Uncanny X-Men #484-#486: "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire:" Parts 10-12

Uncanny X-Men #484:  After nine issues, Brubaker does a great job here of maintaining a certain level of tension, building anticipation for the denouement.  Through his conversation with Darwin, Vulcan is portrayed as more or less firmly accepting the dark side, if you will.  Meanwhile, the X-Men are a mess.  Rachel is conflicted over her emotions toward Korvus, while at the same time embracing killing when it comes to seeking revenge on the Shi'Ar.  Brubaker blows past that, but you have to wonder how different from Vulcan she is, given that they're both killing people in revenge.  Alex and Lorna, both under stress, embrace old habits.  Only Nightcrawler and Warpath have gotten to this point relatively unscathed, so you know something's going to happen to them at some point.  (As someone said in one of the letters columns in this run, Brubaker clearly enjoys writing Warpath.)  The meandering Professor X sub-plot finally found a point, with Xavier serving as bait for Lilandra.  The next two issues should be epic.

Uncanny X-Men #485:  This issue descends into chaos pretty quickly, as everyone's plans don't exactly go the way they thought they would.  The Starjammers arrive earlier than D'Ken and his cronies thought they would, disrupting the wedding celebrations of Deathbird and Vulcan (though, importantly, not the wedding itself).  Vulcan gets his revenge on D'Ken, as we all knew he would, claiming the throne for himself.  Corsair sees just how insane his son has become, and Alex realizes that Vulcan has to be stopped.  The only off-note in this whole story, for me, continues to be the Xavier sub-plot.  Although I get the symmetry of, as Vulcan says, Vulcan trapping Xavier in a rock, I still don't know if I buy that they would go through the trouble of staging a public execution, rather than just kill him.  The only reason would be that they're using him as bait for Lilandra (which they are), but, if they're using him for bait, then I don't know why Vulcan would be surprised when the Starjammers arrived when they did.  After all, they would clearly need Xavier still alive to be successful bait, meaning they anticipated the Starjammers would arrive before they would throw Xavier into the M'Kraan Crystal.  But, Vulcan expresses frustration over not having gotten his revenge against Xavier when the Starjammers arrive.  Confusing.  Moreover, I still don't understand why Corsair and Ka'Ardum allow themselves to agree with Lilandra's plan to go after Charles.  Corsair implies that it's to prevent D'Ken from doing something more with the Crystal than imprisoning Xavier, but I'm not sure exactly what. 

Uncanny X-Men #486:  Wow.  OK, I think Brubaker really accomplishes here what he intended to do, bring all existing plots and sub-plots to their logical conclusions.  First, the death of Corsair isn't meaningless here.  It shows just how far gone Vulcan is.  Vulcan didn't agree to become part of the Shi'Ar royal family just because he needed to belong and wanted D'Ken's acceptance.  He always intended to kill D'Ken; it's only by becoming Emperor that he would get the acceptance he needed and, wow, talk about an ego, that you need to rule an Empire just to feel accepted.  As such, Corsair was never going to be able to save Vulcan, something Alex always knew.  Vulcan slaying Corsair just underlined this fact and represented the death of the idea that Vulcan could be reformed.  Lilandra is a total mess here and, to be honest, you almost see the Chancellor's point in deciding to overthrow her.  She just makes one series of bad decisions after another, all in the name of saving Charles.  She's largely just as petulant a child as Vulcan is, if less lethal.  The ending really works, with Alex deciding to take up the helm of the Starjammers and defeat Vulcan.  I'm excited about reading "X-Men:  Emperor Vulcan," because I think it'll avoid some of the pitfalls of this 12-issue arc.  That said, I think Brubaker managed to deliver a great conclusion to this long arc.

Final Thoughts:  This arc definitely had some weak moments, but, overall, I think Brubaker told an amazingly epic story that will be remembered by fans for a long time.  Although some of the sub-plots were confusing at times, Brubaker did actually more or less resolve them all in a way that made sense and (for the most part) didn't feel forced.  The Blade of the Phoenix sub-plot, to me, was the most well done, particularly because it gave us the awesome new character of Korvus.  I found the Professor X sub-plot to be the weakest link, mostly because it was the only one to feel forced, given that it's whole purpose was just to give D'Ken bait for Lilandra.  The Secret Order sub-plot didn't feel forced, since, as I said, I more or less agree with the Chancellor that Lilandra is unfit for the throne, but it was a little muddled.  I wasn't sure, from time to time, who was doing what on whose orders.  But, the good news is that, even when I was confused or doubtful, it was rarely because I questioned the characters' motivations.  Brubaker did a great job of keeping everyone true to their character, a real marvel when, by the end, he's juggling 15 characters or so.

Moving past the specifics and focusing on the overall story, Brubaker really tells a class tale here of revenge and how it twists those seeking it.  Besides the obvious example of Vulcan, we see Rachel mirror his descent into blood-lust as the arc progresses.  Moreover, beyond those seeking revenge, almost everyone involved in the arc finds him- or herself morally compromised.  Alex and Lorna commit themselves to killing Vulcan, breaking the cardinal rule of the X-Men (as Alex himself notes).  Lilandra makes a series of bad decisions in the attempt to save Charles, costing the life of Corsair (not to mention the Shi'Ar troops fighting on her side).  Xavier has once again led a personally-driven mission that results in him having blood on his hands and leaves his charges emotionally scarred.  It's not often that you see these sorts of dark turns of events in a Marvel comic, and I applaud Brubaker for avoiding wrapping up the story in a nice, neat bow and for making sure that the events have real, tangible effects on the characters.  At the end of the day, the X-Men's mission -- to stop and, hopefully, to redeem Vulcan -- failed.  You don't see that every day.

All in all, it's a great arc that presents a different take on the X-Men than we normally see.  It merits a read for anyone who enjoys intergalactic X-Men stories.

(P.S.:  If you enjoyed "Rise and Fall," check out "What If?  X-Men - Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire."  I actually bought it years ago and read it without having read "Rise and Fall."  I, obviously, likely understood few of the references, particularly because they involve nods to "Annihilation" in addition to "Rise and Fall."  But, in some ways, the ending is a more satisfying emotional conclusion to the arc than the real ending.  I won't spoil it if you haven't already read it, but I'd recommend it to anyone that really enjoyed this arc.)

Uncanny X-Men #481-#483: "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire:" Parts 7-9

Uncanny X-Men #481:  Brubaker is really building steam now.  The plot to overthrow Lilandra gets more and more interesting, at least in part because I wonder where it's leading.  It appears that K'Tor is involved in the "Secret Order," given that, last issue, he put Vulcan in the same prison as Deathbird and the Secret Order agent who freed Vulcan sent him straight to Deathbird.  However, I'm not sure where the Chancellor fits into the scheme.  He seems unaware of K'Tor's actions, since he comments that one of their "people" would have not likely been the cause of her escape, so I'm not sure if the Secret Order people are his "people" or if he has different "people."  I'm also not entirely sure why the Order would want to free Deathbird, since she's from the same bloodline as Lilandra.  But, it's pretty clear that Vulcan's arrival in the Imperium has set a number of events in motion, and Brubaker is slowly fleshing out the details of these events.  The X-Men are still more or less drifting through space, but it looks like they may actually DO something next issue, which is exciting.  Alex's lament over their failures was a nice bit of characterization on Brubaker's part, even though I wish we'd one day get a confident Havok.  But, I'm digging Korvus and Rachel, so at least the X-Men side of the house isn't a total wash.  Bring on the Starjammers!

Uncanny X-Men #482:  Mysteries wrapped in enigmas!  First, the X-Men.  Finally, they do something!  I always love a good Starjammer story, and this one doesn't disappoint.  The conversation between Corsair and Havok mirrors thoughts I've been having about Vulcan.  On one hand, he's so tortured that you hope someone can make it right.  You hope that his father and brother appealing to him would break through his crazy and put him on the path to redemption.  But, as Alex says, it's hard to see how someone that far gone could be saved and, even if he is, his crimes are not easily dismissed.  On the Shi'Ar conspiracy front, everything gets muddled with the return of D'Ken, particularly given that he appears alongside Deathbird and Vulcan.  WTF?  I'm still not sure if we're dealing with one or multiple conspiracies against Lilandra.  If the Chancellor planned to return D'Ken to the throne, then why was he surprised when Deathbird was freed, particularly given that it appears her release played a role in D'Ken reclaiming the throne?  Moreover, I'm still not sure how Xavier fits into the mix.  Why exactly were they torturing him?  Where they planning something beyond torture for him?

Uncanny X-Men #483:  Huh.  I'm still not 100 percent sure what's happening with the Shi'Ar.  It appears that the Chancellor is in fact in charge of the Secret Order.  As such, I'm confused why he seemed unaware of the Secret Order's involvement in the release of Deathbird in issue #481.  But, I'm willing to just concede I'm misinterpreting that remark, since it's a small point.  Brubaker also clarifies here that the Secret Order isn't against the entire House of Neramani, as I originally thought, but just specifically Lilandra, for her actions when she was under the influence of Cassandra Nova.  I'm not sure what happened in that arc, though at least it makes sense now why they would free Deathbird.  Speaking of her, Brubaker does a great job with Deathbird and Vulcan here.  You can feel him slipping away, moving more and more past the point of any redemption.  Again, it reminds me of the conversation Dick Grayson and Jason Todd had in his first arc in "Batman and Robin," where he admits he's beyond redemption.  It's like watching an impressionable teenager get involved with the wrong crowd.  D'Ken uses Vulcan's need to belong to subvert his need for revenge, bringing him into the fold of the conspirators.  The last quarter of this arc has "tragedy" written all over it.

Final Thoughts:  At the end of the second quarter of this arc, the X-Men were still drifting in space and Vulcan just met Deathbird.  Now, he's formed an unholy union with her, on the verge of joining the House of Neramani, and the X-Men have joined with the Starjammers to enter full revolt against the Imperium.  It's pretty clear this arc isn't going to have a happy ending...

Uncanny X-Men #478-#480: "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire:" Parts 4-6

Uncanny X-Men #478:  OK, it's probably time something happens here.  After last issue, which more or less served as a recap of "X-Men:  Deadly Genesis" for those folks who didn't read it, I was kind of expecting we'd see the X-Men makes some progress in their attempt to find a way to track down Vulcan.  Instead, they're still lost in space, and they don't really seem to have a plan to resolve that problem.  They stop at a Shi'Ar space station to re-fuel, but, if I'm not mistaken, it would take them a fairly long time to make it to the Imperium without the stargates.  (After all, as we learn in this issue, Vulcan had gone through -- and destroyed -- 55 percent of them and still hadn't reached the throneworld, Chandilar.)  But, the X-Men seem content to make their way lazily through the Imperium, despite the fact their mission has a fair level of urgency.  I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a decent issue.  The fight with the Skrulls was fun, and I enjoyed Brubaker giving us a fan wank with the conversation between Havok and Polaris about Jean.  I'm also intrigued by Brubaker's decision to add to the mix the Shi'Ar's hatred for "the line of the Phoenix."  But, both the Skrulls fight and the Phoenix business felt like distractions.  Moreover, the addition of the two Shi'Ar crew members' recognition of Professor X is probably just going to continue to derail us.  (Can't Rachel just read their minds?)  At this point, it's probably time for something to happen.

Uncanny X-Men #479:  OK, something happens!  I was first impressed by Brubaker's ability to juggle several different plots and storylines over the course of multiple-issue arcs in "Captain America," and I'm no less impressed here.  Although it's still a distraction from the main plot (the X-Men chasing Vulcan), Brubaker delivers a winner with the Blade of the Phoenix story, giving us a tragic figure in the form of Korvus, whose life story closely matches Rachel's.  (Moreover, the fight scene between the two of them was awesome.  Full props to Tan for that one.)  I liked how Brubaker took the time to do some character work with Nightcrawler and Warpath, with Warpath expressing his frustration with traveling in space (preferring to have grass under his feet) and Kurt marveling at the wonders of it.  For me, the only down note continues to be the Professor X sub-plot.  The addition of the two Shi'Ar "guests" last issue felt forced, and it does so again here, somewhat bluntly serving merely as a means of advancing the plot.  (Brubaker addresses my question about Rachel reading the guests' minds from last issue, but can she really not break through Shi'Ar counter-telepathy training and read their minds?  Moreover, given that everyone BUT the Professor thought it was a bad idea to keep them on the ship, why would they allow him to do so?  I thought we proved in "X-Men:  Deadly Genesis" that blindly following his orders isn't a good idea.)  But, I asked for something to happen and I got it.  Brubaker may be stalling with these additional sub-plots, but at least he's making it mostly an enjoyable experience.

Uncanny X-Men #480:  This issue is pretty awesome.  Brubaker is doing a great job fleshing out Vulcan.  He's dealt his first real defeat at the hands of Gladiator, but not before seemingly killing half the Imperial Guard.  Although Vulcan has killed before, I feel like this issue is where we see his real brutality, where he finally gets the opportunity to prove himself against beings on his level (and not just the innocent victims he's previously killed).  But, he fails and, as we see in his conversation with his younger self, he lacks the maturity to fully handle that failure.  Although it bordered on excessive exposition, I felt like that conversation with his younger self was really useful, underling that, under it all, Vulcan is a scared teenager.  Brubaker has given us several factors driving Vulcan's instability -- the effects of the Shi'Ar rapidly aging him, the shock of waking from his coma having been left for dead by Xavier, the horror of seeing his own mother's death through Corsair's memories.  But, it's the scared teenager part that on one hand explains how that instability manifests itself (in the need for getting revenge and proving himself) and on the other hand makes Vulcan (almost) a sympathetic character.  Just like he did with Bucky Barnes, Brubaker is doing an excellent job creating a truly tragic figure, this time on the darker side of the spectrum.  I can't wait to see how the addition of Deathbird to the mix is going to go.

Final Thoughts:  This second quarter of the arc started slow, but I trust Brubaker to be moving us slowly but surely to a spectacular finish.  You can feel Vulcan's rage building and building as he faces obstacles for the first time and everything doesn't go according to his plan.  He radiates a need for acceptance, but he's ultimately a villain because he can't bring himself to take it when it's offered.  He's like the intergalactic, mutant version of Jason Todd, which raises the question:  why are bad guys always so sexy?

Uncanny X-Men #475-#477: "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire:" Parts 1-3

I wasn't planning on reviewing "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire," but I'm finding reviewing is like a drug!  I decided to read this arc partly because I was interested in the Vulcan character after reading the "X-Men:  Deadly Genesis" TPB a few years ago.  But, mostly, it's because of the current storyline in "X-Men Legacy," where Rogue and company go into space to retrieve Havok, Marvel Girl, and Polaris, and because the events in "Rise and Fall" play a part in "War of Kings," which I'm approaching as I make my way through the "Nova" series.  In other words, I'm mostly reading it as background.  But, after the awesome first issue, I find myself sucked into the world Brubaker creates, so I definitely want to talk about it.  I'm going to be a little easier on myself, though, going with the paragraph review rather than a full-on page review with summaries, goods, bads, etc.  Enough shop talk, though.  Onto the reviewing!

Uncanny X-Men #475:  As an issue setting the stage for an ambitious 12-issue arc, this one should be taught as the urtext at Comic Book Writer University.  At first it appears that the Professor, who has lost his powers as a result of the events of "House of M" and his respect as a result of the revelations of "X-Men:  Deadly Genesis," is gathering a small team just to rescue Polaris, an initial stab at addressing past mistakes.  (I'm not exactly sure what happened to Lorna, but, with Lorna, it's always something.  This time, it appears it was Apocalypse.  Last time, it was Magneto, and Malice before him.  Whatever.  It would be nice for her actually not to be a mess for once.  But, I digress.)  We see him recruiting several of the team members, and only his conversation with Rachel implies that something more than rescuing Lorna is at hand.  The story of retrieving Lorna, in and of itself, is an exciting one.  Brubaker puts together an inspired team, with Warpath taking on the role usually reserved for Colossus, an addition that adds a new element to the interactions between the characters.  (Moreover, Tan beautifully captures Warpath's kinetic fighting style, thriving in his depiction of close-quarters combat in the streets of Cairo.)  But, Brubaker kicks it up a notch when he reveals the twist, that the Professor was leading the team to rescue Lorna not for Lorna in and of herself but to add her to the team going into space to retrieve Vulcan.  This twist is brilliant not just because of the awesomeness of the X-Men rocketing into space once more, but also because it seriously underlines how much of a bastard Charles Xavier is.  He seemed fine with Lorna wandering the streets of Cairo until he needed her.  I mean, both Havok and Xavier mention that she should've expected them to rescue her, but, seriously, why did they wait until they needed her to do it?  For me, this behavior gives added weight to the impact of the revelations in "X-Men:  Deadly Genesis."  Brubaker creates a sense throughout the book that Xavier is going behind Scott's back to put together this team and bring them on yet another crazy mission.  Xavier may be talking about redemption, but he's not exactly doing anything different.  I don't know how Brubaker manages to do all that in one issue, but it's why the man's good at his job.

Uncanny X-Men #476:  Brubaker does a great job building on the situations he set into motion in the first issue of this arc.  As I mentioned before, Warpath is a great addition to the team.  If it had been Colossus, the character dynamics would've derived from a well-oiled team fighting the enemy yet again.  Instead, Brubaker creates tension, since Warpath hasn't been completely integrated into the X-Men way of thinking.  He argues with Havok and he brushes off Xavier's attempt to chastise him for killing.  Moreover, the conversation between Scott, Xavier, and Alex clarifies the question I had from the first issue, if Xavier had sought Scott's approval before leaving (and, though I didn't mention it, why Alex had forgiven Xavier enough to agree to go with him).  As he does currently in "Captain America," Brubaker is a master of characterization, and he really excels when he's carrying relationships from issue to issue.  By creating the sense that Xavier was sneaking behind Scott's back in the first issue (and waiting until this issue to show the conversation they had about the mission), Brubaker is slowly playing out the shift of power from Xavier to Scott.  Having cleared the decks of those issues, Brubaker now hurls us into the matter at hand, the X-Men in space.  Awesome.

Uncanny X-Men #477:  One of the nice things about a 12-issue arc is that you're not exactly in a rush.  Brubaker pauses the X-Men's story here, leaving them drifting in space, in order to focus on Vulcan and what he's been doing since the end of "X-Men:  Deadly Genesis."  As implied at the end of last issue, we see that Vulcan doesn't just possess a Havok-like level of power, but also a Cyclops-like command of tactics.  After learning about the Shi'Ar stargates and capturing a ship to access them, Vulcan goes about destroying the gates as he makes his way to the Shi'Ar throneworld.  However, he leaves one gate intact, so that the X-Men can make a jump from Earth...and then find themselves with no gates left to lead them further.  Brilliant.  The rest of the issue fleshes out Vulcan as a character, giving us a better sense of just how tortured Vulcan is than we got form "X-Men:  Deadly Genesis."  Brubaker explains how the trauma of Marvel Girl showing Corsair's memories of Vulcan's "death" to him is really what drives him over the edge, an edge on which he had already been standing when he awoke and realized that he and his teammates had been left for dead by Xavier after their failed attempt to rescue the X-Men on Krakoa.  It's hard to view Vulcan as a sympathetic character, but Brubaker actually brings us close to it with this issue, an excellent character study of a seriously troubled character.

Final Thoughts:  We're a quarter of the way through the arc at this point, and Brubaker has set the stage for a really exciting story.  If I didn't know Brubaker from his "Captain America" run, I'd be a little skeptical that amazing things were going to happen, given that, after three issues, Vulcan is only now approaching the Shi'Ar Empire and the X-Men are drifting in space.  But, I know Brubaker is taking his time, building the story, creating small sub-plots that will all come together at the end.  As such, it's been fun to watch him ply his craft here, creating a fully-realized world with real-life characters.  I can't wait to see where it goes.