"Drama."

That's a wrap on the Age of Apocalypse and assorted figures, but we did manage to squeeze in a few more we hadn't seen yet. I'm sure those guys'll be fine, at least until the next reboot, retcon, relaunch.

I think the most recent San Diego Comic Con, Hasbro had a Marvel Legends display with tons of skulls on the ground, to go with the Sentinels. I don't have anywhere near that many, but one bit I didn't get to was that in the AoA, dozens if not hundreds of Spirits of Vengeance had been called up, then killed by Apocalypse, which was why there were always skulls and fires everywhere. And Vengeance would've been the current Ghost Rider, because why not? Ah, that's a figure I didn't get at the time, but would much later: he's one of the very few Toy Biz Legends that's not been remade, although I think there were Ghost Rider movie figures for him, even if he wasn't in said movies. (Aside: along with Vengeance, the other Toy Biz Legend I still have in regular rotation is Beta Ray Bill. Hasbro made one, with a less ornate, less Thor-style costume; the old one and the even older Silver Surfer Bill are better.)

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Backfill, in the mighty Marvel manner!

I've mentioned this before, and it's probably a pre-Crisis reader's problem; but every time there's a storyline where the timeline is altered, I think something like "...and in the new timeline, earth was destroyed in 1973, when Captain Man wasn't there to stop Hateface in Tales to Admonish #413." This probably dates back to the Challenge of the Super-Friends episode "Secret Origins of the Super-Friends," where the Legion of Doom travels back in time to throw various wrenches in the origins of Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Superman: in the altered present, a "Superman Day" parade becomes a "Hawkman Day," and I swear there's no timeline where he's ever looked happier.

But, hadn't Superman saved earth from asteroids and meteors and such, like dozens of times? Hawkman wouldn't have been set up for that, and earth would've been pulverized at some point. Take out the wrong load-bearing piece, and the whole thing'll collapse before you even get to a new present time. Let's see if that happens here!

From 1995, X-Men Chronicles #1, "Origins" Written by Howard Mackie, pencils by Terry Dodson, inks by Klaus Janson.

This is maybe what X-Men #1 would have been, in the Age of Apocalypse. Instead of being Jean Grey's introduction to Xavier's school, this was Mystique dropping Rogue off at Magneto's training base at scenic Wundagore Mountain. Magneto worked his mutant students hard, with a "Killing Zone" simulator instead of a Danger Room; but also waded in there with them: he was a bit more 'lead from the front' than Xavier. Feeling the students were perhaps a bit sheltered, he introduces them to some new dangers, with new member Weapon X, Logan.

Meanwhile, instead of Magneto attacking an air force base, in this timeline the Heralds of Apocalyspe attack it: Gideon, Candra, War, Death, and Sabretooth. Magneto leads the X-Men into battle, leaving his daughter Wanda in charge; neither realizing that Nemesis was approaching. As they leap from their damaged aircraft, Magneto wonders if they're ready: his X-Men seem gung-ho, but unaware of the stakes.

Back at Wundagore, Rogue and Wanda defend the younger mutants from Nemesis: Rogue had absorbed, perhaps permanently, the powers of Polaris, so she was able to fly. And at the air force base, Sabretooth is horrified that Apocalypse actually intended to use nuclear weapons, and Apocalypse orders the others to attack him. (With little prompting: Sabretooth was not particularly likable.) He's contained in a telekinetic bubble by Candra when the X-Men arrive, and manages to talk his way back onto the team: maybe he still dies, maybe he proves himself to Apocalypse. Sabretooth gives some strategy to the others, then throws down with Weapon X. While the other Heralds are defeated, Sabretooth is disabled with a severed spine. Somewhat surprisingly, Apocalypse orders his Heralds, save Sabretooth, back to him; I thought he would leave them to sink-or-swim. Apocalypse's Ship was going to open fire, but Magneto stops it, yet can't keep Apocalypse from leaving.

And at Wundagore, while she managed to save the others (and I'm pretty sure Nemesis was messed up but would live) Wanda was mortally wounded. She tells Rogue, that her father would need a friend, and Rogue promises to be there for him. Wanda probably didn't intend that to mean "please hook up with my dad," but sure. Also, we only see Quicksilver briefly after Wanda dies, but already he seems to have a less-weird relationship with her than in our world. 

I had thought this was a late addition-slash-cash grab, after Age of Apocalypse turned out to be a huge success, but these two issues of X-Men Chronicles replaced the usual quarterly X-Men Unlimited, so maybe they were always part of the game plan. There was another title, X-Universe, that followed some of the usual Marvels through the AoA, where I think they were by-and-large chewed up and spit out; and I also wonder if that was always planned or a later add.

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Over the years, I've mentioned Walt Simonson's run on Thor a number of times, usually to the effect that it's the coolest and you should be reading it now, even if you already have. This ties into his run, and has Walt as a consultant, so that's something, right? Right? Let's see! From 1987, Mephisto Vs. #4, "His Satanic Majesty's Request" Written by Al Milgrom, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Bob Wiacek.

We looked at Mephisto Vs. (X-Factor) #2 last year, and I think I just got #3 from a dollar bin recently...is it handy right now? Don't be silly! I also probably read these back when they first came out, but I read a friend's and maybe didn't have my own for some time. This issue, Mephisto has a nice set of mutants new added to Hell: Storm, Psylocke, Dazzler, and Rogue. The first three fade out, returning to earth: Mephisto had tricked Rogue into stealing their essences, but could only keep them as long as Rogue's powers could. Mephisto had actually brought her physically to Hell; which he usually wouldn't, and he has to caution his staff to be careful with her. A minor demon turns on Mephisto, and when the first one doesn't burst into flames immediately, others follow. Rogue wonders if Mephisto was as all-powerful as he seemed before, when the Living Tribunal shows up, who also seems to wonder if Mephisto was weakening: he was up to something, and accuses Hela of being behind his problems. She had stolen some souls, which Thor had later freed. 

This tied into Thor #380: under Hela's curse, Thor was unkillable, but his bones were brittle as graham crackers--I've used that line before discussing that curse; I don't know if that comparison was in the material somewhere, or if graham crackers are more fragile than other kinds of crackers? Thor had fought, and seemingly slain, the Midgard Serpent; and survived...sort of, having shattered every bone in his body. Mephisto takes Rogue with him, to offer Thor the sweet release of death, in exchange for his soul...Meanwhile, outside of the ring of fire Mephisto put up to keep out looky-lous, two Quinjets full of Avengers have arrived, east and west coast teams. Iron Man and She-Hulk aren't able to penetrate the wall of flames; nor is Captain Marvel.

Hela arrives, to yell at Mephisto for interfering in a private feud: Thor pipes up, he won't go with either, he'll just sit there and suffer if he has to. Mephisto compels Rogue to give Thor a final kiss, but instead of absorbing his powers, she seemingly releases his spirit, which is his old-school look. Done with her, Mephisto returns Rogue to the X-Men, after he's bagged Thor's spirit in "mystic mylar." Hela opens a hole in the wall of fire, letting the Avengers in as a distraction, then steals Thor away to "a distant dimension where I can free him from your encumberance undisturbed!" That is a sentence all right. Iron Man calls out Mephisto, who's busy concentrating on where Hela might have gone, and Cap checks if Thor is maybe okay...no. No, he is not. While those injuries weren't at Mephisto's hands, he doesn't correct the Avengers, letting them believe he had that kind of power. Still, he was fighting on two fronts: while most of the Avengers weren't a problem, he was still distracted trying to find Hela.

The Avengers don't exhibit a lot of teamwork (or Mephisto just no-sales their powers) and get crushed and knocked out; while Mephisto finds Hela and retakes Thor's soul, down to Hell. Thor still seems to have Mjolnir, and resists the lesser demons, so Mephisto tries to lure him in with battles and dames. Thor resists, and Mephisto doubts he will ever break: he asks Hela if she will claim her prize now, but she wasn't done watching him suffer, and Mephisto returns Thor's soul to his broken body...but under his breath wonders if she wasn't going to regret "winning" there. (And he's right!) Hela wipes the memories of the assembled Avengers, who return to their respective bases, with mystic member Dr. Druid announcing he would investigate "the source of our confusion." Yeah, I'm sure he got right on that.

Mephisto returns to Hell, seemingly empty-handed, inspiring the lesser demons to rise up against him, which lasts about a panel before they're reduced to a literal puddle. Mephisto has another conversation with the Living Tribunal: this was all according to plan. He knew Thor would resist him, and in doing so gain the strength to resist Hela, keeping that piece off the board. He ends the series with a good laugh over the trouble he had caused, and how "truly evil is its own reward." Aside from the reader, his only confidente appears to be a green snake-thing; so that's open to debate.

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Gone for a day, runs back in like I'm coming back from a war.

Well, that wasn't so bad! Some of the remnants of my ex-table have been repurposed into keeping stuff off the ground, and I picked up a shelving unit at Lowes that took care of ten long-boxes! One more and I should be in good shape...for now, he said ominously. It's funny; for a long time, I treated stuff like longboxes, shelves, totes for toys; all unreasonable expenses that were keeping me from getting more stuff! A tirade like Peter Griffin's drug tips ("more smack in your arms") that's probably aged about as well...

But, little secret? I do enjoy the hell out of this stupid blog, and nattering on about semi-remembered comics. Like today's book!  From 1993, Dark Angel #9 "Assassination, part 1" Written by Bernie Jaye, art by Dell Barras. Cover by Bryan Hitch!

So we've seen an issue of this before (With Excalibur, of course!) and we've looked at multiple Marvel UK books, but right this very second I have no idea what Mys-Tech's end goal was? Step one: get immortality from Mephisto. Step two: spend centuries making the world awful and plotting to double-cross Mephisto somehow. Step three: profit? Dark Angel--formerly Hell's Angel for her first five issues, which all guest-star the X-Men! I don't know why the name change; if there were negative associations with the biker gang, or if the bikers had good lawyers. Anyway, Dark Angel's dad Ranulph had worked for Mys-Tech, until his death, and the Mys-Tech board was still hounding him to get some work done: they wanted his immortality research, but Mephisto had apparently killed Ranulph in the first issue, which I thought was a no-no for him. The board and Dark Angel were both looking for pieces of his soul, and the board fights through some "dead-zoners," one of whom appears to be Nighthawk, from the Squadron Supreme? We've seen other dead heroes in this series, it may have been a recurring bit.

Dark Angel gets the "Wyrd Sisters," to fight the board: they were daughters of the "Web-Spinners." Not in a Spider-Man sense, but more classical, like the Fates. The board nearly gets Ranulph's soul, which means they could then order the hit on Dark Angel's secret identity, but she fakes them out into thinking Mephisto was coming. Unfortunately, even though Mys-Tech tries to call off their hit, since Shevaune Haldane's immortality research was now needed, they can't! (I swear her civilian name is spelled six different ways in the few issues I've seen of hers! Sure enough, it's Shevaun on the Marvel Wiki.) Mys-Tech's robotic "D.O.G.s" are sniffing out Dark Angel's trail, which puts one against the X-Men at their mansion, and Dark Angel teleports in to help...to be continued, although you know what might have helped sales immensely? Maybe an actual crossover! If Dark Angel had actually appeared in Uncanny, that would've put her in front of a lot of readers.

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I'd kinda like to see this in the current X-Book!

It's a triple gatefold cover, but the front one makes it look like Rogue has fainted at DH II's manliness, while Gambit acts like he knows he's sleeping on the couch tonight. From 1992, Death's Head II #1, "The Lotus FX, part 1: X-Treme Prejudice" Written by Dan Abnett, pencils by Liam Sharp and Bryan Hitch, inks by Andy Lanning and Cam Smith.

This was Death's Head II's first regular series, and shows remarkable restraint by not putting Wolverine front and center on the cover. DH II and his sidekick Tuck were hanging out in Paxton, OR; which seemed like it would be a nice quiet place for Tuck to study the Sapphire Lotus, a mysterious power object. Instead, more and more weirdos keep showing up in town, apparently drawn by the Lotus; and some might have appeared innocent or incompetent but maybe weren't. The X-Men get involved, since whatever was happening also set off Cerebro; and decide Death's Head II is the "main aggressor" at first sight. It's a fair cop!

Psylocke, Beast, and Jubilee can't get into the back bar room where Tuck is doing something weird with the Lotus, but the Lotus lets Wraithchilde through: he had seemed like a Spawn-cosplayer, but maybe there was more to him. Rogue tries to use her powers on DH II, but he had like a hundred-and-four other personalities in there, which was too many voices for her head. Wolverine and Cyclops step up the fight...to be continued!  

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Well, at least most of that was as advertised.

Yet another X-title picked up randomly, because it had a lot of X-Men on the cover. This was promoted in the checklist as "guest-starring ALL the current X-Men!" And maybe it will illustrate some of the problems of the line at the time, at least for me: from 2005, X-Men #174, "Bizarre Love Triangle, part 4: Election Day" Written by Peter Milligan, pencils by Salvador Larroca, inks by Danny Miki and Allen Martinez.

Previously, a new mutant named Foxx entered the Xavier Institute; and in short order started pursuing her team lead, Gambit. Gambit had been going through a rough patch with Rogue, but rejected Foxx and was going to move her to another squad, when she revealed herself to be Mystique, and tried to seduce him again! Once discovered, Mystique then made an unusual plea: to join the X-Men. The team had a history of rehabilitating former foes, and a vote was scheduled. Rogue confronts Mystique, about whether anything happened between her foster mom and her slightly sketchy boyfriend: Mystique remained tight-lipped, if suggestive. Even Rogue's powers couldn't see the truth: she later describes it to Gambit as "a wall of white mental noise. She's had something done to her, or--" Which would line up with current continuity! Gambit denies everything, and Rogue apologizes to young mutant Bling for momentarily suspecting her of something as well. Rogue tells Bling the story, which she passes to her teammates, including Onyxx, who had been sprung on Foxx. (Onyxx was an odd design: Thing-like skin, a weird skull and metal helmet, four eyes.)

Rogue approaches Emma, suggesting she could read Gambit's mind without him even knowing it--not necessarily suggesting she do it, just that she could. Emma might deflect that, by telling Rogue Havok had asked her to do the same to Polaris; which Rogue decries as "sneaky." Before the vote, Mystique stands before 15 X-Men--with a notable exception--and pleads her case: she was 80 years old (lie!) and her mutation developed when she was 12. She had been forced to do things to survive, and hadn't had the same opportunities or support anyone there had received. She had never had a chance, to be "good." Mystique is taken to a cell by Colossus, and doesn't appear particularly contrite: bored, she asks if he'd be up for strip poker...?

The X-Men aren't a unified front here: Rogue absolutely doesn't want Mystique there, but others point out that's what was said when she joined the team, and she turned out pretty good. On the other hand, Mystique. Gambit sides with Rogue, and Iceman says he's just trying to score points: I get the feeling Iceman didn't have strong feelings about it, and was just being contrary. Polaris suggests the team could use more women, Wolverine says it ain't about that, Storm turns on Wolvie a bit there. No one there seems to be making a real strong argument for Mystique. Meanwhile, in her cell, Mystique is confronted by Onyxx, who wants her to be Foxx again. They fight, interrupted by someone, and Mystique finishes the fight by smashing a toilet over Onyxx's head. He seems like he's only staggered, but Mystique may or may not be seriously hurt; as she's confronted by Nightcrawler, who asks a favor: whichever way the vote goes, go away for a while, so he could sort his head out over it. Mystique's answer is a scowl. (I don't love this: it feels more selfish than Kurt would let himself be. Also, feels like the other X-Men maybe should've asked how he felt about the situation, which we don't see here.)

Disappointingly, we don't see how the actual vote went, but Mystique is awarded probationary status. Rogue is sullen, and Gambit tries to cheer her up, but they find Mystique's cell smashed open, and her gone. Onyxx is hospitalized by Beast, who notes Onyxx had signed a waiver, "admitting culpability" in their fight. Mystique escapes with a shadowy figure, "Augustus," who would later be revealed as Pulse, a mutant Mystique seemingly intended to replace Gambit in Rogue's heart. That...that's weird, right? Mystique also says, she didn't want to stick around for the verdict, since she "could see in their miserable faces they were going to turn me down." But, she felt she had opened a wound between Rogue and Gambit, that would now fester. She'd be back, in relatively short order. Read more!

This just got retconned, better blog it now!

X-Men Blue: Origins just came out the other day, but I got another cheap copy of the old version recently: from 1994, X-Men Unlimited #4, "Theories of Relativity" Written by Scott Lobdell, pencils by Richard Bennett, inks by Steve Moncuse. Cover by Joe Madureira.

A while ago, we checked out the last issue of Generation X, which predated the White Queen's secondary mutation, relationship with Cyclops, etc; things that seem like they've been around forever but really weren't. Same with this issue! Mystique murders a U.S. general, as a message to the mutant-hating demagogue Graydon Creed, who had sent Sabretooth after her. Graydon is in France, at the mansion of a particularly vapid young woman, when a greasy-looking researcher visits with his findings: Mystique really was his mother, and even worse, he had a brother...Enraged. Graydon kills the messenger, then we get a rather lavishly rendered panel of his girl, for, um, reasons. (Well, I scanned her instead of Graydon; he sucks!) 

Flying into Dulles International, Nightcrawler laments having to travel commercial and incognito, using his image inducer; then almost immediately breaks cover to rough up a bad dad for hitting his kid. He gets a mild scolding from his ride, Rogue, but pretty easily smooth-talks his way out of it. Government mutant liaison Forge had requested the two check out the general's funeral; which Graydon is also attending, and Rogue wonders why they drew that assignment. They don't have time to question it, though; as the priest giving the service calls the general out as a racist and traitor, before kicking over the coffin! It's Mystique, and she's rigged the corpse into a bomb; claiming he had sold a bomb to the Friends of Humanity hate group three months ago, killing 17. Rogue swoops down to toss the corpse-bomb out of harm's way, but that's all part of Mystique's plan...

Nightcrawler teleports Mystique out of a firefight, but she seems a little disappointed that despite appearances, he had no idea what was going on: she straight-up told him back in Uncanny #142 to ask his adoptive mother Margali why they looked so much alike, but apparently he never did. (Yet!) She tells Kurt, they can discuss it at "home," Rogue would know where; then ditches him, changing into a bystander. Rogue and Kurt manage to escape, while Graydon is brought in for questioning by Forge, who acts like he's trying to be Nick Fury here. Forge had let Rogue and Kurt listen in, to show them how potentially dangerous Graydon was, and to own up to his mistake: Forge had thought he had been treating Mystique for "emotional problems," but in reality she played him as a chump to get intel. 

In a helicopter gunship, Graydon tails Rogue and Kurt as they fly to Caldecott County, Mississippi; Rogue's home when Mystique took her in, shortly after her mutant power had developed. Rogue explains to Kurt how her life with Mystique and Destiny was a happy one, right up to the point where Mystique starting using her as a weapon, against Ms. Marvel, Dazzler, and others. (It's not mentioned here, but Mystique had to have trained Rogue before throwing her in the deep end; and we've seen other stories in which an eager-to-please young Rogue was chomping at the bit to go into action for her 'mom.') Rogue drops Kurt off, then flies off to check something else out real quick; leaving Kurt to ponder a swing set. Was that simply window-dressing, to make Rogue feel like she had a home; or something Mystique did because she genuinely cared for her? Kurt has a brief flashback to his days in the circus, with his adopted sister (and later girlfriend!) Amanda, where he laments never having a family. A sentiment shared by Graydon, who confronts Kurt there: this should have been their house, they were brothers, and Mystique was their mother!

Now, I'm not sure how much credence I'd put in anything Graydon told me; even if he claims he spent three million to get that information. Years ago, Mystique was living the high life, having married a German count who then died under mysterious circumstances. But, she then gave birth to a blue, tailed baby; and the locals gathered up the torches and pitchforks pretty quick. Mystique revealed herself in the escape, but lost the baby, who was then thrown over a waterfall. Kurt doesn't really buy it: how would baby him have survived that? But Graydon doesn't go into that, because it's time to kill his brother! (To the tune of "Kill the wabbit," presumably.)

I forget how much of this next sequence was new to readers, since it's been a foundational part of Rogue's continuity for ever: she visits the old rope swing, with a hardy flashback to her childhood, and that time when her powers drained her crush Cody nearly to death, sucking all his memories into her head. She is then confronted by Cody in the flesh, an adult now, who forgives her; but Rogue is nowhere near gullible enough to buy that, she knows it's Mystique, and wonders why she won't stop. Mystique admits she would never hurt Rogue...on purpose; since she felt Rogue was just like her. Graydon then shows up, dragging the unconscious Kurt. Mystique admits she left Graydon for dead, after he turned 12 and it seemed obvious he wasn't a mutant. (An odd phrasing; Mystique certainly abandoned him, but she says it like she left him on the Oregon trail or something. Graydon does have a line that he had to "claw his way out of the gutters of Europe," but he still feels like such a trust fund baby.) Graydon asks if she did the same to Kurt, and Mystique reveals who threw Kurt over the waterfall: she had, while disguised as a villager, to save herself.

Mystique then tries to murder Graydon, but he teleports away: Kurt used his image inducer there, leaving the knocked-out Graydon in his costume. Which looks really weird on him, not just because the gloves seemingly fit, even though they would have the wrong number of fingers: unstable molecules do wonders, I guess?  Graydon wakes up, furious that no one has murdered anyone yet, and his helicopter attacks. Mystique and Kurt go over a cliff for cover, and while Rogue knocks a missile off course, she can't stop it completely. With Kurt stunned and unable to teleport, Rogue only has the chance to save one of them...sure. Mystique lets go, falling into a waterfall, seemingly sacrificing herself for her son and daughter.

So, the next time we see Nightcrawler's origin would be...ugh...the Draco, in which Mystique, in her usual form, throws Baby Kurt off the cliff because she's mad Azrael er, Azazel abandoned her and she was now on the run. That's even worse, but both those--and Azazel--have been retconned out, for the most part. (In the updated version, Mystique might have had a brief affair with Azazel; but it meant nothing to her and she might have left him crying.) I'm not sure we ever see Kurt interact with Graydon Creed again, since he's busy getting repeatedly killed while trying to murder his parents; but I don't think we saw Kurt with his Azazel half-siblings, or even Rogue, that often. (Kurt's also lost two adopted siblings, Margali's kids Stephan and Amanda!) Oh, and the last caption box mentions Nightcrawler's story continuing in Excalibur #76-77, in which Margali is a really, really good mom. For like the last time...

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"The End" Week: Marvel Fanfare #60!

Hmm, I don't know if I'd ever known that this had been a bimonthly title, for a ten year run! But I would've been buying mostly from newsstands--well, grocery or convenience stores--so I never saw any of them new! From 1991, Marvel Fanfare #60, featuring "Big Applesauce!" Written and inked by Walt Simonson, pencils by Denys Cowan; "the Mission" Written by Ann Nocenti, pencils by Dave Ross, inks by Josef Rubinstein; and "the Monkey Never Dies" Story and art by Paul Smith.

There was also the final "Editori-Al" strip from editor Al Milgrom: the final here, anyway; I can't recall if he used that gimmick elsewhere? Or, I might be confusing it with the strips Archie Goodwin did for Dreadstar...Anyway, Al explains why the title was wrapping up: low sales, mostly; but it wasn't really needed anymore and he didn't have time to maintain it with his freelance work. Not a bad way to go out, though: Cowan and Simonson on a Black Panther vs. aliens story, then an inventory Rogue story that had been meant for Classic X-Men before they did away with the back-ups. It's an interesting one: the very young Rogue has realized, if she touches someone for just a second, she can steal just moments of memories. But, she's flighty and wild, which doesn't stop Mystique from trying to break her in with a mission for the Brotherhood. This feels like it should've been a bigger deal in continuity; but with the back-ups ending probably wasn't touched back on.

Lastly, Paul Smith returns to the book he first started in, with a sequel to the Daredevil story from Marvel Fanfare #1. It was Smith's first writing credit as well. Not too bad of an issue; but then again, nothing to make you clamor for them to keep it going, either. Read more!

"Read Siege #4 before this book!" Uh, no; you can't make me. While I liked his other series, I know this one was reamed when it came out. Has it aged like fine wine, or gone even more sour? From 2010, Sentry: Fallen Sun #1, "Fallen Sun" Written by Paul Jenkins, pencils by Tom Raney, inks by Scott Hanna.

As part of Dark Avengers and Siege, Norman Osborn manipulated the Sentry, giving his Void side more and more control. Osborn also had Bob Reynold's wife Lindy murdered, by Bullseye--yet another crime neither of them will ever pay for--and when the Void took control, Bob begged Thor to kill him. Freed at last, his remains were launched into the sun; but this issue was his funeral: no service, since nobody showed.

But, when his former sidekicks Scout and Watchdog don't think anyone is going to show; they're joined by Tony Stark, the Fantastic Four, Steve Rogers, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and the X-Men's Cyclops, White Queen, and Rogue. (Since they were in civilian clothes, I had Tony and Stephen mixed up for a second, and thought Tony had gone with Rogue's hair!) While Reed tries to comfort Scout, Sue and Johnny notice Rogue seems to be taking this pretty hard. Tony starts with the first story, explaining how Bob had always been there for him, even in the lowest depths of his alcoholism. Tony is furious with himself, for his shoddy behavior, where he perhaps did not realize what Bob was going through. (Iron Man 2 was in theatres, so it's weird to see AA Tony there and party Tony on screen.) The Torch tells Scout Spidey sent his regards, and that Thor was visiting Bob's aged mother: while really senile, she vaguely recalled him from Bob and Lindy's wedding. (Dealing with old people can't be easy for Thor; possibly harder than telling her he killed her son.)

Strange recounts how Bob gave up his power, and everyone's memory of him, to save everyone: to be a hero without recognition. Reed is visited by Bob's computer, CLOC; who gives him Bob's diary. It asks Reed to read a section, which surprises him, then says it will rebuild the tower, to await his master's return. Reed tries to talk it out of it, but CLOC says his access is revoked, and drifts off. After some brief remembrances, Rogue takes off crying: the Sentry had been able to touch her, without her stealing his powers or memories. Johnny and Cyclops seem to confirm there was more to their relationship: this was greeted by fandom at the time like a wet fart at a water park.

But Ben's story, about why he hates the Sentry, might be even more character-assassinating: facing the Wrecking Crew, with multiple civilians in danger, Ben is this close to snapping the Wrecker's neck, when the Sentry stops him. A month and a half later, the Wrecker breaks stir, and kills a busload of kids to make a point. But Ben thinks the Sentry was right, and should've told him so when he was alive; and that he was the better man. Oh, bulls--there's a final recollection and closing by Reed, but I've had it. 

The Sentry would be back, in 2013's Uncanny Avengers #9, as a Horseman of Apocalypse. He's actually been killed again since, which is a hazard of making a big deal about a superhero death.

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It's the comic book equivalent of the Cloverfield Paradox, maybe.

In that, if you were reading comics 800 years ago in 1992, you almost certainly bought this, but does anyone remember it? X-Men Annual #1, "Shattershot, part 1: the Slaves of Destiny" Written by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Jim Lee (layouts), P. Craig Russell, Brian Stelfreeze, Adam Hughes, Stuart Immonen, Dan Panosian, Greg Capullo, and Mark Texeira; inks by P. Craig Russell, Brian Stelfreeze, Dan Panosian, Mark Texeira, Joe Rubinstein, and Harry Candelario. That was a way stronger creative lineup than I remembered for this; and one way too strong for such a creampuff of an annual. 

On Mojoworld, it's the last day of the rebellion, but not in a good way: Mojo has crushed the rebels, including capturing Quark (from the Longshot mini) but the "toymaker," Arize escapes, making a desparate extradimensional jump to earth. After some object lessons in the Danger Room, the Blue Team of X-Men is sent to scenic Afghanistan in search of a sudden alien appearance, and find Arize, who was not in great shape after the trip. A great deal is made of Spiral being the only one who could navigate the journey from Mojoworld to earth safely, but she doesn't appear here, even if she may have transported in the retrieval team Mojo has tasked with bringing back Arize. 

Despite including Gog and Magog (again from Longshot) and the brainwashed Quark, the retrievers do not fare well; with Wolverine rather callously stabbing one nobody to death. He and Psylocke seem to think the retrievers should resist Mojo, but they don't seem to have a lot of free will, and may also have hostages at home, as one cameraman tells Gambit. When the retrievers with names flee--which may involve Spiral, but isn't clear--Wolvie and Rogue nearly follow, but are stopped by Cyclops, who considers the mission complete. (Rogue and Wolvie are mildly steamed: Longshot had been missing for some time, and they angrily note he was their teammate, not Cyke's.) Back on Mojoworld, the ratings are great, but Mojo is a laughing-stock; and a shadowy figure watches and plots against him...  

I am virtually positive I had this back in '92, but had absolutely no recollection of it, and definitely hadn't read it in years. Also, I got the next chapter from the same quarter bin haul, and I'm not sure I had even seen it before, and Shattershot ran three more annuals? For some reason, I thought only two. I feel like I would've got the X-Factor Annual, but again it's like it's been wiped right out of my mind. Then again, '92 was a pretty fun year, so I may have some rough spots...

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"Impossible."

Yay, new camera! I'm...not loving it yet, since it's not responding exactly like my old one. With a little work I should be over-exposing everything again soon enough.

Between the camera and poor Felicia's hair, we kind of pushed through to the ending of this little storyline. And I wanted to wrap the Black Cat plotline up, since she's got her own comic right now. I tried the first issue, and it wasn't bad, and I think she had a job in her second issue at Dr. Strange's Sanctum. I might have to keep an eye out for that.
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