X-MEN versus APOCALYPSE
X-Cutioner's Song Part 5: Familiar Refrain (Marvel)
Where: Uncanny X-Men #295 When: December 1992 Why: Scott Lobdell How: Brandon Peterson

The Story So Far...
When mutant popstar Lina Cheney offers Professor Charles Xavier an opportunity to speak at a public concert for awareness and acceptance of mutants, she unwittingly provides the opportunity to spark a war between factions.
A daylight attempt on the Professor's life implicates the mysterious mutant soldier, Cable, as a traitor to his people, but unbeknownst to the X-Men he is merely the victim of a murder wrap through time!

Apocalypse too finds himself caught in the web of deceit when his Horsemen are deployed to attack the X-Men. In truth, they are following the order of the mysterious mutant liberator, Stryfe, whose machinations include the kidnap of X-Men mainstays, Cyclops and Jean Grey.

With the defeat of the Horsemen, the X-Men opt to pay a visit to the ancient mutant, whose recuperation from a previous battle had been prematurely interrupted by the emergence of Mr. Sinister as Stryfe's impostor. Though weak, Apocalypse remains all too happy to cull the weak from the fit, as he faces the X-Men in mortal combat in his own safehouse!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Colossus 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Beast 6 (Genius)
Speed: Quicksilver 6 (Mach Speeds)
Stamina: Apocalypse 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Ice Man 7 (Limitless)
Fighting Ability: Colossus 4 (Trained)
Energy Power: Storm 5 (Lasers)


- The X-Men are: Storm, Beast, Archangel, Colossus, Ice Man, and Quicksilver.

The emergence of the mutant X-gene brings with it mixed blessings as humanity finds itself confronted by the next stage in human evolution. As individuals begin to manifest inherent superhuman abilities, two men; Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr; find themselves at a philosophical crossroads where education would be concerned. In contrast to his counterpart, Xavier uses his family fortune to found the Charles Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, using his knowledge and powers to train and educate mutant pubescents struggling with their abilities.

Xavier's original class consisted of Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Bobby Drake, Hank McCoy, and Warren Worthington III, but would soon expand exponentially proportionate to team's activities as a covert paramilitary force protecting humanity from those who would misuse their power. Among the prominent new recruits; Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Storm, Rogue, Havok, Dazzler, Gambit, Emma Frost, and for a short time, even Magneto.

They fight to protect the very people who fear and hate them, defending against the menace of alien invasion, cosmic crisis, and the mutants who would use their gifts for evil. Regular enemies include; Magneto, Apocalypse, Sentinels, the Hellfire Club, Brotherhood of Mutants, Juggernaut, and other.

- The grey-skinned infant who would come to be known as Apocalypse was first dubbed En Sabah Nur by a tribe of nomadic warriors who found him abandoned in the desert. Taken-in by their leader, who believed him to be the destined subject of an ancient prophecy of upheavel against the powerful pharoah, Rama-Tut; En Sabah Nur was christened in the harsh environment of ancient Egypt's deserts, taught strength by the tribe's creed of survival of the fittest.

After overthrowing the time travelling pharoah, and stealing his technology, the immortal Apocalypse continued to amass power and fear in his dedication to the darwinist teachings of his adopted family. Hibernating through the decades; Apocalypse becomes a constant in time, ever surviving as he carves his name into human history and pursues the ideals of his philosophy of the strong.

Apocalypse uses the advanced technologies stolen from Rama-Tut to transform his subjects into nightmarish, mutant versions of their former selves. Among his most famous horsemen, Nathaniel Essex, whose biological research in the eighteenth century first introduces Apocalypse to the concept of mutants, who become his obsession as the ultimate evolution of the fit. His zealous dedication to the sub-species brings him into regular conflict with the X-Men, among other.

One of the most powerful beings on Earth Apocalypse is capable of: manipulating his physical form to a multitude of methods; healing and recovering from fatal wounds; producing massive amounts of raw energy; teleporting; and resisting physical attacks with superhuman strength. He is also the master of many advanced technologies which, combined with the knowledge of centuries, allow him to understand and foresee events with uncanny wisdom.

Math: X-Men (Ttl) Apocalypse (Avg) Ranking: Storm (#25)

What Went Down...
Prematurely awoken from his healing slumber by the Dark Riders; Apocalypse finds himself weak to the point of teetering near death, his superhuman body breaking as quickly as it heals the snapping bones and tearing organs. Almost delighted by his struggle, the everlasting mutant drags himself through the pouring rain toward the salvation of one of his many secluded refuges, ready to seek vengeance against the mysterious presence who would dare impersonate him.

Apocalypse arrives to discover his deceived Horsemen at the feet of the X-Men who defeated them. Believing Apocalypse to be responsible for the abduction of their teammates, Cyclops and Jean Grey, the group attacks their weakened foe, but do not find Apocalypse as helpless as he appears!

Wrapped in the rigid grip of suddenly forming ice; Apocalypse channels energy back to the source, flash frying Bobby Drake as he bursts his morphing body free of his shackles! He shatters the ice just as Beast bounds toward him, only to suffer the brunt of yet another explosion of energy!

The Beast's airborne trajectory is broken by Storm, who does her best to catch her stunned teammate, but finds herself hurtling out of control, out through a shattered window into the unruly elements outside.

An enraged Apocalypse calls Quicksilver's attentions away from the potential demise of his colleagues, demanding of the mutant's super speed that seems unable to process quick enough the extending fist of Apocalypse's offensive!

Colossus and Archangel dive on their nemesis with his shapeshifting limbs extended beyond practical defense. Archangel presses the razor edge of the very wings granted to him by Apocalypse at the tyrant's throat, while Colossus pins him with his mighty metallic muscle. Archangel grapples with his bitter hatred for the mutant who transformed him into the blue-skinned horseman of death, struggling with the desire to inflict a mortal blow.

Both Archangel and Colossus soon discover - the hard way - that Apocalypse chose to return to his refuge not for it's locale, but for the hidden technologies dispersed through it's infrastructure. Tapping into his hidden power source, Apocalypse channels the stored energies, sending his attackers sprawling with an explosion of energy and twisting tendrils from his malleable body!

Enjoying only temporary rejuvination, Apocalypse opts not to stoop to the "unseemly" ask of slaying an unconscious foe. Instead, he teleports away, satisfied to lament on his one minute victory against the X-Men, and his goal to uncover the identity of his impostor...

The Hammer...
Actually, according to Apocalypse himself, his victory comes in less than sixty seconds, but even if he was a little, it's impressive none the less!

As regular readers might have gathered, this is yet another belated entry as a result of our recent bold acknowledgment for the superiority of X-Men 2: Clone Wars as the greatest comic book adaptation in video game history!
Apocalypse marks yet another surprisingly overdue inclusion in the Infinite Wars, following up on our recent induction [Onslaught: X-Men #1] of the psionic mega-menace, Onslaught!

I suppose I've been on a bit of an X-kick, to be honest. I found myself going back to what little of the now classic 90's cartoons series was accessible. Usually when the X-Men are a subject of discussion on the Infinite Wars it's with a contemporary context full of prefaced distain and disappointment, but like so many others, I have a fond nostalgia for the early nineties X-Men too. Hence, our arrival at this junction in X-history.

Well, okay, I don't really have a huge amount to choose from, either, but I feel like this was around about the time of the swansong of the classic X-Men mystique (pardon the pun).

X-Cutioner's Song comes from a period of retroactive infamy, where editorial decision making is scrutinized as much as what's on the page. Stories like this one are as well known for their introduction of plot points as they are for the behind-the-scenes building blocks that offered lax intentions, like; the concept to have the X-Men face all of their enemies in a single crisis.

The mythos of the X-Men universe owes a lot to this particular story.
Lingering plotlines and details of the future-history of characters like Cable (and Stryfe) gained further clarification, while, from this past, a lasting legacy was born that would eventually further complicate matters in culminating with the death (and resurrection) of Colossus -- volunteer catalyst for the Legacy Virus cure.

Honestly, I'm getting a bit of a headache just talking about it, but I'm compelled to press on. As much as I would heap praise upon Grant Morrison's work with the X-franchise -- which took the established mythology of mutant societal issues, and forwarded it to a scenario that implied some passage of time from the X-Men's inception -- I have to acknowledge the defining qualities of the nineties!

In pushing and twisting the elements of this corner of the Marvel Universe, influences like Fabian Nicieza, Scott Lobdell, and even Rob Liefeld, achieved something modern comics fail to! For all their grand designs, documented tweaks and interruptions in the writing process let many of these comics adapt on the fly. Consequently, every muscle cringing mistake brings an action-packed twist or moment that is worth remembering.

I'm glad we have these relics to look back upon. I hope this industry, that has become so presently focused in it's bid to survive, can again generate self-wealth from the annals of it's mythology. I hope fans can come to value the back issues and find them in their local comic store, and buy them! Not just in collected form, but in their original presentation, because I think this format is just one of the treats of the medium as it was.
While I do believe there is room for compromise, I would not change the heavy plotting and character driven density that has populated modern comics. I would just ask that we remember the fun times, and maybe even learn from them, too.

Apocalypse, despite being a relatively young creation, now ranks among the very best villains Marvel Comics has to offer. Alas; like his 1960's counterparts; Apocalypse has suffered the indiscretions of time, and like so many villains in the X-corner, bares little resemblence to his former-self under the weight of dishonorable shifts in the character's history.

Granted, Apocalypse can be a difficult character to fairly serve, given the grandios designs of a mutant who would have sizable portions of the world's population culled in an instant. While stories like Age of Apocalypse gave opportunity to render brief glimpses of what this character might look like within his fullest capacity, subsequent tales have struggled to contort around this potential, baring the bitter fruit of transformations, deaths, and aborted motivations.

So much time is spent apologising for the existence of characters to the point of denying the very traits and definitions that made them. It is a fine line between longevity and irreversible deconstruction, but where characters like Apocalypse are concerned, less is clearly more. At least in terms of defining the character as it exists by rule of it's actions.

Focus on the summary of the battle, because clearly diving into early nineties X-Men has driven me insane. Enjoy the presence of these icons that we know, love, and recognise. I'm not sure I could critically describe them as good comics, but somehow, even through the illintent of contrived plot twists, they work.

The Fight: 5 The Issue: 4.5

It's a relative certainty that villains will suffer a greater number of defeats than heroes, so it's pretty neat that Apocalypse joins us as one of the strong, with a victory! If you'd like to celebrate this occasion you might like to pick up the collected X-Cutioner's Song, which also features the machinations of Stryfe, which may or may not show up in the Infinite Wars again some time!
Need to consume more to prove your worth to the darwinist rule of mutant madmen? Why not hit up the fittest of all the online stores, the Infinite Wars Amazonian Gift Shoppe, where you'll find collected editions featuring all the stories reviewed on the site! Hey, by purchasing through links provide, you ensure the survival of the site! Mmm, appeasing!

SINISTER versus THE X-MEN
The Tempest: Part 4 (Marvel comics)
Where: Ultimate X-Men #49 When: September 2004
Why: Brian K Vaughan How: Brandon Peterson

The story so far...
A mysterious serial killer called Sinister has been murdering mutants throughout the Manhattan district, raising the concerns of the X-Men. Though reluctant, Professor Charles Xavier solicits the deployment of six of his most notable and seasoned students in the pursuit of the killer.

Though Wolverine and Storm track Sinister to his lair, they are horrified to discover the killer has already eluded them, and unbeknownst to the youthful X-Men left behind, he's coming for them.

Unable to detect Sinister's presence, Professor X is unable to prepare his mutants for the threat that is coming for them. Dazzler, Angel, Kitty Pryde, Rogue and Ice Man will have to fend for themselves, or die trying.

Previous Form:
Angel (#36): Has defied logic to be ranked inside the top 300.
Iceman (#42): Aided Beast in the defeat of the Lizard.
Kitty Pryde (#50): Defeated a Hydra posessed Wolverine with lethal results.
Rogue (#54): Led the X-Men to a defeat against Nimrod.
Sinister & Dazzler: Each making their first appearances in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Rogue 5 (Super Strength)
Intelligence: Sinister 6 (Genius)
Speed: Rogue 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Sinister 6 (Generator)
Agility: Ice Man 7 (Unlimited)
Fighting Ability: Kitty Pryde 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Professor X 6 (Mass Destruction)


Some of the more astute readers of the Infinite Wars will have noted the absence of Ultimate Marvel titles, and perhaps even reached the deduction that I have a particular distain for them. While that wouldn't be far from the truth, we finally prepare to usher in this new take on Marvel's merry mutants.

For the most part these X-Men resemble their aged counterparts, lacking only the lengthy experience and control over their powers otherwise attained by the originals. That said, they remain a potent force to be sure, even with Angel dragging the team down.

The exact extent of Sinister's abilities are potentially untested, but there are noteworthy differences in the offensive of this character. Gone is the Darwinist mad scientist of immense intellect, in his stead, an ex-Oscorp employee who may very well have gone completely insane.

Believing he is in the servitude of one Lord Apocalypse, he uses good old fashioned .45 pistols to do his mutant hunting, with the added bonus of an ability to avoid detection, and a telepathic influence graphically represented by the classic red diamond on his forehead. It is something of an evil eye, one might say, allowing him hypnotic influence over his subjects.

These powers all make Ultimate Sinister a worthy adversary, but against the likes of Rogue, you have to wonder how far he's going to get.

Recalling the long hours spent in the danger room, this team of mutants has a well rounded foundation of powers to call upon in the name of team work.
Iceman provides a strong offensive/defensive role, capable of both protecting his fellows with icey walls, while also attacking with shrapnel attacks, and his own icey, rocky exterior. On the projectile front, Dazzler also brings her colourful pyrokinetics to the game.

Kitty Pryde's phasing powers potentially provided an elusive defensive for the team, being that she can share intangibility with whomever she comes in contact with. If unwilling to attempt to phase-attack Sinister for fear of succumbing to his evil eye, she can at the very least ensure the ammunition rounds of his forty-fives don't hit their marks.

Finally, there's Rogue, who even without the Ms. Marvel capabilities of her counterpart, remains a threat capable of gaining energy and abilities at the expense of her opponent. The only question concerning Rogue's power stealing, is whether or not she can cope with the dark insanity of Sinister's mind.

Professor Xavier is counted, but absent for the majority of this battle, falling victim to Sinister's brutality before the game really begins. Apparently immune to Xavier's telepathy, Sinister exploits the most mundane weakness in Xavier's arsenal -- stairs.

Angel is present, and summarily useless.
His mutant power? The ability to fly away.

The Math: X-Men (Total) Sinister (Average)
The Pick: The X-Men

What went down...
Sneaking in to the mansion undetected, Sinister counters Xavier's telepathic suggestion with his own, wealing the apparently helpless mutant out into the hall only to dump him down a staircase.

Ready to murder the battered mentor, Sinister is discovered with pistols drawn by the icey Bobby Drake -- Iceman! He calls Sinister to freeze, utilizing his mutant gifts to gather a frost around Sinister's hands, to freeze them.

Sinister shoots his way out of his freezing restraints, and continues the hail of bullets, striking Iceman in the chest! The ammunition cracks and shatters his chiseled chest with an explosion of ice!

Rogue wanders out of a hall to witness the shocking event, too shocked to avoid another two-shots from Sinister's guns. Even so, both she and Sinister are stunned to find her unharmed, until the hand of Kitty Pryde slides it's way up Rogue's leg from the floor.

Shadowcat drags her fellow X-Man down through the floor, pulling her to safety in the level below. Alone, Sinister begins the hunt again, relishing their resistence as though it were meaningless sport.

As he charges through the mansion, his guns are suddenly knocking from his hands by the swipe of feathered resistance. The unhinged man finds himself on one knee, bowing before an angel of earth -- Warren Worthington III.

Angel takes a superior attitude, surprised to find himself unafraid of Sinister once disarmed. Unfortunately for him, Sinister has tricks up his sleeves, and Angel finds himself the victim of his telepathic suggestion. He compells Angel to do the unthinkable -- choke himself!

Angel drops to the ground gasping for air as he crushes at his own windpipe.

Sinister gives a brief sermon on his interests in evolution, and beliefs in reincarnation rather than heavens and hells. Before he can satisfy his biological curiosities he's blasted through a window by a volley of coloured beams!

Freed of Sinister's suggestion, Angel finds himself rescued by tearaway student - Dazzler!
The punk rock plasma chick leaves Angel to finish Sinister off for daring to invade their mansion. Before she can strike the finishing blow, Sinister counters, wrapping her arms behind her back in a cobra clutch, whilst drawing a blade from concealment.

He puts the knife to her throat, sharing the prospect of finding out what colours she has inside of her, when a stand off is reached.

Believing Iceman to be dead, Rogue holds one of Sinister's own guns on him with the intent to fullfil an eye for an eye. Fortunately for Sinister, Kitty Pryde phases through the floor to join Angel's pleas for peace, informing her Iceman suffered a broken rib or two at best, his ice absorbing the impact of the gunshots.

With a potentially lethal hostage situation still before them, Rogue insists on taking the shot, much to the dismay of Worthington. Loathed at an X-Man taking a life, he grabs Rogue by the arm, catching the gap between her long glove, and short sleeved t-shirt.

The contact proves sufficient for Rogue to begin sprouting giant angel wings from her back, while Angel drops to the ground, suffering the sapping effects.

Sinister takes pleasure in the girl's inadvertent skill to incapacitate her fellows, provoking her rages further. She leaps from the window, swooping down to snatch Sinister by the shirt, to drag him into the air.

Asking for a reason not to drop him to his demise, Rogue soon learns the depth of Sinister's insanity. With glowing red eyes, Sinister dares her to drop him, influencing her with his powers of suggestion, believing he has the greater odds of survival, perhaps by way of further powers of invulnerability or healing.

Fortunately, as Rogue begins to fall under the evil charms, Storm descends, having arrived by Blackbird with the other mutants who had been sent to the city to track Sinister. She summons a mighty storm, breaking through the suggestion with clarity and confidence. She compells the southern belle to abandon her bloodlust, and return to Earth before her borrowed wings expire.

Though it takes some doing, Storm finally talks Rogue down from the edge of murder. Though Sinister continues to try to influence the young girls decision, she proves strong enough to resist, content with knocking him out with a stiff shot, before she and Storm return him to terra firma.

A few hours later, Nick Fury and his SHIELD operatives arrive to take Sinister into custody. While locked in the SHIELD Triskelion detainment centre, Sinister has a visit from his master, Apocalypse. Emerging from the shadows, the Lord asks of his unworthy servant suffocation.

Crazy, or frighteningly real?

The hammer...
With the assist from her fellows, Rogue leads the X-Men to victory over the mansion incursion of Sinister!

Y'know, this is kinda like having all the planets in perfect alignment. This entry represents a rare occurance for the Infinite Wars. One, I've indulged in reviewing an issue of an Ultimate title, and two, it's an X-book! Rare are the days when I would be compelled to review such genres outside of some kind of forced and labored theme.

Of all the things to lead to this conclusion, a restless late night viewing of a few episodes of the 1990's X-Men cartoon, and some scenes from the Brett Ratner directed, X-Men 3. Though each have their fanbases, they're not typically what I think you'd expect to provoke decision making on a blog like this.

It was the notable downscaling of the Rogue character in X3, and her Jim Lee inspired prominence in the cartoon that really brought me to this title.
As far as I know she's absorbed some of her Age of Apocalypse style role, currently serving as a team leader for the team in the adjectiveless title.

Even so, while watching the cartoon it occurred to me that Rogue isn't the character she used to be. I mean, particularly out of the eighties and into the nineties, Rogue got to be a pretty big deal! Rogue was a character you'd find on lunchboxes and in lists of kid's favourite superheroes, whereas now, even for her elevated status, it feels to me that the character has slipped into relative obscurity.

Perhaps that's mostly a symptom of her core association with the X-Men.
We've discussed before my feelings on the progression of the X-Men in the years post-Grant Morrison, which I feel have been a drastic series of steps backward. [New X-Men #124, #150]

On a whole, I would say the X-franchise has been generally squandered to the point of total irrelevance. Only through the integration of a character like Wolverine, who serves up a six degrees of Kevin Bacon special by officially joining up with the Avengers, do the X-Men even really hit my radar.

It's probably an even sadder occasion when Angel is one of your most prominent characters, earning some spotlight through his appearances in Incredible Hulk for the World War Hulk crossover event. I mean really, Angel?!

I suppose it's fair enough to say the movement of popular stories is cyclical, and attentions have been redirected to titles that were suffering during the X-Men's previous reign of prominence. Certainly the Avengers is a prime example of the shift in vitality, bringing those characters to the forefront in a way the X-Men seemed to be for large sections of the passed decade.

Also in mind, the discussion regarding feminine concerns in comics that perpetuates many niche movements in the blogosphere. While my interests are limited, it's a subject we've touched upon before [Spider-man Family #1, New Avengers #27, Superman/Batman #15], albeit also in the hopes of getting a link on When Fangirls Attack, because let's be honest: The hits wouldn't hurt!

Something that's always attracted me in particular to the Rogue character, apart from the skin-tight yellow and green spandex bodysuit, was the fact that her character was relatively well developed within and of itself.
It seems to be typical of super heroines to be excessively derivative of existing properties, often spinning out of male counterparts. Even at the best of times these characters struggle to maintain my interests, often suffering in general.

Supergirl is probably a prime example of an unconfident and confused approach to a character inherently weakened by a redundancy complex. Without getting cringe worthy tales of super menstruation, you struggle to imagine anything unique coming from a bubbly young Kryptonian girl that hasn't already been approached with the Smallville tales of a young Kal-el.

Something the mutant women have always exceeded at is outdoing those constraints, with characters like Rogue certainly owing a lot to the creative influence of Chris Claremont. With X-Men as a vehicle, Claremont seemed to successfully champion original female characters, notching up other noteworthy works with Storm, Jean Grey and perhaps the most beloved, Kitty Pryde.

It's hard to say whether there's really any basis of mysoginism here, or if it's just a case of cheap and easy writing.

The X-brand affords a writer the creative hook of imagining a specific fantastic ability. With it instantly comes all the conceptual baggage, good and bad, of mutant society, making for a very simple, one-step hook that appears unique on it's own merits.

It more efficiently serves the purpose of spinning a character out of Superman, or the Hulk, or Batman, or Captain Marvel. Instantly granting a character a sense of identity, without distracting or lending the concept to lesser interpretations based purely on a big red S, or green hair.

Rogue definitely remains a great example of how the mutant hook presented a fairly basic slate of an idea, but eventually expanded it through the tugs and pulls inherent to that universe. It took some time, but like a Scarlet Witch, Rogue grew beyond the timid and uncertain young girl, to join the more assertive and well defined characters.

Seen here, developments derivative of the character conflicts Rogue experienced under the guidance of writers like Claremont. Rogue grapples with emotional concerns regarding her powers, and how her interactions with her friends can be potentially dangerous; while also struggling with her own rages and connection to the dark side. Certianly her association with Mystique in the core universe a defining quality to her interpretations here, and even in something like the X-Men: Evolution cartoon.

Layers like these have made Rogue one of the enduring characters to come from the 1980s. I only hope she becomes that significant, to me, again.

The Fight: 3.5 The Issue: 4
[Vaughan fails to fullfil the excellence expected of his less mainstream projects, but competently lives up to the contemporary styles of the Ultimate brand. Skims over character, falling a little 2D as it grabs at broad strokes of concepts.]

NOTE: Prof. X also takes a defeat. Storm's involvement, inconsequential.