Countdown to "'Ah'm Nigh Invulnerable When Ah'm Blastin'" (New Mutants #3): "Ah thought Ah was invulnerable when ah blasted.'"
Countdown to "'Ah'm Nigh Invulnerable When Ah'm Blastin'" ("Uncanny X-Men" #167): "It's a good thing Ah'm pretty much invulnerable as Cannonball."
These summaries continue to take me longer than I thought they would: the first one here took 50 minutes and the second one took 40 minutes. But, we cover a lot of ground here, so it was worth it. After this point, though, I'm going to try to cut back a bit. We'll see how that goes.
Summary
Dani awakens believing she saw the Brood Queen's face in her storm-drenched window. She acknowledges she's been on edge for days and wonders if her powers have started turning her own "secret terrors" against her. Suddenly, the Queen leaps through the window, grabbing Dani and noting Dani's spirit forms can't hurt her. Dani realizes if the Queen can grab her she can stab the Queen, but her knife doesn't slow down the Queen at all. Dani flees her room to warn her friends, hoping their combined powers can stop the Queen. However, she finds each teammate dead of their worst fears: Juliana has mowed down Roberto with a machine gun, Xi'an has been assaulted again, Sam is buried in a mountain of skulls, and a mob is burning Rahne at the stake. The Queen appears again, grabbing for Dani. Dani tries to leap out Rahne's window, despite it being on the second floor, but the Queen manages to grab her. As Dani flails, she discovers the "Queen" is wearing a mask. She rips off said mask, revealing the bear who killed her parents. It asks if she's forgotten it, and Dani then startles awake, realizing it's not even raining. She expresses relief that Roberto and Sam are alive as they enter her room; Roberto tells her they heard her screaming. She then frets she's losing her mind. Later, Xavier is at her bedside and tells her she's fine; her heartbeat and temperature are normal. He assures it was a bad dream, despite Dani swearing how real it was. After everyone leaves, Dani frets Xavier's thinks she imagined the monster in the Danger Room, her own fault for using the Room on her own after he instructed her not to do so. However, she's sure the monsters were real and assumes they'll return for her again. She checks her knife to be ready, only to discover blood on it, proof something real happened.
Dani runs to tell Xavier about the knife, only to overhear him in his study on the phone with Dr. MacTaggart in Scotland. He tells Moira that Dani has increasing psychopathic tendencies, such as extreme paranoia and schizophrenia. Dani is devastated, pondering whether she only shows people terrible things because she's wicked (and hurtful and evil). She contemplates suicide with her knife, not hearing Moira on the other end of the line screaming at Charles to conduct a mindscan before bothering her again. (She also reminds Charles that Dani checked out fine the previous summer). Banshee approaches Moira, telling her she was a little rough with Charles. He asks if she's tense because of "the boy," and Moira confirms she is. She grieves over how Charles has a son he doesn't know he has, a child she and he dreamed of having when they were in love. But, she also thinks about the son she and the X-Men had to destroy and laments why her child couldn't have been the one to survive and bring Charles joy. (Ha! Don't worry there, Moira.) Sean then creepily presses her to marry him so they can have their own children. He asserts Proteus was who he was because he was conceived in an act of violence whereas their children would be different because they'd be conceived of love. (You should probably leave the genetics to Moira, Seannie Boy.) Moira tells Sean she can't take the risk, and Sean goes for a walk, cursing Joe MacTaggart's memory. Sean stumbles upon Illyana singing a song to the sun, and she tells him it's in her best friend's memory. Sean recalls it's Kitty's birthday and figures Illyana means her. He assures Illyana the X-Men have only been kidnapped and have escaped worse situations. Illyana then thinks about how he's talking about the here and now, but she's thinking of Limbo, where Belasco killed some of the X-Men and she killed others. (OK...?)
Back at the Mansion, Xi'an offers Dani a towel after she finishes her morning laps in the pool. When Xi'an remarks how cold the water must be, Dani says it helps clear her head. She confesses the Professor thinks she's "looney," and Xi'an asks if she is. Dani tells her someone or something has been after her since she came to the School. She thought its goal was to drive her from the team, and, as she's refused to leave, the situation has gotten serious. She also confesses she thinks the Professor is involved. Meanwhile, in the Danger Room, Sam sees stars after he slams into a cushion at full power. Xavier tells him the readings were off the charts in terms of his force, but then switches to an agility exercise. When Sam is unable to turn and slams into one of the moving rings through which he was supposed to fly, Xavier realizes he needs to maintain a minimum speed to remain flying. (He also expresses relief he measured Sam's ability to take punishment before he had him try to fly through the rings.) Sam confesses the only thing wounded is his pride, and Xavier assures him everyone else has felt that way, too, at some point. In the shower after his workout, Sam is lathering up shaving cream when suddenly he blacks out entirely and awakens to cold lather. He sees a note written in shaving cream on the mirror telling him to go the boat house, and he storms in there furious at Xi'an for possessing him against his will. Roberto tells Sam she did the same to him and Rahne, but Dani tells them it was on her behalf. She confesses her story to them, but Sam refuses to believe her, not unreasonably noting the Professor could've just kicked her off the team if he wanted her gone. He also recalls the Professor is a doctor, so he may be right about Dani's mental state. However, Sam changes his tune when he opens the door on an alien landscape.
The team is shocked, and Xi'an notes they can't get to the Professor since he's in the Mansion and the altered landscape makes it hard to tell where it would be. Dani then leads them into a tunnel, telling the team she's been exploring the tunnels under the Mansion. Sam recalls the Professor asked them not to do that, and Dani responds with a simple, "Yup." She then tells them they have no choice: either the Professor is a victim or the perpetrator, but, either way, they have to get to him. As Dani opens a portal, the Brood Queen attacks. Dani tells the team it's the creature that attacked her, and they spring to action after it offers them their lives in exchange for Dani. Xi'an tries to possess it, but fails, after its alien and evil mind stuns her. Meanwhile, Dani can't access its mind at all, leaving her helpless. Rahne swallow her fears and attacks, grabbing the monster's leg, as Sam fires up his powers, slamming into its side. However, when the dust settles, the monster is gone. Sam wonders if it dissolved since monsters do that on TV, and Roberto mockingly wonders if the Enterprise beamed up the creature. Rahne then points out a hole in the wall, and Roberto correctly identifies the material as organic, pondering whether they're now inside a living organism. Roberto pushes them to investigate, acknowledging Rahne's reasonable fear that they, too, will begin to change, but asserting they can't abandon the Professor. (He offers to hold Rahne's hand.)
The team notes the organic material gets stronger as they head into the Mansion and realize it must be the source. Xi'an compares it to the Danger Room, wrapping illusion around reality, given it conforms to the basic structure of the Mansion. Xi'an also wonders if the creature stalking Dani is really that strong, given it hasn't defeated only five untrained youngsters. As if accepting the dare, a tentacle appears from the wall, grabbing Bobby, and he fires up his power to rip it off him. However, the Queen attacks, grabbing Dani while its allies attack the others. Dani's mind is on fire, and she awakens trapped in a study. She asks the Queen why it didn't just kill her, as it tried to do outside the Danger Room, and she confesses she changed plans. The Queen now plans to impregnate the New Mutants with eggs so they can become Brood Queens. Dani realizes her pounding headaches mean the Queen has been having her use her powers, and the Queen confesses to doing so. In fact, she tells Dani she augmented Dani's powers to make the images real, as Dani would eventually be able to do as an adult with more training. The bear, Queen, and tunnel have all come from her imagination. The team then arrives to save Dani, and she has Xi'an possess her to break the Queen's control over her. However, this inspired plan backfires when the Queen uses the link to grab control of Xi'an. She attacks Roberto, who knocks out Xi'an (with apologies), and the Queen is gone again. It reappears and grabs Rahne, and Dani tells Sam to knock her unconscious, which he does (again, with apologies). Sam wonders if it was Dani all this time, but Xi'an confirms she felt the Queen's alien (and evil) presence through their link. Xi'an expresses concern about Dani's health given the impact of Sam's power-backed blow, and they're all in trouble when the Professor realizes what they've done to his study.
Later, Roberto approaches Dani on the porch. He encourages her to cheer up a bit, as the Professor believed their story after he mind scanned them and is searching for the monster. Dani figures it's just a matter of time before it returns and wonders if she should just leave to keep everyone safe as even the Professor isn't sure if he can shield her from the Queen's influence. Roberto tells her not to do so, as they're all friends and friends stick together. Dani hugs him, telling him she really needed to hear that. But, she worries the Professor is involved, as the creature knew so much about them. Roberto swears no one is that good of an actor and puts his arm around her. He points out a shooting star, telling her it's a good omen. Dani isn't having it, reminding him they don't really know the Professor all that well. Roberto wisely tells her they'll cross that bridge when they come to it, and Sam calls them into the TV room for "Magnum, P.I."
"Uncanny X-Men" #167 starts where "New Mutants" #3 ends, with the kids watching "Magnum, P.I." As the ladies talk about how handsome Tom Selleck is (fair), they're all surprised when the X-Men bust into the TV room. The kids leap into action, with Cannonball slamming Colossus into the yard. Scott is impressed by the kids' guts and realizes Xavier may not have told the kids about the X-Men. He announces the X-Men mean them no harm and tells them to hit the floor, reminding himself any delay could prove fatal. (He undermines his "no harm" point when he fires an optic blast the kids' way to get them to hit the floor.) Meanwhile, Kitty phases through the walls of the second floor on her way to the Professor, hoping someone else gets there first (but knowing they won't) and fretting they could be wrong about the Professor. Psyche uses her powers to rattle Scott -- showing him as a monster with uncontrolled optic blasts -- as Rahne surprises Kurt by leaping at him in wolf form and Sunspot takes on Wolverine. Logan knocks Bobby aside, marveling at how the kids would be dangerous if their skills matched their guts, and Karma tries to stop him with her powers. She's stunned when he shakes off her possession as he makes his way upstairs.
Meanwhile, Kitty exposits that the Brood Queen who kidnapped them revealed she had an agent on Earth, and Logan put two and two together to figure out it was Charles. Kitty is rightfully concerned a Brood Queen with Charles' powers would quickly take over Earth, and she realizes it's why the kids are at the School, to host Brood embryos. (She's a smart one, that Kitty.) She's relieved she doesn't have to shoot Charles with the Shi'ar gun she's carrying when she finds him in human form, but then she realizes he's "napping" at his desk despite the noise downstairs. She exposits she's trying to protect her thoughts from him, but she's probably doing a lousy job as she's scared. Charles "awakens" and tells Kitty she should've heeded Wolverine's injunction and fired (despite him not issuing said request, as far as I can tell), and Kitty frantically opens fire. Logan hears the blast as he makes his way up the stairs and screams out Kitty's name, but Bobby is on him. Meanwhile, Kurt teleports from Rahne's grasp and knocks Dani and Xi'an's heads together. However, the hero-on-hero brawl comes to an end when Kitty's body comes flying down the stairs and Xavier emerges, telling the X-Men not to worry about Kitty as she's beyond help. Creepily, the Brood Queen then exits from his spine, telling the X-Men they should fear for themselves. Scott blasts the Queen outside the Mansion, and Colossus heads after it. (He's knocked Sam unconscious somehow. As he runs, he reflects on how Sam was roughly the same age he was when he joined the X-Men and hopes he isn't hurt.)
Colossus comes upon the Queen and realizes she isn't even hurt. He pledges to stop her, but she reads his mind using Charles' powers, taunting him with the fact she knows his every move before he does. Dani and Xi'an (who've apparently recovered) follow Cyclops and Logan in hot pursuit. Dani asks if the monster is the same one they faced, and Logan tells her to stay put, as they'll handle the situation. Dani asks who "you creeps think you are," and, when Logan tells her they're the X-Men, she helpfully reminds them they're dead. Kurt teleports above the treeline to locate the Queen, and everyone heads that way. She then hurls Colossus' body at them, telling them it's hopeless. But, Logan is totally a badass here, leaping on Piotr's unconscious form mid-air and springing at the Queen with claws extended. Expecting her telepathic powers to predict his attack, Logan veers from aiming at her heart at the last minute, slicing her stinger. Infuriated, she uses telekinetic powers (I think) to hurl him from her. Xi'an realizes they should be helping the X-Men, but her attempt to posses the Queen is no more successful than it was the first time she tried to do so.
The Queen flees to heal from the wound Logan delivered, but Binary appears, knocking her back. Storm then uses her powers to disorient and freeze her, declaring that the Queen defined the stakes of the battle when she declared it to be to the death. However, Storm is unable to deliver the final strike of lightning, and Logan tells her not to worry: she is who she is, and he is who he is (i.e., the killer on the team). However, Cyclops (oddly) tells him it's his responsibility as Xavier's first student, and he apologizes to the Queen's prone form. But, Xavier surprises Cyclops by communicating with him telepathically, revealing the mental transformation was incomplete and Storm's attack allowed him to get the upper hand. But, he says the Queen will eventually emerge dominant and confirms Cyclops has no choice but to kill him. Scott then refuses, realizing Jean played that game with him, too: he'll be damned if he loses the Professor without trying to save him after he failed to save Jean. He announces the X-Men fight to preserve life when a chance exists and asks if anyone has any objections; hilariously, Logan answers, "Lots," as Storm says, "None." (Seriously, it's a funny moment.) Sam and Dani marvel at Cyclops in the background.
Later, aboard the Starjammer, Cyclops asks Corsair if he's chasing rainbows in trying to save Charles, but Corsair asks if it matters if he is. Moira and Sikorsky announce they think they can clone Xavier a new body from tissue they had in storage and then transfer his mind to the new body. (Apparently you can't de-evolve a Brood Queen, which makes sense given she emerged from Xavier's skin like a butterfly from a cocoon.) Meanwhile, Kitty is thrilled to awaken to Illyana and Piotr sitting at her bedside. Storm watches from the sidelines, noting she also kept vigil over Kitty. She smiles at Kitty's joy in seeing her best friend and the man she loves, but also acknowledges she feels alone, as that joy would previously have been directed at her. Leaving the room, Storm chastises herself for feeling this way, noting she coped when she wasn't acting as a parent, though it was a role she happily filled. She encounters a nervous Kurt, who watches the New Mutants marvel at the view from the ship. He wonders if they'll accept him, and Storm reminds him Kitty was initially afraid of him but got over it. Meanwhile, Scott chats with Corsair, continuing to express his concern over Charles. He coyly notes Charles is almost as much of a father to him as Corsair is, and Corsair acknowledges the debt he owes Charles for raising Scott into the man he is. Scott asks if he'll stay on Earth, and Corsair says he's been gone too long: "Christoper Summers -- Major, U.S. Air Force" is no more. He plans on visiting family and friends but he'll then return to the stars; Scott intriguingly asks if he'll take him with him. Corsair says he will if he wants and then invites him to meet his grandparents. (Really? Scott didn't know he had grandparents? Jesus, Corsair, you really were a crappy father, even when you were on Earth.) Corsair then asks if Scott is too big to give his father a hug, and, I got to say, I choked up a bit. The moment is interrupted with the appearance of Gladiator. He demands to see Lilandra, and Corsair acknowledges it's a big deal, since he swore he'd only board the Starjammer if the Stajammers were enslaved or dead.
In the medbay, Lilandra wonders if Deathbird has become Empress as the Brood promised her she would be if she delivered Lilandra and the X-Men to them. She wonders if she has the will to lead another rebellion. Gladiator arrives and confirms Deathbird is as mad, in her own way, as D'Ken. But, he also has graver news: in his encounter with the Fantastic Four, he learned Galactus had come to Earth to die, but Reed Richards not only healed him but also gave him a new herald. (I'm not sure Reed would describe this sequence of events in the same way.) Lilandra appears as a hologram to Reed and Sue in their bedroom, declaring that she will seek vengeance against them if Galactus destroys a world dear to the Shi'ar. (This sequence gives us Johnny Storm in his tighty-whities as he and Ben enter the room to see about the disturbance, so, even if it's a bit of a non sequitur, I approve.) She says Earth finally has to accept it has responsibilities in the wider cosmos. She ends the communication, thanking Corsair for allowing her to use his technology and noting her ability to actually implement her threat is limited. The group then rejoices when Xavier appears, with his spine completely healed. He stands, but then collapses. He explains he'd use his powers for years to block out the pain of his injury, so his body is rejected his attempt to stand. Moira expresses confidence he'll eventually move past the block, though noting his stubbornness doesn't work in his favor here. Kitty notes he'll have to use the Danger Room like the rest of them; Lilandra pledges her love and support, while Moira hilariously tells him she'll just kick his ass to get him into shape. Charles announces his joy at seeing the teams together, apologizing for the nature of their initial meeting. He then announces, to everyone's shock, Kitty will join the New Mutants, as it's too dangerous for her to be an X-Man.
The Review
These two issues nicely wrap up this series' opening arc, as the Brood Queen's possession of Charles explains why both he and Dani have been acting weirdly lately. Moreover, the team builds on their experiences fighting the Sentinels; whereas they had mostly fought as individuals in that fight, they come closer to fighting as a team here. The X-Men's return also makes their roles a lot clearer, as they're no longer worried about replacing them and able to focus on their training.
First, I'll say Claremont really gets the youth of the team. It makes them brave and loyal even when they're afraid, as we see with Rahne attacking the Brood Queen in her wolf form despite Claremont telling us she's as afraid as she's ever been. But, they're also unskilled. The Brood Queen is using Dani's power to create real -- and not holographic -- nightmares, telling her she would've eventually been able to do the same thing as an adult. Moreover, Dani's plan to have Xi'an possess her, breaking the Queen's link, is inspired, but Xi'an doesn't possess the psychic defenses to keep the Queen from simply taking control of her. In fact, the only way the team can stop the Queen from using Dani and Xi'an's psychic abilities against them is to knock them unconscious. Cyclops and Wolverine both comment on how the kids would be dangerous if their guts match their skills. With the X-Men back in the picture, Claremont's focus on the kids' lack of skills sets up the rest of the series nicely, as the focus now shifts to them as students.
To continue on a theme from previous issues of Claremont's brutality, we open this issue with Dani awakening in a terror as a storm rages outside. The Brood Queen appearing in Dani's window in a flash of lightning is terrifying, and the Queen herself is then revealed to be the bear who (supposedly) murdered Dani's parents. Dani can't even flee the scene without murder haunting her, as she stumbles upon scenes of her dead friends. Later, the Queen tells Cannonball she'll "feast on [his] living heart" if he makes a move against her. In other words, the Queen didn't come to play. But, Claremont goes even further: Dani seems suicidal as she contemplates her "wicked" soul after overhearing Xavier on the phone. It's hard to believe this issue would get past any censors today.
At this point, Dani is clearly the most prominent character. Her comment on her powers are interesting, because it's the first time we consider her powers might not be just to pull people's darkest fears or "anguished memories" from their minds; she might just be doing that because of her own trauma. But, she's not motivated entirely by trauma; she has spunk independent of that. I loved when she reveals she's been snooping around the tunnels system under the Mansion despite the Professor's prohibition on them doing so. She's also the only one clear-eyed on the Professor's involvement, particularly after she realizes the extent to which the Brood Queen understood their powers. We see the kernel of the adult she'll become once she matures and her powers develop.
Separately, the X-Men are fascinating to watch at this point in their history. Storm throws some serious shade at Kitty when she (mentally, not to Kitty herself) dismisses Peter as the man Kitty thinks she loves. Damn, Storm. Storm's jealousy over Kitty's ties to the Rasputin siblings is fascinating as I had honestly forgotten she had this kind of maternal bond with Kitty. That said, she also shows why she's often portrayed as the adult of the team; she acknowledges her childish feelings and chastises herself for them. Scott and Logan are also great examples of who they were in this period. Logan is all ready to murder the Brood Queen as the team's resident murderer, and Scott is shown as indecisive, as, frankly, he often is, despite his reputation to the contrary. But, his decision to embrace hope in terms of possibly saving Charles represents a step in the right direction. It shows us a hint of the man he becomes before he goes down a much darker road. All that said, Moira continues to be my favorite character at this point, as she's in essentially a constant state of rolling her eyes at everyone's foolishness.
I'll admit that it felt like Claremont had to vamp a bit to meet his page target, as the sequence with Lilandra and the Fantastic Four felt totally random. However, it was also a reminder of how closely the Marvel comics were connected in this era; they really put a lot of emphasis on the shared Universe in which all the comics took place.
At any rate, I'm really digging this series at this point. I think it really stands up 35 years later. In fact, teenagers right now might find themselves identifying more with the violence these kids face than they do from reading "Champions."
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