X-Men Forever was canceled at 24 issues. As is typical, Marvel restarted the book the very next month with the so-clever name X-Men Forever 2. The story picks up in the aftermath of where the previous series ended, with the X-Men having their usual Pyrrhic victory. They slowed the Consortium down, but lost some friends and put a big bullseye on the backs. So Claremont pulls out the "fake your deaths" stunt again.
Mr. Sinister is still lurking in a kid's body, trying to get Nathan Summers, and now he's sending out the Marauders, including clones of both Sabretooth and Wolverine. The Wolverine clone actually follows Shadowcat to Japan in a two-parter drawn by Mike Grell, who draws Logan's bone claws like they're made of several bones, like a finger, instead of just one long bone. I don't think I've ever seen anyone else draw them like that. Shadowcat herself is continuing to change, as she's developing a healing factor and the fingernails on the arm that doesn't have one of Logan's adamantium claws no extend into claws themselves. Plus she's thinking in Japanese a lot. Not sure what Claremont was going for there. Something with Ogun, probably.
Not content with having two Storms - one an adult and evil, the other a teenager and essentially good - running around, Claremont adds a third Storm to the mix. Also an adult, but seemingly composed of lightning (and a mohawk). Which is actually pretty cool, I have to admit. There's a whole plotline with Evil Storm, sorry Perfect Storm, trying to conquer Genosha, and the X-Men covertly invading Wakanda to get her. Which runs them smack into the Avengers again. Most bizarre of all, Mystique decides she actually wants to be a good mom and help her kids. OK, well now I know Claremont's just fucking with us.
As with last week's entry, it's hard to believe Claremont would have been able to do all this, even if it was his original plan. But it does have the feel of his original run on Uncanny X-Men in that sense of lots of plates spinning at once, and the X-Men constantly scrambling. They've got threats coming from multiple directions, and potential allies that aren't sure they can't trust them, but they aren't entirely alone. Spider-Man finds out they aren't actually dead, but keeps it a secret. Dr. Strange lends a hand to the Storms. Nick Fury's sticking with them. They're outnumbered, and forced to pull together a awkward group, but they make it work.
The book ran 16 issues before cancellation, ending on a cliffhanger for more than a few characters. The whole thing with Mr. Sinister doesn't get resolved, for one thing, but when does it ever where that creepy fucker is involved? The book struggles a bit more to hold onto a consistent artist. Tom Grummett draws 4 of the first 6 issues, with Rodney Buchemi handling the other two. Then you get two issues by Ron Lim, the Mike Grell two-parter, Buchemi again for two issues, Robert Atkins, Andy Smith for two issues and Ramon Rosanas for the conclusion. Most of the artists, except Grell, fall into a similar enough realm of "solid superhero art" it isn't too jarring. Nobody's shifting wildly off-model from one issue to the next.
2 comments:
I have zero memory of this, but then I've never been a huge X-Men fan so it could easily have slipped under my radar. I do have to say though that "Perfect Storm" is a great name for a Storm offshoot character.
I remember Paul O'Brien reviewing it when it was coming out, but I can't recall why I decided to track it all down. Morbid curiosity, probably.
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