Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site decwrl.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian
From: boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: The Uncanny X-Reviews
Message-ID: <683@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 4-Oct-85 07:13:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.683
Posted: Fri Oct  4 07:13:06 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 14:46:10 EDT
Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 154


Reviewed this time around (somewhat out of alphabetical order this time):

MARVEL FANFARE #24	X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT #2	THE AVENGERS #263
NIGHTCRAWLER #3		THE UNCANNY X-MEN #201	FANTASTIC FOUR #286

Ratings for the comics reviewed are as according to the Mad Armenian Scale, a
shameless rip-off of the Moriarty Scale, stolen out from under the very nose of
the Napoleon of Crime. Nyah-ah-ah!!

"For a critic, it's better to have wrong standards than none at all."

						-- Elmer Allyn Craft

********************************************************************************
|=>A+< A veritable Classic. One of the best of All Time. Example: THE SPIRIT   |
|==>A< One of the best of the year. Ex: TEEN TITANS #38: "Who Is Donna Troy?"  |
|==>B< A very good issue, one of the best of the month. Example: CEREBUS       |
|==>C< A well done, entertaining issue.  Satisfying.  Example: JON SABLE       |
|==>D< Rather boring, or a few good spots mixed with more bad ones. Ex: ROM    |
|==>F< Boring AND stupid or childish.  Example: MARVEL SUPERHEROES SECRET WARS |
|==>Z< Actually offensive.  Example: DAZZLER --- THE MOVIE GRAPHIC NOVEL #12   |
********************************************************************************


MARVEL FANFARE #24		[Marvel, $1.50]		"Elegy": C+

	I never thought much of the original Weirdworld stories, so I haven't
read the one here, even though it's got rather nice art by Mike Ploog and Craig
Russell. It's the second story that I wish to comment on. This is a "retro"
story, one that fits into the X-Men continuity somewhere 'round issue #181.
It's sort of the last story of Carol Danvers, in which she goes (taking Logan
along) to the Avengers Mansion to make amends and to get in one last poker game.
When (the current) Captain Marvel pops in, Carol learns about the death of
Mar-Vell, which, for some reason, she hadn't known about. She then makes her
good-byes to Mar-Vell, and then to Logan as she goes off to join the crew of
the Starjammer.
	This story exhibits emotional conflict with quiet strength, one of
Claremont's fine points. And the art, by David Ross (whose name is unfamiliar
to me), is quite good. I hope to see more work from him.
	Oh, and Claremont has been taking evil/nasty/inhumane bastard lessons
from Byrne! Remember back in ALPHA FLIGHT #16-or-so, when Byrne taunted us with
the reference to Logan and Eugene Judd's escapade in Maracaibo? Well, Claremont
has done him one better by making a reference to a little adventure of Logan
and Nick Fury's in Vladivostok just before Fury became head of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Arrrrggghhhh!!!!


NIGHTCRAWLER #3		[Marvel, mini-series, $.75]		C-

	I didn't care for the first two issues of this series, and with this
issue returning to the world of "Kitty's Fairy Tale", I was expecting the
worst. I always thought KFT was one of those things that you can only do once
(and "Illyana's Fairy Tale" in last year's X-MEN ANNUAL kind of bore that out),
but somehow, Cockrum manages to make it fresh and entertaining. no, it's not
nearly up to the level of "Kitty's Fairy Tale", but it's fun anyway, and that's
what counts. I just hope that no one tries to do it *again*.


X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT #2	[Marvel, mini-series, $1.50]		B-

	Hurrah! For once, we have a two-part tale in which the second part is
as good, if not better, than the first. The thing that impresses me most is
that this story isn't just exceptionally crafted, but exceptionally conceived
as well. The ending is a bit deus ex machina (almost literally!), but that's
a minor quibble.
	The X-Men and Alphans find out that there ain't no such thing as a free
lunch, and that there's a high price indeed for Loki's benevolence (I think
that the price is a tad contrived, but I'll let it pass), and split on just
how they should proceed (and who takes what side is a bit interesting). There
are also a couple of very powerful scenes, the first involving a fight between
Logan and a couple of the exploratory group. The second involves Maddy and
Loki.
	But best of all is that Loki is hoisted by his own petard. He's not
used to being a good guy, and he never learned (nor will he ever, methinks)
that it's not the gift that counts, but the thought behind it.
	There's also something else of consequence here --- Those Who Live
Above In Shadow. Who are these (as a friend put it) "uber-gods"? Well, not so
much who are they, but where do they fit into the hierarchy of beings in the
Marvel Universe? The last thing we need is yet another level of near-omnipotent
beings.


THE UNCANNY X-MEN #201		[Marvel, $.65]		D

	OK, the good points first. (1) Kitty's "rescue" of Sam. (2) The duel
between Scott and Ororo had a very reasonable outcome, and the reaction of
the loser was quite natural.
	But balanced against these, we have: (1) matrimonial disharmony in the
Summers family, and (2) guess who's still among the living? ("I'm not dead
yet.") What a cop out. And what does that mysterious force of energy spewing
forth from the moon have to do with Rachel and/or Jean Grey?
	And last, but not least, the art sucked.


And now, we interrupt these reviews for a little editorial:

It was five years ago our time that Jean Grey died. The reasons for and reper-
cussions from this are not important here. I didn't like it when it happened.
But time heals all wounds, and I knew that to bring her back to life would do
nothing but cheapen the ultimate sacrifice she made (nota bene: I felt the
same way about Spock in STAR TREK III). Now, there have been rumors for a few
months that Marvel was planning to resurrect Jean as part of X-Factor. Well,
it's true. It's happened, and I'm not happy. The following two comics deal with
this resurrection as a prologue to X-FACTOR #1.

THE AVENGERS #263		[Marvel, $.65]		D-

	Even aside from this being the first installment of the rise from the
dead of Jean Grey, this is a rather dull, uninspired story. A catastrophe
involving the three scientists of the Enclave (who were the creators of Him,
later known as Adam Warlock) brings the Avengers to the bay off of JFK Airport.
At the bottom of the bay, they find a cocoon, which they first suspect is a
new attempt by the Enclave to create a super-being, but they soon realize is
something else entirely. They manage to retrieve it and bring it back to the
Mansion. In the last couple of panels, while no one is looking, the cocoon
turns transparent, showing Jean inside. There's no spark to this story at all,
and I almost get the feeling that Stern was told to write this story whether
he wanted to or not (probably like most of the SWII cross-overs).


FANTASTIC FOUR #286		[Marvel, $.65]		C-

	This is more like it, even if I don't like what's going on. The FF come
back from space (Byrne is playing around here; the FF make references to the
frustration of their fans if the latter don't find out about the adventures
they just went through, and of course, something big must have happened be-
tween last issue and this), and Reed investigates the cocoon that the Avengers
found. To make it brief, he "cracks" it open, freeing a Jean Grey who still
thinks she's in battle against the X-Sentinels (from X-MEN #100). The rest of
the issue retells the events of X-MEN #100, along with the help of the holo-
empathic crystal that sits in the Greys' house, and we find out that Phoenix
was never jean at all, but an elemental force that copied Jean's genetic and
thought patterns to give herself a human body. In the meantime, Jean's body
lay at the bottom of Jamaica Bay healing in her cocoon (it's not clear whether
the cocoon was something that Phoenix created as "payment", or whether Jean's
own telekinetic powers created it subconsciously).
	I'll grant one thing: Byrne told the story well (and it was great to
see his version of Jean again!). I still don't like the resurrection business,
and I think this Fire elemental copying Jean's patterns to become Phoenix is
only so much bullshit, but at least Byrne told it with pizzazz. I almost (note:
*almost*) was willing to let myself be sucked right into the whole thing. I
also appreciated Byrne's characterization of Jean, who naturally is freaked
out by this whole business --- losing a few years of her life, having everyone
think she's been dead all this time, and, to top it all, being told that the
X-Men are being pals with Magneto these days. It's more than she can handle,
and she nearly has a complete breakdown, and Byrne makes it convincing.
	As I said, I still don't like it, but I have to admit it was done well.


--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA)

UUCP:	{decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian
ARPA:	boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA


Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com