Punch Up: “To Me My ❌-Men”

Chapter Forty-Seven

1986

September, 1986, Uncanny X-Men Annual Vol 1 No. 10 by A. Adams, Wiacek, Austin, P. Scotese, Orzechowski, Crespi, Claremont + Louise + November, 1986, Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 No. 214 by Windsor-Smith, Wiacek, Glynis, Orzechowski, Claremont + Nocenti + December, 1986, Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 No. 215 by A. Davis, Green, Glynis, Orzechowski, Parker, Claremont + Nocenti

Mixtape Tracks: Body Talk by Ratt; In the Air by Fishbone; Alone Again Or by The Damned;

Chapter 47 of “to me my ❌-Men,”where Spiral folds time in such a way to get me twisted in nots, while all we wish for and at times we get a grounded story that picks up the pieces we were left after a massacre. This is what you get, when you make Psylocke, Longshot and Ali official. A Kitty who can’t be unphased, a Logan who lost trust of his senses, and an Ororo who is being hunted by Murder Grandpas.

Previously, on “to me my ❌-Men,” What began as a holiday horror story about Kitty Pryde, has expanded into a romance comic, that seems to at every turn there is mystery, manipulation, psycho drama, mysticism, philosophy, and super science present as shadows influencing the conditions and contexts of relationships for an ensemble cast of characters, who’s commonality is centered on “the struggle,” as they form family, which collaborates like gangs. Within it the struggle is a spectrum of sexuality that runs as a current underneath and visibly on the page, nudging awake awareness of the complexity our world exists in. There diversity and inclusion lets in human trafficking, abuse, and death in. The vibe and aesthetic have been grounded in a punk depth and depictions of our reality, but reflective of mid century naïveté and humor, the overwhelming future of pop culture capitalism, and metal, both flamboyant and hardening, that strengthens resolve and indifference in hope, required to survive the forth coming apocalypse. Making for an environment that struggles as it erodes innocences, through a fantasy world grounded in representational and prophetic reality. We have come out from the other side of a Mutant Massacre. And we are now forming our ❌-Men. The one I claim as mine is here. Now is how I begin. At the half.

The cover notes:

"INTRODUCING: the NEWEST ❌-MAN--LONGSHOT!"

This Art Adams cover is a mess. LA hairband meets the 90’s pop to be sure. Ororo’s young 70’s hawk nearly saves it. I think I love Sunspot’s pink mask. And I appreciate the breaking the forth wall ripping through the cover, by The Mutants. I also support this version of Sam’s costume, and the angle it takes here.

My copy is trimmed to close at the top…I think.

PERFORMANCE

Danger Room, observation booth included in view, fastball special Piotr on Logan, Maggie playing at arch, Kurt contained, Ororo nearly, Kitty (seems solid…hmmm) and Rogue floating…so the gang has options. We are home.

Maggie outwits and performs them. Best action is one of those in panel multi figure in sequential action of Ororo (in a ghost like form, to showcase the action that was), only to seem to be failing to traverse these metallic cylinders Maggie controls. Next best is him ripping up the floor, countering Rogue and Piotr’s super strength brut force.

“Unsatisfactory” indeed.

The interest lyes in the observation deck, where Betsy mans the controls, Doug sulks, and Berto…is being Berto. Privileged angst.

Update: Kitty is “not even 15.”*

Berto is still annoyed that The Mutants aren’t ❌-Men. Doug is over Berto…I think.

Betsy is the newest and getting insight into her privileged status…something she seems to always have…in all contexts. But still finds “the struggle.”

*1980-1983, Kitty aged from 13 to 14. In 1984, she turned 15. And remains so through April, of 1985 when she has reached the age of 16. However, in May, the next month, she is back to 15. Now in September of 1986, she has deaged to 14. AND perhaps what has been happing to here is systemic?

Perhaps the one responsible is watching her right now. For we see on the page a view of the ❌-Men, including Kitty, from the vantage point of the control room, through the eyes of Betsy…we know this, because we are seeing their session play out on Mojo’s monitor in the Mojoverse. He and an audience of spineless ones are in stadium amphitheater surrounding a cylinder screen. Behind him stands Spiral and Major Domo. A scene, seemingly, ripped by Art Adams from the pages of his and Ann Nocenti’s (our editor here)’s Longshot.

Mojo is in his full on the Donald sales hype performance…so thrilled with the results…and the audiences fever…

Spiral: “No accounting for taste.”

I really connect with her character…like all the time.

Major Domo: “Actually, DARLING (@ Mojo…shipping that), revenues to date on this latest production…are only just beginning to balance the cost of the WILDWAYS debacle.”

Mojo: “Where is your sense of aesthetic hunger, wonder—”

Oh dear..I am now agreeing with Mojo.

Mojo: “—GLORY?!”

Nevermind.

Mojo: “Have you no SOUL budgeteer?!!”

COMME CI, COMME ÇA

Spiral: “He’s what YOU made him, Screwloose…as are we all.”

Mojo: “Of course! Of course!!”

And then he calls himself an “ARTISTE”

And the endless debate of the dance between commerce and creativity continues.

When the idea of bringing the ❌-Men to the Mojoverse for a live show…to “brilliant” …so goes caution to the wind.

t e k

with the press of a button…

A bulbish blast of light and Kirby dots emerge in the Danger Room above the ❌-Men…as Logan’s claws extend more than ever, Piotr goes from metal to human, the control panel turns into sparklers attacking Doug and Berto, when:

ZSPOOF!

…the ball of light explodes out with a substance the is cum like…or perhaps fire extinguisher like, coating the room, having delivered us LONGSHOT.

p o i t

WHUMMF!

Page 6, panel four has my era’s POV & ethnic/age group representative (Kitty), my fave character from my fave series (Ororo), and now my avatar (Longshot), dropping in. This gets jumbled for decades, especially after The Jen (She-Hulk) muscles her way to the top; BUT I think Longshot is THE ONE, for me. This perhaps icky panel, is the moment, these three meet. And Longshot’s contentedly smashing his head, work for me, as a cartoonist and fanboy.

Kitty: “STORM, IT’S A GUY!”

Next panel, someone up on that list at the time, Rogue, looking right for the moment: “What a MESS!”

Betsy (also on the list at the time; not near the top mind you): “I have the medical kit!…his thoughts—utter chaos!”

See…AVATAR.

I barely notice the four other dudes in the room.

“…suffering from severe psychic shock. No coherent sense of self. In fact, none of the images I’m receiving make the slightest sense.”

Her mind is focused on his beautiful face.

Kurt: “He has three fingers.”

Ororo: “Big deal. You got two.”

Doug: “Storm, can I have a sample of the goop, please?”

…”I’ll have to analyze it by hand.”

The “goop” vanishes into sparks, like Longshot’s eye lighting up. It’s all gone. Now it has been in contact with, Longshot, Kitty, Ororo, Logan, Piotr, Maggie, Kurt, Rogue, and Betsy…who rushed into the room, before it vanished.

Ororo notes in her mind how lite Longshot is, as she caries him towards the infirmary. His bones, if you forgot or did not know, are hollow, like a bird. Part of his agility power set.

Logan who is properly short in comparison to Betsy: “Something’ botherin’ you, Betts?

Betsy a full head taller…and then there is her hair: “It may be nothing, Wolverine—but I feel as though…the devil is dancing on my grave.”

“A new day dawns.”

Ororo awakes, naked, amongst her plants…take a drink.

Her robe is to big, thinks someone played a joke on her. She is younger…like a teenager. This is definitely an extra icky issue, but the page is executed well. Aesthetics and strategics.

Illyana is calling everyone to come see…Kitty is much younger, crying, frightened, solid. A crowed, all older, appearing…than her…her only security…a grrrrrarrrr Lockheed dragon.

Illyana: “…only don’t get too close. Lockheed’s a little tense.”

Kitty: “Stop staring! Nothing’s WRONG! LEAVE ME ALONE!!”

Well forone…you seem unphased…

All The Mutants are observing the ❌-Men…who are the ❌-Babies now!!?

❌-teens, thank you very much.

Doug does a computer aded assessment, and the ❌-Men…er…teens…and kids…who don’t seem to see the issue. When Betsy pops in…Longshot is awake. So now we have Rogue and Kitty obsessively in love with him. Greeeaattt…hah.

Ororo: “Have you a name?

Longshot: “What’s a name?”

Oh no…not again….YESSSSS!

Doug and Warlock head to the Danger Room to do some assessment. Warlock is worried if they keep the act up, Doug will become infected with a transmode virus and sees to be human…but Doug feels their merged abilities are to important in assessing this moment.

Doug loves this view of the world, furthering concerns. It is not Magus…it is unclear, but a colloquial reference hidden in the information they are finding within the energy matrices…transformation youthful humans…and specifically “Bratpack.”

Douglock: “Of course—how could I have been so dense?!…"

The ❌-teens are set to go get the bad guys…and calling The Mutants names…Dani is not standing for it…when Doug and Warlock come running…yelling…about how this has happened before to The Mutants…and now it is happening to the ❌-Men…and it is Spiral and Mojo….Maggie cares not…and knocks The Mutants out for being dumb enough to turn their back on him. The ❌-teens take off in a car…fighting the entire way to…

“Are we there yet?”

…the gated entrance to the School.

“And, after a drive as memorable as it is harrowing…”

Kid level bickering…for a lark…

Maggie: “I think I’ll kill you all. The world will thank me for it.”

Full on ❌-Babies hop out of the rolls. They have returned to Central Park…and the Central Park Rangers…the ones on the naughty list:

“Ahem!”

So our narrative paradox is at play here. Kitty has not been in her ghost form…at all. She should be phased completely…but I think they hoped we didn’t notice…read one readers guide that has this placed right after New Mutants Annual No. 2…which they placed right after they return from SF and so before the events in the park, a full five months before this issue is released…and maybe the leads into what is happening here….perhaps I have made an error…which places this before before …now we are maybe back before the Mutant Massacre…so you would be reasonable in saying…I messed this up, by trusting release dates…and not looking ahead…or remembering this…as I have had this issue since 1986. But then again where was Longshot during the Mutant Massacre. I suppose we will find out. What we do know is…the spot that Logan and Ororo tract Rachel to is right here…aglow…the amphitheater in Central Park, DeLaCourte, has another ball over it…and the moments before the narration went into the Morlock Tunnels, was centering on this spot. So I am thinking the Kitty part is an error…or a wish…because the rest leads us here…as a moment after the Mutant Massacre.

Longshot: “There’s our destination. The magic place I came from.”

Ororo is young, but still in charge and has a plan…has the ability to think things through. Even accounting for the changes in their abilities…or for some…the lack of change.

Except one part…and this is one of the creative teams best panels (one that is mirrored in the issue as these longshots center Ororo, and then a Logan ripping his pumpkin/basketball mask off as spoiler: as he is an adult again soon enough…and Spiral dancing)…Ororo, here, forgot they are kids who will complain about how unfair this is. It’s really fun…this issue is working…as fun.

Ororo abandons them and they start to cry about it.

Longshot: “Uh…can’t we just follow her?

At the DeLaCorte they are locked out…and Maggie no longer has his powers by the time they walk there. Logan has his claws…but Ororo was a thief as a kid…so she is already in and opening the door for them.

Inside they gleefully head into the light…and that means into Mojo’s hands.

“The crack of dawn.”

Some refreshing sfx panels lead us into Dani being awoken by a little dragon. The Mutants were out the entire time in the hallway, and Lockheed has finally gotten one of them up. Cops are at the door about the found Rolls-Royce in Central Park, driven by a bunch of lil’ kids.

They want Chuck to call them. Oy.

Dani jumps on Cerebro, but no luck. Doug backs up my thinking…to young…no powers…not able to track their mutations.

Dani leads them up to a chest in Ororo’s room. And they put on different costumes…so they don’t look like The Mutants branding. Folks, I mostly love these looks. Cypher looks like a GI Joe character. Magik looks like she is from DnD…Dani is a bit on the nose culturally…but sure I guess…And again the Cannonball costume seem kinda like a MASK character and pragmatic. The rest doesn’t work for me…other than Berto’s pink domino mask….so I get it I guess.

Teleport…Limbo to Central Park.

The Mutants end up on the stage at the DeLaCorte and soon Spiral...who also has a new look (it's fine…a mash up of American aviator and Japanese armor), has the jump on them.

And she has help…the ❌-Babies…are not themselves…and they have some interesting costume choices. Also…they are preteens…aging up.

The audience here is human…in fact we are treated to the Fatboy’s being in the audience; Darla, Butch, and Alfie. Through this issue, we also have Walt (debut) and Weezie show up in the audience…Thor’s friends ,the frogs sit under their chairs…and the creature from the black lagoon is in the audience….so monsters and animals alike…represent too.

Spiral uses pixie dust and as the action plays, the ❌-Men growing…at ❌-teen level already. So empowered. Spiral gets into the act, taking up her arching with Longshot. But Mojo calls her out:

“Naughty Dancer!”

plink

PLONK

He teleports her to his viewing spot…way above…I guess the plan wasn’t to bring them to Mojoverse…but a space to easily broadcast from…chokes Spiral, plays in her mouth, and slams her to the stage bellow. Cannonball sees his target now, and attempts to take him out…Mojo sends him veering off course before he gets close.

The Mutants are gaining ground, but Rogue appears behind Berto, and takes his powers…as she has nearly all her skin exposed in this one piece that has a front slit opened past her navel. This, kiss, shows her how Berto sees her normally and now…and Rogue is clued into how she is not who she seems to be now. Maybe…she has questions.

Illyana is thinking whatever Mojo did is sorcery…and so she attempts to attack with the soul sword…only he sees her coming, as she emerges from the disk.

Xuân is able to share with Logan his self in her mind…and he brakes free of the magic. Taking out Piotr who is fighting Sunspot, and then Bets who is about to kill Doug. But Doug simply lets Bets psi power into his head and this allows her to see his view of her…again braking Mojo’s work. I really love this last move…cleaver and refreshing.

Doug and Bets again in a compromised position. Harmless fun…it’s the 80’s and we are 11…reading this.

Kitty is phased and goes through Mojo and grabs Illyana, who has been struggling with him. When she does this, it blows Mojo’s biotech. But it is Ororo who he was the most carful in crafting…and she is struggling…but her moral compass is helping her turn on him…and she does with her powers still possessed…as he was able to grant them…since she grew….he threatens to take this away…as he gave it.

When Rogue, who is her grown self…and Art Adams is all in on showing us this fully…she makes skin contact with Mojo…and her form begins to boil as she adapts into his form…Maggie and Piotr join in the fight…awakened from their horror…then Kurt….finishes, by striking with the soul sword via teleportation…as Illyana was trying to do…I get it Mutants…❌ be annoying like that….The show is now over…as the schools inhabitance stand over Spiral.

Bets is ready to kill her…but Ororo thinks this not the time…maybe the audience is the reason.

Spiral Dances away into a light show. Causing the mutants to disappear…and the audience to cheer…leave…and forget they were even there.

If this moment precedes the Central Park plot, and we ignore the release schedule, then this would lead to perhaps why this spot is where Logan looses Rachel’s trail in Uncanny ❌-Men No. 210. SO maybe instead of this taking place in September of 1986, it takes place in between March and April of 1986, and Logan and Ororo track its unfolding events back to this spot in July of 1986…or maybe it even takes place before 1986…before February of 1986’s issue, that clearly takes place in December…maybe this is a story from before all that…as it is what establishes the location of the Body Shop…and sets things up for The Reavers, and then Rachel…and now a cold trail…it would explain why Kitty is looking as she does until the Mutant Massacre…same costume too…only this would mean Longshot joined the ❌-Men shortly after Ororo took over the team and Scott left…this is after X-Factor forms…but maybe as he who shale not be named is messing about with all of Marvel comics.

Longshot maybe he is stuck…in this trunk in Ororo’s attic the entire time…for like the better part of a year.

The Mutants fold up their costumes and return them to the chest. Berto sulks…the ❌-Men…not the Mutants saved the day in the end. Dani doesn’t see it that way.

Outside, a swim. Longshot is confused:

“The floor moves.”

…wait how did he get out of the trunk in the attic…this comic doesn’t make a lick of sense…but it was a funny and sexy time…an icky time…to cleanse our palette with.

On the cliffs, Ororo, Logan and Bets have a post mortem.

Bets is in her head about her eyes. She doesn’t want to be forced to leave…she keeps it to herself for now. Ororo gives her an explanation as to how they turned the tide:

“There is more to it than simply possessing super powers. To be an ❌-Men means possessing a strength of will—of self-identity—that nothing can subvert. Mojo never realized it is something pure and incorruptible in our primal selves that makes us who we are.”

It is why Scott, Jean, Warren, Hank, and Bobby were chosen and others were not by Chuck…why their replacements were…why Bets is being chosen and others have not been. Sure…Chuck was being honorable. Yeesh!!!

Mojo is watching this and has fun sign off for his audience…who are eating it all up. They want more! Major Domo, must concede…the numbers are historic.

And in this is a direct reaction to Jim Shooter:

Major Domo: “You’ll want to do it again next year.”

Mojo: “NEVER! Oh, Domo, my Domo, my dear Philistine—have you no SOUL? Of course you don’t…”

He goes on to do a proto Gary Oldman’s Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg from Luc Besson’s the 5th Element villainous soliloquy, about it actually is about him and his necessity for the hero to arch.

“A true Artiste never repeats himself.”

That is why he is leaving Longshot as is. He will win their harts…and then he will brake them.

Claremont, Simonson, and Nocenti…were being clear…no more event comics. Only they are forced to do so every year going forward…until Claremont leaves…for creative differences.

What is unclear is when this provocative hijinks takes place…flashback (to as far back as September of 1985) or in September of 1986…maybe it takes place in one or more times. 😳

There is reason to believe this is the next issue, but Longshot is not the evidence…as he is not here. It is very evident that we are following the plotting of Malice…just based on Windsor-Smith’s cover. The breadth of the aesthetic and vibe spectrum is on display here. From Art to Barry is a tight turn, to be sure. Ororo and Ali are iconic here…Malice’s choker emitting a light that is not dissimilar in design to the “goop” that birthed Longshot…but the effect is entirely different…frightening all the same…as we turn to the opening page of this floppy.

Lila has a number of iconic moments…perhaps as a visual this is the most iconic version of herself here, belting it out, hand rested on her guitar. Behind her on keys, including a YAMAHA is Ali, and Conal on lead guitar.

The Lila Cheney Band Tour

NYC, Manhattan, Starlite Ballroom: Oct 1984*

SF, ???: Mar 1986

Nor Carolina, Charlotte, Coliseum: Apr 1986

LA, ???: July 1986

Denver, Raven Theater: Nov. 1986

*Phil died, after party off world…but was back at the Charlotte Coliseum…gone again here. Suspicious.

Grey (bass) and Ben (bass) not pictured.

Malice is bleeding into Lila’s set. Works into her ego and fear of being forgotten. Chris, Barry, Bob, Glynis, and Tom work these panels effortlessly. As Ali, under Malice’s spell, takes over the set.

Lila: “The little idot—she’s switched to the lead-line and kicked in her light powered as DAZZLER!”

Claremont specifies the difference here, to the audience:

The guttural and rawness of Lila rocks, “fierce as a blood fight—pitched through a voice full of love and life and pain and hope…that tells of the worst of human conditon…while reaching for the best. She’s rude…(Ali’s, pop) purer than Lila’s, more innocent and gentle—no less evocative.”

Ali walks, high on endorphins. Lila catches up.

Lila: “Got a reason…”

Ali: “It felt right.”

Lila: “Fair enough. Do it again. You’re fired.”

She shows concern for Ali exposing herself. Ali (Malice) sarcastically appreciates her concerns. And then…

Ali (Malice): “Or could it be that you’re more worried about yourself, now that I’m starting to emerge from my shell? Are you scared of the competition, Lila—because you know I’m better?”

Art is not a competition.

The conversation devolves into “madness.” Ali threatens to be coming for her, as if it is.

WITH MALICE TOWARD ALL!

The School of Gifted Youngsters: Cerebro is perfectly depicted as a bloody mess by Barry, as iconic looking Rogue is underneath, trying to fiddle with ‘it’s beyond broke’ as Ororo and Bets look on.

Rogue: “Lost cause, Storm.”

She admits it’s beyond her.

OK…I messed up…this the Annual from September of 1986, had to take place before the park…absolutely before the Morlock Tunnels Massacre, because the conditions of Kitty and Cerebro are specific in time…and we know she was not hit by Harpoon, and it was not sliced by Sabertooth…in the Annual. So I am calling the Annual a flashback, and I am saying the indication is it took place like this:

Summer: 1985:

Longshot Vol I No. 6; Oct, 1985; mind is restarted.

Thor Vol I No. 366; Jan, 1986; Frogs

Fall-Winter 1985-1986:

Power Pack Vol I No. 19; Oct. 1985; Katie hosts Holiday party with Morlocks, X-Men, Bill…

Captain Britain Vol II No. 14; Feb, 1986;

New Mutants Annual Vol I No. 2; Jul, 1986; Wildways/Betsy’s eyes

Uncanny X-Men AnnualVol I No. 10; Sep, 1986; Frogs, DeLaCorte kicks off Body Shop

Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 205; Feb, 1986; Reavers in Body Shop, Logan and Katie Powers

Power Pack Vol I No. 20; Dec. 1985; Death shows

Spring 1986:

Daredevil Vol I No. 233; Apr, 1986; End of Born Again, and Nuke

New Mutants Vol I No. 42; Apr, 1986; School having been closed, Lila and Ali in NC;

Summer 1986:

New Mutants Vol I No. 44; Jun, 1986; in Scotland with Legion;

Daredevil Vol I No. 236; Jul, 1986; Nat and Hazzard post Nuke;

New Mutants Vol I No. 45; Jul, 1986; Emma’s student’s suicide

Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 206; Mar, 1986; X-Men minus Logan in SF w/ Freedom Force and Lila

X-Factor Vol I No. 6; Apr, 1986; in San Diego

Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 207; Apr, 1986; Rachel takes off…Logan after her…

X-Factor Vol I No. 7; May, 1986; Glow Worm and Bulk;

Central Park-Mutant Massacre

Fall 1986:

Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 214; Nov, 1986

Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 215; Dec, 1986

Longshot has been around the School of Gifted Youngsters, but not involved, from December 1985-December 1986. That is the only way this works…I think.

Somewhere, somehow, somewhen…in a panel gutter Uncanny X-Men Annual No. 10 and the next issue of Uncanny X-Men Longshot pops out again, Mojo puts on a performance in Central Park at the DeLaCourte, Spiral locates the Body Shop there and creates the Reavers, and disappears Rachel and Kitty is hit with a harpoon and stuck phased; all the wile Longshot is elsewhere, doing something, but Mojo intended to leave him with mutants the entire time…and there is a story there. I am on the case.

Well…after we finish this ish.

Rogue and Ororo have asset that they are in no physical, mental or technical position to handle a return of the Morlocks. Which is a bit counter to the resolve they shared with Betsy in the Annual.

Rouge is in a dark green suit, and her lime green swashbuckling boots. She is stripped down to the basics. She returns to surveillance duty, as she was the Sabertooth was there last. Also, as before, Bets is supposed to “holler” if there is a thing. Ororo asks Bets where Callisto and Logan got to…Danger Room…they psi-links so they can observe together. Butterfly eye icon shows up as they are absolute in their efforts to out dual each other. Bets is freaked out by their determination and action…Ororo:

“Leave them be…there is no danger…I have fought both. I know their capabilities. And TRUST their judgment.”

Reminder…when anyone in the MCU faces hand to hand against Ororo, Logan, Callisto, and Kitty…they are evenly matched. Anyone.

Some light banter accompanies some wonderful drawings…Callisto’s pants add something to Barry’s drawings here.

Callisto is now acting as she is in a leadership position…she gave Ororo the vest back on the cliffs…neither is waring it right now. It’s ambiguous, as there are so few left. Callisto owes them her loyalty either way. They are her people.

“Later,” Logan is with Bets getting an update on Cerebro, when he pulls his claws on her, and she shows him hers with s psycho-blast. She lets him know, she was on the edge of killing him. He makes the point that Sabertooth survived. He did so, to test her. She is an unknown quanitity and he needs to know what she is capable off and about quickly…as they could be in battle any moment. He is physically steaming from her attack on him…so is she. A call comes in…it’s Lila…it’s Ali.

“I’ll tell Ororo. We’ll check it out.”

“Dallas. The Next Evening. Jayroam’s! A private club.”

Ali (Malice) is fully lights on for the elite audience. Four party crashers.

Logan: “Very nasty. Whole place is on edge—ready to explode.”

Bets: "Ms. Blaire’s the cause! Her light-show is intensifying the crowd’s negative emotional state…to an almost psychotic extent. ”

I’ll say one thing for my error…or the release schedule’s intentions…Claremont’s ability to smith his wording to collaborate with the tone of the art and become cohesive is on display here in terms of range. Like that Annaul was bonkers…and he was lock step with Art Adams in that…Nocenti had them cooking…and here we are exactly the opposite with Barry Windsor-Smith and Louise editing. When I think of tone, this is my baseline…but the range can get where they all took us earlier in this chapter. It works. Claremont is remarkable…in control. Intentional.

Rogue is surprised by this side of Ali…as someone who arched her…I take notice of the note. Logan thinks folks change and she is a free person in a free country…I have always had this side of me. Ororo doesn’t disagree, but is pragmatic in thinking, well we should at least warn her about the Murauders, and check in with our friend. They came all this way after…what’s the harm. Then sure…leave her be.

Ali spots them in this instance and Malice directs her as weapon at the four ❌-Men.

Ororo tries to communicate, Rogue tries to get them into action…for the obvious reasons…Logan is down…and before Betts can get int here she is out. She has an ax to grind with Rouge…she will take more time…its perosnal.

Editor note: “*in Dazzler #’s 22-24,” Oh, we know.

Ali shreds Rogue’s outfit…this is becoming common enough to take a drink…I am having water.

Rogue rips the ground up, placing Ali right in Ororo’s arms…who can handle her self just fine.

Malice makes her move…she floats from Ali to Logan…who goes after all three of them in close quarters combat. Ali is struck by how serious is…he intends to kill her. Malice is a Murauder after all. So Ali laser eyes Logan…and Ororo…who is not clear on what is happening yet…knocks out Ali with a punch. Rogue checks on Logan…so Malice jumps to her, just as she notices out loud the chocker on his neck…the one that was on Ali…the one that lets everyone know…Malice is home. Betts is warning of police.

Luther, the club owner, has called in the swat team…and the captain is iconic…a real pro. He is not a believer in super powers…mutants especially.

Inside: Betts: “You aren’t Rogue!”

Malice: “Prove it, sweets!”

Rogue (Malice) takes off and out a window of the club above the growing scene out front…Captain just saw something to try and square with his world view.

Ororo understands now, Betts can even name her and who she associated with…Logan needed an update. They now are onto the Murauder Malice.

Betts: “It’s empathic in nature, keying off the emotional centers of its host’s brain—since most psychic shields are concentrated around the rational mind, Malice’s assault effectively bypasses them, rendering them impotent.”

Ororo: “The creature’s actions bespeak its true nature. it evidently thrives on violence.”

To Betts, Ororo: “—can you deal with Malice?”

Betts, who is mature and upfront: “Not while it shares Rogue’s consciousness. Her mind is virtually impossible to probe. Even when she’s cooperating.”

Ali: “This thing made me…its slave…its…toy.”

Betts: “For me to act effectively, we must shift Malice into a more accessible vessel.

Ali: “How about me?”

❌-Men!

Betts needs more familiarity with the host, and Ali is to familiar to Malice…Ororo steps up, giving Betts an edge. Also, and this is just me here, Ororo was the one who took the brunt of Mojo’s efforts and was still able to find her way out of his mind games on her own.

Malice in Rogue is putting on a show for the media.

Ali is in the broke window frame above, lit up and this causes Rogue to go at her. Ali hits her with the eye lasers…and Betts intervenes enough to cause Malice to seek another host…and she takes the bate and goes for Ororo.

The panels (like many here) of Ororo in possession are epic. Ali and Betts back away, per Betts guidance…Ororo needs to be in this…on her own.

Ororo: “You lose, Malice!

Malice: “NO!”

As Ororo rips the chocker from her own neck. The choker turns to sparks in her hand.

With the reports still covering the story…and lays blame at the ❌-Men’s feet…Ali is tempted to step up publicly, but Ororo advises her…and they discuss in…and in an ally they come to terms. Ali can’t simply be out there as a public figure…and the ❌-Men can’t maintain a brand of superhero. Not with the Murauders out there. Ali is boxed into the reality that she is their friend and a target as such. Alone she has no chance. With them, it becomes slightly better…the odds. She has openly rejected this path all along…and yet…her it is…forcing her to turn towards them. She can be herself with them…but not who she wishes to be. The risk is not removed, but it is deminshed. She will now join with a gang branded criminal in the publics eye. One last thing…after all she has done…and the history between her and Rogue…will they all accept her? Ororo answers for them:

“What are friends for?”

They need to get a move on…when Logan attacks Ororo…and then when Rogue’s voice brings him back from the brink…he realises…he is not and Ororo is not…none of them are possessed by Malice…

“But I…my senses…they told me—Storm—I’m sorry—I w a s s o s u r e…caught your sense—you were Malice.”

Betts confirms, “no trace.”

Ali: “who vouches for the team telepath, huh?”

Rogue providing her answer to Ali’s former question and this one: “Maybe some things, Dazz, have to be taken on faith.”

We know the truth…on the rooftop…the SWAT Captain…has a chocker and a voice in his head….one of Malice.

Ruminating between issues, and I think the TVA got me thinking. What do we know about Mojo and Spiral, when it comes to time? What is the simplest solution? What is the reality we live in? So there’s a variance…that’s Loki’s prerogative. Mine is this: I am revisting a fiction that I consumed out of order, and is a piece of fiction that plays with the fourth wall and the multiverse…in a medium that has by design space (between panels, issues, series, formats…) and time (infinity)…where the reality is, it was released in the order it was released in for me on my time line…and here I am with perspective of time and distance to make it however I want…and to me the shortest distance is to fold time and connect the moment…and as a person who values balance…I also am committed to the release schedule here…as it servers the Paradox and Mojo’s mindset…to have Spiral be in more than one place at one time…and to fold time. What do we know? We know she met herself and tortured her, by transforming time. We know she messes with time…so of course she did here. How has she been Rita in Upstate New York…always present whenever we see Freedom Force…always at Mojo’s side…and how did she turn into a cartoon and physically change Betsy’s eyes so that they share a narrative…that seems not at all linear to Mojo’s audience? The Mojoverse is not aligned with our timeline…they see and exist at their own will. They operate in opposition to the TVA. As did James Jasper…this is normal by now for us…wait till She-Hulk gets a clue…and we have seen here…with Longshot. Who clearly did what he did in his own series…lost his memory again…and then appeared as he did in the X-Men Annual No. 10…at a moment that took place before the Body Shop…before Uncanny X-Men No. 205 in a comic that was distributed in February of 1986, but clearly references the holiday season of Dec 1985…and this would make it so…Spiral on this path went from the DeLaCourte before the Holidays in 1985 folded the end of the show with a moment in the Holiday season of 1986, so she could do as Mojo asked and left Longshot, with them all in a moment after the Mutant Massacre. It makes no difference to the part about Ali…and we will see if there is a hint of this, as he and Ali are about to walk the halls of the School of Gifted Youngsters together for the first time. Thanks to Spiral folding time so neatly for us…in between panels…in the gutter of my mind, two score years later.

A cacophony of voices from the American and Canadian Jewish community, specifically the comics community, there was pressure being placed until it finally bared fruit on December 11, 1941. The world history recalls this as a formality after Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, thus dragging the USA into war with Japan, and Germany declaring war first on the 11th, before Congress voted unanimously to declare war back. However, this didn’t just happen because we were attacked, as much as, we were not the nation that simply rose to the occasion of our own sense of justice. A number of actions were taken over time to make this so…as there were a number of action that kept if from happening sooner. On the side of justice for all, we had superheroes being developed that were born from a number of influences; not simply, being Jewish and hearing through family correspondences what the Nazis were up to; but in part did contribute. Superman was created from a complex set of contexts…from personal to fantasy to political, a process unfolded that resulted in a slow and deliberate raising of alarm that became evident on the page, beginning with Action Comics No. 17, dated October 1939. But had begun in the early thirties as what would develop into Shoah as Nazism’s dozen year efforts to come to power came to be, and the fascists were able to begin passing anti-Jewish laws in Germeny, it just so happened that Siegel and Shuster has a struggle of their own developing throughout the decade that turned a villain into a superhero. Not the first, but the icon that has represented the genre ever since. One that also represents lofty American ideals, and on the down low, represents the narrative of commitment of immigrants to these ideals, specifically Jewish immigrants. So Action Comics took its time in pressing the matter directly.

Joe Shuster & Jerry Siegel’s Action Comics

One of the voices to join the cause, was Jack Kirby’s. He famously embrace the opportunity to go over seas and ‘punch nazis’ directly; “the only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I'd beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it.” His message on the cover of his and Joe Simon’s Captain America No. 1, in December, 1940; before was drafted in June of 1943, to be trained outside Savannah, GA, in time to land at Omaha Beach, in August of 1944, just shy of three months after D Day. When he was given the opportunity to physically attack Nazis, as he and Joe Simon had been feverishly propagandizing us all to do, for nearly four years…beginning a full year before his government stood up to fight fascism.

Jack Kirby & Joe Simon’s Captain America

Again, even at Timely (Marvel), this wasn’t the first or only. It took the majority of a nation to defeat Nazism in propaganda and reality. And by defeat, we don’t mean, eradication. The necessity to punch a Nazi regularly presents itself today. A result of fascism and bigotry being a global scourge within humanity. We continue to struggle with this locally. As we are a paradox, that from our founding embraced this while walking the walk and talking the talk on freedom, liberty, and justice for all, we continue to harbor and enable hate, fear, and entitlement to the privileged. Sometimes a base clarity in message is utilized.

Which brings us to this continuation of Marvel’s traditional utility…punching Nazi propaganda; this time from December of 1986. Here we have an Alan Davis cover introducing Claremont and Davis’ Frank Bohannan AKA Crimson Commando, Louis Hamilton AKA Stonewall, and Martin Fletcher AKA Super Sabre; AKA Murder Grandpas as Jay Edidin & Miles Stokes coined in their podcast; before they are shown to be members of our government’s Freedom Force. Which is prophetic and establishes a statement of truth, in this piece of fiction.

Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Chris Claremont & Alan Davis’ Uncanny X-Men

We have with the Murder Grandpas, who, spoiler: ARE NAZIS, Ororo punching and kicking them, as is the tradition. Which brings with it the opportunity to infer and interrogate a broader context.

Note: Storm has the vest…she is the leader of the Morlocks…not exactly the representation I am eluding to…but an “also and.”

SFO: A Boeing 747-200B; 387 pasangers, 15 crew and one pilot: Madelyne Pryor-Summers, in four longshot panels in sequentially increased vertical dimension, as to fit a Boeing 747 barreling towards us, crashes as the left landing gear gives way and the left wing and engine fully combust…having been aflame upon approach. We hear Maddy, herself narrate this, through Claremont’s words and Orzechowski’s lettering. The rest of the A-Team; Glynis & Green, and guest penciler Alan Davis stick this landing hard. Guided in by the capable hands of editor Ann Nocenti.

Maddy, fails them here. All her efforts:

“Wasted effort.”

It appears to be a total loss, with one figure emerging from the flame, a phoenix effect surrounds her.

“This was my first command.”

Was it?

Knowing what has happened I am with Maddy here…knowing what is to come…I am not sure how committed I am to her. For now though, I believe we center her and hold her close to our hearts.

Alan Davis is slow in revealing this is an Alan Davis comic. The A-Team and he, are coming off of a Barry Windsor-Smith effort that grounded us into the dirt. And after the sexy clown car fantasy that was Art Adams…Davis is wise in easing us into his own proclivities. Not that we don’t salivate over Adams and Davis; intentions are critical, if they are to pull this pendulum swinging off.

Oh boy does this work for me.

I had mentioned shipping Philippa & John, and here we have Sontag & Greycrow together again. It is this page that got me into them as characters. Here I am now, shipping Murauders and on the brink of loving some Nazi arches. Not a great look for a halfway decent human being. But…

Elzie Crisler Segar’s Popeye

…and I am comfortable with Paradox, and letting in feels for folks who make choices I abhor, but work aesthetically and interpersonally for me. I can see their humanity, even when not reciprocated. I think these to respect life…they just love take ‘em though.

Maddy in and out of consciousness in the ambulance our Philippa & Greycrow are being posers in, has a thought…and a clear statement to make:

Maddy: “My baby! Where’s my baby?!

I was thinking the same thing.

“What have you done with my SON?!!

Arclight: “Scalp—she’s awake!”

This panel of Maddy WAK! Philippa has been compelling for four decades to me.

Maddy falls out of, what was a racing ambulance. Which is now stopped and has two murderers exiting it in pursuit of her. I love this page…the utility!

Maddy reflects on how she has crashed here before; now it is winter, not summer. End of summer, 1980. The. date Jean died, Maddie crashed a 747 in San Francisco.

Information, she may not have first hand knowledge of…perhaps even second or third hand…information that is “pop into my head.” Names of who is chasing her, mingle with context from the past, and the name of their associated gang. She is also holding her own in a perfect utilitarian and intoxicating superhero page that has her taking on Phillippa, only to finally being taken down by her shaking the earth and with a steadily prepared professional shot, by Greycrow, her world is shattered.

We are fully integrated into the bulbous curved line weights of Alan Davis, and no longer in the uniform French curved and gestural cross hatchings of Barry Windsor-Smith. What was full forms encased in dip nibbed linework, that was evocative of Mœbius, but housed a sturdy reality approaching Bernie Wrightson, is now a refined voluptuous world that remains on model and manifests an update to cartoonist traditions of brush and nib being pressed and released. Keeping free of unnecessary linework, while keeping with a balance between Art Adams humorous erotica and Barry’s oh so serious rendering of events.

The School for Gifted Youngsters: Where Rogue flys in a medical capsule containing Piotr, to add the work Collisto is attending to within the Blackbird. Identical capsules contain, Kurt and a still phased Kitty. Betts still questions the strategy, but Ororo explains once more with sound logic. The gang must be split between those who are healed and those still in need of healing. Moira will tend to them in Scotland. The school will remain vigilant in its work to defend them all and keep the Murauders at bay.

The Morlocks, all of them, and these three ❌-Men will journey across the pond, on the bird. Callisto will join them for they are her people. Ororo is having Betts return to the UK for surveillance and Rouge for defensive power. In her next breath:

“Longshot is an unknown quantity. I instinctivly wish to accept him. The longer he remains among us…the more he seems to belong—and yet—can we afford to take anything or anyone at face value?”

Over two panels, while she says this, she is aware of her surroundings, and we can see for the first time, Longshot and Dazzler walking the hanger together…clearly a connection. Ali has information and Longshot has receptive wonder.

“And then, there is Dazzler…”

The obvious is there, but we discuss it…’cause humans communicate and Stan Lee lays on-ramps. Ororo does not resent Ali, nor is it entirely Malice…Ali’s history with the gang has been with a boundary between them of her own making. As she was intent on fame…and they have other concerns…like survival. Now she is in it with them…and like Longshot…Ororo as leader, need time with her to assess and build trust. Despite frienship and invitation she has for her. She will need time to figure these two out. But it seems that will have to wait.

They approach.

Longshot: “I really like this place, Storm. And the ❌-Men. It’s as if here was where I was always meant to be! I feel sad to go away.”

All smiles.

Ali: “Me, too. I’ve barely arrived…and already you guys are trying to get rid of me.”

Very direct.

With a promise of soon reuniting, she sends them along to Scotland. Rogue takes the controls of Blackbird, and updates Betts…and the other two newly minted ❌-Men, that Ororo and Logan need to get themselves right…get back to each other as the core of this gang.

It seems to me in this moment, the folding of time by spiral is this:

Captain Britain Vol II No. 14; Feb, 1986; brought Betts to the pages of New Mutants Annual Vol I No. 2; where on Page 1, Panel 7, Spiral danced into her life, indirectly from New Mutants Annual Vol I No. 2; Page 45, Panel 3. Where Wildways had not worked. Leading to Spiral dancing and folding time; when loops back to before, to a time that created the Body Shop in Central Park at the DeLaCourte, leading to Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 205; Page 1, Panel 1; where the Reavers were created, and subsequently plays out through creating the conditions for New Mutants Annual Vol I No. 2; where on Page 1, Panel 7 through Page 3. At which point for Betts, Spiral leeps her into Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 210; between Page 21 and Page 22. Where she joins the school, as she was in New Mutants Annual Vol I No. 2. This plays out into the events of the Mutant Massacre, with Betsy’s cybernetic eyes viewing it all. Only, she is not the only one to be introduced to the School of Gifted Youngsters, by Spiral and Mojo, Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 210; between Page 21 and Page 22…out of view of the readers.

As the Body Shop exists from just before Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 205, it is there as the Central Park plot involving Nimrod unfolds, and X-Factor Vol I No. 8; Page 17 Panel 2; while part of Freedom Force, Spiral dances away leading into Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 209; Page 12, Panel 4; where Rachel encounters and is disappeared by the end of the issue, into the The Body Shop. In X-Men Vol I No. 210; between Page 21 and Page 22, we also have Uncanny X-Men Annual Vol I No. 10; playing out. Where in Uncanny X-Men Annual Vol I No. 10; Page 6, Panel 1; Lonshot drops in, due to Mojo. And events play out that fail, but anoint the location of the Body Shop to be at DeLaCourte. It is from here, at the conclusion of Uncanny X-Men Annual Vol I No. 10, that we loop back to before Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 205, but after New Mutants Annual Vol I No. 2; to make the Body Shop. It is also here, where after this, a loop is created in Uncanny X-Men Annual Vol I No. 10; Page 8, Panel 5; to link back and lead into X-Men Vol I No. 210; between Page 21 and Page 22, with Longest at the School for Gifted Youngsters…making for us the appearance in Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 214; Page 6, Panel 4; of Longshot just randomly just showing up with Ali there.

By connecting Uncanny X-Men Annual Vol I No. 10; Page 6, Panel 1-Page 8, Panel 5; which leads directly into Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 210; Page 22; as the loop of the Body Shop being created in DeLaCourte after the end of Annual 10, has completed with the creation of the Reavers, the installation of Betsy’s eyes, have lead to her joining the school in between Pages 21 and 22 of No. 210, after the diapearnce of the Body Shop from the park, where her eyes were installed, after the Body Shops creation, due to the dropping in of Longshot, which played out into selecting the placing of the Body Shop at the DeLaCourte, but had to be looped back to the moment after they left the Danger Room having just been introduced to Lonshot, when then Ororo and Logan went to find at the DeLaCourt that Rachel’s trail went cold, because the Body Shop had danced away…and then the events of the Mutant Massacre unfolded, with Betsy and her cybernetic eyes transmitting what it could, a Longshot slowly and in the shadows assimilating into the X-Men with the chaos of death oversharing this part of the story…until Ali was rescued as a part of those events…and here we are in the aftermath transporting the wounded and our three new ❌-Men…to of which are placed there by Spiral and Mojo. By Spiral folding time, until it worked for their purposes.

Uncanny X-Men Annual Vol I No. 10; Page 8, Panel 5; leads directly into Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 210, Page 22 now, in my head, explains why Uncanny X-Men Vol I No. 214; Page 6, Panel 4 now works for it and we have arrived with my call, “to me my❌-Men,” being heard.

In an iconic page of Logan and Ororo we have first the Blackbird lifting off for Scotland over Logan on the cliff. And then Ororo approaches. He has isolated himself since trying to murder Ororo…he does not trust himself. However, Ororo has work upstate and she invites him to come along…as she will be going either way. She is at, “that’s not your fault.”He is at, “so you say.”

Ororo: “There is no one I trust more than you.”

Logan: “Let’s go then.”

SF: Where we last saw Amanda…we now see Jane Doe…Maddy. Multiple gunshot wounds. She wakes up to identify herself, to the hospital staff.

NY State Road-trip with Logan and Ororo: Logan smokes a lot, and he does not trust his senses…thus he has lost his trust in general. They drive at Sara Grey home…in ashes. No sign of her, or her two kids. Sara, being Jean’s older sister. Still smoldering. Logan senses traces of of a bomb, but no deaths. She is an outspoken advocate for mutant rights.

Ororo thinks of Forge, as they discuss the necessity to warn those who could become collateral damage.

When Logan does pick up a sent, Jean and Scott. He is confused by this, another sent of Jean…and this time…potentially a death…though no body. Just their presence. He strikes and lays out Ororo cold as he over reacts to her attempt to comfort. He wonders off into the night.

Oboard the Blackbird: Kitty has emerged, phased into the cockpit. She admires Longshot, thinks of her condition and budding feelings for him, as is the way with all. She feels hopeless. She goes in for a kiss, which should be harmless given her physical state…only he awaks and feels her:

Longshot: “Kitty—?!?”

He longs for her to return, but just as he can read objects, he has been able to read her past. Here we learn what he has been doing in the School of Gifted Youngsters. He has been touching all the stuff and learning the impressions of story within them. He can also sense their futures…and here with Kitty:

“But it was all jumbled—chaos-riven and broken to bits. And surrounded by an awful VOID, that hungers her! Rouge, is that…Death?”

Rouge: “Could be. Poor little kid.”

We are in with both feet…and the water is nice…despite the chill in the air.

Near the Adirondack State Park: Ororo awakes and is chained. And excellent panel, close up, in a comic filled with wonderful panels…Ororo pulls out her tool for picking the lock…housed in her vest collar. She is out of her stone, metal and wood dungeon. She finds a young punker, Priscilla Morrison. We don’t even know that much at this point. Ororo leaves her in her dungeon…heads up the stone stairs. Into perfectly rendered brilliantly designed picturesque cabin…with the prafanalia of a Nazi and a hunter. It is possible, they are not Nazis, but rather Nazi hunters…but their actions to me make the symbolism on their wall, no matter how it it got there very direct. A sense of pride, be it having killed Nazis, or a sense of alliance with hate, displaying its symbol…I don’t mess with this being a thing to hang on your wall. Trophies, is how Ororo sees things in the rooms. By skilled hunters.

She spots their return, in pages I have cherished as paradox does. She flips up to the loft. Still she is taken by Crimson Commando. The fight. She embraces him in front of his friends. The speedster plays coy. Stonewall, my absolute favorite, is an imovable object…and Ororo bounces right off him. However, she pulls the rug out from under him and nearly makes it to the door, but for speedster dweebs.

A snap of the fingers creates a BOOM that knocks her out with its sound.

Murder Grandpas release their captures into the wild. Tell them, they have murdered Pracilla’s boyfriend Tommy and now it is her and Ororo’s turn. They will get a head start to keep it interesting.

They correct us all…they fought Nazis…but like many contemporary Nazis…they couldn’t just leave it at that…they had to assimilate their ways and now they are no better…in fact…I call ‘em Nazis now. They think they are still the good guys…but you don’t kidnap and murder folks…and get to live in a binary world. That’s not a thing.

Frank Bohannan: “society—the country we loved—was goin’ down the drain. No more morals. No more standards. No respect for tradition.”

Martin Fletcher: “Sex—drugs—disease—people dressed and acting like animals, is that what we bled and suffered and died for?!”

Louis Hamilton: “Case a point: Miss Priscilla Morrison. You wouldn’t know it to look at her but she comes from one of the finest families in Newport (NY?, VT?, NH?, ME?, NJ?), the kind who’re supposed to set an example, who people are meant to look up to. She and her…gentleman dealt drugs. They were major dealers before graduating high school. They didn’t need the money of the power. They did is mostly for the thrill. And yet because of fmaily connections—and a corruption they themselves fostered and abetted—they remained virtually immune from punishment.”

The Murder Grandpas go from the government abandoned us…to this…to that rant…and in some cases…it is nearly sympathetic…

….an ironic…as Priscilla was found near an arson fire at a house…having robbed the place…they don’t abide.

Ororo: “Nor do I.”

Revealing her relations to the victims of the arson. And how they have picked on the wrong person in her case…and she to can not abide. She also knows she knows to much and they will kill her anyway. ‘Cause Murder Grandpas.

They make it pretty high up the mountains, broken by the hike, before the hunt begins.

Next: three chapters: Daredevil & Alpha Flight; Daredevil & Elektra: Assassin; AND Devil Dinosaur & Fallen Angels; BEFORE WE RETURN in a FOURTH chapter: The Incredible Hulk & The Uncanny X-Men