Uncanny X-Force #19.1:
What Happened: We are back in the Age of Apocalypse where we find the last pieces of humanity trying desperately to stave off extinction at the hands of the new Apocalypse, in this case, the AOA version of Wolverine. A leading figure of the human resistance is William Stryker, because, much like Wolverine, he is contractually obligated to appear in EVERY SINGLE MARVEL COMIC BOOK EVER!!! Anyway, Sabretooth and Jean Grey return from the 616 Marvel Universe and tell Magneto(who has made an alliance with Stryker and his humans) that they had basically gotten everybody else killed... Nice... Then, to make Mags day even worse, he learns that the humans had been cloning his long dead daughter, the Scarlet Witch, with the hope that Jean could combine her telepathy with Wanda's reality altering powers to shut off the mutant gene in the AOA as the 616 version of Wanda did. Mags freaks out and destroys the laboratory, seeing this as an unacceptable act. Before Mags can destroy the last Wanda clone, the city the X-Men and the humans were hiding out in is attacked by Apoca-Wolvie and his Black Legion. Mags disdainfully gives Jean the order to try to use the last remaining Wanda clone to destroy the X-gene across the planet, before heading out to face down Apoca-Wolvie with his wife Rogue by his side. Apoca-Wolvie easy dispatches and slaughters Rogue, and eventually overcomes and kills Mags as well. While that scene plays out, Jean manages to connect her mind with the mind of the Wanda clone and gets Wanda to utter the three words I hate more than any other in the history of the Marvel Universe, “No more mutants.” However, Wanda's spell only effects the mutants across a few dozen feet, meaning that Jean had basically stripped herself and Sabretooth of their powers, but nobody else... HA!! Serves her right! By this point, Apoca-Wolvie strolls into the lab, ready to kill everybody present. Stryker manages to toss a grenade at Apoca-Wolvie, buying Jean, Sabretooth and the other human freedom fighters a chance to escape the city. Unfortunately, Apoca-Wolvie destroys the entire city, killing all of the humans who had taken refuge there.
The Good: Much to my surprise, I liked this story! I know, I'm as shocked as anybody else! Apoca-Wolvie is an awesome looking character. I especially love that Mega Man-esque style blaster he has in the place of his missing hand. Jean and the human freedom fighters plan, as much as I personally detest the idea, was quite smart.
The Bad: I'm tired of seeing my beloved Age of Apocalypse bastardized... Seriously, as far as I'm concerned, the REAL AOA ended after Magneto killed Apocalypse and the bombs fell. This is simply a different, but similar, dimension than the original, awesome AOA. If I see William Stryker in another comic book... Seriously, I don't know what I'll do, but it won't be pretty! Mags could kill Apocalypse in the original AOA, but couldn't stop Apoca-Wolvie, who's skeleton was laced with METAL! See, that just proves my theory that THIS AOA isn't the original AOA! So now Jean and Sabretooth have no powers? Um, why not just kill them then? What the hell kind of jumping on point for X-Force was THIS?!?
The Verdict: This was an incredible bizarre read for me... If I look at this as a continuation of the AOA story, it leaves me feeling pissed off. However, I instead chose to look at it as a What If? type of story, and as a What If? kind of story, this wasn't that bad. Does it make me want to read the upcoming AOA mini-series? HELL NO, mainly because Stryker is involved. But if he wasn't? Believe it or not, I'd have been willing to give that mini a shot. Before I end this post, I have to ask, what exactly is the purpose of these Point One issues? I was originally under the impression the Point One comics were supposed to be good jumping on points for a series. If so, this was a HORRIBLE jumping on point for X-Force, mainly because not a SINGLE member of X-Force showed up! Seriously, shouldn't this have been the first issue of the AOA mini-series, or better yet, an AOA one-shot? THIS story in THIS series just made absolutely zero sense.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Does anybody else hear the Mega Man music when they see Apoca-Wolvie? No? I guess it's just me then...
I think this .1 is suppose to be the bridge between Uncanny X-Force and the new series. Why this has to be a .1, I don't know.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Why is THIS story here? What does it have to do with Uncanny X-Force? Why isn't it in an AOA one-shot prior to the mini-series? I always thought the point ones were supposed to be jumping on points. I guess I was gravely mistaken.
ReplyDeleteAgree, it was a really odd .1 issue
ReplyDeleteSure it is cath UCF readers into the new series.
Why in hell Magneto couldn't stop Weopon-X? He has a Skeleton made of metal.
So for me there is nothing to read the new series killed all the interesting characters, and the entire humanity, the only thing that left to fight is just plain vengeance.
And it would be the only X-team, without a mutant, odd.
"Why in hell Magneto couldn't stop Weopon-X? He has a Skeleton made of metal." Thank you, Alien! Exactly! HE managed to kill the original Apocalypse in the AOA, but he couldn't kill the version that he nearly killed in the regular 616 Marvel U... Weird.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this yet (just finished UXF 18!) but yeah, I don't envy the creative team on the new AOA comic, what with all the cool characters dead or depowered. You getting it X (I hope!)?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, TRobb? I'm undecided right now... I really hate the idea of reading something else with Stryker in it(and the protagonist no less!!), but I am mildly curious to see where they go with this story. It'll probably be a "day of" purchase. If I'm not picking up like 20 books the week this drops, I may give the first issue a shot. But we all know how unlikely THAT is! :D
ReplyDeleteI just read this and wow. A 7.5 is very generous. This issue is up there with that Avengers issue as being the worst issue I've paid money for since I returned to comics. I did not think Remender was capable of putting out something so bad. Jean, Rogue, and Magneto were all terribly written, and the amount of unnecessary deaths harkened back to Ultimatum. At least Marvel had the decency to charge only $2.99 for this lousy issue. Remender, I give you a mullingan for this - lets hope editorial mandate was responsible.
ReplyDeleteThing is, what is left in this AOA to fight for? The last human city - annihilated. There are no mutants left in the resistance. The team that's left has no access to resources, while Weapon X has most of his dark legion, an army of sentinels, and the power of the celestials at his disposal. There is no plausible explanation for the rebels to triumph over weapon X, so why should I read any attempts?
Trrob I would add. if they win? What the hell do the win? there is nothing left to fight
ReplyDeleteExactly! It just annoys me because there were seeds for an interesting AOA book here. A book with Phoenix-powered, badass AOA Jean and others vs Weapon X would've been worth reading. And of course there was one of my dream scenarios - Apoco-Warren getting trapped in the AOA dimension, and having a war of succession vs Weapon X! There are a lot of also possibilities that could've played out if other 616 characters got stuck in the AOA dimension for a bit to fight it out - kind of a foreign exchange for aoa nightcrawler if you will. What could've been...
ReplyDeleteI still stand by my original thought that the AOA should have ended back in the 90's, period, the end. The scene with the bombs dropping and Mags standing with his family to bravely face the end was just 100% perfect. That abomination of a mini-seires from the mid 2000's just spit on the AOA I remembered and loved, and I don't see this upcoming mini-seires doing much better. As pointed out, even if the "heroes"(and I use that term loosely) win, so what? Their world is a wreck and most of the best characters are gone...
ReplyDelete