Punch Up: “To Me My ❌-Men”
Chapter Eighteen:
1984
May, 1984, Uncanny X-Men 184 by Romita Jr, Green, Glynis, Orzechowski, Claremont + Nocenti & Sanderson
Mixtape track: Jam On It by Newcleus
Chapter 18 of “to me my ❌-Men,” a recap of Demons dovetails into my demons…BUT we also get Marvel’s sexiest debut.
Previously on “to me my ❌-Men,” Matt had a bad day, but Nat took him in. Kitty and Piotr are done. Kurt and Logan took the kid out bar fighting. Selene was with Juggernaut before the fight and was last seen eves dropping on the ❌-boys after the bar fight. Now Kitty and Logan are in Japan, she is brainwashed by ninja demon Yakuza. Illyana was raised in hell, Magma joined, The New Mutants survived a Demon Bear, Dani was healed by healer thanks to Storm being also the head of the Morlocks, and a Warlock is incoming, but they didn’t get recruited by Hell Fire Club. Chuck is still a jerk, but his best friend, Dani’s father is back from being a demon and has possessed a cops body. Val and Mystique are in Dallas working government jobs around a Mutant bill, one as herself and the other disguised as a fellow high ranking official. They are banking on Forge being the key. Mystiques daughter Rogue is realising she is both Carol Danvers and herself, and the struggle is real, Karma is a…AND Rachel is probably in the wrong timeline, and so things are freaking her out enough to simply run off when seeing Illyana now a teen.
Cover: Chuck v Selene by Romita Jr looks solid, and that is before you notice Rachel Summers is down. 🔥
Dallas: Any time someone mentions Dallas in the context of the ❌-Men, my heart skips a beat. You are in this, along for this ride. You and your cardiologist have been warned.
Raven (again, “YES,” that Raven) and Dr. Val are in Eagle Plaza (“THE” ARCHITECTURAL WONDER IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE)…and so we are about to see Forge. This is his debut…and debate to had. There is only the sexiest debut in all of comics.
Now Val says “oh my - -!?!,” but this is because of the architecture. Which makes sense.
The Past of Future Days
An Eagle flys by…a foreshadowing…that ❌-Men ‘97 will evoke, completely out of context.
First we see Naźe…so casually here. Wow.
And then the above image of Forge.
Forge: “When Tony Stark stopped designing weapons, the government turned to me.”
Talking Dire Wraiths and Rom the Space Knight…I mean what 80’s kid doesn’t love that?
So Rom uses a weapon that locates, and one that neutralises by sending them to another dimension. So Forge has created a weapon that neutralises the power of any paranormal, including mutants. He is not sure about the longevity of the effects or the physical/psychological effect’s. But he also has the scanner, which can tell if a human is a mutant or alien, with some ability to identify what type.
He makes a funny and points it at Raven and says there is one in this room; a mutant. But hahaha…he outs himself, not his under cover fellow Mutie.
Her heart skipped a beat too.
Forge is thinking Raven has lost her sense of humor. Raven is thinking that shit ain’t funny.
In one of the more confusing transitions, we are in NYC, but watching international news, as the ❌-Men battle a dragon in Tokyo…which makes sense since that’s where Logan is. Assume the rest returned. We see Sunfire. We don’t need a lot of him, but knowing he is there is nice. Rachel is watching through a security fence blocking tv displays in a store. I never once did this, but I also have never been in Rachel’s shoes.
She recognizes most, but is confused by Ororo’s hawk. Which is kinda amusing.
She hears about Kelly’s bill and then looses the signal before she can fully process what they are saying.
She uses her Psi mustang abilities to turn the tv back on, but is too late. Live tv ack!
Now she is thinking about the Illyana encounter, which was the day before.
All the sudden the sky is windy, bubbly, well oblique. It’s Selene spearing behind Rachel. The power level of Rachel likely is more than Selene, and Selene is delighted. She may have found an heir. Oh another Demon something or other. A Demon Huntress.
Rachel sense something, even feels cold, knows she is being followed, a fire truck zooms by…and then Selene grabs her from the ally shadow.
Rachel emits light to counter. And books it again!
A bouncer casually smokes one, ‘cause he’s got one, and is drinking…okay probably a patron (an important one). Rachel has run into the club and is overwhelmed by the amount of peoples thoughts she can read.
Jerry’s got her, so bouncer.
Jerry and Nick debate if they should help or turn her in.
Now Rachel is at Nick’s place. He is the club boss. It’s fancy.
Whelp, Nick didn’t make it four pages. He is a skeleton. Selene is able to telekinetically capture Rachel with the flooring. But Rachel can fight with telepathic bolts and free herself with her on telekinetic abilities.
Oh, Selene simply has unlimited control of all inanimate objects. Oops.
It’s a creative battle.
Selene is quoting Darth Vader.
Rachel is overwhelmed psychically. She calls on Cuck. Desperate times.
He appears in astral form and Rogue, Colossus, and Kurt bust in.
Selene has the upper hand over Kurt, then Rogue, so Chuck has to help. She retreats.
Storm is outside as Colossus takes all the bodies out through a window…or wall.
They don’t know her. She is shocked, because Chuck can walk. And so are we, because we skipped the space opera.
She says she has seen photos of Storm looking different.
She then says she is stuck in the wrong past.
So stupid!!!
Next: New Mutants No. 21 AKA the Slumber Party.