Wolverine vs. Archangel

This little gem is from Uncanny X-Men #272. Jim Lee is on pencils here, and it's his art that really made Wolverine famous. Look at him! He looks awesome! I'm slightly afraid, but who wouldn't be of a short hairy man with unbreakable claws? This took place during the X-Tinction Agenda crossover.

FALL OF THE MUTANTS: New Mutants

CLAREMONT, Chris. X-Men: Fall of the Mutants. Marvel Comics, 2001 (originally published in 1988). ISBN: 0785108254

The story here is not incredibly strong, especially if you haven't read the issues leading up to this. The New Mutants were a team of "junior" X-Men, sort of a second generation of X-Men teenagers after the original had pretty much reached adulthood. Like the team that was introduced in Giant Size X-Men #1, this team was supposed to be a little more international, to show that mutants were more than a bunch of caucasian Americans. There nine "official" New Mutants as of the first 50 issues; of these, only seven actually appear in this story. Here it's Cannonball, Mirage, Magik, Cypher, & Wolfsbane. It's kind of later on in the New Mutants history, which lasted 100 issues and served as a precursor to X-Force in the early nineties. Shatterstar, who I've talked about before, first appeared late in the run of the New Mutants. I actually really like the stories. Chris Claremont created it and wrote it for a long time. At this point, Louise Simonson was writing the title in Fall of the Mutants. I like Louise Simonson as a writer, but kind of hate what she did to these poor mutant kids. This story is a perfect example.

FALL OF THE MUTANTS: X-Factor

CLAREMONT, Chris. X-Men: Fall of the Mutants. Marvel Comics, 2001 (originally published in 1988). ISBN: 0785108254

It's part two of our Fall of Mutants series. This time, we are focusing on the original team of X-Factor. I actually briefly talked about their formation during the Phoenix Rising post since that included X-Factor #1 as the very last tale. This particular story took place over three issues from X-Factor #24 - X-Factor #26. It's not exactly the most finely crafted story, but it does introduce several elements that factored into the early nineties run of X-Men that I really loved. The first was Apocalypse as a villain. While Apocalypse had previously appeared in X-Factor #6, he's really introduced as a supervillain here. Why is that, you ask? Well, because Warren Worthington III is revealed as alive and as Death, one of Apocalypse's horsemen in the early pages of this story. Many interpretations of Warren becoming Death (and ultimately Archangel) show him as an unwilling participant in his own transformation. This story very clearly puts the blame on Warren; while Apocalypse goes to him and gives him the option to become one his servants - to "fly again." Totally not mind-controlled. Warren readily accepts his fate as he, at this point, literally had nothing else to loose.

FALL OF THE MUTANTS: Uncanny X-Men

CLAREMONT, Chris. X-Men: Fall of the Mutants. Marvel Comics, 2001 (originally published in 1988). ISBN: 0785108254

Let us harken back to the eighties... to a time when only nerds loved The X-Men.

In 1988, Marvel Comics ran a sort-of crossover between Uncanny X-Men, the New Mutants, and X-Factor. These were the only X-Men related titles at the time. There's now something like two dozen. Like I said, different times. One of the reasons I'm going to be tackling each "chapter" individually is because the titles don't really intersect. At all. While all of them have to do with the nation's growing concern over "the mutant menance" in general; the X-Men are fighting a mystical god-like being in Dallas, the New Mutants are confronting beast creatures on a weird island in the middle of nowhere, and X-Factor is fighting one of their own. Like I said, nothing really connecting them on any one particular point. The Uncanny story is my favorite, so I'm kind of glad to be talking about that one first.

VINTAGE - Wolverine & Punisher: Revelations

As promised, it's time to talk about comic books collections you'd love to buy, but are currently out of print. I've decided to dust the ol' girls off on my bookshelf and share a little bit about them.


My primary reason for reading our first selection was the fact that Christopher Golden had a fair hand in writing it. After penning The Punisher's rebirth as a "weapons of heaven" reborn supernatural creature, the next step was obviously pairing him with Wolverine for a fun save-New York City adventure. Wolvie, who just got a brand new gal pal named Caley, is uncharacteristically happy when we begin our story. He's dressed to impress as he meets his new beau, a museum curator currently working on excavating on old forgotten subway station, for a fancy dinner. While the pair flirt on their night out, Caley is interrupted with news of a cave-in at the dig. Wolverine has his trusty motorcycle, so they both scoot off to see whats wrong.

Meanwhile, Frank Castle (the aforementioned 'The Punisher' just in case you kids didn't know) is also hanging out with his new platonic lady friend from his previous rebirth story. You don't need to read it, but it was a nice nod from Mr. Golden just in case you did. He's eventually whisked away to meet something called The Council of Thrones. Who are these kidnapping jerks, you ask? Well, they oversee all of the activities of angels from Heaven on Earth. Obviously. The Punisher was brought back to life by an angel and retains some of his supernatural mojo, so the Thrones have decided they oversee his activities, too. Castle isn't impressed by how weird they look or how powerful they seem to be, so he basically peaces out. The Thrones warn him something bad is coming...


Which brings us to Revelation. Not the biblical event, mind you, but a young girl who was awakened by the aforementioned excavation mishap. A former Morlock (you WILL be lost if you don't know the Morlocks were underground sewer-dwelling mutants, too ugly for the world above. Wolverine tries to explain this to Frank later on, but in Logan''s typical style, it's sort of hard to decipher since he's trying to sound too cool), Revy was cryogenically frozen by a Morlock scientist with a really cool name. Turns out our girl has the power to kill people with a 'death aura' - an airborne virus she can't control. She was frozen until a cure could be found, but in a separate story in X-Men related comics, all the Morlocks were killed and everyone forgot about her. Being in the big chill for so long warped her mind, so she believes the sewers are Hell and the surface above, "the light" is Heaven. Both Wolverine (mutant healing factor) and The Punisher (angel-enhanced powers) are unaffected by her powers, so the pair race to stop her before she kills most of Manhattan.

The manga-inspired art is beautiful to look at in this trade paperback, but doesn't necessarily go with the gritty story Golden and his co-writer Tom Sniegoski were originally going for. Pat Lee is drawing things almost too beautifully, too heavenly if you will, for a story that essentially takes place in the "hell" of the New York City sewers. While Wolverine insinuating about his "family" during his date (an obvious nod to how he feels about the X-Men) is cute, the very notion of a "Morlock scientist" who could design technology as sophisticated as what Lee's artwork shows is almost preposterous. The Morlocks were stealing food and wearing rags in early X-Men stories; you're telling me one designed a cryogenic freezing chamber along with "failsafe" robots capable of ramming rebars through Frank Castle? WHAT? I would imagine all of the design stuff would be a little less sophisticated, which would have made more sense with the "malfunction" that set Revelation free. I guess no one really loved the angelic-inspired Punisher; in this story, he doesn't do a whole lot in the beginning part of the story besides kind of wander around. Wolverine really shines here, and he looks pretty good. It was fun re-reading the story and I'm glad it is still part of my permanent comic collection

VINTAGE SERIES: Kitty Pryde & Wolverine

One of the few treats of being a librarian, and a librarian known for reading graphic novels in particular, is that when I request that the library get a trade paperback that I want, they usually follow through. Such was the case with today's In Review title, Kitty Pryde & Wolverine. This story, published in the mid-80s, is notorious in X-Men history for containing a pretty big moment in the life of Kitty Pryde. It's also noteworthy that, up until 2007, it was very difficult to find it as a collection you kind of had to scour comic book shops/comic book conventions and try to find the six original issues. Having waited to read this title since I was 16 or so, I can tell you... it was actually pretty much worth the wait.


The story opens with Kitty having just been dumped. X-Men powerhouse Peter Rasputin broke up with after returning from the Secret Wars crossover, convinced that his falling in love with an alien healing babe had forcibly removed his love/flirtation with Kitty. She packs up and heads home to Deerfield, Illinois that same afternoon. This is where our story begins. She's wearing a hideous '80s ice skating costume that's pink and black. She decides to surprise her dad at work, thinking to herself that he has seemed to be under a lot of stress lately. Using her ability to 'phase' through solid materials, she inadvertently eavesdrops on her father and his new business associates, Japanese gangsters who have purchased the bank her dad formerly owned. Her father, in an effort to protect her, sends her home. He has to go to Japan to sort out some more of the potentially illegal business venture, and Kitty decides to stowaway on the plane. As his daughter and as a trained X-Man she figures that she'll be able to get her dad out of any trouble he's in. By the end of the first issue (or 'chapter' in the collection), she realizes her dad isn't being coerced by the crooks; he's in face in league with them. One of the baddies, a ninja named Ogun, notices Kitty both by her phasing power and her strength of spirit. He wants Papa Pryde to hand his daughter over as a part of the deal. After using some sweet ninja moves on him, Ogun makes Papa Pryde reluctantly agree.

Ogun attacks Kitty. Weakened and exhausted from both her flight and her short Japanese adventure, the ninja easily overpowers her. While the next part is somewhat unclear, it seems that Ogun somehow psychically connects to her in an attempt to 'link' them together. Basically his mind and will become a part of her, and she becomes a badass ninja in a little under a week. He also uses a katana to cut most of her hair off, giving her a pretty sick '80s 'do. Before Ogun managed to nab her, she tried to call Professor Xavier in America. It's a good thing Wolverine picked up the phone, because at this point in the story he arrives in Japan. He eventually figures out that Ogun, a former teacher of his, has Kitty against her will. Using his animal instincts, he tracks Ogun down... only to get attacked by someone with all of Ogun's moves, but a girl and half his size. After an extended fight, the ninja's mask is removed to reveal Kitty Pryde. When Wolverine hesitates, Kitty slices the sword right through him in one of the more memorable panels in the book.


As Wolverine's healing powers slowly do their thing, Kitty slowly reverts to her old self. Yukio, a Japanese friend of Wolverine's, helps hide them out in one of the Clan Yashida safehouses. She also continually hits on Wolverine the whole time. He rebuffs her advances because he's in love with (and still dating) Mariko Yashida, Yukio's employer. For a short hairy dude, Wolverine has a lot of women trouble. Despite the fact that he should be taking it easy, he uses this time to push Kitty to her limits. His hope is to make her strong enough to resist Ogun's lingering influence. While Kitty initially acts like a complaining 15 year girl, she eventually rises to the challenge... surprising even herself in the process. She decides the only way to really get over Ogun's possession is to face him once and for all. It's a battle she might not win. Wolverine doesn't let her face their mutual foe alone, however, and by the end... the two X-Men prevail.

This story is sort of famous for Kitty's transformation from the young teenage superhero ingénue into the adult X-Man to reckon with that she is today. She also decides she's no longer a 'Kitty' but a 'Cat' ... and one who likes the shadows at that. So, she becomes 'Shadowcat' finally solidifying a codename (she'd previously taken the names 'Ariel' and 'Sprite' ... ick!). The story is surprisingly NOT as dated as you would think. You also don't need a wide knowledge of the X-Men to enjoy the story, since it focuses only on two characters and essentially tells you all that you need to know about them. Chris Claremont is at his peak here; you can tell he loves Kitty Pryde, and it shows in particular in this international graphic adventure.