1992 - Anatomy of a Cover - Wolverine #53 by Marc Silvestri and Dan Green

1987-1989: Shifting Storms part IV: The Tempestuous Turn Around

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

When we last left Storm, she had reached a very important decision that would bring her full circle. Even though she was able to lead the X-Men without her mutant powers, recent events like the Morlock Massacre convinced her she had to get them back from Forge.

"Forge, you coward! Show your face! I want my powers back... NOW!"

Actually, that's not exactly how it went back in 1988's Uncanny X-Men I#220, though the Marc Silvestri pencilled cover is memorable nonetheless.

Swallowing her pride, Ororo returned to the Dallas home of mutant inventor Forge. He had come up with the neutralizer that took her weather powers and she was sure he could help her get them back. The fact they'd had a passionate fling before she learned he'd been responsible for losing her abilities complicated matters even further. But a broken heart would be the least of her concerns as she entered Forge's skyscraper home called Eagle Plaza.

"I must prepare her the most fitting of welcomes."

Meet Nazé... or rather, meet the form of Forge's old Cheyenne mentor Nazé who's now been demonically possessed by the very evil we'll be facing a few issues down the road. Yes, in an anything but subtle attempt at foreshadowing, Claremont and Silvestri set up Nazé as the avatar of the big bad.

Nazé, before he was taken over by the Adversary, had been living inside Forge's Aerie home for months while Forge himself went out to deal with, well, the Adversary. Nazé had stuck around because he expected Storm to return but when she did, the evil force inside him took over full time. It first used the Aerie's holographic systems to show Storm all that she'd lost without her powers.

"No more the goddess, he told me"

Already unnerved, this brutal confrontation caught Storm totally off guard. As a result, she didn't notice how deceitful "Nazé" was acting once he showed himself and sold her a pack of lies. Yet, despite his evil intentions, he told her the plain and simple truth like most devils tend to do... And she was so angry, she didn't even notice that either.

"The devil take you, old man"
(...)
"Can't take... what's already owned."

Storm bought into Nazé's lies, that losing her caused Forge to unravel eventually leading him to go and actively try and unleash the evil of the Adversary on the world. Y'see, Forge isn't merely a mutant inventive genius, he's also the conveniently named "Maker" thanks to his Cheyenne heritage. As his people's reluctant shaman, he wields considerable magic powers. Storm eventually agreed to accompany Nazé on a quest to find and stop Forge.

"Nazé, if you know where Forge is, why not simply go to him?"

A fair question, but the answer's a tad more complicated than that. By the mid- to late 80s Chris Claremont was becoming ever more euphemistic in his writing. He started to use dreams as other forms of reality able to impact the "real" world, as well as visions and vision quests that served the same purpose. 

Nazé was well aware where Forge was "hiding" but he needed time and rituals to prepare Storm so she would act as his willing, unwavering agent. That's why he took Ororo to Forge via the scenic route, which led to them fighting menaces like the Eye Killers, mystical bears and snakes and even the elements themselves.

"I love Forge, Nazé... But because of what he is doing...
What he has become... I must... I shall... destroy him."

Twisting Storm's love and affection for Forge, "Nazé" finally got what he wanted: a pawn to use against Forge who was as driven and relentless as you could possibly want. Having bonded with Nazé during their ordeals, Storm had grown fond of the old man who eventually led her to the mountain Forge was allegedly using as his base. Feigning injuries, Nazé forced Storm to go forth and face Forge alone, but before doing so he passionately kissed Ororo.

She returned this intimate gesture, later realizing she even liked it, which further cemented "Nazé's" control over her. So, properly mind controlled and after having fought a slew of demons reaching him, Ororo wasted no time stabbing her old lover through the chest...

Only to learn how wrong she'd been.

"You're wrong. I was trying to close the gate. 

Not destroy the world, Storm... But save it!"

Instinctively sensing the truth in his words, Storm knew she'd been tricked. Forge forgave her instantly and together they escaped the Adversary's hordes by entering the very portal Forge had been trying to close.

"I was wrong. You were tricked. Forgive me. Always."

Instead of dying or getting stuck on a demonic plane, Storm and Forge find themselves on a pristine alternate, outerdimensional copy of Earth where they were the only two people around. Concluding this was a world without soul, they briefly discussed staying and giving this newly created realm the life it deserved. And Forge's dialogue in the final panel really doesn't put all the comparisons to Queen singer Freddie Mercury to bed...

"Our Adversary may well discover that his precious pawns 

have transformed themselves into queens!"

Be that as it may, Storm wasn't convinced by Forge's arguments. She felt he used most of the same words Nazé had to trick her. That's why she went on a year long quest to find herself on this infant Earth. Yes, an entire year...Starting from someplace in that world's equivalent of the Rocky Mountains until she finally reached the East African plains she'd spent most of her youth. Just how she crossed the ocean without her powers or a boat was something Claremont conveniently left unexplained. Let's just say it's a kind of magic...

"Nothing! This world has no soul...
Is that the reason there is no bright lady to hear my prayers... am I meant to be she?"

The Adversary works through manipulation and temptation, often tricking his victims into giving into their hearts' desire. Being an earth mother goddess was something Ororo dreamt of on our own Earth, but she knew she was merely a young mutant weather manipulator who was falsely worshipped because of her powers. Now, the Adversary offered her the chance to become the Gaea of this new paradise and live out her dreams. 

But Storm resisted.

Journeying back to Forge, she found he had taken use of the year apart to devise a way home. He even created a device that could restore Ororo's powers by cannibalizing his own cybernetic leg for parts. But he needed Storm to make it all work, or in his own words...

"By ourselves, we're crippled. Together... the possibilities are infinite"

It's not too far fetched to see Claremont alluding to Storm and Forge as the Adam and Eve of this alternate paradise. Especially when you consider that Adam gave up part(s) of himself to make sure Eve could be fully alive.

"Bright, blessed goddess.... I can once more fly!"

Thanks to Storm's powers, the duo returns in time to Earth to help the X-Men and Roma fight off the Adversary. It's a fascinating story, all told in Uncanny X-Men I#223 through #226, culminating in the Fall of the Mutants crossover that saw the X-Men sacrifice themselves on live tv. 

"Once more, farewell. Until we meet again."

In order to stop the Adversary, Forge had to close the portal to the demon's realm and he required nine souls to do so. Storm, the X-Men and their ally Madelyne Pryor volunteered and seemingly perished, thereby indirectly carrying out Storm's plan to fake the X-Men's deaths following the Morlock massacre.

While the whole world believed the X-Men had died, they were instead resurrected by Roma, who was grateful for their assistance. The Omniversal Guardian gave them a new lease on life and indirectly helped set up the team's new status quo: operating out of the Reavers' old base in the Australian outback as living ghosts.

"We have endured so much these past months, X-Men. If we have learned nothing from our experiences, we do not deserve the second chance we now possess."

And that, in essence and a sentence, is Storm's character arc throughout the 80s. 

She started the decade as someone who was defined by her powers. She literally denied herself to experience even the most basic of emotions because it might affect her control over the weather. Over time, and because of traumatic experiences in outerspace, she adopted a more rebellious nature while she tried to discover who she really is. 

That journey became even more personal when she lost her powers. Now as much herself as she ever would be, Ororo was put through the wringer only to come out stronger and more herself in the end. Regaining her powers was little more than icing on the proverbial cake. It was wonderful to have them back, but she'd proven that she didn't need them to be all she could be... That knowledge guaranteed she would never be ruled by them again. Instead, she fully reveled in the joy of being able to fly once more, as seen in the opening page of Uncanny X-Men I#230. 

"Bright blessed Goddess... I can once more fly!"

And she's never stopped soaring since. 

... Of course, a few issues down the line she was kidnapped and seemingly killed by Nanny. That villain actually turned her into a preteen girl who was hounded by the Shadow King until she met Gambit and, well... Needless to say those weren't her proudest moments. So let's remember the good times :-)

Doctor Doom by Marc Silvestri

1988 - Anatomy of a cover - Uncanny X-Men #225

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1048512&GSub=148409

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1987 - Anatomy of a Cover - Uncanny X-Men #221

1988: Infectious X-Men Part VIII: The Power Of Chris(t) Compels You!

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

In the eighth part of Infectious X-Men, the Brood's second confrontation with Marvel's merry mutants reaches the finale we all knew it would. But not before we head to Denver for an omelette and some of that ol' time religion. Pass the ammo, praise the lord...The Brood's come home to roost!

When we last left the X-Men... they'd just discovered their old enemy the Brood had come back to Earth. After infecting one Harry Palmer, he served as recruiter for the alien body snatchers by infection a considerable number of mutants with Brood embryos. Well aware of the danger, the X-Men were determined to wipe them all out before they could become a global threat.

Unfortunately, as soon as they confronted Harry Palmer he called in his, well, brood. They gave the team a rough time. Storm was forced to flee, albeit pursued by the Brood Dive-Bomber, while Wolverine, Psylocke and Rogue were inadvertently turned to the Brood's side. Heck, Wolverine even got implanted with yet another Brood embryo.

Storm was able to defeat Dive-Bomber thanks to a timely assist from Havok (who killed the kamikaze creature with his plasma beam), while Colossus took on the Brood's powerhouse Brickbat...and won. Even though they still had strength in numbers, the brooding Harry Palmer ordered his forces to retreat.

"Those heroes want blood... We'll give them their own!"

And while the Brood beat a hasty retreat, the handful of remaining X-Men took a moment to aid Havok in dealing with the fact he just killed a living, breathing creature. The fact that the grotesque looking Dive-Bomber reverted to his human form after death didn't help matters any. Storm nevertheless pressed on...

"This man deserves to be mourned, Alex...
But it was Harry Palmer who killed him, not you."

No matter the question if she's right or wrong, this stance is a far cry from the way Storm viewed the Brood during her first encounter with the alien race. Once fiercely, even impractically, opposed against killing even a single lifeform, here we have Ororo Munroe extolling the necessary virtues of killing all the Brood in sight "lest Earth is doomed". It really shows the stakes involved and makes you drop on your knees and pray to God.

Speaking of the almighty, Uncanny X-Men I#234 opens at a national prayer meeting to be hosted in Denver, Colorado by the popular (television) minister William Conover. His presence had been subtly teased for at least two issues, with the X-Men and their foes encountering (or crashing in to) signs that tell of his presence.

"That Brood flyer... Divebomber... He's got the drop on her."

In the early set up of Uncanny X-Men I#234, we finally get to meet reverend William. Turns out, he's suffering from a slight crisis of faith because his beloved wife Hannah is suffering from cripping arthritis that seemingly no amount of prayer to the man upstairs is able to cure. 

"Why can't the Lord grant that smell mercy... is it so much to ask?"

The fact his wife is so ill in spite of all his selflessness  so desperate moments before going on stage to preach before a massive crowd at Red Rocks, he even openly questions his faith. This poignant point is cut short when they learn about a "big time mutie fight in town".  Still, the reverend presses on and goes out on stage to spread the good word. As he does, Harry Palmer's co-ambulance worker Josie approaches the poor, pained woman with a proposition...

"If you'll let me, I've something that can fix that."

But that's enough of that old-time religion for now. Let's check back on the X-Men who had been busy chasing the Brood. One of their confrontations led them to a local diner where Colossus, Dazzler, Longshot and the others faced the sleazoids and sparks really flew.

"This is Colossus".

In the end, the team was able to kill Tension, Blindside and several other Brood soldiers. This forced Harry Palmer to take Wolverine, Psylocke and Rogue some place else where he could either implant them with embryos or wait for the others to hatch. However, despite Temptress' best efforts, Logan wasn't having any of it, least of all that young queen growing inside him.

"Appearances, girl... can be... deceivin'!"

Wolverine, despite the fact he's in mid transformation, still managed to kill Temptress. So shocked by losing her master, the mind controlled Rogue does the only thing she can do...

"TEMPTRESS!?! You killed her!"

Incensed and out of her mind, Rogue tossed the rapidly changing Wolverine to the ground. He landed hard, stretching his already taxed healing factor to the absolute limit. However, he still got up and staggered down the mountain, right into reverend Conover's prayer meeting. When his dishevelled, slightly smoking form caused unrest among the flock, the pious Conover called Wolverine to him. The reverend figured the poor, oddly dressed man was merely going through withdrawl and was in need of an uplifting spiritual.

Guess how that almost turned out.

 "Hurl this creature... back to the satanic abyss from when it came!"

As gifted an orator the reverend might be, what finally did the trick was Wolverine's healing factor that saved him at the last possible instant by treating the Brood embryo as it would any other "ordinary" infection. 

However, Wolverine's presence had led both the X-Men and the Brood to the Denver prayer meeting and the reverend even found himself under attack from the coils-for-arms Brood Tension before Havok killed him without so much as a second thught. The two bands of villains seemed almost evenly matched until Harry showed up with the proverbial ace in the hole...

"You called us demons, rev..."

Palmer managed to hold the X-Men off for a while, even taking the time to preach the gospel of the coming new world order until Wolverine showed up to do this.

"YANK!"

I always felt there was something inherently funny about the way Marc Silvestri set this scene. What happened next was no laughing matter, though.

"You don't understand, bub. Harry Palmer died a long time ago."

With a well placed *snikt*, Wolverine once again established his reputation as the killer on the team and seemingly ended the threat of the Brood. Given the aliens' established healing powers, one pop of the claws probably wouldn't be enough. But let's not get too gruesome and focus on the aftermath. 

Hannah Conover had some exciting news to share with her husband.

"...Hands... Your hands!?! They can move again. Are they healed?!"

Oy, what a miracle! God is indeed good. Or, wait a minute... Didn't Harry Palmer's partner offer to "help" poor ol' Hannah out?

"For that future to turn out for the best!"

Oh boy, if that nurse's smug, ominious glare doesn't spell "to be continued", I dunno what does. And, sure enough, years later this storyline was picked up on by John Ostrander when he wrote the 1996 mini-series X-Men/Brood: Day Of Wrath. In it, Hannah is revealed to be a Brood Queen, albeit a remarkably reasonable one.  

But that's all she wrote when it comes to the X-Men and the Brood in the 1980s. In the next and final part, we'll analyze the repercussions of the mutants' run ins with the sleazoids, as well as some glaring continuity errors in part IX of Infectious X-Men: Post Mortem Mayhem. 

1988: Infectious X-Men part VII: Normals Need Not Apply

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

In the seventh part of Infectious X-Men, Chris Claremont has the Brood prove the old horror movie adage "sometimes they do come back" still holds true. It's been five years since we last saw a Sleazoid, but now the alien body snatchers are back... And they have a plan.

"The Brood is back" 

"IS" back? I always figured the Brood (by the very nature of their name) warranted a plural. But who am I to argue with creatures with giant teeth this size of Godzilla... But that's neither here nor there, let's rejoice that after five long years of absence (and one tiny lil' 1986 movie called Aliens), Chris Claremont was letting the body snatching baddies out to play again. Though, in all fairness to Claremont, he'd been planning their comeback for well over a year. Back in June 1987's Uncanny X-Men I#218 we got this seemingly unrelated scene.

"Lorna, look out!"

Thanks to their mutant powers, Havok and Polaris survived this particular accident and the other driver seemed alright as well. A full thirteen months later in Uncanny X-Men I#232, we find out why the maniac behind the wheel of that VW van was so upset. 

And he wasn't anywhere near 'alright'...

"Is this paradise, cruisers, or what?"

Camping with cruisers, eh? That sounds like the sort of fun weekend you'd need some antibiotics for on Monday. If only because you're about to be eaten by a space shark. Yes, this particular outing was interrupted by one of the Brood's living vessels crashing near the campsite. Unable to keep well enough alone, the cruisers went to check out the site.

"Wow oh wow. Oh WOW!"

Harry Palmer, the blonde one in the back rushing in with a med kit, wants his friends to keep their distance until they can confirm it is indeed safe.

Big mistake.

"I can't walk!"

Ah yeah... the Brood are back on Earth. Marc Silvestri's take on them is even more monstrous and horrific than either Paul Smith or Dave Cockrum's versions. Harry Palmer, in a near mindess panic, drove off in his Volkswagen and almost ran Havok and Polaris off the road. However, as Uncanny X-Men I#232 showed his state of anxiety didn't last too long...

"That was then. This is now."

Harry Palmer has resumed his job as a paramedic, along with his partner Josie. It seems like business as usual for ol' Harry, but when he's called in to help a lawyer who had a heart attack and suddenly started breathing fire, he shows his true colors.

"I don't want to die"

Yup, Harry did not escape the Brood... Somehow, he was infected with a royal egg and is now implanting others. Saving lives by implanting an alien embryo that supercharges a person's natural healing factor? Wonder if that's covered by Obamacare. All attempts at topical nonsensical humor aside, Palmer has been secretly recruiting. However, when he came home after a busy day of emergencies and umplanting, he found some unexpected guests waiting for him.

"Shto?!"

Somehow the X-Men learned of the Brood's arrival on Earth and tracked Palmer to his appartment. At first he seemed totally oblivious and innocent, until he suddenly charged Colossus and effortlessly threw him at Psylocke who only survived the collision thanks to her new body armor. The X-Men briefly confront Palmer who eventually managed to evade them and disappeared into the night.

"Either we stop it now... or our world is doomed"

Of the current X-Men line up, only Colossus, Storm and Wolverine had any experience with the Brood and knew the true extent of the danger they faced. Psylocke's telepathic powers didn't pick up anything weird about Harry, so the team had to rely on Wolverine's senses. Again, it's not been revealed how the X-Men discovered their old enemies were back... A bit of an oversight on Claremont's part, though structuring the story this way adds a layer of suspense. 

Still, it could have been easily explained with a few lines of dialogue... During those days, the team operated out of the Reavers' old base in the Australian outback. The place came equipped with an advanced computer system that monitored television broadcasts from around the world. It stands to reason discovering the charred remains of a giant shark in the mountains would have made headlines. Recognizing the creature as a Brood vessel, the X-men would surely have gone down to New Mexico to check it out.

Getting back to Palmer, still scared out of his wits he decided to get away from his assailants by bus. It seemed like he was still very much unaware he was possessed. 

"Safe... but for how long?"

Good question, Harry... cos, to paraphrase Alanis Morissette, the stranger on the bus trying to make her way home sure ain't God. Rogue had somehow managed to get on the (conveniently empty) bus before Palmer even came up with the idea. Maybe the nebulously defined "seventh sense" she absorbed after taking over Ms. Marvel's powers clued her into it. But those predictive abilities didn't tell her she was no match for Palmer who was ready to do some serious impromptu implanting...

"This is a moment long overdue, little X-Girl"

Not to go all Freudian on you, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar after all, but there's something inherently sexual about Harry's Brood stinger about to stab and implant Rogue. It's a little surprising that the Comics Code Authority did not view this as particularly suggestive. It also wouldn't be the last time Claremont wrote a situation in which Rogue was overpowered and about to be jabbed with an enemy's transformative poker. Case in point: Uncanny X-Men Annual 2000.

"It's more interested in transforming Rogue into a Prime."

At the last moment, Wolverine intervened, saved Rogue and engaged Palmer in a struggle that caused the bus to crash. Escaping the fiery wreck, Palmer found himself backed into an alley with the X-Men closing in on him. However, before the mutants can deal with Harry, the police arrive on the scene. Wolverine immediately attacks them, sensing they're Brood. And, as the team finds out when Harry finally shows his true colors...

They're not alone. 

"We're all of us Brood here. And soon, old enemies, very soon... 

YOU will be too!"

And with that, Uncanny X-Men I#232 ended... Quite the cliffhanger, much like a beat from an actual horror movie. Luckily for the fans at the time, they didn't have to wait a whole month to see what happened. Uncanny X-Men I#233 kicked of a bi-weekly Summer schedule for the book Marvel initiated at the time and things were really heating up when the first Brood to attack turned out to be the fire breathing lawyer Harry Palmer had "saved' the other day. Which led to this obvious revelation... 

"They're mutants, just like you!"

In a move that mirrored the original Brood saga, the aliens only wanted hosts with superhuman powers their progeny would inherit. That meant Palmer had been rather selective when it came to the people he picked to be pricked. The X-Men found themselves under attack from a group of well trained, supremely powerful Brood/mutant hybrids who were tough as nails and were also more than a little at home when it came to Chris Claremont's favorite pet peeve: mind control.

"Breathe deep, Storm... flood your system with my pheromones..."

Storm managed to escape Temptress, thanks to Rogue tackling the mind witch. Unfortunately, that was just the start of the X-Men's problems...

"Can't help myself, ah'm absorbin' Temptress's power... an' psyche"

On a sidenote: I'm from a rural part of Holland and have been known to speak in somewhat of a dialect... But I've never "thought" the way I sounded. Still, Rogue took over Temptress's powers and in turn was controlled by the Brood mind mucker as well, who immediately used her pheromones on Psylocke and managed to lure her to the Brood's side as well. While the two female X-Men took on Wolverine, it turned out the newly free Storm wasn't in the clear yet either.

"Holy cow... wings!?!"

Meet the Brood Divebomber... apparently a mutant who can fly. Now, I don't want to armchair quarterback Harry Palmer's recruits for the Brood's vanguard on Earth... But if you're selecting mutants as hosts for aliens that has wings to begin with... You might want to pick someone with a more unique power.

Also, first hand experience with them or not, Havok shouldn't have been thát surprised a Brood grew wings. But, while Havok was contemplating using his immensly powerful plasma beams to stop Divebomber, Wolverine was busy fighting off his mind controlled teammates.

Well, he tried...

"And you know, X-Man... What happens next."

Let's end on that truly creepy panel. When next we meet, the Brood's adventure on Earth concludes with a little religion in part VIII of Infectious X-Men: The Power Of Chris(t) Compels You!