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STORY: "Night" (22 pages)
Candra tries to recover her Heart from Storm, who has been
wearing the magical jewel as part of her costume. But
instead the gem falls into the hands of Candra's sidekick
Jamil, who seemingly transforms into the Shadow King.
What you need to know:
The red oval jewel which Storm's been wearing on her
costume since 1975 retroactively turns out to be the Heart of
Candra. It's apparently a gem into which Candra
deposited some of her power, and a flashback shows us that
Storm stole it from a palace during her time as a child thief
in Cairo. (Next issue confirms that this is indeed
Candra's palace.)
According to Candra, she and the other
Externals can be killed "by running a blade through the heart
in order to absorb the arcane energy therein." (Yes,
"therein".) Putting the energy in the gem apparently
stops that happening. Of course, if removing the energy
from her body with the blade kills her, you'd have thought
removing it with the gem wouldn't be too healthy either.
But then it's probably magic of some sort.
Storm does ask Candra the obvious question:
why bother coming for the gem now after ignoring it for so
long? Candra dodges it, possibly because the writer
hasn't actually got an answer for that one.
The story follows up on Jamil and Karima,
two very obscure mutants introduced in X-Men Unlimited
vol 1 #7. They're both street kids from Cairo.
Karima is a thief who was loyal to Achmed el-Gibar, Storm's
mentor. Jamil, on the other hand, turned on el-Gibar and
joined up with Candrainstead.
Storm apparently has the power to "use the
lightning to transform the unstable molecules of my garments
into a facsimile of my costume." This has the distinct
ring of an attempt to cover up an art error.
Cannonball and Phoenix have a brief chat in
Washington about the death of Graydon Creed, which happened in
X-Factor #130.
Comments:
This is the first half of a story that runs through issues
#60-61. It's filler material, with Candra showing up as
the villain of the month on a very flimsy premise. So
far as it goes, it's competent enough, and the Shadow King
appearance was at least a surprise at the time.
Obviously, on re-reading, it doesn't make anywhere near as
much impact (because next issue, it turns out that it isn't
him after all).
Cedric Nocon turns up for the
first of two fill-in issues. And... well, it's your
standard mid-to-late nineties fill-in art. It tells the
story, but it isn't pretty to look at, seeming rushed and
scratchy.
FEATURE CHARACTERS
Cyclops, Phoenix III and Storm (also in flashback
following page 7 of Uncanny Origins #9 and preceding
Ororo: Before the Storm #1;
all three last in X-Men '96)
Cannonball (last in X-Factor vol 1 #130; next in
Incredible Hulk vol 2 #455, then in Beast #1-3,
then in X-Men '97)
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Achmed el-Gibar (in flashback; last at page 9 of
Uncanny Origins #9; next in Ororo: Before the Storm
#1)
VILLAINS
Candra (last behind the scenes in Wolverine vol 2
#94)
Jamil (last in Wolverine vol 2 #99)
OTHER CHARACTERS
Karima (last behind the scenes in Wolverine vol 2
#99)
Revised: 30 December 2005
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