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X-Treme X-Men # 026
"God Loves, Man Kills II"
Part 2 of 6 |
Rating:
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Writer:
Chris Claremont
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Penciller:
Igor Kordey
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Key Events
- Peter and Illyana appear. Kinda.
- Introduction of Mount Haven
Questions Raised
- What does Stryker want with Kitty?
- What sort of history do Sage and Wolverine have?
- Who is Mount Haven and what is their role? Are they Stryker's real target?
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Inker:
Scott Hanna
| Colours:
Liquid! |
Letterer:
Tom Orzechowski
| Editor:
Mike Raicht |
EIC:
Joe Quesada
| Date:
July 2003 |
| Featuring:
Kitty, Storm, Bishop, Sage, Wolverine, Cannonball |
| Versus:
Stryker, Deathstrike, Stryker's flunkies |
Quick Synopsis:
Storm and Bishop arrive and, with the help of the seemingly incapacitated X-Men, turn the tide and take their attackers captive. Kitty is being held by Stryker who is trying to manipulate her into joining forces with him. He's thus far unsuccessful, but is convinced that he will in the end because he's doing God's work. They are also monitoring a group called Mount Haven. When Deathstrike "jacks in" to check on the surveillance, she meets and is easily driven off by a member of that group. Sage convinces the soldiers to confess they were sent by Stryker. It turns out that Deathstrike was "hacked" in her cyber encounter with Mount Haven and her body begins attacking everyone on her way towards Stryker. Her mind is free, although not in control, and she shouts a warning to Stryker before she reaches him. Stryker orders his soldiers to kill Deathstrike and grabs an almost comatose Kitty. The two phase away just in time.
Full Synopsis:
Picking up where we left off last issue, the soldiers state that they have been ordered to not take any prisoners, unfortunately for Sage. Before they can pull the trigger, Bishop shoots them. Storm reminds Bishop that they need prisoners for questioning, but since they took out the other X-Men so easily, Bishop doesn't think that's such a wise idea. The soldiers don't plan to wait around to see which X-Man wins and they fire small homing missles at Storm. She takes out two with a mini-tornado, but still has three coming after her. They're too far apart for her to use the same trick, so she resorts to lowering the temperature and icing them up. Another barrage are closing fast so she zaps them with lightning but one sneaks by and Storm's hit, rapidly falling from the sky. Meanwhile, Bishop absorbs the energy being fired at him and easily evades their nets and "gum balls" that were so effective on Wolverine. Cannonball sees Storm falling but he's still caught up in the net. Sage, lying forgotten while the soldiers fight with Bishop, pulls Sam over to Wolverine. With claws extended and Sam placed at exactly the right angle by Sage, the net is cut and Cannonball just manages to reach Storm before she hits the ground. Storm wakes up and, noting that technology is the soldiers' only advantage, fries their circuitry.
Kitty has also woken up. She's in a cell, unsure of who her attackers are but guessing that since she's still alive they must want something. She meditates but is surprised when her thoughts begin to take on substance. She is confronted with a half-dozen images of herself, ranging from how she was to who she might have been. Her younger self begins shouting accusations at Kitty for destroying her dreams, and is soon joined by potential future selves. Kitty is feeling overwhelmed when an image of Stryker appears, quoting scripture about redemption and rebirth. He extends his hand to her, and she calls him "Daddy". Before Kitty can go to him, her attention is drawn to an image of Illyana. Illyana chastizes Kitty. Colossus joins in; Stryker does not appear to be aware of either of them. With Illyana and Peter's words to give her strength, Kitty moves to attack Stryker. She phases through him and is shocked unconscious again.
The real Stryker (the other Stryker appearing to be a projection of some sort) and Deathstrike watch the action unfold. Deathstrike says that they're having trouble breaking Kitty, but Stryker is utterly convinced that it's only a matter of time -- after all, he's doing God's work. He orders that they start again on Kitty.
Deathstrike, manipulating her fingers into plugs, jacks directly into the Internet and goes to check on a unit they've dispatched to run surveillance on an organization called Mount Haven. She finds that their agents have all been killed. The killer is an member of Mount Haven. He offers Deathstrike salvation, but she violently refuses. She's unable to touch him, and he says that she doesn't really have a choice. Deathstrike is able to disconnect just in time.
The X-Men need information, and it's up to Sage to get it. She does so with distburbing ease. They confirm that Stryker's group never disbanded and that they are one of several units that have been reactivated. The X-Men wonder why Stryker would risk violating his chance for appeals and parole by escaping, but can't come up with anything specifically important enough to provoke him into action at this time.
When her claws begin to extend of their own volition, Deathstrike realizes that she's no longer in control of her own body. She starts to kill any and everybody on her way to Stryker, but is able to shout a warning before telling him to kill her since she can't stop herself. Stryker tells his soldiers to do just that, knowing that they don't stand a chance. He runs into Kitty's cell, revealing that he's wearing a metal collar around his neck. Kitty is almost comatose. Stryker puts an identical collar around her neck as well, and the collars spread out to become some sort of steel armour that covers the entire body. He and Kitty phase through a nearby wall. Deathstrike says she knows that her body will stop at nothing to kill Stryker.
| Review:
I'm immediately biased towards this book due to the cover. I absolutely adore that picture of Kitty. So much so, in fact, that I'm already working on turning it into a new desktop wallpaper. Unfortunately, the excellent cover just makes me wish all the more that Salvador was doing the inside art as well. Though I think Igor is a decent artist in his own right, it just becomes all the more painfully apparent that he isn't LaRocca when the two art styles are side-by-side like this. Still, I believe that Igor has improved in this issue over his last. His fight scenes seem to be a bit more dynamic in this issue, and I very much like his layout style. My biggest art complaint in this issue has to be Illyana. Why the hell Kitty is remembering 'Yana with a bowl cut and wearing overalls is beyond me. The girl looked more like she should be a Guthrie than a Rasputin. Long-haired Illyana, Demonic Illyana ... hell, even sick-and-dying-child Illyana would've made more sense than this. The look was extremely jarring and cast a shadow on what would have otherwise been a perfect scene.
Speaking of perfect scenes, again Kitty steals the spotlight in the book, but I did find myself enjoying the other scenes almost as much. The X-Treme team effectively showed their prowess and the scope of their powers without bogging down the flow of the story. It was great to see Sage work out precisely how to save Storm, and do it while sounding exasperated. I think she's starting to loosen up. Of course, the hinted ... history between her and Wolverine just adds to that impression. Speaking of, it would be really nice for Logan to have a relationship with a female that isn't either sexual or fatherly for once. Not that we know what Sage was joking at, but the innuendo was spread pretty thick.
Back to Sage, since she was the second major hero focus of this issue after Kitty, I also found myself raising an eyebrow at her apparently masterful interogation techniques. Frankly, I'd be much more scared of Wolvie than Sage, I can't imagine any sort of look she could give that would crack them all like eggs. Chalk it up to the continued enigma that is Sage, I suppose. Still, I find myself, slowly but surely, liking her all the more. Most interesting.
My final character thought for this issue was in regards to Storm. Though we didn't really see her a whole lot in this issue, I did think it worthwhile to comment on just how versetile her powers are. More importantly, how much better I think Claremont is getting in terms of exposition. We saw Storm utilize three distinctly different, but highly effective attacks to destroy those missles, and we got an explanation of them that actually read natural from the character. Nicely done.
As for the story in general and issue in particular, I think that GLMK2 is shaping up to be a good storyline. Claremont is pacing this story just right, with twists and turns thrown in to keep us all on our toes, but done in such a way that their appearance feels natural. Given the sometimes unpleasant jarring that I've experienced from some other titles of late, this is a breath of fresh air. I'm looking forward to seeing exactly who Mount Haven are (although I can't be alone in thinking that there's almost a glut of religious-themed antagonists in the X-Books of late) and what Stryker plans to do with Kitty. His "fatherly" attitude towards her in this issue actually came across as creepy. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but I'm intrigued regardless.
| Quotes:
- Sage: Must I think of EVERYTHING?
- Young Kitty: This isn't what I wanted!
Kitty: I know. I remember. I'm sorry.
- Illyana: Hel-LO! Best friend talking here!
- Deathstrike: She's stubborn, Stryker.
Stryker: She's a CUBS fan, Deathstrike.
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