan will blame the Moloids and attack them. Wyndham swears to make the true murderer pay and in doing so his driven ruthless nature is further established. However the saga could really benefit from some footnotes as some of the character names are obscure and others reference relatives of heroes so the connections aren't always obvious.


There are no pin-ups or other features in the annual which is a pity as a further introduction could have helped to sell the series to readers passing through due to The Evolutionary War. But overall this is a solid book with excellent artwork and a clear solid plot that makes it important to the ongoing series narrative and not a mere side event.