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STORY: "Storm Front, part 2"
(23 pages) WIth his new domination of the psychic plane,
the Shadow King causes chaos worldwide until Psylocke
sacrifices her psychic powers to contain him.
What you need to know:
According to the Shadow King, he survived his apparent
destruction on Muir Island in Uncanny X-Men #280
because (ahem) "so long as one dark thought festers in the
heart of man, the Shadow King can survive." He hid in
various host bodies until Onslaught came along, which left
the psychic plane unguarded and allowed him to escape.
The Shadow King's plan doesn't work
because Psylocke should have been killed in the psi-pulse.
Instead, because of her magical link to the Crimson Dawn,
she survives, and she's able to defeat him. The
Crimson Dawn is being used here as a sort of all-purpose
x-factor to justify something unlikely happening.
The precise mechanics of the Shadow
King's defeat are a little difficult to follow, since they
involve such deathless narration as "Even the most
rudimentary telepath knows that above all else, his personal
nexus must be protected." The thrust is that the
Shadow King gets carried away with the power, which allows
Psylocke to sneak in and imprison him. Strictly
speaking she doesn't lose her telepathy here, but if she
uses it again, he'll escape. (The Shadow King
eventually escapes, presumably in one of the various stories
where mutants lose her powers temporarily.)
Ainet and Storm appear in a flashback
scene which elaborates on a flashback from Classic X-Men
#10. In the original story, Storm arrives in Kenya and
helps with a drought by bringing down the rain. This
version reveals that Storm's first attempt backfired because
it just caused problems elsewhere. It shows how Ainet
supports Storm as they slowly put the damage right.
(This also helpfully explains why Storm doesn't just spend
her time bringing down rain on drought-stricken areas,
although the basic idea that she simply moves weather around
was long-established by this time.)
Cannonball tries to thank Marrow for
saving his life, and she yells at him. This is her
idea of flirting.
Comments:
Again, it's an odd mix. On the one hand, we've got a
fairly standard story about the Shadow King tormenting the
X-Men with illusions and trying to seduce them, which is
perfectly well done. On the other hand, there's a
jargon-heavy story about Psylocke battling the Shadow King,
which seems to be slogging its way through an editorial
remit. Somewhere in the middle, Kelly amuses himself
with bizarre sequences of worldwide chaos as everyone goes
mad and the United Nations vote on whether to rename
themselves "The House That Dripped Blood."
This storyline would probably
be remembered more fondly if the Psi-War concept had
actually come to anything. In fact, the telepaths all
quietly returned to normal a few months later, and the whole
idea was forgotten. More to the point, though, the
concept seems to have come in from nowhere and derailed a
Storm story which one suspects was heading somewhere else
entirely. That part of the story ends up being shoved
awkwardly aside, which is disappointing. Still, a lot
of it's still good fun, and it worked well at the time, when
it seemed like the telepath de-powering might stick.
FEATURE CHARACTERS
Storm (also in flashback following the flashback in the
extra pages in Classic X-Men #10 and preceding
X-Men: The Hidden Years #5), Cannonball, Cecilia
Reyes (all three next in Uncanny X-Men/Fantastic Four
'98), Maggott and Marrow
Wolverine (next in Uncanny X-Men #359, then in
Uncanny X-Men/Fantastic Four '98, then in Uncanny
X-Men #360, then in issue #80)
Psylocke (leaves the X-Men after this story and
appears next in Excalibur vol 1 #125)
VILLAIN
The Shadow King (next in Wolverine vol 2 #147;
also in flashback following Uncanny X-Men #280 and
preceding his appearance behind the scenes in issue #71)
OTHER CHARACTERS
Ainet (no further appearances; also in flashback which
is her chronologically earliest appearance, preceding issue
#71)
Written: 31 May 2006
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