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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

X-amining Uncanny X-Men Annual #7

"Scavenger Hunt"
1983

In a Nutshell 
The Impossible Man leads the X-Men on a zany scavenger hunt. 

Plot & Script: Chris Claremont
Pencils: Michael Golden, Bret Blevins (pp28-32)  
Inkers: Michael Golden (pp1-2), Tom Mandrake (pp 3-7, 24), Bob Wiacek (pp 12-13,16), Terry Austin (pp 14-15, 17-19), Brett Breeding (pp 20-23), "Wild Bill" Anderson (pp 25-27), Joe Rubinstein (pg 28), Steve Leiahola (pg 29), Sam De La Rosa (pp 30-31), "The Rube" (pg 32), Al Milgrom (pg 33-37), Brett Blevins (pp 38-39)
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski, Mike Higgins (pp 31-32)
Colorist: Glynis Wein
Editor: Eliot R. Brown
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Plot
The X-Men are playing baseball when a massive space ship appears in the sky above them, from which Galactus emerges. He declares that he requires the X-Men's domicile, then disappears along with the X-Mansion. With Professor X's help, the X-Men track Galactus, whom Xavier believes isn't truly Galactus, to the SHIELD Helicarrier, where Nick Fury's eyepatch is stolen. Next, the X-Men track the alien to the Savage Land, where Ka-Zar's sabretooth tiger, Zabu, has been stolen. Back in New York, the Wasp's costumes are stolen, leading to a tussle between She-Hulk, Iron Man, Colossus and Rogue, while Dr. Strange's sigil window is stolen. At the Hellfire Club, the X-Men battle Sebastian Shaw as the alien steals the Black Queen's costume. Finally, the X-Men chase the alien through the offices of Marvel Comics, eventually cornering him and overpowering him when Rogue attempts to absorb his power, at which point he reveals himself as the Impossible Man of the planet Poppup.


He explains that all of the items he's stolen were taken as part of a scavenger hunt, and takes the X-Men to his cache. There, he explains that the scavenger hunt is a contest amongst his family to determine which of them will be in charge of their new planet. Just then, a cabal of aliens from across the galaxy arrive, determined to claim retribution on the Impossible Man for similar thefts across their worlds. In order to avoid Earth being destroyed in the resultant conflict, Lilandra mediates a settlement, forcing the Impossible Man and his family to return all the stolen items in their original condition once she's determined a winner of their contest. Later, the Impossible Man commiserates with Kitty and Illyana, having failed to win the contest, by enjoying his first taste of ice cream.    

Firsts and Other Notables
The "villain" of this story is the Impossible Man, an alien from the planet Poppup with shapeshifting abilities (he makes a "pop" sound every time he shifts forms). He first appeared in the early issues of Fantastic Four, as more of a troublesome, comedic foil than a villain, and has continued in that vein. His scavenger hunt in this issue leads to guest appearances from a number of Marvel characters.  

After issue #110, this is issue features the second instance of the X-Men playing baseball.


Technically, the events of this issues are considered to occur between the pages of X-Men #175, following Mastermind's defeat and before Scott and Madelyne's wedding (presumably, Scott and Madelyne are off preparing for that, which is why Cyclops only appears on the cover).

It's revealed that White Queen's coma was caused by Mastermind. 


At one point, Kitty asks rhetorically of the Wasp how any one woman can own so many costumes, then wonders if she'd mind if Kitty borrowed some, an acknowledgement by Claremont both of Kitty's own predilection for switching costumes and the fact that he borrowed the bit from the Wasp, another super-heroine who often changed her costume. 

Dr. Bitz will be pleased to know that Dr. Strange makes an appearance, when the Impossible Man steals the sigil window on the roof of the Sanctum Sanctorum.


The Iron Man which appears in this issue is actually Tony Stark's friend and pilot, James Rhodes (the future War Machine), who at this time was filling in for Tony as Iron Man (and trying to pass himself off as the "real" Iron Man) due to Tony Stark's out-of-control alcoholism.


The issue closes with a final page in which assistant editor Eliot R. Brown explains that the book fell under his control while Louise Jones and the other editors were in San Diego for Comic-Con; though it isn't announced as such, this makes the book part of "Assistant Editor's Month", an annual "event" at Marvel in the 80s which usually resulted in comedic or offbeat stories, presumably crafted the previous July while the editors were away at Comic-Con.

A Work in Progress
Kitty is wearing yet another new costume.


This issues also constitutes her first trip to the Savage Land (though she got close in issue #149).


Lilandra is once again wielding a lightsaber.


When She-Hulk sees Rogue fighting alongside Colossus, she assumes that one of them must have switched sides. She's right, though of course she believes that it's Colossus who's gone bad.

A footnote incorrectly references the events of Avengers Annual #10 as occurring in Avengers Annual #7.

Kitty notes that even though White Queen is a villain, she wishes there was something the X-Men could do to help her, a sentiment that doesn't quite gel with later depictions of Kitty having always had a particular hatred of the White Queen.

Wolverine and Kitty both note Storm's changing personality.  


Rogue references her last encounter with Shaw; as far as I know, this is the first meeting of the characters, so this may refer to an as-yet-unrevealed encounter between the two prior to Rogue joining the X-Men.


This issue reveals that the Blackbird has been equipped with a cloaking device courtesy of the Shi'ar.


There is some discussion about whether Rogue would be able to absorb Colossus' power while he's armored up, as Rogue's power works on flesh, but Colossus' armor is comprised of organic steel.


I Love the 80s
Impossible Man leads the X-Men to the Marvel offices, where they encounter a variety of real life creators such as Chris Claremont, Paul Smith, Jim Shooter, Louise Jones, Eliot R. Brown, Mike Carlin, Ann Nocenti, Mark Gruenwald, Darlene Cole, Rick Parker, Ron Zalme, Larry Hama, Michael Golden, Michael Hobson, Lynn Cohen, Jack Morelli and Virgina Romita.


Amongst the Impossible Man's stolen items are the Millennium Falcon, the key to Superman's Fortress of Solitude, and the giant penny from the Batcave.


Impossible Man appears as Thomas Magnum at issue's end.


Illyana also pops up at the end of the issue, once again wearing a bikini (Kitty is wearing a more sensible, albeit hideous, one piece). There's also some business with Kitty and Illyana enjoying bomb pops in these final panels that may also constitute a further ill-advised attempt to sexualize the fourteen-year-olds, but I'd just as soon ignore all that.


For Sale
"3...2...1 contact, is the secret, is the moment, when everything happens..."


Most likely hoping to duplicate its success with stuff like Star Wars, Rom and Micronauts, Marvel made a big push for a line of The Saga of Crystar toys (complete with a tie-in comic), though I've only ever seen them as ads in Marvel comics.


Teebore's Take
Thus far, none of the X-Men annuals have proven to be particularly relevant to the narrative of the main title, nor very good. This annual continues that trend, though it willingly eschews any attempt at relevancy in the interest of comedy. However, whimsy...isn't Claremont's strongest suit, and the end result falls somewhere between "tedious" and "annoying", with the X-Men spending the issue chasing the Impossible Man from location to location, while the various antics of the alien along the way remain painfully unfunny. Michael Golden, who is capable of much stronger work, turns in a cartoonier look in an effort to support the humor, but he's let down by the inconsistencies that come with a small army of inkers. There's some amusement to be had from the fourth-wall breaking antics in the Marvel Bullpen (simply because you simply wouldn't see that kind of thing anymore), but everything else is eminently forgettable. 

Next Issue
Scott and Maddy have an unexpected guest on their honeymoon in Uncanny X-Men #176, while Magma goes to town on Nova Roma in New Mutants #11.

24 comments:

  1. I've never read this one. The cover has never appealed to me, and beyond that, I find that when he tries to do straight comedy, Claremont is usually more often "miss" than "hit". And when the Impossible Man is involved, I can't imagine the story being anything other than straight comedy.

    "It's revealed that White Queen's coma was caused by Mastermind."

    Okay, so that's solved.

    But more importantly -- this suddenly makes me wonder if the entity Destiny sensed approaching the Earth might have been the Impossible Man? The timing would make way more sense than it being the Beyonder.

    "...this makes the book part of "Assistant Editor's Month", an annual "event" at Marvel in the 80s which usually resulted in comedic or offbeat stories..."

    I don't believe Assistant Editor's Month was annual. To my knowledge it only happened once, officially, at least. All (or most) Marvel comics with a January 1984 cover date featured an "Assistant Editor's Month" warning label. The Uncanny issue that month was #177, and it appears Claremont didn't play along with the gimmick, since I don't recall there being anything offbeat about that issue. Maybe this issue, which based on your chronology was apparently released in close proximity to #177, represented his participation instead.

    "Kitty is wearing yet another new costume...."

    And it looks very much like a prototype of her upcoming Shadowcat costume. It would be interesting if JR jr. based that outfit on this issue -- though it looks closer to the Davis version than Romita's.

    "Rogue references her last encounter with Shaw..."

    I wouldn't be surprised if this was something Claremont intended to have happened in Ms. Marvel. The final unpublished issues (which later saw print in the 90's as we've discussed previously) featured a story involving the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (including Rogue) and the Hellfire Club.

    It's really weird to me, though, that Claremont treated unpublished comics as if they were official canon.

    "This issue reveals that the Blackbird has been equipped with a cloaking device courtesy of the Shi'ar."

    Hey! Golden drew Cockrum's old "X" logo on the tailfin.

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  2. @Matt: But more importantly -- this suddenly makes me wonder if the entity Destiny sensed approaching the Earth might have been the Impossible Man? The timing would make way more sense than it being the Beyonder.

    Huh. Never thought of that. It certainly makes sense, though I wonder if Claremont already knew at that point whether he'd be using Impossible Man in this annual.

    To my knowledge it only happened once, officially, at least.

    Double huh. I think you're right. Somehow I never noticed that all the random "Assistant Editor's Month" issues were all from the same year. *Forehead Slap*

    Maybe this issue, which based on your chronology was apparently released in close proximity to #177, represented his participation instead.

    That seems to be the case. Mike's Amazing World of Comics lists it as having a cover date of January 1984 (the same as issue #177) (though he has it being on the stands at the same time as issue #176, but there are other "Assistant Editor" books on sale at that time as well.

    It's really weird to me, though, that Claremont treated unpublished comics as if they were official canon.

    They're canon to him. ;)

    Seriously though, I wonder if he had an expectation (realistically or otherwise) that at least those Ms. Marvel stories would end up published, or that, at the very least, he could work that story into another issue as a flashback or something, and then just never got around to it.

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  3. "Quick, everyone! We can defeat the Impossible Man if we converge on him while running awkwardly!"

    I don't love the JRJr. cover, needless to say. And whoever colored it, adding just too much pink to Kitty's face, turned her into Jailbait Tart Hickey-Neckerchief X-Men Barbie.

    Which is the more egregious overwhelmingly bad idea — Impy pretending to be Galactus or Rogue wearing a sleeveless top? Consider that on the one hand Galactus is responsible for the destruction of Impy's homeworld, and that he's a figure guaranteed to draw instant antagonism from virtually any character who's aware of who Galactus is; on the other hand, Rogue — who later tells Colossus to stay away just because her full-body costume is torn — in a sleeveless top.

    I wonder how much Claremont was calling shots on the homage-to-Steranko page in the SHIELD helicarrier vs. Golden just running with it himself.

    The issue is much more entertaining in concept than in execution, I agree, but I remember liking it well enough at the time, before I was so discriminating about things like the difference between concept and execution. 8^)

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  4. As much as I like Golden's art, you're right that this isn't his finest effort. Claremont's joke delivery is just awful in this issue. I actually like the New Mutants Annual in which Impossible Man challenged Warlock to a shape shifting duel. Art Adams's efforts sold the whimsy.

    I have an irrational hatred for that last panel. I can't stand the stupid-looking bathing suit, the awkward body language, the way it's a total non-sequitur disconnected from the previous panels, Garfield, and the unfunny, moronic "ever-loving, ever-living end." Ugh. It's probably a little unhealthy to despise one panel of a comic so much...

    - Mike Loughlin

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  5. though it isn't announced as such, this makes the book part of "Assistant Editor's Month", an annual "event" at Marvel

    As Matt says, "Assistant Editors' Month" was a one-time thing.

    The last page looks to be lettered by an uncredited Rick Parker, by the way, a guess borne out by similar supposition at the GCD — which also suggests narrator and (assistant) editor Eliot R. Brown as the page's artist, although I think Parker himself is at least as likely.

    Kitty is wearing yet another new costume.

    It's sort-of a cross between her green-&-orange Ariel costume, particularly the weird "fairy-wing" face paint, and, in color scheme especially, as Matt points out, her upcoming Shadowcat costume.

    Kitty notes that even though White Queen is a villain, she wishes there was something the X-Men could do to help her, a sentiment that doesn't quite gel with later depictions of Kitty having always had a particular hatred of the White Queen.

    That struck me as weird, so I'm glad to have you concur.

    Wolverine and Kitty both note Storm's changing personality.

    I love how hilariously dated it is to see all the little subplots and continuity bits given lip-service exposition — Storm's personality shift, Rhodey as the novice Iron Man, Shaw's vow of a reckoning.

    There's also some business with Kitty and Illyana enjoying bomb pops in these final panels that may also constitute a further ill-advised attempt to sexualize the fourteen-year-olds, but I'd just as soon ignore all that.

    I almost certainly didn't catch that sexualization when reading it back in 1983, but it was inescapable now.

    Also, I'm giving Claremont demerits for referring to bomb pops as ice cream.

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  6. @Matt: this suddenly makes me wonder if the entity Destiny sensed approaching the Earth might have been the Impossible Man

    While that's a great No-Prize answer in retrospect, I highly doubt it was something that Claremont intended.

    @Matt: It's really weird to me, though, that Claremont treated unpublished comics as if they were official canon.

    Did he? Did he really? Or did he just forget that they were unpublished? 8^)

    @Teebore: Somehow I never noticed that all the random "Assistant Editor's Month" issues were all from the same year. *Forehead Slap*

    Forehead Slap is my new band name. Look for our new album, Head/Desk, wherever LPs and cassettes are sold.

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  7. In addition to the problems you mentioned, I also noticed that Illyana has 2 right feet in that last panel. Do I win a no-prize?

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  8. Magnum, P.I. strikes again! Don't tell Roberto.

    @Anonymous
    I have an irrational hatred for that last panel. I can't stand the stupid-looking bathing suit, the awkward body language, the way it's a total non-sequitur disconnected from the previous panels, Garfield, and the unfunny, moronic "ever-loving, ever-living end." Ugh. It's probably a little unhealthy to despise one panel of a comic so much...


    The only thing they forgot was "Nuff Said!"

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  9. Seriously though, I wonder if he had an expectation (realistically or otherwise) that at least those Ms. Marvel stories would end up published

    I've wondered whether he didn't just forget that they hadn't been. The cancellation was pretty messy and he appears to have written plots for them. Would he remember that they never came his way for the dialogue pass?

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  10. Technically, the events of this issues are considered to occur between the pages of X-Men #175, following Mastermind's defeat and before Scott and Madelyne's wedding

    Ooh, what makes you say that? Did I miss something in the comic proper, or has that come from somewhere else. I may have once more change my shifting timeline of gobsmacking lunacy.

    I'm with Blam and Abigail; it's entirely possible Claremont forgot was was and wasn't published. It's also possible he assumed everything he wrote would show up at some point in some form, and if not, he'd have extra story hooks to play with.

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  11. I stand by the general rule on X-Men Annuals: If it isn't Arthur Adams, it doesn't really count.

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  12. Were annuals ever considered something special? I know they exist to probably sell one more book to your reader base each year (business is business), but was there a point when they were taken a little more seriously by readers? Since they spun out of the Silver Age (a time before obsessive continuity and stories having to "matter") I'm guessing they were always kind of filler. Just curious if there was ever a point when they became more relevant to the overall book, if only temporarily.

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  13. @Dan

    They certainly weren't invariably throwaway. The 2001 New X-Men annual introduced Xorn, who, whatever else one might want to say about him, certainly made his mark.

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  14. There have always been annuals that were throw-away and there have always been those that weren't. I don't know that there was ever a conscious effort made at any level to insure that they were one or the other, though.

    In the 70's, I think Steve Englehart tied the Avengers annuals directly into his storylines, but I don't believe contemporaneous Amazing Spider-Man annuals had any bearing on the main series. Starting around the "Asgardian Wars" annuals, Chris Claremont seemed to try to tie his annuals directly into the ongoing series, though with mixed results.

    One of the biggest examples of an annual which had a major bearing on the ongoing series was the Spider-Man wedding in 1987. Peter and Mary Jane were married in that year's annual.

    But mostly, the majority of the annuals I remember from the 1980's and 90's were throw-away material. Some of them --usually rarely -- were very good throw-aways, but they rarely, if ever, had any bearing on the ongoing series. And when they did, it was usually just to address little continuity problems or conclude fizzled subplots. I'm not a big fan of Joe Quesada's Marvel, but I was happy when he did away with annuals, stating that they "weren't special anymore". He was completely correct!

    I think part of the reason that most annuals had little bearing on their ongoing series was distribution. A newsstant might carry every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, but they wouldn't necessarily order the annuals. Strangely, annuals were more filler than ever by the mid- to late-90's, when newsstand distribution was basically nonexistent anymore!

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  16. @Dan: One of my all-time favorite comics is Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 by Denny O'Neil and Frank Miller, although I'm forced to admit that it's not vital to Amazing at the time. It's actually several orders of magnitude better than O'Neil's writing on the main title, which leads me to believe it was probably written the Marvel way, with Miller having a ton of input. It's one of the best character studies of J. Jonah Jameson, the Punisher and Doctor Octopus that you'll ever read and has awesome Miller art to boot.

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  17. @Ian — I can't speak for Teebore, but Marvel usually gave out No-Prizes for spotting mistakes and then explaining them away (often with tortuous and/or tongue-in-cheek logic).

    @SpaceSquid — If John Cleese and Stephen Hawking ever co-wrote a book, it would totally be called My Shifting Timeline of Gobsmacking Lunacy.

    @Dan (et al.) — Annuals were a real push-pull for me as a kid in the '70s and '80s. While they were more expensive, they were also usually, as you say, relatively free from specific continuity and could be a fun way to sample a character/series I didn't follow. Sometimes they were padded, all-around lesser stuff, but often they involved guest-stars, interesting creators, and nifty back-up material. I was more of a DC kid than a Marvel kid — not always by much, in terms of my actual reading if not my inherent overall affinity for the specific Universes; DC annuals were pretty rare in the '70s due to reprints (which is what the earliest annuals contained) appearing regularly in treasury editions and 100-Page Super-Spectaculars, although they came raring back in the '80s with great, new, storyline-crucial material in New Teen Titans and All-Star Squadron or just spectacular standalone stories like, to name an obvious highlight, Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons' Superman Annual #11. Roy Thomas is responsible for some of my favorite annuals ever, as a young Golden Age buff, not only with Squadron at DC but at Marvel with Invaders Annual #1 and the Thing / Liberty Legion team-up in Marvel-Two-in-One Annual #1.

    @Matt — You're a little younger than I am, I think, but I see that your memory meshes with mine in terms of annuals tying in or not to the regular series on an individual basis. The only adjustment I would make is use of the term "throw-away material" for annuals that didn't, at least the quality ones; I loved a good standalone story with different artist (or a series of different artists) than one would usually see on a property.

    @Jeff — I remember getting Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 off the racks and not being disappointed in throwing down a whole 75¢ at all. Not only was there a decent story with Frank Miller / Klaus Janson art, there was a back-up feature measuring Spider-Man's strength against other Marvel characters' that really appealed to the 10-year-old me.

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  18. @Blam: "Quick, everyone! We can defeat the Impossible Man if we converge on him while running awkwardly!"

    If you can think of a better way, I'd like to hear it. ;)

    I don't love the JRJr. cover, needless to say.

    I'm clearly this blog's biggest JRJr. fan, and I don't love (or even like) this cover either.

    on the other hand, Rogue — who later tells Colossus to stay away just because her full-body costume is torn — in a sleeveless top.

    Indeed. You can't really call it a Claremontisms, because it's all visual (unless Claremont was giving his artists really specific instructions on the matter), but the idea of Rogue wearing ridiculously skimpy outfits given the concerns of her mutant power, even and especially in issues that later have her expressing concern over that power, gets repeated so often it's pretty much one of her defining characteristics, after "angsty about power", "Southern", and "skunk stripe".

    As Matt says, "Assistant Editors' Month" was a one-time thing.

    I still can't believe I never noticed that. #NerdFail.

    I love how hilariously dated it is to see all the little subplots and continuity bits given lip-service exposition — Storm's personality shift, Rhodey as the novice Iron Man, Shaw's vow of a reckoning.

    Obviously, the Marvel of the 80s was much more concerned about continuity bits like that than the Marvel of the Nows, but I also wonder how much of it is just because Claremont was concerned with stuff like that?

    Also, I'm giving Claremont demerits for referring to bomb pops as ice cream.

    So not the same thing.

    Did he? Did he really? Or did he just forget that they were unpublished?

    Ha!

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  19. @SpaceSquid: Ooh, what makes you say that?

    That's what the current edition of the Official Index to the Marvel Universe says. There isn't anything in the issue that explicitly says it takes place then, but I don't think there's anything that explicitly says it can't take place then, so that's good enough for me.

    @Mike: I have an irrational hatred for that last panel.

    I don't think there's anything irrational about it.

    @Ian: In addition to the problems you mentioned, I also noticed that Illyana has 2 right feet in that last panel. Do I win a no-prize?

    At the risk of sounding like one of the snarky Marvel editors from back in the day, Blam's right: you've got to offer an explanation for the mistake as well as catching it. :)

    @Jeff: I stand by the general rule on X-Men Annuals: If it isn't Arthur Adams, it doesn't really count.

    We'll have to see if the one drawn by Alan Davis holds up as well as I remember. That's the only one I can think of that might possibly challenge that rule (though I do have a certain nostalgic fondness for the one right before "The Muir Island Saga", simply because it was one of the only times you saw the Muir Island X-Men, such as they were, in action).

    @Dan: Just curious if there was ever a point when they became more relevant to the overall book, if only temporarily.

    The only thing I'll add to what everyone else has said is to point out the mid- to late 80s attempt by Marvel to make the annuals more relevant by making them all part of an ongoing, annual-only story (ie "The Evolutionary War") and then doing the same sort of thing in smaller batches across a family of titles (ie "Days of Future Present").

    The events of some of those annuals/stories had an impact on the main book, but not always. In any event, that was pretty much the heyday of attempts to make the annuals more than one-offs, fillers, or a vehicle for reprints.

    And then there was the 90s, when both Marvel and DC tried to use the annuals to launch new characters (complete with polybagged trading cards!). Your Genis-Vel's and Hitman's aside, few of them amounted to anything more than later event canon fodder, and the stories themselves were little more than filler in execution (there are exceptions, of course), but that was another attempt to do something different with the annuals.

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  20. The last time I remember Marvel Annuals having a theme was the late '90s. There was a year of Team-Up Annuals (Hulk/ Sub-Mariner, X-Men/ FF,etc.). The few I read we're underwhelming.

    DC had a number of Theme Annuals in the '90s: Armageddon 2001, Elseworlds, Pulp-style stories, etc. Some of them were alright, particularly the Pulp Annuals, although I seem to remember most of them being forgettable.

    Hmm... "remember most of them being forgettable..." Ah, you know what I mean.

    - Mike Loughlin

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  21. @Jeff: I stand by the general rule on X-Men Annuals: If it isn't Arthur Adams, it doesn't really count.

    

@Teebore: We'll have to see if the one drawn by Alan Davis holds up as well as I remember. That's the only one I can think of that might possibly challenge that rule

    My thoughts exactly... I wasn't even getting X-Men anymore when that annual came out, but the Davis & Neary art got me. Of course all I remember about it is Wolverine and Captain Britain getting drunk, or in the case of Wolverine attempting to get/stay drunk but metabolizing the beer too fast.

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  22. Found your blog this weekend and read through the entire Xaminations posted...great job! Wish I had found it earlier to join in on the Claremont/Byrne action.

    As far as this annual, it has to be one of the worst in X-Men history. I never bought it back in the day based on the cover alone and only read it once it was reprinted in Essential X-Men. I realize that most annuals are pretty throwaway but this one is really bad.

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  23. @Mike: DC had a number of Theme Annuals in the '90s: Armageddon 2001, Elseworlds, Pulp-style stories, etc.

    Don't forget the one where everyone turned into apes!

    @David: Found your blog this weekend and read through the entire Xaminations posted...great job!

    Thanks! And welcome to the blog. I'm impressed you were able to blow through the backlog in a weekend.

    I realize that most annuals are pretty throwaway but this one is really bad.

    Yep. It's the most throwaway issue in a batch of throwaway issues...

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  24. That White Queen reveal is one of the reasons that as a kid I was upset that Classic X-Men didn't do / reprint annuals. I couldn't connect the dots from the shot of her in a coma circa the Morlocks issue to her being back running the school in the (then contemporary) Uncanny 281. I had no context of this issue.

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