From Claremont to Claremont, Episode 1h - Marvel Comics Presents #85-87 (1991)

From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast

Episode 1H

Marvel Comics Presents #85-87 (October, 1991)

"Blood Hungry, Part 1: First Scent"

"Blood Hungry, Part 2: Two Scents"

"Blood Hungry, Part 3: Three Scents"

"Life During Wartime, Part 4: Fire in the Hole"

"Life During Wartime, Part 5: True Colors"

"Life During Wartime, Part 6: Sacrifice"

"Just Friends, Part 1: Professor!"

"Just Friends, Part 2"

"Just Friends, Part 3: If This is Tuesday, it Must be Belgium"

"... The Dude in the Really Rad Armor!"

"Take Me Out to the Bomb Game"

"To Touch the Darkness"

Writers - Peter David, Marcus McLaurin, Marie Javins, Scott Lobdell, & Eric Fein

Pencils - Sam Kieth, Dwayne Turner, Rob Liefeld, Jae Lee, Ron Wilson, J. Adam Walters, & Ron Wilson

Inks - Sam Kieth, Christopher Ivy, Jose Marzan Jr., Tim Dzon, Sam de la Rosa, & Harry Candelario

Colors - Glynis Oliver, Marcus McLaurin, Mike Thomas, Mike Rockwitz, Fernando Mendez, & Kevin Tinsley

Letters - Clem Robins, Rick Parker, Todd Klein, Dave Sharpe, & Diana Albers

Edits - Mark Powers, Terry Kavanagh, & DeFalco

Cover Price: $1.25

No matter what the year is, Wolverine's adventures could never be kept to the handful of titles he was being featured in... and so, Walt Kneeland (@waltkneeland) and I are including his Marvel Comics Present exploits as part of this project!

This time out, we're featuring all three MCP issues cover-dated October, 1991 - which see Wolverine's first tangles with Cyber and also features adventures from other X-Men (and X-Adjacents) Beast and Firestar!

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From Claremont to Claremont, Episode 3e - Excalibur #45 & Air Apparent

From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast

Episode 3E

Excalibur #45 (December, 1991)

"Nightcrawler's TechNet"

Writer/Pencils - Alan Davis

Inks - Mark Farmer

Colors - Glynis Oliver

Letters - Michael Heisler

Edits - Terry Kavanagh

Cover Price: $1.75

Excalibur: Air Apparent

"Air Apparent"

Writer - Scott Lobdell

Pencils - Ron Lim, Brian Stelfreeze, Dwayne Turner, Jackson Guice, Rick Leonardi, Erik Larsen, James Fry

Inks - Al Gordon, Karl Story, Klaus Janson, Tom Palmer, Josef Rubenstein, Erik Larsen, Don Hudson

Colors - Glynis Oliver, Dana Moreshead, Ariane Lenshoek

Letters - Michael Heisler, Steve Dutro

Edits - Terry Kavanagh, Mark Powers

Cover Price: $4.95

Episode 3 of From Claremont to Claremont rolls on!  Today, I'm joined by my pal Jesse Starcher (@stiznarkey & @sourcematcast) to discuss a pair of weird offerings from the Excalibur corner of our little X-Universe - Excalibur #45 continues from our Nightcrawler subplot, and the prestige-format Excalibur: Air Apparent is... well, your guess is as good as ours!  It's weird, and it's fun to talk about - that much is for sure!

Once that's all out of the way, Jesse will share with us the "Soundtrack of His Life", and it's a wonderful conversation - that we hope you all enjoy!  Please send us YOUR picks for your own "Soundtrack of Your Life", we'd love to hear them!

Also, let us know if you're enjoying these FCTC Episodes in "Segment Form" rather than in the 12-14 hour compiled form - and also, if you'd like to see the first two episodes broken up the same way for potentially "easier consumption"!  Thank you!

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Power of the Atom #5 (1988)

Power of the Atom #5 (December, 1988)
"Comings and Goings"
Writer - Roger Stern
Penciller - Dwayne Turner
Inker - K.G. Wilson
Colorist - Nansi Hoolihan
Letterer - Bill Oakley
Assistant Editor - Renee Witterstaetter
Editor - Mike Carlin
Cover Price: $1.00

Since my comics library is still in shambles post-move, let's skip ahead a bit in the Power of the Atom run and see what we've got.

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We open with Ray sitting atop a phone in C.I.A. Agent (?) Everett Bailey's office.  Man, I skipped ahead a few issues hoping this C.I.A. stuff would have passed by now.  Anyhoo, the next few pages consist of Bailey attempting to get the Atom on board... and Ray declining.  This entire scene builds to one final panel... where, after the Atom scrams, Bailey makes a comment implying that he might've had something to do with Operation Fireball... which, was that mess in Brazil.

We shift scenes to an opulent home in San Clemente, California... and we're in for another page of talking heads.  One of the fellas here (we'll find out exactly who he is in a bit), receives word that the Atom turned down Bailey's offer... and he's pleased.

Next stop, the Justice League International's New York Embassy, where Ray direct-dials right into Oberon's lap.  After an awkward introduction, Ray is given the quick and dirty about what's been going on with this "new League".  In a cute bit, Ray asks what's the deal with Captain Atom taking his name.  Their chat is interrupted by the entrance of an excited Maxwell Lord...

... who assumes Ray is there to join the League!  Of course, the Atom, being the independent fella he is, declines.  Max tries to sweeten the deal, but no dice.  Ray heads outside, and finds himself having a half-dozen microphones jammed in his face.

Ray shrinks and flees the scene... however, those fellas in San Clemente catch the entire thing on television.  The more nefarious of the two tries on his new glove.  Remember, we'll find out exactly who this is in a bit... and boy-howdy, will it be underwhelming!

We shift to a diner in Manhattan where Ray is trying to get a bite to eat while keeping his identity on the down-low.  I should probably mention, thanks to the book that was written about his life (we saw that in the trunk in issue #1), his dual identity has been revealed.  He kinda regrets that, but... ya know, he was planning on living among the Katarthans for the remainder of his days, so what'd he care at the time, right?  While reading the paper, he sees a piece on Ralph and Sue Dibny... and decides to check with him to see how he deals with having a public identity.  And so, a few direct-dials later... and we're in Florida.

Ray and Ralph head down to the docks to meet up with Sue.  We learn that the Dibnys are on the trail of some... bird smugglers.  Ray asks Ralph how he deals with his public persona... and learns that he actually quite likes it.  Being a show-off... and having a pretty loud personality, he doesn't exactly shy away from publicity.  Fair enough... but, probably not the answer Ray was looking for.

The trio boat out to a cargo ship, and the Atom and Elongated Man hop on board. While admiring the smuggled birds, a bad guy enters... gun drawn.  The heroes make quick work of him... and the rest of the baddies.

With the day saved, Ray and the Dibnys stop at a cafe... where the latter two are asked for their autograph.  Ray is pleased... but a bit disappointed, that the kid doesn't ask for his.  Ralph tells him he can't have it both ways...

We wrap up back in San Clemente, where our nebulous baddie reads about the bird-smuggling dealie in the Society pages of the Los Angeles Standard.  He recognizes Ray alongside the Dibnys... then, suits up.  Hoo-boy, lookit this... he was Chronos--The Master of Time, the whole... time!

--

Yawn.

Here's an issue that I feel peaked with the cover.  By looking at that, you'd almost think the story was going to be fun!  Instead it's a few pretty boring conversations, and a lackluster, one-sided and overlong fight scene on board a ship.  Plus, the C.I.A. subplot is still ongoing... eesh.

I couldn't imagine reading this book from month to month and maintaining any sort of excitement for it.  It just feels like nothing much happens.  The Chronos reveal at the end here was underwhelming... to the point where I wasn't sure if I was meant to take it seriously.  Though, I did get a bit of a giggle when he dumped his "cartoony" joke costume in favor for an even worse one!  I don't think I was supposed to receive the scene that way though... oh well.

The scene at the JLI Embassy was probably the highlight here.  It was pretty neat having Ray learn a bit about the "new" League, just to contrast it with the one he was a part of.  It didn't veer into the deep-end of bwah-hah-ha... but it didn't have to.

The art here felt a bit uneven... some of the faces were a bit on the homely side.  The first time we saw Ralph I had to assume he was doing some sort of facial contortion... because, woof.  The cover is great though!

Overall... I'd say unless you're an Atom or Justice League International competist, you can safely skip this one and not miss a whole heckuva lot.

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Letters Page (Featuring Uncle Elvis!):

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641

Power of the Atom #1 (1988)

Power of the Atom #1 (August, 1988)
"Home is the Hero!"
Writer - Roger Stern
Penciller - Dwayne Turner
Inker - K.G. Wilson
Letterer - Bill Oakley
Colorist - Nansi Hoolahan
Assistant Editor - Renee Witterstaetter
Editor - Mike Carlin
Cover Price: $1.00

Taking a (hopefully) brief break from this week's Legion Learning... because post-move (really during-the-interim-of-the-move) my comics library is upside-down (in some cases literally), and I don't know where that second box of Action Comics might be hiding out.

Figured we'd go with a random pick from whatever box I was able to access... and so, here's the Atom!

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We open with the Atom (in his peek-a-boo hair mask) bursting through the phone of his old friend/acquaintance/whoever, Normal Brawler.  As he bounces to the floor he begins to return to normal human size... however, stalls out at just three feet tall.  Also, his costume disappears... leaving him in (very baggy) street clothes.  He grabs Norm by the collar and demands answers, before coming to his senses.

Norman asks what Ray remembers... which takes us into a Katarthan-flavored flashback.  Full disclosure: the Sword of the Atom miniseries and Special(s)... bored the hell out of me.  I get what they were going for, but it just came off reading like boilerplate fantasy, and not at all special.  Anyhoo... while surveying a secret alien penal colony, Ray, his right-hand man Voss, and main squeeze Laethwen he discovered a stone that was fueled with "active dwarf star plasma", not terribly different from the stuff that helped Ray become the Atom in the first place.

Studying the stone and it's powers, Ray deduces that the Katarthans were very likely full-grown peoples at one point in time.  If you haven't read the Sword of the Atom... Laethwen and her people were like six-inches tall... and all of the Atom's adventures with them were in the tiny world.  I think Ray either gave up his ability to resize to average human height... or flat-out lost it at some point.  It's been awhile since I've read it.  Anyhoo, one day a "giant" (ya know, a normal-sized dude) approached the tribe looking for Mr. Palmer.

It's Don Brice... ya know, that guy!  Actually, I don't... and unfortunately, neither does the DC Wikia.  Ray seems to know him though (he was his C.I.A. Contact at one point), and that's really all that matters.  Brice warns that there are drug-runners in the area, and they're planning to slash and burn the area of the jungle that the Katarthans call home... then he dies.

And so, Ray boards a golden bird to do some reconnaissance... which leads him to a tent where some cookie-cutter bad guys argue against some cookie-cutter good guys about burning down the rain forest.  I remember this being a big deal in the late 80's... hell, it still might be today, for all I know.  I recall it being all about the acid rain back then... which I could add to that list of things I thought would have a bigger "danger" presence in my life... right there with quicksand.  Anyhoo (am I saying that a lot?), the Atom makes his presence felt, and one of the baddies immediately believes him to be a demon.  Ray doesn't help his case much by slashing him with his tiny blade.

There's a struggle, and a fairly comedic fight with these geeks trying to take shots at our tiny hero.  Finally, outside the tent, one thinks he has a clear shot... however, when he pulls the trigger Ray moves... and the bullet penetrates a fully-loaded gas tube.  Boom.

Well so much for saving the rain forest, right?  The Atom wakes up several hours later, and the jungle is still in flames.  He crawls over to a shiny object, and realizes it's just a piece of his sword.  In the distance he sees the remains of New Morlaidh (the Katarthans' tiny village).

He makes his way to the wreckage, and begins sifting through it.  He doesn't find any survivors... hell, it's not clear if he finds any dead bodies either.  What he does find, however, is that dwarf-star fueled stone.  And so, he shrinks it to a more manageable size, and slips it into his right glove.

With an renewed resolve, he tracks down the would be slashers-and-burners to a village (large enough for paved streets).  He faces off with the baddies... who again, immediately believe him to be a demon.  Ray doesn't help his case much either, as he begins to size-shift right before their eyes.  To be fair, Ray is just as surprised as they are.  He says he just stopped wanting to be small... and so he grew!

The baddies chase him into an office, and so Ray decides to do some "direct dialing".  He punches the first phone number he can think of into the phone... and bada-bing bada-boop, he winds up back in Ivy Town.

That number he punched in, by the way, was his own home phone number... so, he's kinda surprised to see ol' Norman.  Turns out, post the Palmer-Loring divorce and Ray's subsequent jungle adventure, Jean sold the place to Mr. Brawler for a song.  Ray is initially quite peeved, but understands.

Brawler offers to make some calls to help Ray with his size issue.  Can't go around fighting crime looking like that, right?  Norm calls a buddy at the C.I.A., however, as luck would have it... his phone line is being tapped by some ne'er do wells.

We rejoin Ray in (what was once) his library.  He finds his old steamer trunk, and decides to take a stroll down memory lane.  In it, he finds the book Norman had written about Ray's life as the Atom... which, I wanna say was a plot point during the Sword of the Atom business.

This reminds him of his time with the Katarthans, and his lost-love Laethwen.  Enraged, he punches a fireplace... pulverizing the brick to powder!  Welp, that's new!

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Anytime I read something for the blog (or any blog) that I initially don't like... I let it marinate for a little while, and wind up giving it another go.  Had to do that here, as the first time around I thought it was... not so much bad, but really quite boring.  Reading it a second time... well, it still didn't rock my socks... but I feel like I had a deeper appreciation for it.

This serves as a pretty good bridge from the swashbuckling Sword of the Atom stuff back into the more standard superhero fare.  I mentioned during the synopsis that the Sword story really wasn't my scene... so I'm happy to see it go.  That having been said, I'm also glad with the sorta nebulous way it was done.  Having the tiny town leveled... but with no bodies found, leaves the door open for later discoveries and adventures down the line.  Fair enough.

Overall... a decent enough start for this ongoing.  Plenty of questions to be answered, and a likable enough hero to want to stick around.  The art was pretty good, some really dynamic panels here... still not a fan of this Atom costume, but that's not Turner's fault.

I'd say this is worth tracking down... if you can find it on the cheap.  This is one of those post-Crisis series that always finds its way into the quarter-bins... so, if you're interested... it shouldn't be too terribly difficult to find, and certainly won't (or shouldn't) break the bank.

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Sovereign Seven #1 (1995)

Sovereign Seven #1 (July, 1995)
"It was a Dark and Stormy Night..."
Writer - Chris Claremont
Artist - Dwayne Turner
Letterer - Tom Orzechowski
Colorist - Gloria Vasquez
Color Separations - Olyoptics
Assistant Editors - Keri Kowalski & Chris Eades
Editor - Rob Simpson
Cover Price: $1.95

This one's a long time coming.

Anyone who has followed this blog for any amount of time will know that one of my earliest obsessions in comics were the Uncanny X-Men.  While the era that initially hooked me on X-Men was more...

this guy...

than...

this guy...

... the mark Claremont left on Marvel's mutants can never be denied.

In the years that followed, I've made it my mission to one day complete my collection of (Uncanny) X-Men... a feat, might I add... that would have been far more satisfying before Marvel decided to relaunch the damn thing every couple of years at #1... but, that's neither here nor there.

I'm down to about a hundred issues as of this writing, most from the first hundred, natch.  I don't plan on dying anytime soon, so I'm still hopeful that I'll one day finish my set.

I said all of that, so I can say this... I have a lot of experience with Chris Claremont's X-Men work.  I have long been aware of his DC work, including and especially Sovereign Seven.  I have never read this title.  While it was being published, the thought of reading a non-X Chris Claremont book just felt wrong.  Granted, this is teenage-Chris (from the pocket dimension?) wisdom speaking here... so, I guess I can give myself a pass.  The fact that I'm in my mid-thirties, and have been exposed to plenty of non-X Claremont in the interim... I really have no excuse not to check this one out.

Was it worth the wait?  Let's find out...

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New Book... New Team!  Let's do a roll-call:

Cascade: Team Leader.  Can cascade (turn into bubbles) and teleport

Cruiser: Telekinetic, powered by food.  As a result is always hungry.

Reflex: Despite his enormous size, he is the Sovereign's resident speedster.

Network: Telepath.  When no minds are around to read, she becomes fully illiterate and aphasic.

Indigo: Tactician, can vanish into shadows.  Highly enigmatic.

Finale: Warrior woman, fears water.

Rampart: Can manifest force fields.








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We open on a dark and stormy ni... Oh!

The Sovereign pop onto the scene, presumably from a boom-tube (if the BOOM sound effect is any indication).  They land knee deep in an altercation between a young man and a group of super powered beasties.  The young man is clutching a golden amulet with a large red stone.

Team leader, Cascade approaches the young man to find out what's going on when the beasts begin to open fire.  Cascade orders the Sovereign into combat and we are given something of a demonstration/exhibition of many of the team members' powers.

They successfully fight off the baddies, and proceed to interrogate the young man who faints at the sight of team member Finale.  While he is out, Network attempts to read his mind.  She comments that his thoughts are completely in chaos, save for the name Merlin.

She reads the minds of the antagonists, and finds it far easier... their minds reveal that they were born and bred to capture this man for a Dark Mistress.

Cascade decides it would be best to head to town to reconnoiter.  At that moment, we observe that Dark Mistress (Maitresse) in an exchange with one of her hand-maids, Morgrin.  She is upset that her daughter is gone, and is planning a way to get her back.  When Mogrin expresses concern over the methods she wishes to employ, she kisses him... which causes his body to turn to ash.

Back on Earth, the Sovereign arrive at Crossroads which is something of an inn/bar.  They burst through the door in search of medical assistance for Merlin.  This is where we meet Pansy Smith and Violet Jones who own the place.

Suddenly the team finds themselves under attack.  It appears the Female Furies (Lashina, Bernadeth, and Artemiz) have also decided to pop into Crossroads.  They are in search of Merlin as well, claiming that the amulet he holds belongs to them.  Further, they claim ownership of the beast-men the Sovereign defeated during the open.

A battle ensues, in which poor Pansy gets swallowed up by Malice Vundabar's shadow-monster Chessure.  Stompa and Mad Harriet join the fracas, and in pure Claremontian tone introduce themselves as they arrive on the scene.

Who did you say you were again?

As the battle rages on, Cascade finds that she is no longer able to perform her "cascade" transformation due to Lashina's whip.  Bernadeth uses this opportunity to plunge her blade straight through Cascade's heart.  Her blade shatters upon hitting Cascade's chest, and in all of the confusion the Sovereign gain the upper hand.

Finale and Network plan at retrieving Pansy from Chessure's gut/void/whatever is inside.  Finale forces the shadow beast's mouth open and Network whips her lariat down its "throat".  Pansy takes hold, and with the help of Cascade, Network is able to successfully pull her out.

Both teams take inventory before rushing back into battle.  Before the two groups can clash again, they are interrupted by the KRAKOW! of a boom tube.  On the scene enters... Darkseid... or is that Joe Fixit?  I always enjoy seeing Darkseid humanized... whether it's lounging in an easy chair, or wearing a hat and trench coat.  Stuff like this is always fun.

Darkseid has come for the amulet, however, Merlin is not too keen on handing it over.  Cascade asks him for the truth.  If the amulet is indeed his, the Sovereign will fight for him... even to the death.  However, if the amulet is not his, he'd best hand it over to its rightful owner.

 Merlin considers his options, and ultimately drops the amulet into Darkseid's massive mitt.

Darkseid indulges in a cup of coffee and alludes to knowing Cascade... and her mother.  Before she can get any more information out of him, Darkseid takes his leave... boom-tubing away.  Once gone, Pansy and Vi start busting the Sovereign's chops about the condition of the inn.  In lieu of paying for damages (which is difficult when you have no money), it is decided that the Sovereign will work off their debt to the Crossroads.

We close by rejoining the Maitresse, and it is revealed that she is in actuality Cascade's mother.

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This was... alright.

I am mildly interested in coming back for the next chapter.  It's not bad by any stretch, however, there are moments where it feels as though I'm listening to a Chris Claremont tribute band... many of his well-trodden tropes are present.  The strong female lead, pages and pages of folks popping into panel to introduce themselves by name, the overly dramatic story title, ending this issue with "The Beginning" (I swear I was an S & M suit away from getting "bingo")... ehhh, just feels like I've been here before.

Like I said, there's really nothing overtly bad about it.  It was just unfortunately, at parts, something of a chore to "get through".  I'm a huge Chris Claremont fan, I may actually have more comics written by him in my collection than anyone else, and I really wanted to dig this more.  It would have opened up a whole new series for me to discover and enjoy.  Still may check out more, but it's not a priority

The art was about the same.  Nothing outright bad about it, but not a whole lot to draw me in and keep me interested visually... Mr. Darkseid Fixit notwithstanding.  The inking and coloring did the pencils no favors, as there is a very uneven and sometimes muddy feeling throughout this over-sized ad-free issue.

Is Sovereign Seven worth your time?  I have a hard time saying yes... yet, at the same time I have an ever harder time saying no.  It's Chris Claremont.  If you are a fan of his, you owe it to yourself to at least check it out.  If you dislike Claremontian writing, you should probably pass on this one.

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