Credits: Written by Howard Mackie, pencils by Ian Churchill and inks by at least three people and edited by Kelly Corvese.
Cast: Age of Apocalypse versions of Weapon-X/Logan, Jean Grey, Erik ‘Magneto’ Lenscherr, Rogue., Remy ‘Gambit’ LeBeau, Ororo ‘Storm’ Munroe, Pietro ‘Quicksilder’ Lenscherr, Piotr ‘Colossus’ Rasputin, Robert ‘Iceman’ Drake, Victor ‘Sabretooth’ Creed, Holocaust and Wolverine.
Plot: Years before the current Age of Apocalypse series, but years after the last issue of X-Men Chronicles we look in on the team as Weapon-X leaves with Jean Grey. Logan hates that he had to rescue Jean from Sinister without the rest of the team, so now feels they don’t have his back, so he walks away. Jean, who feels he needs her goes with him.
Elsewhere Holo.. you know what, I’m just going to call him Lavalamp,because it is less problematic, is planning to strike at Magneto for his crimes against him. He recruits one of Dark Beast’s creation, a large mutant called Wolverine.
Later the X-Men are in Denver, tracking bandits who are preying on humans. The team make short work of them, except when Wolverine sneaks in and uses his (somewhat ill-defined) mutant power to make two of the bandits super-strong bezerkers. The introduction of these wildcards causes Magneto to be stabbed. With the humans safer and most of the bandits dead or routed, Quicksilver orders the team back to base, over Magneto’s objection.
Back at base, Magneto is convinced to rest and Gambit sees this as his opportunity to try and progress his relationship with Rogue. He confides with Iceman over it, Iceman questions whether Rogue knows how he feels about her, laughing when the reply is “she must do.” Elsewhere Rogue counsels Magneto, who is full of doubts after losing two of his team. Throughout this, Wolverine is following the X-Men’s trail home. Rogue speaks to Quicksilver, but before she they can talk about anything other than Rogue taking the 2nd in command job, Gambit arrives to have a heart to heart, offering Rogue a real commitment. She runs off.
Gambit asks Magneto for advice during a training session, bringing up the subject of getting around Rogue’s powers, allowing her to touch and be touched. Magneto tries to get out of the conversation when Rogue arrives. They both walk away for privacy where Magneto shows her that she can touch him, without any adverse consequences. Gambit jumps out at them, feeling betrayed by his girlfriend and his best friend.
Then Wolverine and his people attack, Wolverine follows and injures Magneto whilst the X-Men are distracted. Rogue and Gambit try to hold him off, but it looks bleak. In a split second, Rogue chooses to carry off the injured Magneto, leaving Gambit to face Wolverine alone. Wolverine buries him under a collapsing wall and goes after Rogue and Magneto. Gambit follows them and puts a large rock under the belt of Wolverine, charging it up using his power to unlock potential energy and convert it too kinetic energy.. This kills Wolverine and with the immediate crisis over, a heartbroken Gambit leaves the team. He gets it, but can’t stay there and watch.
Notes: It was a tale that explained why Gambit and Weapon-X were not connected to the X-Men when the Age of Apocalypse was started. Some of this we knew, some of this we could guess and so I’m really wondering what the point of this was? I also am curious why a new Wolverine was needed, with Logan never having taken the name, it could have just been ignored as it doesn’t really match the huge creature here. Wolverine’s are sort of ferret-like things, the short and scrappy Logan fit that name, this huge, bladed creature sort of well doesn’t. He’s a McGuffin, designed to force Rogue to make the choice that she makes and end up with Magneto, but honestly he doesn’t make a positive impression beyond that. It’s kind of the problem with the whole story, it didn’t need telling, or another story did. How did we go from Cape Citadel to Apocalypse’s America in a decade? How did he eventually take over? That’s an unanswered question, not how did Rogue and Magneto hook up. So it’s an unnecessary story. but was it well told?
Verdict: Writing: 3 out of 5 – Didn’t think of this as a Howard Mackie comic, it’s characterisation were a touch above what he normally does and it suited the quieter moments in the story. The action was less interesting, but the focus was where it was supposed to be.
Art: 4 out of 5 – Always been a fan of Ian Churchill, who has a clean style that still adds it’s own spin, preventing a house-style effect. The action is well done, characters look consistent with what everyone else is doing, but still very much Churchill’s way of doing things. For a one off, we got some very nice pencilling, just let down by many hands of inks and still more oversaturated colours.
Overall: 7 out of 10 – Whether this was a story that needed telling or not, it certainly was one that was well told. It closed off this title well, which since it was a 3rd/4th tier ancillary book is more than you can ask for. Glad I included it in the read-through.
Next Time: (Sigh) More Maximum Cloneage
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