Age of Apocalypse Part 19
The Astonishing X-men #3
Written by Scott Lobdell & Jeff Loeb
Art by Joe Madureira
Inks by Townsend/Milgrom
Colors by Steve Buccellato
Lettered by Starkings & Comicraft
Open with:
Wild Child is on the run from three Infinite’s , when he is shot in the back. He falls to the ground and is stepped on by the boot of Holocaust. Which Holocaust begins to do his bad guy banter, the usual “stay down, I am the high lord of Apocalypse yada yada yada. Then the three Infinites get closer to Holocaust and ask him how he beat them to Chicago. His reply is atypical for a nineties bad guy. “don’t question me you soulless genetic construct.
Holocaust then picks up Wild child and starts another soliloquy when suddenly he produces a top hat and cane and and starts talking about putting on a show with Wild Child. This confuses the infinite’s and before they can react Sunfire appears and demands their surrender. Of course they don’t and Sunfire obliterates the Infinite’s; and it is revealed that this Holocaust was in fact Morph the slapstick mutant shapeshifter.
Enter Rouge and Blink:
Both mutants are surprised to see Wild Child without Sabertooth. Of course Wild Child doesn’t use the english language and as a way to communicate his warning ; he licks Rogues face and her mutant power kicks in as she absorbs Wild Child’s memories from last issue.
She see’s Holocaust attack Sabertooth, and in a fit of rage Rogue lashes out and knocks Wild Child down and slightly transforms into a Wild Child herself.
Cut To:
Indianapolis with Sabretooth and Holocaust. Sabretooth is knocked out and being drug across the ground by a battle damage Holocaust. Sabretooth comes to and is picked up by Holocaust and shown the valley below them at the futuristic looking processing plant that will create an army of infinites.
Then Sabretooth provokes Holocaust and mouths off to him and it makes Holocaust slash Sabretooth and causes him to pass out. We are then witness to a flashback/dream of when Sabretooth saved the mutant Blink when he was running around with Logan aka Weapon X.
Meanwhile:
Somewhere over the state of Indiana, we see the group of mutants flying to Indianapolis in a most unorthodox way. Morph appears to be in the shape of a floor panel and Sunfire is flying/carrying the rest of the X-men on. Now I don’t know if we are suppose to assume that Sunfire is generating enough heat to cause the Morph floor to me pushed up on thermal jets or is Sunfire also super strong? I assume it would be rather difficult to lift four average size adults weighing around 150 to 200 lbs each.
Not only is the method of travel unorthodox we are also entertained by Morph’s humour and banter which is the complete opposite to Sunfire’s serious nature.
Back at the former Xavier Institute:
Bishop is back to holding a gun on Magneto, and wanting to kill him. Of course Magneto talks him down in his usual type of idiom. Then just bitch slaps him, and reminds him that they are no longer in the World that Bishop vaguely remembers. Although this type of scene has been repeated in the different books it really drives home the notion that Bishop is unhinged and not playing with a full deck.
Just then the Nanny robot to Charles, Magento’s son comes walking floating in showing Magento that the little boy is asleep and of to be tucked into bed. Before Magneto can see his son to bed the Nanny’s perimeter alarm goes off and she transforms into a steel banded egg around Charles to protect him. Magneto and Bishop learn that the former mansion is now in defcon armageddon. Which means Apocalypse is on his way to the Mansion.
Cut To:
Inside the Infinite processing plant. Holocaust, Now in a new armour suit looks upon his soldier and starts talking to himself as all bad guys and bond villains do.
Elsewhere in the plant:
A river running through the coolant part of the plant sees a Sperm Whale come up on it’s factory floor. Infinities are alerted and surround the massive aquatic mammal. The whale then speaks and opens his huge maw to reveal the X-men.
They take out the guards quickly and make their way through the processing plant to find Victor. Blink sees him first an teleports to him and we end with a full page rendering of Blink and Sabretooth. Sabertooth trussed up like a slab of meat and Blink in the background with a look of shock and worry on her face.
To be continued.
THOUGHTS ON THE STORY:
This story opens up with a fun sequence. I mean sure Wild Child is gunned down but after that we see the interaction between the team and Morph. In an age where everything is dower. Morph brings just the right amount of humour into the situation. This issue really helps move the overall narrative. One we get information on Victor Creed and Holocaust and the factory that is creating an army of Infinites. Two we see that Magneto is warned about in coming fight with Apocalypse. Three we get some more character development of Victor and some hidden exposition within the story that seems to flow with the pages.
Very little is not wrong with this particular part of the story. There isn’t any blatant mistakes with the dialogue or captions.
ART:
Not much to say . Joe’s art on this book is really good. Wild Child is a really cool character in Joe’s rendering. His angular lines really give the character a feral look .
I really enjoyed his art on the book . I would put Maduriea in the same style as Humberto Ramos.
Score 8.0 out of 10
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