The Mutants and the Magnum Force: X-Men 119

X-Men #119 (March 1979)

"'Twas the Night Before Christmas!"

Chris Claremont-John Byrne/Terry Austin

Karen: Ready for the wrap-up on this little two-parter? OK, let's get to it then! Nightcrawler takes  center stage as the X-Men look to assault Moses Magnum's dormant volcano base. Yup, it's right out of You Only Live Twice. Kurt bamfs inside, and thinks back about how they got there. The X-Men had listened to a briefing by Mr. Osama, Colleen Wing's grand-uncle. He described to the team how Magnum had threatened to destroy Japan, and had the power to carry out that threat, by triggering earthquakes along fault lines under the islands. The government refuses to give in to his demands, so the mutants are their only hope. Nightcrawler works his way further into the base, looking for a way in for Cyclops and his team. 

Doug: The splash page is magnificent! I know we gush over and over, but this era was the pinnacle of the Byrne/Austin team. Every panel could seem a masterpiece. I really like it when Nightcrawler and Colossus get major facetime in these stories. Maybe I'm just overly sullen when Wolverine's name comes up, but it's just refreshing to see that every member of the All-New team grabbed the spotlight on occasion. And speaking of the art team, all current readers should focus on that team shot in the first panel of Kurt's reflection. Scott may be drawn just a bit shy of his normal 6'3", but everyone else seems to be properly proportioned, including Wolverine!

Karen: Considering Byrne wasn't that fond of Nightcrawler, we were lucky whenever he was featured!

Doug: Question -- is it me, or are we working under the assumption that islands float? Because they don't. But, Mr. Osama makes the comment that "the home islands will shatter". Can something solid and anchored shatter? Would that be the appropriate term for a tree, or a mountain? Maybe I'm just missing a little geology and/or physics along the way here.

Karen: Don't look at me. I studied biology!

Doug: Prior to this storyline, I had not heard of Moses Magnum. That the dude had any sort of backstory at all was news to me.

Karen: He definitely wasn't a major player, but like the Mandroids, Claremont seemed intent on using him. Outside the base, Storm and Banshee provide a distraction. Ororo whips up an ice storm within the crater, while Banshee uses his sonic scream to put Magnum's defenses out of order. Storm wonders if things are going too smoothly -and you know she has a point! Things never seem to work out easily for this team. Far below the base, Cyclops and Sunfire have been using their powers to carve out a tunnel to sneak inside; Wolverine and Colossus round out their unit. Nightcrawler finally finds a good spot and signals them. As he does, though, he is startled by something. Cyclops' red force beam bursts through the floor of the room, and Colossus pokes his head up through the hole, relieved to be breathing fresh air again. His happiness quickly ends when he is suddenly grabbed by the neck and lifted up violently out of the hole. It's Moses Magnum! He punches Peter and sends him flying -literally. Colossus nearly shoots off the island until he manages to slow himself by dragging his fingers in the ground. After he comes to a halt, the Russian teen is disgusted with himself. He feels like he hasn't been carrying his weight lately, but vows that is about to change, and heads back into the base looking for Magnum!

Doug: I know time was of the essence in this story, but it does seem odd that the Japanese government wouldn't have contacted the Fantastic Four or the Avengers. Granted, the X-Men dropped right into their laps. I suppose their association with Sunfire made them an acceptable alternative to other American heroes.

Doug: I think making Nightcrawler invisible in shadows was a really cool innovation that came with development of the character over time. And as I said above, I love the fact that in this issue it seems like each individual X-Man is going to get that moment in the sun. Banshee seems really dangerous here, hmm? I wasn't buying Cyke's line about arriving undetected through their burrowing -- but, Banshee did screw up a lot of the instruments... It just seemed like part of the gear one would want to have if holed up in a volcano would be some seismographic equipment.

Karen: Check again pal, Magnum says he sensed their presence -"I am Master of the Earth, armored one! No one moves through it without my being aware of them!"

Doug: True. But I was thinking more along the lines of the lackeys in the fortress. Moses indeed had his ear to the ground, so to speak! Colossus was my favorite X-Man when I was a kid. Fastball special, landings out of aircraft, his devotion to his friends and teammates -- swell guy!

Karen: Cyclops, Sunfire, and Wolverine are shocked by Magnum's unexpected powers -super-strength, durability, and power blasts. He's changed! Wolverine goes in to attack and gets knocked out with one punch. That's right, one punch. This was Wolverine B. G. (before godhood). Cyclops is stunned to see the feisty runt taken down so easily. He tells Sunfire to go get Storm and Banshee -they're going to need them. However, that leaves him alone with Magnum, maybe not the best move. But Magnum surprisingly decides not to "waste his power" on Cyclops -instead, he calls in a couple of Mark II Mandroids to battle the X-Men's leader. Mandroids again? We'll never know how Cyke would have fared, because Colossus leaps into the fray, fighting almost like Wolverine -like he's gone berserk. He's taking all his frustrations out on these two! Magnum decides discretion is the better part of valor and hightails it out of there, sealing the door behind him, just as Banshee and Storm show up. Banshee has some sort of epiphany and figures out what Magnum is up to -and that he's the only one who can stop him. Uh oh -can you see the sacrifice play coming up? He tells Cyclops to get everyone out of the volcano fast and then flies outside.

Doug: One of the "funner" elements of comic book storytelling is the choreography of a battle scene. Byrne and Austin get it right here, with varied camera angles, close-ups that show Magnum's furious expressions, and then John Costanza finishes each panel off with the appropriate sound effect. Really, when Colossus was trying to dig his fingers into the rock to halt his projection toward the sea, I imagined *fingers on a chalkboard* and that's basically what Costanza gave us. Nice piece of cinema overall!

Karen: Wouldn't you like to see them try that in an X-Men movie? And hey, Colossus sure doesn't get much screen time in those, does he?

Doug: I wasn't quite sure why Magnum suddenly decided to bolt, other than the fact that he'd lost the element of surprise. Now a known commodity, maybe he wasn't as powerful as we initially believed? Banshee complained to himself that maybe he was getting old -- I always liked that he was older than the other new X-Men and often had that "older brother" feel, maybe even like an uncle at times.

Karen: I think that age differential was a problem in some ways. Having both Banshee and Cyclops together sort of undermines Cyke's authority, at least I felt that way. Not that Banshee was anything but a team player, but he could have been seen as an authority figure, given his age and experience. Magnum enters into his power chamber, deciding to make his threat good. A couple of captions explain that he didn't die in Power Man Annual #1, but was instead somehow imbued with "the power primal" - the ability to manifest an infinite amount of energy anywhere on Earth. Say what? OK, as I've said before, let's just go with it. Magnum starts to build up his energy, ready to project it out of the volcano. Banshee, flying outside, begins to project a "wall of sound" (where's Phil Spector?) around the volcano to counter Magnum's energy. Magnum, not knowing what's going on, boosts his power, and so does Banshee. Eventually, the whole island explodes.

Doug: That Power Primal is some nasty stuff, hey? It would seem that Barry Allen got shortchanged when the lightning hit his chemicals and all he got was super speed... I thought the crescendo of this tale was a bit too far-fetched. In other words, my disbelief didn't quite get suspended. First off, sound dissipates in intensity, so that Banshee could be that far away from the top of the volcano and emit that sort of energy seems off -- unless he was way more powerful than we were ever led to believe. Secondly, if he could determine the "energy frequency" that Magnum was using on the inside of the volcano, well that just opens up a whole new set of uses for his power: intercepting secret codes, extraterrestrial contact, etc. So while this scene looks really cool, and there was a build up of tension within the reader, I'm not buying it all (some of it, not all of it). Awesome page, though!

Karen: The next day, Misty Knight is out in a search plane, looking for the X-Men. Sunfire signals her and the team is rescued -but Banshee is in bad shape. Storm fears he has lost his power. We skip ahead ten days. Banshee is getting out of a car at Sunfire's palatial home. He thinks to himself that he's disappointed none of his team-mates were at the hospital when he was released -it's obvious he's hurt by their absence. But when he enters the home, the whole team is gathered under a big banner that reads, "Welcome Back Sean -Merry Christmas!" That's right, it's Christmas. The team is celebrating -although Nightcrawler and Wolverine are still in costume (I'm waiting to hear about this, Doug). Banshee can barely get out a hoarse whisper of appreciation -he really may have lost his sonic powers. Wolverine heads off to see Mariko, and Storm thinks about how close she's become with her friends. She gives Kurt a little kiss on the cheek and he looks like he's in Heaven. Peter stands out on the balcony alone though, until Storm asks if he's OK. He's melancholy -he misses his family.

Doug: This epilogue is what makes Bronze Age Marvel so great. We see the culmination (to this point) of relationships forged through accountability in battle. There is no action in the last 23 panels of the story (OK, well maybe the last two), yet I found this part of the book as gratifying a read as the "real" story. Early on I always felt that Kurt and Peter were vying for Ororo's affection; now we see how they've become their own little corner of the team, as brothers and a sister. And Wolverine -- I wish this direction (with Mariko) was where they'd taken his love interests all along. I never did buy, nor care for, the subplot with Jean. It may have created some tension, but I just couldn't see it heading toward any resolution that would be satisfying (to Logan or to me!).

Doug: I think some day in the future, when you and I are ready to ride off into the sunset, our last post should be a montage of our favorite panels -- a collage of heroes in civvies while doing normal things, and rubber masks!

Karen: How about some Buscema blasts too? Our tale ends in Scotland, where Jean Grey, who still believes the X-Men to be dead, has come to spend the holidays with Moira McTaggert, Alex Summers, Lorna Dane, and Jaime Maddrox. As the foursome prepare to celebrate, back on Muir Island (Moira's home) Angus MacWhirter, who rented the X-Men a hover craft that promptly got blown up back in issue #104, decides to get his revenge. He plans to plant some bombs in Moira's lab -but is suddenly stopped by something - something inhuman.

Doug: So I'm dense. Been a looooonnnnnggg time since I've read these X-Men stories in a run. Is Jean not the world's strongest telepath? Wasn't she stronger than Xavier when under the Phoenix Force? This whole subplot of Jean's dead/the X-Men are dead was kind of dumb to me then and now.

Karen: I thought the whole "X-Men are dead/Jean and Hank are dead" sub-plot was stretched to ridiculous lengths. And yes, you'd think Jean and Scott shared a psychic bond that she would have felt. Oh well...

Karen: Although this is not one of my favorite stories in the Claremont/Byrne/Austin era, it still had some nice character moments, and as always, it felt like the team was moving forward. They were really starting to feel like a team, and like friends. Each adventure seemed to bring them closer together -and pulled those of us reading these tales when they first appeared into that circle, making us feel like we knew these characters. I think that was the key to the title at this time. The reader felt a part of something.

Doug: I want to say this 2-parter was like a get-me-over fastball -- don't want to walk the batter, but you also can't afford to miss with your best stuff. I agree with you -- it's pretty darn good, but not the very best. Think about it -- other than a couple of one-off misses (Warhawk?), this train had been picking up steam since X-Men #94. No breaks. And look where it's headed! From here to the first Alpha Flight story, then to the Arcade tale (which I think I like better than do you), then Proteus, then on to the "Dark Phoenix Saga" and finishing with "Days of Future Past". Wow!! Counting Giant-Size X-Men #1 and a couple of Annuals, that's over 50 issues of generally can't-miss entertainment. I'm not sure at the height of the Lee/Kirby/Sinnott Fantastic Four they rattled off a run of 50+ like this. Close -- no argument. But this All-New, All-Different business was just solid.

Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire - X-Men 118

X-Men #118 (February 1979)

"The Submergence of Japan!"

Chris Claremont-John Byrne/Ricardo Villamonte

Doug: Fancy meeting everyone here on a Friday rather than a Monday! As we'd remarked late last week, sometimes real life necessitates re-prioritizing  and re-working some things, and our partner reviews for X-Men #s 118-119 falls into that category. 

Thanks for waiting an extra four days for this, the first of a two-part review. On Monday if you come by the BAB you'll find a follow-up to my Man-Bat story, and a week from today we'll be back here with the conclusion to our merry mutants' trip to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Doug: We open on a ship about 10 kilometers from port on the island of Honshu. The X-Men have been aboard this craft for around six weeks, since they were rescued after their adventure in the Savage Land (which had immediately followed their second tussle with Magneto). A hot red glow is in the sky above the city of Agarashima, and the X-Men intend to investigate. Cyclops gives Nightcrawler the order to teleport over and get a visual. Kurt does, without hesitation. Now I thought this was pretty extreme (bamf!ing over six miles??), but even Kurt remarks to himself that without the X-Men's constant training he never could have attempted that. Shortly, the rest of the team joins him (compliments of Storm and Banshee). Cyke says that they have to locate Sunfire immediately, as they have no passports, no money, and no way of contacting Professor Xavier. So off they go, through a panicked city. But first, we get a quick little vignette as to why they cannot contact Xavier -- he is heading into deep space with his love, the Princess Lilandra. Soon, they will warp far, far away. Once the X-Men are close to Shiro Yoshida's (aka Sunfire) compound the team stops to plan. Wolverine has plucked a stray newspaper and read an account of an earthquake warning. Cyclops asks him how he knows that... what, can he read Japanese? Wolverine says, yeah -- he can, and if Cyclops ever would have asked he'd have known. More layers being peeled back from Logan's background.

Karen: This was back when Wolverine was still a mystery man -and still interesting. I liked the idea that he'd spent time in Japan. I didn't care much for the later stories which turned him into a samurai or ninja. My preferred version of this character has always been the savage just holding on to his humanity. 

Doug: Cyclops orders the team into costume, as it's their only hope of gaining a positive ID with Sunfire. The compound is heavily guarded and it appears that an important meeting is taking place within. Storm creates a dense fog to cloak the approach of she and her teammates. But they aren't very far when a blinding light splits the dense, heavy air. It is Sunfire, and he is not happy. His troops encircle the X-Men, and Sunfire orders them to arrest the trespassers. And then this gets very interesting. Of all people, Misty Knight emerges from the main house and overrides Sunfire's order, telling the guards to stand down. Sunfire reminds her that she is a guest in his country. She reminds him that the premier of the nation would like to meet the X-Men. Inside, Sunfire argues with his superiors that he alone can protect Japan from any further earthquakes. If Misty Knight is along, you know Colleen Wing isn't far behind; indeed, she's right there in the mix, telling Sunfire (in Japanese, no less) what to do. Now I don't know enough about Sunfire, and/or Iron Fist and these supporting characters, so I was surprised that Colleen was speaking fluent Japanese, was the niece of the premier, and said that she was descended from daimyo and samurai, like Sunfire. It all seemed a bit much to me. And then when Colleen took a shine to Cyclops, even though she knew he was "spoken for", I found that to be some clumsy foreshadowing. I did think it intriguing, though, that Cyke again remarked that Jean's "death" left him unfeeling and he was disturbed by his lack of emotion about it.

 

Karen: Scott's lack of emotion over Jean's death was always disturbing -a self-defense mechanism perhaps? It certainly bothered Storm -she seemed quite curt in her responses to him in this issue. Of course, she'd blown up at him (uncharacteristically) back in the Savage Land when the subject of Jean's death came up.

Doug: We cut to a second two-panel interlude. In the first, a truck driver had remarked to his partner that whatever dirty deed they were planning was going to go down at precisely midnight. In the second of these quick shots, the same guy assures his co-driver that with what they're packing they won't have to worry about Sunfire or any other mutants for that matter. And we see in the shadows of the semi the legs of Mandroids. Cut back to Shiro's compound where Wolverine is strolling around the grounds until he feels at home (coo coo cachoo -- you know what I'm saying!). He exits to a garden, where he startles a young maiden. She is frightened, but he calms her in perfect Japanese. He says he is one of the X-Men, and that he knows Sunfire. She is Sunfire's cousin, named Mariko, and remarks that Wolverine has wonderful Japanese, for an American. He tells that he is actually Canadian, and had wonderful teachers. She asks why his name is Wolverine, and he begins to say that his name is really Logan, when he is cut off by an earthquake. Was this indeed the first time Wolverine's real name was revealed? Well, OK -- almost revealed?

Karen: I think one of the leprechauns in issue #103 was the first to call him "Logan" -actually, I think it was "Mr. Logan" -but this might have been the first time that he himself started to say his own name. I found it interesting both then and now that Byrne elected to draw Mariko in a very stylized way -not your typical female face as found in comics, but a very deliberately Asian look. Now if one overlooks the fact that she's dressed like someone out of Shogun, it's kind of a bold move. 

Doug: Wolverine snatches Mariko from harm's way as a tree begins to fall. He uses his adamantium skeleton's strength to protect her as he races to the clear, away from the crumbling mansion. He soon reunites with his team, who has spirited the government emissaries from harm. Cyke regales Storm, asking why she didn't give a warning about the quake. She says that she only senses natural disasters, and what just happened was not natural! Another attack comes, this one a large blast. And then a trio of Mandroids enters the grounds and says that they are there for the government -- their boss would like an audience. Sunfire steps forward as their protector and is dropped in his tracks by a ray blast and the term "mutie". Cyke tells his team that he recognizes the armor as Mandroid technology that was designed to take out the Avengers. And then he makes a statement dripping with bravado -- "... but there's no way in heaven they could have been prepared to stop us! Hit 'em, X-Men -- with everything you've got!" Yep -- game on, as they say.

 

Doug: You know, maybe Cyclops was right. Nightcrawler is the first to engage, and his combination of speed, agility, and teleportation neutralizes "Number 3". Colossus is next up, but he gets sent for a ride by a reverse-polarity magnet, leaving Wolverine to carve up that Mandroid. Lastly, Cyke and Banshee work their magic on the third guy, literally rattling his armor off his body. But Number 3 was only staggered, not dropped, and now he takes a bead on Sunfire. Mariko attempts to shield her cousin, but is ordered to run. Sunfire launches a blast of solar energy that heats the Mandroid armor to critical levels. But the suit's "pilot" just laughs, saying he's absorbing the energy. But as he glows, Storm arrives with an onslaught of freezing rain; the stress of going from too hot to too cold wrecks the suit of armor. We cut to the streets outside the compound as they semi drivers are putting this debacle in their rear-view mirror. As they speed along, they attempt to avoid a pothole. Too late, boys -- that was no pothole. It was Colossus's landing spot. Suddenly his organic steel arms reach up through the hole and destroy the semi-truck. The next time we see Peter he's strolling back onto the mansion grounds with a driver under each arm.

Karen: Wow, the X-Men actually win a fight, and quite handily! Poor Colossus though -he was going through a real slump at this time. Taken down by Mandroids? Ouch. And how about the Mandroids. Last seen in Avengers #95, during the Kree-Skrull War. Claremont (or Byrne) knew their stuff. A seven year gap in appearances -and they didn't do any better this time around. If course, we just recently reviewed that Wolverine solo story where the Mandroids were used as baddies again. Something about them stuck with Claremont. Not sure why...

Doug: As the team licks their minor wounds and feels great about their easy victory, a hologram suddenly appears from one of the Mandroid suits. A man in a white suit with a Lex Luthor collar addresses the prime minister of Japan and tells him that he has an ultimatum: within 24 hours, the man must be proclaimed sole ruler of the island nation of Japan. The man's name? Moses Magnum. And if he doesn't get his way, he will sink Japan. Pure and simple.

Karen: "Master of the Magnum Force" -sorry, but I can help but see Dirty Harry in my head when I read that.

Doug: I liked this story -- it was suspenseful and was a nice way to get back into regular continuity after the Professor X one-off that was in issue #117. It's funny now, after all of the wranglings with Wolverine's origin, to see these early attempts at expanding on his backstory. When you think of it now, the character was only around 4 1/2 years old when this issue was on the newsstand. Makes me want a time machine to visit simpler times! And what's everyone's opinion on the art? John Byrne is typical John Byrne from this era -- pretty darned awesome. Ric Villamonte's inks certainly weren't doing any damage, but you could just feel that the pictures were a little less slick without Terry Austin's TLC. But overall this was the beginning of what we know will be a 42-page "story", with just enough mystery and sub-plotting to keep us on that Claremont/Byrne/Austin rollercoaster, begging for more!