Amazing x-men #3 (age of apocalypse part 21)

Age of Apocalypse  Part 21

Amazing X-men Issue #3

Written by Fabian Nicieza

Art by Andy Kubert

Inks by Matt Ryan

Lettered by Starkings & Comicraft

Open With a Splash page in front of the gravestone of Charles Xavier:

Standing in front of Xavier's grave is the leader of the X-men, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, a.k.a. Magneto.  Magento takes the time to evaluate the situation and give us a little exposition of how the world of Apocalypse came to be. As well as his current state of defense.

First off the teams of X-men are scattered across the world and universe looking for keys to unlock a doorway to another reality.  Second we learn that Apocalypse is on his way to Magento and the remaining X-men to the grounds of their home.  

Standing there  we see Magento through the scope of a gun being held by the time displaced X-man, Bishop.  He walks up to Magento with his gun raised in a mock threat.  He tells Magento that they aren't out on the grounds to reminisce about old times, but to check the perimeter since they got notification that there was a perimeter breach.

Magento uses the moment to show off his powers and disassemble and reassemble Bishops gun.  Why?  So Magento can prove he isn't a man to trifle with. After reassembling the gun, Magento nonchalantly tells Bishop to shoot over his Left shoulder.  At which time Bishop fires an energy blast from his gun and hits an Infinite right behind Magneto

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He manages to take out the Infinite soldier and we see that the Vanisher is there with a small group of Soldiers to take on Magneto and Bishop.  The two X-men take a stand, back to back; and fight off the Armoured Warriors using their Kinetic Blasts and powers of magnetism. 

They manage to make fast work of the Warriors. Bishop mentions that these men are easier to take down that the ones he ran into at Seattle. Magneto reminds Bishop to not be too cocky, for Magneto can feel as though "he" is here and waiting to strike.

Just then Magneto and Bishop are hit with an energy blast from behind; knocking Magento out cold and leaving Bishop momentarily stunned. Then out of the shadows holding Magneto is the despot, Apocalypse.

At which point Bishop blasts Apocalypse with one of his energy blasts. Having so little energy within himself to throw at Apocalypse; Bishop crawls to his gun that had fallen out of his hand. The Mutant dictator manages to shrug off the blast and walks to Bishops  and step in front of his gun , before our hero can reach it.

Apocalypse then uses his body modifying powers to create a giant fist and knocks Bishops head into the ground thereby knocking  him out. Apocalypse then starts monologuing about waiting for thousands of years to get to the point where he is now.  Just then the gun he grabbed when he picked up Bishop goes off in his hand. Magento has come too and manages to stand up to go toe to toe with Apocalypse.  

Magento then hoists up the gun and using his powers of magnetism reconfigures the energy coils in the gun to be a bomb that will make the entire site a crater. Apocalypse doesn't take the bait and see's through the threat and reminds Magneto that his son Charles is somewhere on the site and could easily perish in the blast too. Magneto throws down the gun and Apocalypse takes the opportunity to slam Magneto to the ground and knocks him out again.  Apocalypse rejoices on how he now has Magneto and Bishop and it's only a matter of time before he tracks down and finds Magneto's son, Charles.

Cut To:

Tunnels underneath Xavier’s mansion, we see that Nanny has taken Charles down there to secret him away from the danger.  Within her metal torso we see a little Charles riding safely along the sewer tunnels. Vanisher then teleports into the tunnels right in front of Nanny, and demands that she hand over the “brat”.

In her own way, Nanny says NO! Basically deploying a series of weapons that would make Rob Liefeld cream in his pants.

Later:

Outside the Xavier Mansion he Amazing X-men arrive in their transport; and upon touching down they burst out of the ship to investigate the damage that the see around them.  Quicksilver scouts around to see if he can find Magneto. Quicksilver discovers that Magneto, Bishop, Nanny and his brother are all missing.  

A holoform of Alison Blaire pops up and tells him and the others that they need to head to the cemetery as Exodus has found something.  Exodus holds Magneto's helmet lovingly in his arms. As the team evaluates the damage and Quicksilver vows to Exodus that they will find Magento; the body of Vanisher is throw down in front of them and Ice-man says, “Look what I found in the tunnels.”

Banshee evaluates Vanishers wounds and draws the conclusion that he was killed by Nanny in the tunnels. Quicksilver orders Exodus and Dazzler to go into the tunnels to try and find Charles and Nanny ;  pshalso orders Ice-man to find Rogue while he heads off to talk to the one person that might know what happened; Angel.  

Over in what was once Manhattan Warren Worthington III a.k.a Angel, flies into his private entrance at his nightclub Heaven.   As he enters his private rooms he ponders his current state of affairs, which is basically a recap of minor events from Factor X.  Which he is completely taken by surprise by a voice in his apartments and makes him grab his gun. He is then slugged before he could react and Quicksilver stands over him holding Angel's gun.  

Quicksilver then tells Angel that Magneto has been captured and demands that Angel tell him where they might have taken him.  Angel admits that it is information he is willing to share and informs Quicksilver where Magneto and Bishop would have been taken to.  Magento is in the citadel within old Manhattan, and Bishop was taken to Quebec to be interrogated by the Shadow King.  Therefore Quicksilver needs to decide who will he save, as he doesn’t have enough X-men to save both.

Cut to Quebec:

Bishop is strapped down to a table while temple priest of the Shadow King chant around him and calls for the Shadow King.  The body and mind of Bishop is then invaded by the Shadow King.  On the astral plane, the Shadow King strips through the memories of Bishop to get to the answers that he seeks.  He then gets booted out by Bishops psychic defenses.  In doing so Shadow King retreats to his container that holds his psyche and the priest attending him are shocked by this and wonder how something like this could happen.  

Their questions are answered by the entity known as Abyss as he shows up to attempt to interrogate Bishop himself.

Back at the Xavier Mansion,

Quicksilver returns to inform his X-men team his decision to go and save Bishop from Quebec.  Upon arriving he sees that Rogue hasn’t returned, and neither has Dazzler and Exodus.  Quicksilver makes the  decision to trust in Exodus and Dazzler finding his brother and Quicksilver leaves with the two remaining X-men to save a man they barely know.  To be continued in Amazing X-men number 4.

THOUGHTS ON THE STORY

Fabian Nicieza tells a really good third act to a four part story. We have established the main characters and their drive. Now we head into the peril that will help reach the climax of the mini-series.  There is a good bit of plot development with the overall story. Apocalypse and Magento go toe to toe and Apocalypse gets the upper hand.  We are also introduced to another Apocalypse world version of the Vanisher.

ART:

Andy Kubert’s art is really tightly drawn.  His use of backgrounds are minimal allowing the action of the characters to tell the story.  Using facial expressions and close panel work to help drive the plot.  Andy Kubert is one of the names from the Marvel comics of the Nineties that I loved to see on a X-men book.  The Kubert name is a legacy that really shines in this book.  Sharp angles and exaggerated body forms really give the book and otherworldly look to this fractured alternate universe.

Score  8.0 out of 10