THE BEAST #1-#3, May - July 1997

Bad Karma

Credits: Keith Giffen (writer), Cedric Nocon (penciler), Jaime Mendoza & Hackshack Studios (inkers), Marie Javins & Digital Chameleon (colors), Comicraft (letters)

I wonder, has Keith Giffen ever publically stated his thoughts on the X-titles? His fill-in on Excalibur hinted at some affection for the more obscure areas of X-continuity, and now we have a story that features Gateway, Viper, Spiral, Karma, and her little siblings, Coy Leong and Coy Nga. There’s even a flashback here I’m not familiar with -- the Australian-era X-Men, with Nightcrawler for some reason, facing an adult Leong and Nga (perhaps it's from New Mutants annual #2 ?). Maybe he’s just an old school pro who did a lot of research before delving into the X-universe, but it seems like you have to be a pretty hardcore fan to even think about Karma’s siblings.

The story opens with Spiral using Gateway to bring her Viper, her new partner in crime. Spiral has Leong and Nga, which comes as a surprise to Karma, who thinks the Hellfire Club is keeping them captive. After possessing Beast and forcing him into a pointless fight with Hellfire security, Karma calms down and agrees to let Beast and Cannonball help her in her search (the throwaway explanation for why the X-Men never looked for her siblings is that Karma never "gave (them) an opportunity”). Beast can’t find them with Cerebro (which allows Giffen to explain that non-telepaths can also use it, telepaths are just better with it), but that’s okay. Spiral conveniently shows up at X-Men’s door and kidnaps Karma, apparently because she needs all of the Coy siblings together.

As Spiral teleports away, Beast and Cannonball are brought along for the ride. And, yeah, this has precious little to do with the Beast. I honestly wonder if Karma and Beast have ever even appeared in the same comic before this. Giffen does build up enough intrigue for the first issue though, and with the exception of a comically exaggerated Cannonball, he does have a nice grasp on the characters. Cedric Nocon’s flat, two-dimensional Jim Lee impression is the biggest problem with the issue.

Body Shopping

Credits: Keith Giffen (plot), Terry Kavanagh (script), Cedric Nocon (penciler), Jaime Mendoza & Hackshack Studios (inkers), Ariane Lenshoek (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Giffen’s already halfway out of the door, and the drop in quality is noticeable. After arriving at Spiral’s Body Shoppe, the heroes learn that Karma’s siblings have been transformed into adult cyborgs. For reasons that aren’t clear yet, Viper and Spiral have brainwashed the siblings and unleashed them on the mutants. Aside from just being unpleasant to look at, Nocon’s art really drops the ball during the fight scene. Apparently, Nga bursts out of her “adult” shell, but she now resembles Karma and can duplicate her possession powers. It’s entirely possible that Kavanagh’s script isn’t conveying what exactly Giffen intended, but the art just makes things muddier. It’s hard to tell if Nga is supposed to resemble Karma if both characters barely look human. Plus, the art is so unclear, I can’t tell if Nga is supposed to be a kid again or not (the next issue clarifies that she’s still stuck in an adult body, but it’s unclear at this point). The style isn’t even consistent, as the art goes from a Jim Lee pastiche to a Joe Mad one over the course of a few pages. As for the Beast, he has a quickie flashback to the day he experimented on himself and turned blue and furry. I’m not entirely sure that even accurately represents the original story, and it’s a stretch to connect his transformation to what Spiral does in the Body Shoppe.

Closing Shop

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Cedric Nocon, Paul Pelletier, & Hector Collazo (penciler), Jaime Mendoza & Hackshack Studios, Harry Candelario (inkers), Ariane Lenshoek (colors), Comicraft (letters)

I’ve never read Karma’s first appearance in Marvel Team-Up #100, but apparently it introduced, and killed off, a twin brother I didn’t know about. Tran Coy Manh, Karma’s twin brother with the same powers, is dredged out of the past and becomes a major plot point. Viper wants to kill the Coy family because Tran forced her into some sort of Comics Code Approved white slavery in his sole appearance. As we abruptly learn this issue, Tran never really died, and a part of his consciousness resides inside Karma. This creates a conflict between Viper and Spiral, since Viper wants to take Karma back and use her as a means to torture Tran, while Spiral apparently wants to keep her for experimentation. Meanwhile, Leong and Nga are still grown-up, brainwashed cyborgs providing the token fight scenes. Spiral throws a tantrum, things blow up, and Beast, Cannonball, and Karma escape with the Coy siblings. What does Beast have to do? He un-brainwashes the siblings, but tells Karma that their new forms are permanent. (Are they still supposed to be cyborg adults? I know Claremont established that Karma was still taking care of them, but I don’t know if they’ve appeared “on-camera” since this mini.)

I’m glad someone out there had a great story that spoke to the Beast’s character and didn’t rely on a large cast of unrelated characters to work, don’t you? Seriously, who possibly thought this could be sold as a Beast miniseries? The Beast has served with the Avengers and the Defenders. He’s best friends with Wonder Man and has various connections throughout the Marvel Universe. He has an evil twin out there in continuity. So, of course his miniseries is a follow-up to a forgotten New Mutants subplot. And how is it that a three-issue miniseries can’t even keep a consistent creative team?

X-MEN #61 – February 1997

Bolt
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Cedric Nocon (penciler), Hunt & Miller (inkers), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Joe Rosas & GCW (colorist)

Summary: Undercloaks from the Crimson Dawn dimension attack Psylocke in the apartment she shares with Archangel. When he arrives to help, the apartment is empty and Psylocke is meditating. Gomurr appears, telling them that a price must be paid for the Crimson Dawn. Meanwhile, Storm faces Jamil, who is apparently possessed by the Shadow King. After she freezes him in a blizzard, the Juggernaut appears. Storm deduces that this is Jamil changing forms. Soon, Jamil impersonates Cable and blasts Candra with the red gem. Storm decides that Jamil’s forms aren’t coming from her mind or Candra’s. When Candra recovers, Storm reveals that Jamil never existed, and was always a creation of Karima’s mutant power. Storm tosses the ruby gem in the air, as Cyclops arrives to blast it. Candra disappears, and Storm leaves with Karima. Meanwhile, Sebastian Shaw schemes in Hong Kong.

Continuity Notes: The Archangel/Psylocke scene is a tease for their upcoming miniseries, which or may or not make as much sense as what we see here (I only read the first issue).

Storm reveals that Achmed knew that Candra was after his mutant pupil, so he ordered Karima to use her power to give “form and function to desires pulled from the minds of others” to create Jamil. Jamil was created by projecting Candra’s desire to find the gem and Karima’s own desire for companionship.

The opening narration claims that this story takes place on the night Graydon Creed died, even though last issue had a brief scene with Cannonball on the day of his funeral. I guess you could say that only the Archangel/Psylocke scene took place on that night, and the rest of the story happened a few days later.

As Cyclops, Wolverine, and Phoenix arrive to help Storm, Phoenix turns the corner and is suddenly alone. She wonders why Manhattan is abandoned for a few panels, and then everything is back to normal. This is obviously some type of foreshadowing, but it's never resolved.

“Huh?” Moment: Storm decides that Jamil isn’t pulling memories from her mind because “his creations would have been more focused on their goal of destroying me”. I have no idea what this means. If she’s saying that Jamil isn’t trying hard enough to kill her, I’ll give her that much, but that still doesn’t eliminate the possibility that he’s pulling images from her mind. Storm’s odd deduction directly leads her to the revelation that Jamil is actually a creation of Karima. Huh? How does Karima know about the Shadow King, Juggernaut, or Cable?

Creative Differences: Some awkward re-lettering shows up sporadically throughout the issue. It mostly interrupts exposition, such as the explanations that Psylocke is a ninja, Candra is an External, and Sebastian Shaw is a mutant.

Review: What is this? Last issue was a bland story about Storm and Candra fighting over a plot device. Now, the story veers off in an utterly nonsensical direction, revealing that two minor characters from a 1994 X-Men Unlimited issue weren’t who we thought they were. Well, that’s a load off my mind. I’m so glad an entire issue of this series was dedicated to resolving something that no one found confusing in the first place. The revelation that Jamil was always Karima’s projection almost makes sense, but the thought process that Storm goes through to reach this conclusion certainly doesn’t. I’ll give Scott Lobdell the benefit of the doubt and assume that someone somewhere had some last minute rethinking and the final result isn’t the story he set out to tell. Lobdell can be an inconsistent writer, but I don’t think he intentionally set out to produce something this disjointed. The alternating subplots are also frustratingly vague, making this issue an even larger mess.

X-MEN #60 – January 1997

Night
Credits: Scott Lobdell (plot), Ralph Macchio (script), Cedric Nocon (penciler), Chad Hunt (inker), Comicraft (lettering), Joe Rosas & GCW (colors)

Summary: In her greenhouse, Storm is attacked by Cyclops. Candra reveals that she is possessing him, and gives Storm a message. Storm pulls a red gem out of storage and leaves before Cyclops can inform the others. Storm flashes back to the day she stole the gem from a mansion near Cairo as a child. Her mentor, Achmed, held it for years and returned it to Storm when she left Egypt. At a museum in New York, Storm meets Candra. Candra demands that Storm return the gem to her, or else her hostage Karima will die. Jamil, Candra’s young follower, appears and uses his psychic powers against Storm. When she fights back, Jamil tricks both Storm and Candra and steals the gem. The Shadow King shows himself, revealing that he’s possessed Jamil.

Continuity Notes: Jamil and Karima first appeared in X-Men Unlimited #7 as two street kids under the care of Storm’s former mentor. Candra says that she’s only recently learned that Storm stole her gem (which she refers to as her “heart”) through Jamil’s telepathic powers.

The story implies that the red gem is the same one Storm wore on her original costume. Chris Claremont also had Storm receive a red gem (called the "cameo crystal") from M'Rin in the backup story in Classic X-Men #22. This could still work in continuity if you figure that the initial gem Storm wore was Candra’s, and she later swapped it with M'Rin’s (assuming you believe that Storm ever wore M'Rin's gem in the first place).

Candra claims that an External can be killed by “running a blade through the heart in order to absorb the arcane energy within”. That’s not how Selene was killing Externals just a few months earlier in X-Force, and I seem to recall early issues of that series implying that Externals could only be killed through decapitation.

Miscellaneous Note: The Statement of Ownership lists average sales for the year at 432,119 copies with the most recent issue selling 389,626.

Review: This is more filler, and it’s pretty lame. It’s not as offensively bad as Graydon Creed’s assassination, or the payoff of the Onslaught mystery, or Havok’s turn as a villain, but it’s still a chore to read. The art looks like early Image work, with thousands of ugly lines everywhere, weird faces, and awkward poses. I remember hating the artwork in this issue when I first read it, which probably means that the early ‘90s style was really, really dead by this point. The story involves the increasingly dull Candra fighting Storm over an inane plot device until another villain decides to show up. It reminds me of the filler that used to run in Marvel Comics Presents, only this kills twenty-two pages instead of eight. Ralph Macchio’s script doesn’t help things either, giving all of the characters very stiff (and boring) speech patterns. I had been able to tolerate filler storylines in the past, but I found this one particularly grating as a teenager.

UNCANNY X-MEN #339 – December 1996

Fight and Flight!
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Adam Kubert & Cedric Nocon (pencilers), Jesse Delperdang & Scott Hanna (inkers), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Steve Buccellato & Team Bucce! (colors)

Summary: Spider-Man visits the X-Men’s mansion to tell them that J. Jonah Jameson is investigating Graydon Creed. Elsewhere, Mystique watches news footage of Creed and plots his assassination. She notices Iceman working undercover as one of Creed’s aides. Later, Beast and Cyclops follow Jameson on his transatlantic flight, hoping to learn what he knows about Creed. The plane is suddenly attacked by Havok and Ever, who claim to represent a new Brotherhood of Mutants. Havok nearly destroys the plane, but the passengers are rescued by Storm and Joseph, who have been flying nearby in the Blackbird. Havok drops out of the sky with Cyclops and teleports away, leaving his brother for dead. Cyclops is narrowly rescued by Storm. He tells her that he suspects that they’re seeing the “true Havok” for the first time. In London, a Daily Bugle reporter named Nick Bandouveris, who has learned the identity of Graydon Creed’s parents, waits for J. Jonah Jameson to arrive. Bastion appears and kills him.

Continuity Notes: Phoenix inadvertently views Spider-Man’s thoughts. A footnote claims that future issues of X-Man will explain why (Paul O’Brien says that never happened in his index of this issue).

Mystique claims that Iceman working undercover on Creed’s campaign “changes everything”. I don’t recall this going anywhere.

Ever shows up as a member of Havok’s new Brotherhood (Havok’s the only other member who appears here). He initially appeared in a holographic display of Gene Nation members in UXM #325, but didn’t show up in the actual story. I don’t know if any connection between Ever and Gene Nation was ever revealed. I imagine the character was cut from UXM #325 at the last minute and someone at Marvel just decided to reuse the design.

Bastion claims that it’s unfortunate that he had to kill someone on “our side” after he kills the human reporter. This seems like an intentional misdirection to draw attention away from his actual origin.

Review: And now, the dumbest thing to happen in X-Factor shows up in UXM. If Havok has to be a villain, then having him confront his heroic brother makes sense. Unfortunately, Lobdell doesn’t get any decent material out of the conflict, partly because Havok’s conversion is so hard to buy in the first place. There’s an attempt to tie the Havok storyline in with UXM’s ongoing threads, but it’s obviously forced. Spider-Man “warns” the X-Men that Jameson is investigating Creed, apparently because he thinks they might want to learn what he’s uncovered, although it’s not very clear. (Are the X-Men so passive at this point that they have to follow around reporters instead of investigating something themselves?) Havok wants to kill Jameson because mutants “don’t need help” toppling Creed, which is one of the dumbest villain motivations I’ve ever read. Adam Kubert shows up on the first few pages with a sketchy, cartoonier look before he’s replaced by Cedric Nocon. Nocon has a fairly generic ‘90s style, the kind that requires him to draw a minimum of a thousand lines per human face, but he brings a decent amount of energy to the scenes. I remembered this as a terrible looking comic, but it’s not nearly as bad as I thought.

Havok’s sudden turn to villainy is one of the most irritating character mangling I endured as a completist in the ‘90s. The impression I get from reading letter column responses is that the creators wanted to incorporate the Age of Apocalypse incarnation of the character into the mainstream Marvel Universe. Instead of providing the character with anything resembling a legitimate motivation for turning his back on his beliefs and becoming a villain, he gets brainwashed. Perhaps thinking that this lacked dramatic impact, the brainwashing was quickly dismissed, as it’s revealed that Havok is now just behaving the way he’s always wanted to. I was appalled at how poorly executed this stunt was at the time, and looking back on it isn’t exactly a fun time. In some ways it’s a precursor to Marvel’s cavalier attitude towards consistent characterization, which now has established characters like Spider-Man, Xavier, and Iron Man behaving strangely, and the Avengers all speaking like David Mamet characters. The fact that the Age of Apocalypse’s popularity lead to such an inane twisting of a long-running character is also frustrating. The AoA stunt was almost two years old by this point. Surely most of the heat from the storyline had died down by now. Some readers might’ve enjoyed seeing Havok as a villain in the alternate world in early 1995, but were they still demanding it by this point? Even if the AoA’s villainous Havok was overwhelming popular, that doesn’t justify dismissing his established characterization so that he can casually become a villain.

It was around this time that my friends who got into comics through the X-Men cartoon began to drop out of the hobby. I’m not saying that this specific storyline chased them away, but I think the noticeable drop of quality during this era (even down to the paper stock) disenfranchised a lot of readers. It’s possible that they were just following the old rule that says comic readers only stick with the hobby for three to five years, but it appeared to be more than that. It seemed like my friends still liked the characters and wanted to stick with the books, but thought there were too many titles to follow, and didn’t feel much of a reward for collecting so many books with erratic levels of quality. Within a few months, my own completist days would begin to end, even though I still felt a loyalty to a few of the titles.