X-MAN & THE INCREDIBLE HULK ‘98 - August 1998

Call of the Wild

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), ChrisCross (penciler), Caesar, Keith Williams, & Hector Collazo (inks), Comicraft (letters), Mark Bernardo (colors)

Summary: Still enraged after the death of Betty Banner, the Hulk tears through the Southwest until he reaches the Grand Canyon. Simultaneously, X-Man reaches Stonehenge while touring Europe. Both hear messages from Thanos, who is trapped in another dimension. X-Man uses his telekinesis to reach through the dimensional gap and strike Thanos. Hulk, who’s considering Thanos’ partnership offer, jumps through the dimensional breach and attacks X-Man. When Hulk realizes that Thanos always intended to double-cross him, he joins forces with X-Man. United, the heroes send Thanos back to his shadow dimension and return home.

Review: Another forgotten team-up annual, this one pairs the post-Peter David/killing-time-until-the-John Byrne-relaunch Hulk with…X-Man. Sure, why not? Before Kavanagh gets to the plot, he spends several pages establishing the respective status quos of the heroes, which is rare for an annual, since scheduling demands usually force them to use “light” continuity. As Kavanagh is the regular writer of X-Man, and Incredible Hulk is stuck in filler mode, this story doesn’t have to take place in a generic “recent past,” because Kavanagh has a pretty good idea of what will be going on when the issue is released.

Kavanagh doesn’t give the Hulk a lot to do -- he talks to Rick and Marlo, gets mad when he thinks about Betty, then jumps around for a few pages -- but in one poignant scene, Kavanagh does toss out the idea that the Hulk is starting to forget Betty’s face. This isn’t the dumb, childlike Hulk who might forget those details, this is the Hulk who…well, no one seemed to know how to define the Hulk after Betty’s death. He appears to be the surly, angry Hulk of the early issues, with Banner’s intellect perhaps subdued by the rage he feels following Betty’s death. However, he’s still able to make jokes, which isn’t indicative of someone blinded by anger. (I don’t think Hulk’s state of mind is conclusively dealt with until Paul Jenkins’ run, over a year later.) X-Man, meanwhile, is bumming around Europe, dealing with the loss of his telepathic powers. These scenes are surprisingly readable, considering how poorly the idea was conveyed in the monthly series. Instead of throwing X-Man into pointless fight scenes, Kavanagh spends some time exploring how X-Man gets around Europe without his usual tricks -- instantly translating everyone’s speech and telepathically sneaking his way past the border guards. He also has to wonder now if everyone’s secretly laughing at his hair.

When the story really begins, we’re expected to believe the Hulk is willing to join forces with Thanos in order to gain control of the vague “power” that’s being offered to him. Presumably, he wants to use this power to revive Betty, which would work as an understandable motivation. The story never explicitly says this is his goal, though, and based solely on Thanos’ spiel, it could be interpreted that Hulk is joining him on a “rule the world” quest. Either way, the Hulk looks foolish for siding with him. When X-Man senses Thanos’ evil, he’s adamant that the Hulk can’t join him, which leads to the obligatory hero vs. hero fight. This lasts until the Hulk realizes that Thanos was using him all along (!!!!), the heroes team up, and the bad guy is defeated. No surprises there, but ChrisCross’ kinetic art suits the fight scenes perfectly, and I have to admit that I like the sheer ridiculousness of X-Man creating “psionic armor” for the Hulk during the final battle. Clearly, this isn’t profound, but it works as a “big fight” comic, and the artist is perfectly suited for the material.

X-MAN #37-#38, April-May 1998

Breaking Point

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), ChrisCross (penciler), Bud LaRosa (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters), Mike Thomas & Mark Bernardo (colors)

Huh, this one is a little odd. Continuing the editorially mandated friendship of X-Man and Peter Parker, Spider-Man is revealed as the mysterious voice from the end of the last issue. He tries to talk X-Man out of erasing the city’s memory of him, but it doesn’t work. X-Man sends his presence over New York and wipes out everyone’s recollection of him, but he decides his friend Jam should keep her memories. (She’s the one who lost her arm, only to have it temporarily replaced by one of X-Man’s psionic illusions.) The story tries to present this as deep and meaningful, but it comes across as more capricious than anything.

While X-Man is spacing out, completing his mission, Spider-Man fears he’s near death and socks him back into consciousness. Conveniently enough, last issue X-Man chose the top of the Brooklyn Bridge to perch dramatically, the location of Gwen Stacy’s death (after the lettering was corrected in the reprints). Spider-Man emotes appropriately, but X-Man isn’t moved. He creates a psychic whirlwind, which somehow touches on Spider-Man’s memories to produce…the AoA Gwen Stacy!

That’s the type of slightly insane/brilliant idea we don’t see enough in this book. It’s unfortunately marred by a continuity error -- for some reason, Spidey remembers Gwen as his friend during his nerdy, bespectacled, high school days -- but what a use of the character! Spider-Man tries to talk to Gwen, but wouldn’t you know it, three mysterious armored hitmen choose this moment to attack. And, surely no one saw this coming…but Gwen’s knocked off the bridge! Spider-Man saves her this time, but she disappears after X-Man collapses during the fight. Spider-Man’s now lost “a dream come true” and is ready to take his pain out on the remaining goons. Like many of the events in this comic, this doesn’t make a lot of sense, but Kavangh is using the powers and backstory of X-Man in unique ways, making this issue more entertaining than usual.

Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide…

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), ChrisCross & Ariel Olivetti (pencilers), Mahlstedt, Bobillo, Caesar, & Sosa (inks), Comicraft’s Kiff Scholl (letters), Mike Thomas (colors)

Did you want to see the repercussions of X-Man erasing New York’s memory? Sorry. Were you interested in Spider-Man’s reaction to X-Man’s ability to recreate his dead girlfriend? Eh, we’ll pay it some lip service. The bulk of this issue is dedicated to Spider-Man and X-Man fighting the armored henchmen, because that’s the most engaging aspect of the previous issue.

ChrisCross handles the action capably, and his interpretation of Spidey beats most of the artists assigned to his monthly books at this time, but the lengthy fight is ultimately a disappointment. The only information given on the villains is that they’re from a group called “The Gauntlet.” After a protracted fight that’s stretched over two issues, they simply teleport away, leaving the readers with no insight into who they are or what they want. Considering that Kavanagh has let a Hellfire Club subplot languish in the background for over two years at this point, I don’t think he’s generated enough goodwill to pull this kind of stunt. Speaking of the Hellfire Club, Madelyne Pryor, who was supposed to be doing something evil with the club by now, abruptly shows up at the end. The narrative captions make it clear that she’s genetically X-Man’s mother, which doesn’t stop the issue from concluding with a silhouette of the two sharing a romantic embrace. What can you even say at this point?

Meanwhile, Dr. Arlington, the doctor from the previous arc, somehow has been blessed with healing powers from X-Man. He’s traveling the world with Roust (a character Kavanagh seems determined to add to the supporting cast, even though he’s barely had anything to do with X-Man and hasn’t played a real role in any of the storylines so far), helping the sick. That’s one way to emphasize what a petulant twerp your lead character is -- let a minor member of the cast who was just introduced actually use the hero’s powers for good.

X-MAN #34-#36, January-March 1998

Messiah Complex Part One: The Ride

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Roger Cruz (penciler), Bud LaRosa (inker), Comicraft (letters), Mike Thomas (colors)

Apparently, this storyline is supposed to mark a new direction in the life of X-Man, the outcast mutant hero who resists “direction” the same way Gary Busey resists sanity. Kavanagh is following up on the idea that X-Man is a local celebrity in Washington Square Park and pushing it into full-on hero worship. Everyone wants X-Man to use his psychic powers to help them out, resulting in a mob scene every time he appears in public. This setup does have actual potential, as opposed to earlier status quo of aimless wandering and random violence.

One of X-Man’s new “bad girl” friends, Jam, is hospitalized after a drunk driving accident, which sets the story into motion. X-Man visits her in the hospital, wishes his vast powers could reattach her severed arm, and is then rushed out of the room by her doctor. Dr. Arlington soon realizes that Jam’s arm has indeed grown back. Later in his rounds, Arlington discovers another patient’s nearly fatal gunshot wound has been healed. Perhaps not coincidentally, X-Man is standing outside of his hospital window, lost in thought. This is, gasp, an intriguing premise for a story. The dialogue is still awkward and X-Man remains fairly unlikable, but I have to give Kavanagh credit for a strong principal idea for the story arc. In the background, a mystery man is monitoring X-Man’s actions. On the final page, we discover that he is none other than longtime Alpha Flight nemesis, Purple Man. Well, of course he is.

Messiah Complex Part Two: Media Blitz

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), ChrisCross & Roger Cruz (pencilers), Bud LaRosa (inker), Comicraft (letters), Mike Thomas (colors)

Extended fill-in artist ChrisCross makes half of a debut, penciling a good portion of the pages while Roger Cruz handles the midsection. In a sign of the times, Kavanagh has chosen a WNBA game as the venue for X-Man to perform his most public act of heroism yet. The Destabilizers, a political terrorist group, invade the stadium and are easily defeated by the mutant.

Later, X-Man reconnects with Dr. Arlington, who theorizes that their brief physical contact in Jam’s hospital room gave X-Man the subconscious knowledge necessary to reattach her arm. When he suggests they work together to develop his skill and help people, X-Man acts like the irrational brat he always reverts to and abruptly leaves. He flies past the sea of fans that are now camped outside of his home, a two-page spread that marks Roger Cruz’s temporary exit.

The Destabilizers plot thread returns on the next page, and perhaps not coincidentally, ChrisCross is back as the artist. Remember the Zero Tolerance crossover issue that opened with Cary Nord art before shifting to Cruz’s pencils when the crossover material began? I wonder now if Cruz drew a sequence of pages for this issue that were later rewritten and given to ChrisCross to handle. As the issue closes, hidden devices in the Destabilizers’ skin create a massive explosion when they go through the NYPD’s metal detector. Because the terrorists didn’t know about the devices, X-Man didn’t learn about them during his earlier psi-scan. The police are now accusing X-Man of sending Trojan horses into One Police Plaza, and they’re not thrilled. Finally, it’s revealed that Purple Man has been setting up these events with Flag Smasher, a partner he’s already bored with by the final page. I have to admit that the utter randomness of these villains is fun, and just look at the sheer amount of story we’re getting this issue. Things are happening! What a thought.

Messiah Complex Part Three: Falling Star

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), ChrisCross (penciler), Bud LaRosa & Harry Candelario (inkers), Comicraft (letters), Mike Thomas (colors)

Now a suspected terrorist, X-Man lives on the streets, hiding from the authorities and eating out of dumpsters. I wouldn’t mind this as a new status quo for the book, although I don't think we're going to be lucky enough to see X-Man eating garbage for too many issues. While spying on his former friends, X-Man learns that one of the girls, Bux, has been acting odd lately. Searching for her telepathically, he learns that she’s been used as a dupe by the Purple Man. The story isn’t very clear, but apparently this is how Purple Man got close enough to X-Man to influence his actions. Jam’s new arm is actually an elaborate psionic illusion, and presumably, (the story isn’t very clear about this either) the patient he brought to life was also a telepathic hoax. Purple Man thinks that X-Man is powerful enough to reunite him with his family, and that they can spread love throughout the world together. Umm…okay. X-Man sees that Purple Man is simply deluding himself, they get into a fight, things blow up, and Purple Man disappears. X-Man considers wiping the city’s collective memory of the past few weeks, but a mystery voice from behind urges him not to.

I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that the finale doesn’t live up to the premise’s potential. Since Purple Man and X-Man have similar powers, he is a credible choice for a villain, but X-Man’s so powerful Kavanagh has to spend several pages merely providing a justification for how Purple Man could influence him in the first place. And, even then, it doesn’t really make sense. I am glad to see ChrisCross come aboard as artist. While Cruz was improving with each issue, his work could still look rushed and a little sloppy on occasion. ChrisCross’ solid draftsmanship brings more consistency to the book. He also makes X-Man look more like a teenager and less like a steroid-enhanced ‘90s superhero with veins popping out of his neck. So, despite the weak ending, I have to acknowledge “Messiah Complex” as an improvement for the series. Now, do you think anyone working in the X-office today knows/cares that the name of one of their crossovers was already taken?