Saturday, May 10, 2014
Friday, May 9, 2014
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
1982: Infectious X-Men part II: I Put A Spell On You
By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)
After the X-Men's initial clash with the alien Brood, their leader Charles Xavier and his lover Lilandra Neramani had secretly been implanted with the embryo of what would one day become a young Brood Queen. In part two of Infectious X-Men, we'll find out there's plenty more where that came from.
The cover to October 1982's Uncanny X-Men I#162 really gets ahead of the story, but what better way to start off the second part of this retrospective than with the pivotal moment of things to come?
When we last left the X-Men, they had just liberated Charles Xavier and Lilandra who were being kept prisoner by Deathbird aboard one of the Brood's giant space whales. They were able to escape courtesy of Corsair and the other Starjammers who rammed their ship straight through the side of the whale to freedom. The X-Men were free to prevent Shi'ar admiral Samédar from destroying Earth, which Xavier tried to do by telepathically reaching Nightcrawler and Shadowcat who were being held captive on Samédar's vessel in orbit over the planet.
Then he hit a little snag...
Oracle tried her best to reach the comatose Charles.
Uncanny X-Men I#161 finally dealt with the comatose Charles, albeit in an ingenious way. While fighting for his life, soul and sanity Xavier had a fever dream that took him back to a memory of his own past. All of a sudden, he was in Israel in the late 1950s (by 1982, that was still credible given Marvel's sliding timescale). Charles had come to visit Daniel Shomron, his old army buddy from the war in Korea.
After the Korean conflict, Shomron had gone to Israel where had set up a mental hospital in the port town of Haifa which catered exclusively to holocaust survivors. Xavier was called in to help a young, catatonic girl called Gabrielle Haller (who would years later give birth to Xavier's son Legion). At the hospital, Charles also met and befriended a certain silverhaired orderly called Magnus (Magneto, natch) Charles and Magnus eventually teamed up to fight off Baron Strucker when he abducted Haller when it became obvious her mind had been imprinted with a roadmap to the Nazi's hidden stash of gold (which had caused her mental collapse).
Shortly after reliving that experience, Xavier woke up... seemingly none the worse for wear. With Charles restored to perfect health, his lover Lilandra no longer had an excuse to remain on Earth and saw herself forced to return to Chandilar to resume her duties as empress. As a parting gift, Lilandra hosted a banquet for the X-Men aboard her flagship the Z'ree Shar. With Xavier still too weak to attend, Carol Danvers joined the team in his stead. However, as soon as they got on board Lilandra's ship, things took a turn.
After the X-Men's initial clash with the alien Brood, their leader Charles Xavier and his lover Lilandra Neramani had secretly been implanted with the embryo of what would one day become a young Brood Queen. In part two of Infectious X-Men, we'll find out there's plenty more where that came from.
"In the process, Xavier senses an anomaly within himself..."
In retrospect, the clues are right there... Xavier senses the growing Brood Queen embryo inside him and, despite the shock, the professor decides it's for the best to render himself comatose while he tries to deal with the alien intruder. The writing is literally on the wall, with Dave Cockrum's obvious symbolism: Charles' already alien looking face slowly turning into a Brood, with the tiny embryonic queen in the corner.
Still, how could the X-Men have known? And with Charles safe in the Starjammer's sickbay, the team went on to expose Deathbird's involvement in Lilandra's kidnapping. As soon as the empress showed up alive and well, the Shi'ar Imperial Guard and the forces under Samédar's command quickly turned on the admiral.
With Earth safe, but the school still destroyed by the Sidri, the X-Men temporarily moved into Magneto's old base on a mysterious island in the Bermuda triangle. They had all but forgotten about the Brood, their biggest concern was helping their ailing founder. Nowadays, the X-Men have mind readers to spare but back then they were a little shorthanded in that department. That's why Lilandra brought in the Imperial Guard's telepath Oracle, who apparently shops for headdresses at the same store as Storm.
Oracle tried her best to reach the comatose Charles.
"She will forge a psionic rapport with Charles and then examine him to
determine what force struck him down..."
determine what force struck him down..."
Sounds good in theory.
However, not even the Shi'ar's premiere telepath can hold her own against the mind of Charles Xavier in turmoil. Despite the fact he'd been waging a losing life and death battle against the infant Brood queen inside him, he was still able to mind control Oracle and tried to her to use her powers to kill him. Oracle was forced to turn her powers on Xavier, using their mental connection to fire powerful psi-bolts potent enough to kill him. Fortunately, the X-Men were on hand to save him.
"Wolverine, use your claws to sever the energy link between them!"
And so he did. Oracle was okay, the danger had passed but Xavier was still in a coma. In the months (in our time) that followed, they had encounters with their future member Rogue (by then still an enemy), squared off against Dracula and inadvertently went to Belasco's Limbo where they watched helplessly as Colossus' kid sister Illyana lost her childhood and innocence within moments. All those stories took close to half a year to tell, long enough for even the biggest of fans to lose track of the Brood storyline. However, there was one scene back in Uncanny X-Men I#157 that effectively foreshadowed the shape of things to come.
"We must have them, Deathbird. At any cost."
The Brood were more than a little intrigued by the X-Men and their powers. As such, they even forgave Deathbird for causing the deaths of many of their soldiers and the not so small wound in the side of their space whale when the Starjammer burst through it. But that was months away... And while the X-Men went through all the aforementioned trials and tribulations, Charles Xavier was still in a coma, at war with himself.
"Somehow, an alien consciousness has become part of him.
His thoughts, his mind, his very soul are no longer quite his own"
His thoughts, his mind, his very soul are no longer quite his own"
After the Korean conflict, Shomron had gone to Israel where had set up a mental hospital in the port town of Haifa which catered exclusively to holocaust survivors. Xavier was called in to help a young, catatonic girl called Gabrielle Haller (who would years later give birth to Xavier's son Legion). At the hospital, Charles also met and befriended a certain silverhaired orderly called Magnus (Magneto, natch) Charles and Magnus eventually teamed up to fight off Baron Strucker when he abducted Haller when it became obvious her mind had been imprinted with a roadmap to the Nazi's hidden stash of gold (which had caused her mental collapse).
Shortly after reliving that experience, Xavier woke up... seemingly none the worse for wear. With Charles restored to perfect health, his lover Lilandra no longer had an excuse to remain on Earth and saw herself forced to return to Chandilar to resume her duties as empress. As a parting gift, Lilandra hosted a banquet for the X-Men aboard her flagship the Z'ree Shar. With Xavier still too weak to attend, Carol Danvers joined the team in his stead. However, as soon as they got on board Lilandra's ship, things took a turn.
"A trap. We tried to react... but a stasis bomb ended the fight as soon as it had begun"
Deathbird had kept her promise: she'd deliver the X-Mena to the Brood and so she did. Heck, she even threw in her own sister, free of charge. However the team had no idea what was going on. They thought, through the magic of Brood mind control, they were celebrated guests at a marvellous party thrown in their honor. Only Wolverine knew there was something wrong when he woke up in Uncanny X-Men I#162 (remember the cover?).
This issue, cover dated September 1982, is in many ways a companion piece to the widely praised, first ever Wolverine limited series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, published between September and December 1982. In this chapter of the Brood conflict, Claremont really focuses on Wolverine, highlighting how he thinks, what motivates his often feral behavior and above all showing just why he is the best there is at what he does. Consider his monologue on the opening page of issue 162...
"I'm Wolverine. I'm a long way from home. An' I think I'm dyin'..."
Some 30+ years later, this "ruff 'n tuff" style narration has become a bit of a tired cliche, but the reason it's been done to death is because it works so perfectly.
Over the course of the story, the deadly ill Wolverine slowly figures out what has been happening. First, he realizes the whole ceremony aboard Lilandra's flag ship had been staged, with someone behind the scenes pulling the strings... However, when he tries to tell Storm of his discovery, she appears completely convinced by the lie the Brood want the team to buy into. Logan knew better and struck out on his own, discovering they were in fact on an alien world surrounded by Brood. And then, his real memories of the events slowly returned...
"Carol!! This is crazy! Those winged clowns are sleazoids!"
Wolverine recalls how Carol Danvers was taken away for experimentation by Brood scientists during the reception. We'll see what happened to her in one of the next chapters... For now, let's continue with Logan's, pardon the pun, run in with the truth... Especially when he happened to spot a squadron of Brood cornering Fang, a member of the Imperial Guard loyal to Deathbird. At first, Wolverine was more than a little pleased to see the Brood dealing with the traitorous Guard member and then, this happened...
"It will consume you, Fang. Transform you and, in the process, absorb the totality... of your memories, your abilities, your genetic potential."
Logan didn't need a house to drop on him: that is exactly what was going to happen o him and the others. This would also explain why the Brood chasing him were going through such great lengths to prevent him from getting hurt. And even as he considered the scope of his discovery, he flashed back to the truly horrifying moment when he received the Brood embryo now growing steadily inside him.
"The kid struggled, to no avail. I heard her screams, wanted to act... but I couldn't.
Some power held me fast."
Some power held me fast."
And there you have it... the Brood Queen had been aboard the Z'Ree Shar, somehow succesfully manipulating the minds of the X-Men while she implanted each and everyone of them with her embryos. While Wolverine succesfully continued to fight off the Brood warriors sent to collect him. he was suddenly overcome with incredible pain.
The Brood inside him had reached maturity.
Logan's time had run out.
"My flesh begins to smoke... Comprehension....
The transformation, my metamorphosis has begun.
I fight."
The transformation, my metamorphosis has begun.
I fight."
And fight he did... Thanks to both his mutant healing factor and his adamantium enhanced skeleton, Logan was able to overcome the Brood embryo's influence. His body essentially treated the egg like it would any other infection, even though it caused him considerable discomfort. At dawn, Logan had returned to his right mind... Bruised, battered and scarred but once more in control of his own body. Unfortunately, he now realized the dire task that lay ahead of him.
"I'll... kill them all. My friends. Then, it'll be the sleazoids' turn."
But more on that in part III of Infectious X-Men: Logan's Choice (nah, he won't run)
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
1982: Infectious X-Men part I: Planting The Seed
By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)
The Brood. If there's one truly terrifying foe Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum added to the X-Men's rogues gallery it's got to be this race of body snatching baddies. In this multipart retrospective, we'll be revisiting the Brood's clashes with Marvel's merry mutants all through the 1980s.
It really speaks to Claremont's strengths as a writer that he was able to sneak what would prove to be so major a villain like the Brood in under the radar. The parasitic alien race made its debut in March 1982's Uncanny X-Men I#155. Initially, they seemed little more than the henchmen of Deathbird, a villain Chris Claremont originally created when he was writing Ms. Marvel in the late 1970s. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's meet the first ever Brood.
.jpg)
So, how did Deathbird and the Brood end up being buddies? Well, the story thusfar: Hoping to wrest control of the Shi'ar empire from her sister Lilandra, the renegade villain Deathbird had allied herself with both the Brood and the ambitious admiral Samédar to depose and kidnap the empress. They brought Lilandra to Earth, keeping her locked away inside a spaceship made to look like a Manhattan skyscraper under construction (stretching the suspension of disbelief pretty thin).
Deathbird made it appear as if the Starjammers, led by Cyclops' father Corsair, were responsible, correctly figuring this would lead the space pirates to return to Earth just as Samédar's battlefleet was en route to the planet. Officially, they were headed there to search for Lilandra, but Samédar had secret orders to destroy the world. Before he arrived though, Corsair made it to Earth, inadvertently bringing along a pack of Sidri bounty hunters who were pursuing him. Storm and Cyclops helped defeat them, but not before they destroyed Professor Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters (thereby continuining the tradition of villains randomly ransacking the place, last observed when Kitty Pryde tore down most of the mansion fighting the N'Garai on Christmas Eve).
Long story short, upon arriving in orbit over Earth, Samédar had professor Xavier and the X-Men teleported on board the flagship, as well as Corsair, Storm and Cyclops. The Shi'ar planned to use Charles Xavier's telepathy and connection to Lilandra to find the empress. When he was unable to pinpoint her exact location, Xavier nevertheless used his authority as the royal consort (Shivarn'n Halanau in proper Shi'ar) to force Samédar to give him and the X-Men 24 hours to locate Lilandra. As a gesture of good faith, Xavier ordered Nightcrawler and Shadowcat to stay in custody on board the ship, which led to truly fun sequences like this.
.jpg)
"In my mind, I saw... horrible...alien... so evil. I sensed such hatred, such insatiable hunger"
The massive creature swallowed up the X-Men and the Starjammers, spawning an air-lock of sorts that would allow the Brood forces easy access. The mutants and their alien allies fought off the Brood, eventually forcing their way inside and near the cell of Xavier and Lilandra, where we got this unforgettable scene. Never in the entire 1980s did Charles Francis Xavier engage any enemy head on in so direct a manner.
But more on that in part II of Infectious X-Men: I Put A Spell On You
The Brood. If there's one truly terrifying foe Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum added to the X-Men's rogues gallery it's got to be this race of body snatching baddies. In this multipart retrospective, we'll be revisiting the Brood's clashes with Marvel's merry mutants all through the 1980s.
It really speaks to Claremont's strengths as a writer that he was able to sneak what would prove to be so major a villain like the Brood in under the radar. The parasitic alien race made its debut in March 1982's Uncanny X-Men I#155. Initially, they seemed little more than the henchmen of Deathbird, a villain Chris Claremont originally created when he was writing Ms. Marvel in the late 1970s. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's meet the first ever Brood.
"They are dangerous Skur'kll..."
Skur'kll? Guess Claremont got his inspiration for his name from a certain other race of alien bad guys. Even while drawing their first appearance, Dave Cockrum has the look of the Brood down and it's horrifying from the get go. The Brood's look is somewhat reminiscent of the alien from the movie Alien, but just how much they had in common with Sigourney Weaver's chest bursting nemesis would become clear a little later on. Still, the way Cockrum portrays Skurk'll handling his weapon is a testament to his creative genius.
So, how did Deathbird and the Brood end up being buddies? Well, the story thusfar: Hoping to wrest control of the Shi'ar empire from her sister Lilandra, the renegade villain Deathbird had allied herself with both the Brood and the ambitious admiral Samédar to depose and kidnap the empress. They brought Lilandra to Earth, keeping her locked away inside a spaceship made to look like a Manhattan skyscraper under construction (stretching the suspension of disbelief pretty thin).
Deathbird made it appear as if the Starjammers, led by Cyclops' father Corsair, were responsible, correctly figuring this would lead the space pirates to return to Earth just as Samédar's battlefleet was en route to the planet. Officially, they were headed there to search for Lilandra, but Samédar had secret orders to destroy the world. Before he arrived though, Corsair made it to Earth, inadvertently bringing along a pack of Sidri bounty hunters who were pursuing him. Storm and Cyclops helped defeat them, but not before they destroyed Professor Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters (thereby continuining the tradition of villains randomly ransacking the place, last observed when Kitty Pryde tore down most of the mansion fighting the N'Garai on Christmas Eve).
Long story short, upon arriving in orbit over Earth, Samédar had professor Xavier and the X-Men teleported on board the flagship, as well as Corsair, Storm and Cyclops. The Shi'ar planned to use Charles Xavier's telepathy and connection to Lilandra to find the empress. When he was unable to pinpoint her exact location, Xavier nevertheless used his authority as the royal consort (Shivarn'n Halanau in proper Shi'ar) to force Samédar to give him and the X-Men 24 hours to locate Lilandra. As a gesture of good faith, Xavier ordered Nightcrawler and Shadowcat to stay in custody on board the ship, which led to truly fun sequences like this.
"From the ridiculous to the sublime!"
Don't worry Kurt, Marvel and the Star Wars franchise are now both owned by Disney so it's not too likely George Lucas will sue over Kitty's final outfit.Getting back to the Brood, though... Corsair, Xavier and the remaining X-Men were returned to Earth where they sought out the help of other New York based superheroes.
With the Fantastic Four away on a mission, they visited Avengers Mansion to find the only available Avenger was Tigra. And, as we covered before, Tigra's early 80s stint with Earth's mightiest wasn't all that noteworthy. Suffering from extreme stagefright, unsure how and if she even fit in, the werewoman quit after only a few issues. But here she is, needling Wolverine anyway, claiming she's anything but scared.
"I don't scare easy!"
Professor Xavier interrupted this particular feud, asking just where Corsair was. As it turns out, he and Storm had gone for a walk to discuss what they'd all been through. And that's where we get back to Deathbird and the Brood warrior Skur'kll who was ready to shoot the two heroes with a mind altering blast from his ray gun.
"The Brood fears nothing!"
And with that, the Brood had warped the minds of Corsair and Storm, making them believe they were actually each other's worst enemies. The two heroes were ready to kill, even as professor Xavier, Tigra and the X-Men arrived on the scene and Deathbird got involved. While Tigra faced Deathbird, Xavier tried to use his telepathy to rid Corsair and Storm of their mind control. His efforts were noticed by Skur'kll who was readying another psi-scream blast for the "crippled mammal" as he refered to Xavier. Luckily, Skur'kll wasn't the only one with sharp senses.
"The name's Wolverine, sucker. You want Charlie, you'll haveta take me first"
No sooner said than done. Wolverine creamed the Brood, or as he called him "one of the ugliest suckers he's ever laid eyes on". However, Skur'kll wasn't alone and other Brood joined in the attack, wounding Colossus, capturing Storm and eventually trying to ward off the team as they made their way into the construction site that wasn't exactly what it appeared to be.
"Who are these scaley horrors?!"
As fate (and story comfort) would have it, Skur'kll's corpse evaporated just as the X-Men joined Corsair in his attempt to enter the Brood's main base. With Colossus left behind to guard Charles , the team was more than a little surprised Deathbird soon showed up with a captured professor X, moments before the hidden spaceship lifted off into, well... space. And yes, all that happened in just one issue!
Uncanny X-Men I#156 continued the story, with the X-Men finding a mortally wounded Colossus outside the wreckage of what everyone thought was a skrycraper under construction. When police gathered to question the team and Tigra, all of a sudden Corsair's crew appeared on the Starjammer and teleported away everyone except the were-cat as they gave chase to the Brood spaceship. That opening was reason enough to include this classic cover.
"Enter the St*rjammers"
It's no secret Dave Cockrum loved to play with the notion of pirates in space, or swashbuckling of any kind come to think of it. Later, he'd launch the Starslammers (no relation) and he'd even author Nightcrawler in a 1984 limited series that portrayed Kurt as a modern day Errol Flyn in a magical realm.
The Starjammers pursued Deathbird, while the ship's medic Sikorski tried to heal the mortally wounded Colossus. On board Deathbird's ship, the recently captured Charles Xavier had an emotional reunion with his ladylove Lilandra. But take a look at what he was dreaming of...
"In my mind, I saw... horrible...alien... so evil. I sensed such hatred, such insatiable hunger"
In retrospect, this is a brilliant bit of foreshadowing when it comes to where the Brood storyline would eventually lead. Charles Xavier "dreams" about the Brood, slowly merging into his lover Lilandra who happens to be at his side. Was it a dream, a way for his subconscious mind to work through what he'd just been through or is there something else going on? For those in the know: both Lilandra and Xavier had already been implanted with Brood eggs, courtesy of the Brood Queen, but to casual readers in the Spring of 1982, this could still be filed under the category of "just a dream" years before the shower scene in Dallas turned that into a much hated trope.
Anyhoo, the Starjammers soon caught up with Deathbird and the Brood in space, but not before they encounered one of the most awe inspiring, yet underappreciated double spreads in early 80s Marvel history.
Just. Look. At. It.
One can't help but admire the creativity that went into the notion of a space whale enslaved by the Brood, with cities built into its living flesh, forced to continue to exist at the leisure of his parasitic masters. Sheer brilliance.
One can't help but admire the creativity that went into the notion of a space whale enslaved by the Brood, with cities built into its living flesh, forced to continue to exist at the leisure of his parasitic masters. Sheer brilliance.
"More aliens, Cyclops, sneaking up behind you!"
Charles Xavier knocked out the Brood, and the mutants managed to return to the Starjammer just as the craft literally rammed free of the space whale. Now free of the Brood, the two teams united to deal with the threat of Sámedar and his promise to destroy Earth.
But more on that in part II of Infectious X-Men: I Put A Spell On You
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