X-MEN '92 #9 Spoiler/Discussion Thread: I Just Don't Like You

[CraigTheCylon]

Because Death of X sucked and you should be wasting your time on something actually fun instead.

Synopsis:
spoilers:

The main X-Men team - Storm, Wolverine, Beast, Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke and Bishop - along with Lila Cheney, Abigail Brand, Death's Head and the X-Brood, are rushing back toward Earth aboard their stolen Shi'ar craft. The X-Brood hope the homeworld of the X-Men will be more welcoming than the others they've visited. Wolverine's just got done shattering that perception when the ship comes across a tear in space...and an enormous hand reaching through it. On Earth: Apocalypse exposits (x-posits?) to Cassandra Nova and Joseph about the big hand's owner. Way, way back in the day, the M'Kraan race produced the first mutants, which in turn grew into the Celestials. One specific Celestial would come to be known as Xodus the Harvester: a galactic-scale warmonger who purged the mutant races of many a world, fearing that they might one day evolve into some new form of life superior to his Celestial brethren. The other Celestials disagreed with this, and banished him to another dimension. Xodus the Harvester became Xodus the Forgotten. It was inevitable that one day he would return, and Dead Girl unleashing the Montesi program caused the barriers between spaces to weaken enough that 'one day' has been fast-forwarded to 'today'. Apocalypse has known of Xodus for millennia, and claims that every hardship, battle and devastation he's inflicted on the X-Men over the years was done to toughen them up and prepare them for the horror to come. Now he wants to know if Nova and Joseph will join him. Back at Lilapalooza, President Kelly is complaining, until Xodus' form becomes so large as to be visible in the sky. A panicked riot starts, but the Professor is able to telepathically calm everyone...except Adam-X, who's still looking for a fight, and finds Bishop's pecs as Lila teleports the space crew in. Happy reunions are had before everyone is distracted by Xodus again. Brand seems to know what it is but Kelly prevents her from sharing, blaming a need for secrecy on the X-Brood's presence. Brand is forced to depart to the Peak along with the X-Brood and Death's Head, then Kelly rounds on the Professor. He claims his bad attitude isn't about anti-mutant racism, but the X-Men failing in their role as the world's protectors, since most of the problems they solve stem from their own causes. He would rather trust another - and pulls an ankh-shaped key from his pocket, summoning Apocalypse, along with Nova, Joseph, the Upstarts and the remaining Horsemen (Mystique, Bastion and Exodus). Before Apocalypse can explain, Wolverine attempts to claw him, and a big fight breaks out. Bastion has a gun-tongue and Fabian Cortez gets hit in the face with a guitar. In the middle of all this, Apocalypse rounds on the Professor and lets him peek into his mind freely. Xavier sees the truth behind the words, and begs the X-Men to stop fighting and listen. Everything looks like it's going to be okay! And then Cable shows up and blasts a five-foot hole through Apocalypse's torso, killing him. Woops.

end of spoilers

Initial Thoughts:
- See? Told you it was fun.
- As has been the pattern across the whole Lilapalooza arc, there is just so much stuff happening in this issue, and it's a testament to surprisingly smart craftsmanship that it all lands so successfully.
- I don't know if this handling of Apocalypse quite lives up to the creators' promise of a take we've never seen before, but it is to my mind one of the most straightforward and logical incarnations I can remember. He's not a tyrant or a genocidal madman - he is, of all things, a hero, just one who works on a macro scale most could never comprehend.
- Alti Firmansiyah and Matt Milla continue to be generally bloody excellent. The simplicity to a lot of their panels belies their skill at expressions, pacing and using negative space. And their dust-ups are delightful.
- Having one guy called 'Exodus' and another guy called 'Xodus' in the same book strikes me as a recipe for confusion. Weirdly, nobody says anything about it. Maybe in #10?
- Speaking of Xodus, his design is pretty great. As you'd expect it's quite '90s, with its odd arm hair stripes, Logan-ish stabby backhand things and popped collar, but it still looks like it belongs with the classic Kirby-ass Celestials.
- Now how the HELL are they gonna wrap all this up in one more issue?

Spit some fiyah this way.

[FlawedCoil82]

I just got my copy last night, so I am late. But yea, I had a lot of fun with this issue. It is clear that Sims and Bowers had a much bigger plan for "X-Men '92", but thanks to high maintenance picky-nicky X-fans who refused to let an alternate universe title have the same time 616 X-books unfairly get, along with Marvel's insanely stupid marketing decisions to cancel books the minute they underperform (instead of bringing in new blood to try to fix them), Sims and Bowers are now forced to bring a conclusion that will certainly feel very rushed and chaotic. I would love to see X-fans realize their mistake now that we have seen the unimpressive RessurXion, but its not like it would matter anyways. After December, the once great X-Men will officially be laid to rest for a second (and likely final) time.

[Wissenschaft]

I'm going to miss this. It was goofy but fun.