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Wednesday, January 27, 2021

X-amining Uncanny X-Men #334

"Dark Horizon"
July 1996

In a Nutshell
Juggernaut arrives at the X-Mansion seeking Jean Grey's help

Writer: Scott Lobdell
Penciler: Joe Madureira
Inkers: Tim Townsend
Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Colors & Enhancements: Steve Buccellato Team Bucce
Editor: Bob Harras

Plot
Juggernaut arrives on the grounds of the X-Mansion, hiding in the lake while he waits for Cyclops & Jean to return home. Meanwhile, Bishop & Gambit are working to repair Cerebro when they hear an alarm triggered by Juggernaut and leave to investigate. Cyclops is working out in the Danger Room when Jean interrupts, announcing she had an encounter with Onslaught. In Colorado, Archangel & Psylocke try to contact the X-Men but are unable to do so, prompting them to return to the mansion. In Xavier's study, Cannonball expresses his frustrations & doubts since joining the X-Men, but Professor X doesn't really entertain them and coolly dismisses Cannonball. Outside, Gambit & Bishop discover Juggernaut, who quickly knocks out both of them. In the infirmary, Dark Beast is checking out the newly-devolved Wolverine, but under increased scrutiny, he accidentally loosen the restraints, allowing Wolverine to run off on his own. Storm considers following him, but is stopped by Cannonball, who thinks they need to talk about Professor X. At a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Bastion meets with Graydon Creed, admonishing him for his attempted assassination of Senator Kelly. Meanwhile, Jean returns to the boat house to find Juggernaut waiting for her; he removes his helmet to prove his sincerity at needing her help. In the mansion, Xavier performs an impromptu test on Cyclops, raising Cyclops' suspicions, while far beneath the mansion, Jean leads Juggernaut into the Z'Nox chamber, where she can safely explore his mind to learn the secret of Onslaught...

Firsts and Other Notables
Picking up more or less directly from X-Men #53, this issue continues to move the X-Men into place for the launch of "Onslaught" next month, and features a bunch of hints towards Onslaught's true identity (some, obviously, are more apparent than others with the benefit of hindsight). 

Most of these come in the form of a series of encounters various X-Men have with Professor X in this issue, or in seemingly-offhand dialogue referencing dialogue. First, Xavier has no interest assuaging Cannonball’s (well-founded) concerns that’s he been a screw up since getting promoted to the X-Men, essentially telling him to deal with or GTFO, Xavier don’t care (in this exchange, Professor X also obliquely references the death of Dennis Hogan, the young mutant beaten to death near the mansion in X-Men Prime #1, which will be cited as one of the moments which fed into Onslaught's creation. 


Later, Professor X basically punks Cyclops in the name of a training exercise, doing the whole "tell him something horrible in a way that seems genuine, then say 'just kidding' and play it all off like a joke" routine by telling him he's a failure, etc. 


Gambit also notes the oddity of Professor X not being able to help Bishop straighten out his AoA memories when someone like Sinister could (as seen in X-Men #52), while Jean, upon returning to the mansion, instinctively resists looping in Xavier. 


There's a sequence in which Professor X ruminates on his encounter with Nate Grey and notes how Nate's ability to pull Xavier from the Astral plane in X-Man #9 was a turning point for Xavier; this is later said to be the mechanism which enabled the psychic entity of Onslaught to take physical form.


At the end of the issue, Jean takes Juggernaut to the psi-shielded Z’Nox chamber beneath the school, previously referenced in X-Men #53; it will play an important role in the kickoff to the crossover. 


Bishop is repairing Cerebro after X-Men #51 and noted the technology is pretty much the same as tech in his era, leaving him to ponder what disaster could have led to technological development stalling out like that; this is presumably a reference to Onslaught and the fact that Bishop will stop him from destroying the X-Men, thereby averting the future timeline from which Bishop hails (where technology got stuck after Onslaught’s attack).


A Work in Progress
Juggernaut is able to just hang out underwater without issue (which makes sense, I guess, I just never thought of applying his invulnerability in that way).


I love that Jean returns from her encounter with Onslaught in X-Men #53 with her clothes destroyed but still carrying her shopping bags.


She also notes that her memories of the encounter are fading with time.


Psylocke & Archangel are unable to contact the mansion via telepathic or technological means, prompting a return visit to the school.


Gambit meets Juggernaut for the first time.


Dark Beast worries he’ll soon be found out, and marvels at all the X-Men rely on Beast to do.


Storm is wearing her new costume she adopted in her limited series. Also, Cannonball shouldn’t really be able to just hover.


Bastion (looking more on model now that Joe Mad is drawing him) browbeats Graydon Creed for attempting to assassinate Senator Kelly last issue.


For Sale
There's an ad for The Phantom, one of the movies Hollywood put out in the wake of 1989's Batman, when they had decided its commercial success meant audiences wanted more movies about 30s era pulp characters as opposed to, you know, superheroes.


Bullpen Bulletins
A new Bullpen Bulletins page launches this month, replacing the specific X-line "X-Facts" page as the era of the editorial silos/five Editor-in-Chiefs continues to crumble; the new bulletin highlights all the books across Marvel on sale in the current and following week. 


Beginning this month, each X-Book also features an "Onslaught update", which highlights the various teases and drips of information put out since the end of "Age of Apocalypse (many of the events highlighted here come with some variation of “no apparent reason...” to explain why they happened, like Gateway briefly abducting Chamber for Onslaught then returning him, which doesn't bode well for the cohesiveness of the crossover's narrative). 


Austin's Analysis
The run-up to "Onslaught" continues to intensify, as the two X-Men titles essentially shift into crossover mode to tell one unfolding story between them - there aren't numbered chapters on the cover of last month's and this month's Uncanny and Adjectiveless issues, but there might as well be, for the way the events of each issue lead directly into the next (and, in turn, to Onslaught: X-Men and the proper kickoff of the crossover), with Jean returning to the mansion following her encounter with Onslaught in X-Men #53 at roughly the same time as Juggernaut arrives after storming out of Archangel's house. Appropriately enough, the ensuing tone is one of mounting dread, as Lobdell leans into the original idea that inspired the forthcoming storyline (a being so powerful it scares even Juggernaut), by presenting a Juggernaut who can casually toss aside the X-Men he encounters, but remains a man driven by fear to get at the secret buried in his skull, who finds an unlikely ally in the increasingly uneasy Jean Grey. 

Meanwhile, the pervasive feeling of something being off is underscored by a series of interactions between Professor X and various X-Men; Lobdell doesn't quite tip his hand, but there's enough on the page to raise an eyebrow or two. And all throughout, Madureira, usually a fairly colorful & bombastic artist, shows himself equally adept at establishing a disquieting mood, using shadows & unusual sources of light (Xavier's fireplace, the weird futuristic energy pods on the bottom of Gambit & Bishop's sea sled thingy) to perpetuate the feelings of dread and underscore the sensation that something is off. All in all, it's an effective display of tone & mood, an issue which draws the tension ever tighter as the narrative draws closer to its release point. 

Next Issue
Tomorrow, X-Factor adjusts to the new Sabretooth in their midst in X-Factor #124. Friday, Nate battles Holocaust some more in X-Man #17. Next week, X-Men (vol. 2) #54!

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10 comments:

  1. "Mounting dread" is exactly the feeling I get from this issue, too. The fact that it's all set at night, the moody work from Madureira, the X-Men's sometimes unconscious aversion to Xavier... I love Bishop's line when the perimeter alarm goes off that he's glad, because he doesn't like where Gambit's line of thinking is headed. "Onslaught" may have been a mess, but the setup, in these few issues of X-MEN and UNCANNY, is outstanding.

    In comments on a previous issue, I noted that Madureira had removed the dumb thigh straps from Cyclops's costume -- but this is the issue where I actually noticed it way back when, in that first shot of him training in the Danger Room.

    Narration states that Cyclops isn't really into the Danger Room's holographic features, and that he prefers the old-fashioned traps. This seems to be Lobdell channeling some of his own opinions into the story, as he is on record as hating the Shi'ar tech. I once saw where he said he was pretty sure he never used the holograms during his run -- which isn't true, but he did seem to use them sparingly.

    "Juggernaut is able to just hang out underwater without issue (which makes sense, I guess, I just never thought of applying his invulnerability in that way)."

    In AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 229, Juggernaut and Black Tom are hanging out on a boat in New York Harbor. Juggernaut gets antsy for some action and walks off the boat into the water, then walks across the ocean floor to Manhattan. I wonder if Lobdell and Madureira were thinking of that story when they came up with this scene?

    "Dark Beast worries he’ll soon be found out, and marvels at all the X-Men rely on Beast to do."

    This line has cracked me up for decades. Really just hangs a lampshade on the absurdity of Marvel's "science guys" like Beast, Mr. Fantastic, and even Spider-Man to just master "science" in general rather than having a dedicated field. Hank Pym is an entomologist who builds robots in his spare time!!

    (Also, this would've been a good opportunity for them to tie in with that Hardee's promotion you looked at last week: "It is as if the X-Men looked to him for everything from battle scenarios, tech-support and medical evaluations to studying the Legacy Virus! Somebody said he even built a time machine?!")

    "There's an ad for The Phantom, one of the movies Hollywood put out in the wake of 1989's Batman, when they had decided its commercial success meant audiences wanted more movies about 30s era pulp characters as opposed to, you know, superheroes."

    I really liked this movie at the time, though. And my dad loved it. He was not into super heroes at all, but used to read the Phantom newspaper strip when he was a kid. I think he even has the Blu-Ray! This is one of those things where I have a very distinct memory of going to see the movie with my whole family.

    "...with Jean returning to the mansion following her encounter with Onslaught in X-Men #53 at roughly the same time as Juggernaut arrives after storming out of Archangel's house."

    Something seems a little off about this timing. Juggenaut traveled from Colorado to New York while Jean was downtown doing some shopping??

    "Madureira [...] shows himself equally adept at establishing a disquieting mood, using shadows & unusual sources of light [...] to perpetuate the feelings of dread and underscore the sensation that something is off."

    I'm totally with you on this. The fact he was able to do this sort of thing when he was 22 years old is astounding. I mean, he has to be some kind of artistic genius. Look at stuff John Byrne or Frank Miller did at that age, and while it's good, there's a ton of room for improvement. Madureira is, like, fully formed at this point.

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    1. Forgot to mention -- I'm afraid you got the story title wrong. While "The Juggernaut!" appears in nice, big bold letters on the first page, the title "Dark Horizon" is up there above the splash image.

      (I had the same experience reading this the other night, by the way.)

      Also, this reminds me of something I didn't mention with regards to Madureira's art here. I love what he does with the first page, giving it those black "letterbox" bars at top and bottom. It adds to that whole ominous vibe discussed above.

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    2. This seems to be Lobdell channeling some of his own opinions into the story, as he is on record as hating the Shi'ar tech.

      Huh. I did not know that.

      I really liked this movie at the time, though.

      I have actually never seen PHANTOM, but my snarky comment aside, there are some movies that came about as part of that "let's adapt comic strip and pulp characters from the 30s!" push that I genuinely enjoy to this day: I was mildly obsessed with DICK TRACY when it came out and still get a kick out of it today, and I adore THE ROCKETEER, then and now.

      Something seems a little off about this timing. Juggenaut traveled from Colorado to New York while Jean was downtown doing some shopping??

      Yeah, I almost called that out, but I figured it was just a case of two differently-timed narratives taking place in the same issue - like the Psylocke/Archangel stuff wasn't taking place at the same time as Jean's shopping trip, but a few hours before (at least, however many hours it would take for Juggernaut to go from Colorado to New York in order to arrive just before Jean).

      While "The Juggernaut!" appears in nice, big bold letters on the first page, the title "Dark Horizon" is up there above the splash image.

      D'oh! So it is. Thanks, I fixed it in the post.

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    3. Lobdell states his dislike for the Shi'ar technology in this Comic Book Legends Revealed article discussing his originally planned ending for "Operation: Zero Tolerance" (which, I must say, sounds like a way more exciting climax than what we actually got).

      The pertinent quote:

      "I HATE and have ALWAYS HATED the DANGER ROOM HOLOGRAPHIC TECHNOLOGY. I am pretty certain I NEVER used it during my entire run...and I certainly never opened up with a DANGER ROOM HOLOGRAPHIC PROGRAM in order to fake out readers. Brrr!"

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    4. I heartily agree that the THE ROCKETEER is indeed an awesome movie. It's not based on a comic-strip or a 1930s pulp character, though. It's based on Dave Stevens' creator-owned superhero comic "The Rocketeer," published circa 1982. (The comic is set in the 1930s, of course, just like the film.)

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    5. Also ... sorry to put on the Entitled Fanboy hat on for just a moment, but ...

      A big "wow" to the self-righteousness coming off of Lobdell in waves in his comment about not using a Danger Room hologram to fake out the reader. Are his integrity and his respect for X-Men readers to what we should also credit Lobdell's participation in at least a half-dozen hacked-out X-crossovers conceived for no other purpose than to manipulate the fans into parting with increasingly more money? How many individual parts was "Onslaught" again? Twenty-eight?

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  2. This was one of the first X-Men comics I ever read and I have great memories of it. Joe Mad at his best.

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  3. The text on the cover really kind of hides the looming shadow of Juggernaut and ruins the effect. Which is a shame, cuz it's a really good cover.

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  4. The pulp movie boomlet is definitely every studio (that's not WB/DC) scraping the barrel for old IP whose rights aren't tied up. The winner was whoever started making current Dark Horse comics into movies like The Mask.

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  5. I have always loved the panel of Gambit seeing Juggernaut looking up at him from under the water.

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