Original x-men (o5) appreciation thread

[Electricmastro]

And now, Beast, Iceman, and Angel doing their Rockettes routine in Defenders #125 (1983):

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Factor #46 Nov 1989
Judgement War! Part 4 of 7. "Exchange!"
Continued from last issue...

The Beast is preparing a group of Rejects to participate in a mission to break into the Chosen's city to free his friend Archangel from the arena.

As he trains young Nikoh how to fight, Zharkah watches with increased suspicion over Beast's true motives.

Unaware that he is really a mutant from another world she begins to suspect that he might be a spy of the Chosen,
and decides to see how he reacts when he sees the red haired woman that they have had prisoner
since their last battle against the Chosen who is scheduled to be part of the coming prisoner exchange.

Meanwhile, in the city of the Chosen, Iceman and Lev begin to drum up bets for Iceman's upcoming battle against the Archangel.
Watching this in disguise is Princess Seera, who knows that Iceman is really from another world and is suffering amnesia.
She wonders what she can do to free Archangel and continues to struggle
with her conflicting emotions regarding her allegiances to the Chosen way of life.
She also begins to wonder how much longer she can keep baby Christopher hidden from
the Chosen Scientists and once more considers sneaking the child further out of the city.
As she goes to check on the child and her robot Zee-Zee, she is unaware that she is being followed by
a member of the Chosen who can fly, who watches her enter her hideout and leaves to report to the scientists.

While at the hidden base of the Beginagains, Scott learns that his friend Beast
is among the Rejects, while Archangel and Iceman are in the city of the Chosen.
Looking through a monitoring crystal of the Beginagains, Scott learns that Marvel Girl
has been a prisoner of the Rejects and is going to be part of a prisoner exchange.
He demands instant action, however Dykon and the other Beginagains
refuse to take any action just yet prompting Cyclops to go off alone.

Back in the city of the Chosen, Archangel is brought before Lord Rask
who attempts to force Warren to go about a training exercise.
When Warren attempts to attack him, he is blasted back.
Warren then takes a different approach, feigning weakness until Rask gets close enough
for him to slice the nobleman's leg with his razor-sharp wings before being caged again.
Archangel assures Rask that he will slay the Dueler that he will be forced to fight and survive if only for
the satisfaction of eventually killing Rask, unaware that the "Dueler" he is to fight is his own comrade Iceman.

In the Reject city, the prisoner exchange is about to get underway when
Beast notices that the prisoner that they intend to exchange is Jean.
When Beast tries to save her, Zharkah believes that her suspicion that Hank is a spy
of the Chosen has been confirmed and she orders the other Rejects to capture Hank.
Back at the Chosen's city, Seera nurses young Christopher when suddenly Rask and a number of soldiers burst into the building.
They incapacitate Seera, Zee-Zee and Christopher, intending to punish Seera for
breaking their laws even though she is considered the most perfect of their society.
Christopher's telepathic cries cause Marvel Girl -- who has been in a catatonic state the whole time -- to awaken and lash out.

However, much to Beast's surprise, the dominant personality is not that of Jean, but of Madelyne Pryor.
While Seera has to answer to why she has a child, the scientists tell her that she will be punished for her crimes.
Rask however, having used his wealth and bargaining on Archangel's coming battle to net him another
handsome sum of money to buy him favor tries to get Seera to ally with him to avoid any trouble.
Seera, finally making a decision that their way of life refuses, knowing full well that there will be harsh consequences coming her way.

While outside the Beginagains base, Cyclops is stopped by Dykon and other
Beginagains who wish to help him storm the Chosen's city to free his friends.
However they point out that they will have to pass around the Celestial known
as Gammenon who has returned to the planet and is blocking their direct path.
As Scott calls out to Jean, telling her that he is coming,

it is Madelyne who hears this and is amused that her estranged husband would be coming.
In deep space, X-Factor's Ship is still a prisoner of the Celestials and once more probing it's data banks to learn it's true origins,
learns that it wasn't created by Apocalypse at all, but by the Celestials many centuries ago.
Finally, back in the Chosen's city, Seera is given back her robot Zee-Zee whom she is horrified
to find has been reprogrammed to have her own independent thinking culled from her data banks.
When Seera tries to lash out against the scientist who has done this to her childhood caretaker, she is forced back.
As she recovers from the feedback of her powers she vows that no matter what she will free the Archangel
and allow him to get his vengeance against the Chosen even if it means the end of her civilization in the process.

Story by Louise Simonson. Art by Paul Smith and Al Milgrom.

[Havok83]

I disliked Judgement War primarily bc it went on for too long and Jean was barely in it

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

To me, having members of the Mutant race encountering the Celestials was awesome because I have seen the members of the Eternal and Asgardian race encountering them in marvel comics more then once before.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Factor #48 Dec 1989
Judgement War Part 5 of 7 "Common Ground!"
Continued from last issue... The Rejects and Chosen have come to meet on the common ground for one of their many prisoner exchanges.
The Rejects have come bearing Marvel Girl whom they have had subdued since her Madelyne Pryor personality has taken full control.
When they bring her before Lord Rask, they ask to exchange Jean for both Archangel and the warrior Agrom.
Rask, needing Archangel for his arena battle against Iceman refuses the winged mutant but agrees to turn over the Reject known as Agrom.
When they order MG released, they are surprised to find that the woman has great power and once more subdue her.
Rask, having never seen MG before, begins to wonder where she might have come from.

While in the Chosen's city, a scientist goes to check on Princess Seera so that she can accept Rask's offer of alliance.
She awakens and uses her jamming powers to knock him out and makes a break for it, jamming the minds of all opposition.
When her once loyal robot Zee-Zee attempts to raise the alarm, Seera flees, unable to bring herself to destroy her life long minder.
While outside the city, Cyclops and a team of the Beginagains approach an entrance into the city

when Dykon notices that yet another one of the Celestials has arrived on the planet's surface outside the Chosen's city

and they all begin to believe that the final judgement of their world is coming soon.

Having jammed the guard who holds the prisons, Seera steals the keys
and uses them to access the room where Archangel is being held prisoner.
She tells Archangel that his friend Iceman and young Christopher are also in the city, and they also free Agrom and try to escape.
However, Lord Rask comes upon them and he easily subdues Agrom. When Archangel tries to fly away with Seera,
Rask uses his powers to destroy Zee-Zee causing Seera to slow Warren up enough for them both to be captured.
As they are being taken away, Rask suggests to Lord Palik that an example must be
made with Seera otherwise they will undermine the very foundations of their society.
He suggests that Seera should be put in the middle of the arena battle between Archangel and Iceman
and that should the Iceman win she will be put to death. If Archangel wins then she will live.
Palik agrees to the terms and comes to realize that Rask is attempting to buy his way to the
highest position among the Chosen and begins contemplating a plan to stop this from happening.

When Agrom is returned to the Rejects there is a giant party among their numbers.

Beast uses this as a means to escape when his guard becomes drunk from the celebration and knocks him out.
Stealing the key, he breaks out of his cell and tries to make an escape when he is stopped by Agrom.
When Agrom hears that the Beast is a friend of Archangel, he lets Beast go
and tells Zharkah that Beast isn't a Chosen spy but a visitor from another world.
While back in the city of the Chosen, the scientists all wonder where young Christopher has come from and after scanning the boy
and Marvel Girl's DNA they begin to wonder if Archangel's assertions that he was among people from another world may be true.
They allow the Madelyne Pryor possessed MG to approach her child, but they are shocked when
young Christopher displays his mutant powers and rejects his "mother's" attempt at affection.
While outside, Iceman and Lev prepare for the battle, knowing that the Chosen's
opinions on Duelers would change should Bobby win the bout against Iceman.
The two then take note that there are now more Celestials standing over the city now.

At the Reject's camp, Beast finally explains the truth about his origins to Zharkah and she accepts the tale with Agrom substantiating it
and she agrees to help him in freeing his friends that within the Chosen's city and bring their decadent civilization crashing down.
While out in deep space, Ship manages to break free from the tractor-beam that has kept it locked in space.
As it witnesses many more Celestials are descending down on the alien world, the sentient ship decides that it must
go down to the planet itself and try to save X-Factor from the possibility of destruction at the hands of its own creators.

Story by Louise Simonson. Art by Paul Smith and Al Milgrom.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Factor #49 Dec 1989
Judgement War Part 6 of 7 "Power Struggle!"
Continued from last issue... Lord Rask offers Princess Seera one final chance at accepting his offer of an alliance.
However the defiant princess refuses and attempts to use her jamming powers on him,
but the power dampeners that she is hooked into cause feedback that puts her in a catatonic state
and Rask orders her to be placed in the arena to determine if she lives or dies,
depending on the outcome of the battle between Archangel and Iceman.
As more Celestials begin to descend to the planets surface, the people of the Chosen enter the arena uneasily for the coming bout.
After Lev collects bets among the Duelers, she goes to see Iceman before the big fight, and wishes him luck in the battle,
telling him that his victory will have an impact on the Chosen's opinions on Duelers. He surprises Lev by giving her a kiss.

While deep below the city in the sewers, Beast leads a group of Rejects on a mission to not only save his friends who are among the Chosen,
but to also shut down their power supply so that the Rejects can invade their city and bring their decadent society crashing down.
When they go to the surface with the intention of jumping some of the Chosen and stealing their clothing, Beast is surprised to find
that the people they jump are none other than Cyclops and the band of Beginagains that have rallied with him on the same cause.

While elsewhere in the city, Lord Palik has Archangel brought before him.
Not wishing Warren to win the arena battle for it would give Lord Rask the financial wealth to take over the Chosen,
he uses his powers to partially blind Archangel hoping that this will give Iceman the edge he needs to kill Warren in the arena.
Unknown to both, a size changing Dueler had been spying on the situation the whole time,
planted by Lev to insure that Archangel wasn't enhanced before the battle.
He tells Lev this and that Iceman and Archangel both come from another world.
This comes too late as Iceman goes into the arena to face Archangel.
As Warren tries to get Iceman to remember who he is, Lev wonders what to do about the situation.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Apocalypse is monitoring the world from his secret hideout in the Himalayan mountains and has taken note of the fact that
the world's super-villains have taken up unforeseen alliances and battling irregular foes and begins to suspect that some force is using them as pawns.

Back on the alien world, with the gathered Rejects and Beginagains agreeing to work together they split up into two groups:
Beast and the Rejects will go to disrupt the arena and collect Iceman and Archangel,
while Scott and the Beginagains cut the power in the city and rescue Marvel Girl and Christopher.
While in space above the planet, X-Factor's ship watches as the last of the Celestials descend on the planet below
and it decides that now is the time to travel down to the planet and try what it can to protect it's friends from destruction.

While in the Arena, the battle rages on while Seera tries to talk sense into Lord Rask and Palik,
Archangel's attempts to convince Iceman of who he really is fails to work.
Just then, the ground begins to quake and the group of Beginagains and Rejects led by Beast burst through the ground and join the battle.

This interruption causes all the bets to go forfeit and end up going to the science council, financially ruining Lord Rask.
He goes down to the arena and attempts to kill Seera to at least get that satisfaction, but instead gets knocked off the platform by Lev.
Removing the power restraints from Seera, Lev convinces the princess to use her jamming powers to restore Iceman's memories.

Unsure if she can do it, Seera surprises herself when she proves able to do so.

With Bobby's memories restored, the battle ends and the combined members of X-Factor, the Rejects

and Beginagains turn their attention to Lord Rask who is just then ordering the Chosen guards to destroy them all.

While back on Earth, Apocalypse's findings link all the super-villain activity to one man
who appears to be a servant but is really the mastermind behind the while ordeal.
Realizing that his true nature has been divined by Apocalypse, this man appears
before the eternal mutant and offers him a position in his Acts of Vengeance conspiracy.

Story by Louise Simonson. Art by Paul Smith and Al Milgrom.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Factor #50 Jan 1990
Judgement War Part 7 of 7: "Judgement Day"
As the Celestials stand over the city of the Chosen as part of their final judgement of this alien world,
the combined forces of X-Factor, the Rejects and the Beginagainst battle against the soldiers of the Chosen.
As the battle rages, Lord Rask clashes with Princess Seera, who is aided by Lev.
However, the two women are blasted back and after a brief clash with Archangel, Rask blasts the winged mutant aside as well.
Rushing to Lord Palik, Palik reveals that he had figured out Rask's plot to use his winnings from the battle between Archangel
and Iceman to buy a place as one of the highest of the Chosen and reveals his part in causing this plan to come crashing down.
He then goads Rask to once more jump into the battle and fight Iceman, who easily knocks him aside.

As the battle rages on, Cyclops leads another group of Rejects and Beginagains through the city
in the hopes of finding Marvel Girl and Christopher and a means of shutting down the Chosen's power supply.
Blasting their way into a science lab, they force a science robot to tell them where they might find the two Scott is seeking.
The robot briefly reactivates the memory banks of the ruined robot Zee-Zee
to show where MG is being kept and provides them with a map of how to get there.
While back at the arena, the Reject/X-Factor/Beginagain coalition is gaining the upper hand
forcing the Chosen to order their Dueler cast to enter the arena and fight on their behalf.
At first the Duelers comply, but they are convinced by Lev to turn against those
who have treated them as secondary citizens and help fight their rebellion.
This earns the ire of Lord Palik who orders everyone in the arena to be eliminated once and for all.

Meanwhile, Scott and the others find Christopher and Marvel Girl.
Upon freeing Jean, Scott finds that her Phoenix/Madelyn Pryor personalities are dominant,
with Jean's mind being submerged following her run in with a jammer.
However, Scott's love for Jean manages to help her push her personality out of hiding
and she joins the group in finding the power supply for the Chosen's city and shut it down.
This causes the grid that keeps everyone in the arena to shut down and chaos to explode in the area.
As the battle rages on Dykon manages to climb up into the stands
and battle Palik who uses his powers to partially blind the Beginagain.
This doesn't stop him from grabbing Palik and threatening to kill him when Seera
convinces him to spare Palik because if Palik is killed Dykon's vision can not be restored.
Dykon gives Palik a choice: restore his and Archangel's vision or die.

With his vision restored, Archangel renews his attack on Rask and in the moment of fury,
slays the would-be ruler of the Chosen with his razor sharp feathers.
Scott and the others arrive at the scene as well as Zharkah with a group of Reject warriors and Reyest with the other Beginagain Elders.
With the leaders of all three races gathered, they all begin to realize that the Celestials are beginning to make their final judgement.
With Arishem preparing to give his thumbs-up/thumbs-down judgement, Ship arrives to take X-Factor to safety.
However the group refuses to abandon this planet or its people for their own safety and turn Christopher over Ship to take away just in case.

Seeing that strangers from another world would be willing to sacrifice their lives to save their world,
the leaders of the Rejects, Beginagains and Chosen all agree to work together to try and stop the Celestials.
When Reyest detects a great cosmic power in Marvel Girl, she tries to use the remaining power of Phoenix Force in her to channel against the Celestials.
Afraid to unleash this power alone, MG channels it through Cyclops who fires a massive optic blast at Arishem's hand, obliterating it.
This seems to be the course of action the Celestials were hoping for, as as soon
as Arishem was made incapable of judging the planet, the Celestials flee the scene.
Marvel Girl is happy to find that the two other personalities had merged with the rest of her mind leaving her fully Jean Grey.

As the Celestials leave in their massive ship, they drop another device like X-Factor's ship to record this world's progress.

With the road to peace beginning between the three tribes of this world, X-Factor bids farewell to their leaders.
Before they leave, Archangel and Ship have a gift for Seera: Zee-Zee, repaired and restored to her former sentient glory.

X-Factor then heads off into space, glad to be heading back home.
Just before they shoot off into hyperspace, they pass the Starjammer. Not recognizing the ship, Ship speeds off,
unaware that its passengers were in close proximity with their former leader Charles Xavier on the other ship.
Despite Xavier's deathly state, he detects his original students.
However when Lilandra and Sikorsky come to his aid, they wonder if Xavier truly did connect with his
former students or if they were merely just hallucinations brought on by his continued deterioration.

Story by Louise Simonson. Art by Rich Buckler and Al Milgrom.

[darewithpeace]

the north remembers, lol