New X-Men? #107

All-Night, All-Different X-Men #107

“Where No X-Man Has Gone Before!”

Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum

Synopsis

Half a galaxy away from home, the X-Men battles the Shiar Imperial Guard to rescue Princess Lilandra. And what mad plot has Emperor D’Ken hatched that threatens the very universe itself?

Rolling Commentary

Pages 2 and 3: They just couldn’t help themselves with that title, could they? Alas. I’d like to just point out the gorgeous splash page on Page 1. If anyone out there somehow had that piece of original art, I would probably be willing to grant large sums of money and/or sexual favors for it.

Page 4. Damnit, Cyclops, what happened to calm and reasoned diplomacy when greeting foreign cultures?

Page 8: Whoa! That soul-drinker thing looks unpleasant. Also, do any of the X-Men really have any idea what’s going on? I mean, D’Ken is clearly evil (you can tell by the moustache and thick eyebrows), but they just jumped into some kind of interstellar war without so much as a by your leave. Man.

Page 13. You know, Wolverine looks kind of good in those threads…

Page 15, I guess the calvary has arrived. Space pirates… Oy. I’m glad I wasn’t reading in the late 70s, because I would have absolutely no idea what is going on right now if I did.

Page 16. It’s been a page and a half, and I already like Ch’Od.

Page 17- Cyclops and Corsair meet for the “first” time. This is important.

Post Mortem

Yeah, I know the universe is ripping itself apart, but I can’t help but feel that the X-Men are more important right now. And D’Ken’s kind of a jerk, what with the whole arranging his sister’s horrific death and all, but I’m a little confused on his motivation. I know his sister is trying to stop him from maybe destroying the universe, but how and why is he maybe going to destroy the universe? We’re told the M’Kraan Crystal is all kinds of crazy power, but never much else.

This is probably my main point of complaint for this early Claremont work- the characterization of the good guys is excellent, but the plot itself is littered with holes, and the bad guys have little explanation of their actions. This is okay with Magneto and the Juggernaut, because we already know them. But with new villains like Black Tom and especially here with D’Ken- I know nothing about him other than he’s an evil tyrant. Greeeeeat. Maybe I’m delving too deep here, but things aren’t often that simple.

The good news is that none of that manages to ruin my enjoyment of a kickass story. None of that really comes to mind until after you’ve finished an enjoyable read, which is fair enough, I suppose. The fight is gloriously fun, and as always Dave Cockrum’s draftsmanship keeps what could have been a very messy fight scene clean and clear. And let’s all hear it for Dave Cockrum, shall we? This is his last issue for a while, and he never gets the credit he really deserves. All kinds of plot threads are tied up and new ones are added in. Next up is the final conclusion to the original “Phoenix Saga”, and we learn just how powerful she really is. Sort of.