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Age of Apocalypse Turns 30: Part 5 – Nature Over Nurture

Theron Couch

By Theron Couch

 on 

The 30th anniversary look at Age of Apocalypse continues (even if it’s now technically 31)…

A major hallmark of Age of Apocalypse is how much overlap the various titles have. In that way it’s hard to have an essential reading list. Getting the best out of the event requires reading most of it. Astonishing X-Men #1 was practically a mission statement in that regard as it kicked off the events of multiple series. That sensibility continues here as Amazing X-Men dovetails into Weapon X which in turn plants seeds for continuations in other titles.

Related:

Comic Watch Review: X-Men of Apocalypse #1: Space is Warped and Time is Bendable

X-Titles Also Out This Week:

Amazing X-Men #2

W: Fabian Nicieza | P: Andy Kubert | I: Matt Ryan | C: Kevin Sommers/Digital Chameleon | L: Richard Starkings & Comicraft

Apocalypse’s Horseman Abyss has sucked a young boy inside of him as Amazing X-Men #2 opens and is feeding off his hope and fear. Back at the loading point for the Great Sentinel Airlift, the X-Men are contending with the Brotherhood and sentinels who see them as a threat. The Brotherhood escapes in the chaos. Banshee goes off on his own, tracking the Madri that accompanied the Brotherhood in their opening attack. What he finds is a body, the Madri having been killed by Abyss. The Horseman wants Quicksilver in exchange for releasing the boy held within him. Quicksilver and Storm respond to the obvious trap, and in the subsequent fight, Quicksilver is able to punch Abyss into himself, the Horseman seemingly sucked into the dimensional void within him. Back at the airlift, the remaining X-Men were able to program the sentinels to place the rescue of humans above all other priorities, to the point that the sentinels actually asked the X-Men for help. Meanwhile, Apocalypse prepares to attack Magneto himself.

The narrative weight of Amazing X-Men #2 belongs entirely to the Abyss sequences. Once the Brotherhood are lost to the crowd, Nicieza all but ignores the Airlift which the first issue billed as the central part of the plot. This is to the issue’s benefit because the Airlift story itself doesn’t have much juice. The Brotherhood are a group of unimpressive scrubs as adversaries go, and it’s almost a foregone conclusion that the sentinels and X-Men will somehow come together to save the humans. Abyss’ interactions with Banshee and Quicksilver are also solid character oriented sequences which is something that Age of Apocalypse overall excels at.

As a character, Abyss gets his most consequential appearance yet. Created by writers Scott Lobdell and Mark Waid and artist Roger Cruz for a first appearance in X-Men Alpha, the character was largely written by Fabian Nicieza in Amazing X-Men #1-4. He appeared in the Age of Apocalypse over a year before his first appearance in the 616 universe. Todd DeZago and Scott Clark brought him to the 616 universe in Cable #40 as Nils Styger, a mutant infected by the Legacy Virus and who served as Renee Majcomb’s protector. Despite not being a villain in his first appearance, DeZago wrote him with the potential to go in that direction and included a nod in dialogue to the character’s Age of Apocalypse name.

With so much of Amazing X-Men #2 hinging on the confrontation with Abyss, it’s almost more important that Kubert nail the characters’ expressions and physicality in those sequences than that he delivers explosive action visuals. Kubert succeeds here. He also draws an imposing Abyss, maniacal in facial expression and at times towering thanks to a body that can spool and unspool, decreasing and increasing in size.

 

Factor X #2

W: John Francis Moore | P: Steve Epting | I: Al Milgrom | C: Glynis Oliver | L: Richard Starkings & Comicraft

Magneto is rescuing mutants from the pens on Factor X #2’s opening pages. Or is he? Someone is using a scrambler to hide their identity and sneak mutants to safety. On this most recent rescue, they leave behind Lorna Dane, a seemingly insane woman who believes Magneto is her father and whose magnetic powers were partially stolen by Rogue (the origin of her magnetic abilities seen in other issues). Meanwhile, in Angel’s club Heaven, Alex’s human girlfriend and lounge singer Scarlet starts having cold feet about her role as a spy. Back in the pens, Apocalypse has started floating the idea of Cyclops eventually being elevated to replace Sinister, something that sets Havok’s blood boiling. And everything may ultimately work out for the younger Summers brother because he catches someone spiriting Lorna Dane away later that night, and it turns out to be Cyclops.

Havok looks almost comically evil in Factor X. McCoy has a generic monster look which isn’t that impressive as the bad guy iterations go. But Epting and Milgrom give Havok a perpetual growl/grimace/bulldog expression. It’s kind of inhuman compared to the series’ other characters which ultimately works for the character.

Factor X is an interesting title within Age of Apocalypse because it doesn’t really have an overarching storyline. The closest thing to that here is the rivalry between the Summers brothers–though rivalry may not be the right word because it’s mainly just Havok scheming to ruin Cyclops. Factor X #2 juggles Havok’s affair with Scarlet and rivalry with Scott, the mystery of who is helping mutants escape from the pens, McCoy’s experimentation on Polaris, and the investigation into Sinister’s disappearance. All of these are interesting on their own to a point, but the series never coalesces in the same way the others do.

Scott helping mutants escape seems a little too on the nose. We have already seen that he is more considered and less sadistic than everyone he commands. He’s also committed to the letter of the Kelly Pact which forbids genetic experimentation–the only one of the prelates that seems to be. In this way it’s clear why Sinister would favor him–Scott is as uninterested in armageddon as Sinister is. But it would have been nice to see Scott actually be a true bad guy. On the other hand, I suppose this makes an argument for nature over nurture–that even in Apocalypse’s hellish world, Scott can’t be fully corrupted.

The lack of any genetic connection between Lorna and Magneto here is, of course, something that has since been retconned in the 616 timeline. This issue does provide a nice and succinct explanation of how Rogue got her magnetic abilities.

 

Weapon X #2

W: Larry Hama | P: Adam Kubert | I: Dan Green | C: Joe Rosas/Digital Chameleon | L: Pat Brosseau

Continued in part from Amazing X-Men #2…The Great Sentinel Airlift was a success. Humans are being offloaded on the shores of Europe in Weapon X #2’s opening pages. The Brotherhood (last seen in Amazing X-Men #2) successfully snuck aboard but are easily defeated by Logan and Jean. The fight does provide a distraction for Pierce and his team of cybernetically altered humans to make it through security, though. Their goal: destroy the guidance system for the airfleet poised to attack Apocalypse-held North America. Logan jumps through an inferno of burning airships to stop Pierce’s team when they attack. He succeeds in killing them all, but not before the guidance system is destroyed. While all of that is going on, Jean sends him a telepathic goodbye. She’s unwilling to allow the Human High Council’s apocalyptic attack without trying to do something to render it unnecessary. Logan catches up with her, insisting that he can’t allow her to fly off and potentially give the game away. As Jean’s plane accelerates down the runway, Jean prepares herself to die at Logan’s hands. He can’t kill her, of course, and Jean flies off toward Apocalypse’s territory.

Nature versus nurture seems to be rearing its ugly head again, this time with Jean. Armageddon is unpalatable to her, apparently. This isn’t a concept that Age of Apocalypse puts forth explicitly–it’s not an event concerned with the inner workings of human beings. But the writers certainly lean in the nature direction with many of the characters. Jean can’t be anyone other than who she is despite the world around her and her own experiences.

Humans that collaborate with Apocalypse pop up throughout the Age of Apocalypse titles. Pierce and company are just the latest examples. Despite the storytelling potential, it’s something that none of the writers explore in depth. Whether such an arrangement could truly work out for the humans in the long run is an interesting question. Yes, all humans are inferior to the mutants. But the collaborators have found ways to be superior to other humans.

Hama already wrote Logan being concerned that his relationship with Jean was more a matter of gratitude on Jean’s part than true love. That carries through into Weapon X #2 where the pair’s relationship is tested over different opinions on the Human High Council’s intended strike on North America. And it’s definitely on display in the final pages, where Hama writes Jean as truly considering the possibility that Logan is going to kill her.

As with the first issue, there is no shortage of action sequences in Weapon X #2. Kubert delivers once again. The most impressive work comes on the splash pages and two-page spreads where there is ample room for extra detail. Kubert’s best work, though, comes on the final three pages–Jean’s departure. Hama’s dialogue provides a measure of emotion, but the depth of feeling comes out of Kubert’s art, especially the closeups on Jean. Her expressions betray resignation and surprise as she awaits a death that doesn’t come. The final page, a series of textless panels, is a sad one as Logan looks on. The moment is critically important both in overall plot and character development, and Kubert captures it expertly.

 

Gambit and the X-Ternals #2

W: Fabian Nicieza | P: Tony Daniel | I: Kevin Conrad, Al Milgrom & Mike Christian | C: Marie Javins/Digital Chameleon | L: Chris Eliopoulos

ESSENTIAL – The X-Ternals (with Rictor in tow) land on the alien world Ch’Reesharaa in Gambit and the X-Ternals #2, right in front of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard. An extended battle takes place between the two groups with Rictor siding with the Imperial Guard. The X-Ternals escape with the help of sentient plants and the Shi’ar assassin Jonath. The X-Ternals’ Shi’ar benefactor explains the Imperium’s status quo. The mad Emperor D’Ken discovered the resting place of the M’Kraan Crystal. He used its power to wrest control of the Imperium from his sister Deathbird before killing his other sister, Lilandra. In the aftermath, the M’Kraan Crystal’s energies have begun radiating out, leading to moments of all of reality blinking out of existence. As was the case in Legion Quest, a crystalline wave is overrunning the universe, and the sector of space that Ch’Reesharaa occupies is next. As the wave begins to sweep over the planet, the X-Ternals are rescued by the Deathbird-led Starjammers.

Gambit and the X-Ternals #2 is where the mystery about the M’Kraan Crystal starts to come into focus. What was going on with the crystal, beyond that it was somehow responsible for destroying the universe, was largely unexplained in Legion Quest. Indeed, readers who were unfamiliar with the Phoenix Saga might have had no idea what the crystal was. The nature of the existential threat to the universe starts taking shape here.

Readers who are familiar with the Phoenix Saga might appreciate learning what happened to the Shi’ar Imperium without the X-Men there to intervene. Reading that D’Ken killed Liandra leads to a great “a-ha” moment: Xavier’s death affected more than just how history played out on Earth.

Guido’s obsession with Lila Cheney borders on the creepy–especially when he disregards the safety of his teammates to run to help her. It’s not exactly foreshadowing, but he’s definitely not being set up as the most selflessly heroic member of the team.

Tony Daniel left the series after this issue. In fact, this is the final Marvel issue Daniel ever penciled. He’d go on to do well over 100 covers for Marvel, some of his most recent being Age of Revelation X-Men titles. After leaving Marvel, he went on to work on several series at Image, including his own creation, The Tenth. Daniel then did a lot of penciling work for DC in the mid 2000s to mid 2010s. His longest stints on any DC series were Batman and Teen Titans.

“I was with Marvel for about two years where I worked on X-Force. I remember thinking it was a radical move but one that could be fun as hell to work on. I remember thinking that this was a huge event. I was happy I was a part of it…I redesigned all of the characters that were in Gambit & the X-ternals. It was fun putting my own spin on my favorite characters. I remember how much fun I had drawing Jubilee and Gambit. They were my favorites. And Strong Guy was fun too, because I like drawing huge characters.”    —Tony Daniel

Next time…Nate continues to be petulant. Surely this won’t be a persistent character trait.

Tony Daniel quote: “One for the Ages: An oral history of Age of Apocalypse, the X-Men’s massive crossover, 25 years later” (https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/x-men-age-of-apocalypse-oral-marvel-history-25-years-later)
Age of Apocalypse Turns 30: Part 5 – Nature Over Nurture
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