X-Men Forever #s 21 to 24: Into that Good Night / Requiem

Writer: Chris Claremont; Art: Rodney Buchemi, Daniel HDR, Greg Adams, Fernando Blanco, Tom Grummett & Cory Hamscher

Rating 3.5 out of 5 stars

The first year of X-Men Forever comes to its conclusion in these four issues as our not-so-merry band of mutants finally confront the nefarious Consortium aboard their satellite headquarters in the three issue arc "Into That Good Night," followed by the epilogue "Requiem."

Truth be told, when the Consortium were introduced I was not especially impressed. Sure, they were a vast, sinister conspiracy that managed to infiltrate SHIELD and replace a member of the X-Men (namely Storm) with a deep-cover imposter. But groups like Hydra and AIM, and alien invaders such as the Skrulls and the Dire Wraiths seem to do that sort of thing fairly regularly. So I was more than a bit incredulous when Chris Claremont had Cyclops expressing the belief that the Consortium was more dangerous & powerful than even the Hellfire Club.

Of course, Claremont then went and pulled a totally unexpected reveal: one of the board members of the Consortium was none other than Tony Stark. Yep, that's right, Iron Man himself, one of the most powerful, intelligent, wealthy, and influential men on Earth. So, yeah, having Stark as a member of a conspiracy dedicated to the extermination of mutantkind is pretty darn serious.

Stark's role in the Consortium is revealed to the X-Men by the villainous Fabian Cortez, the man who killed Magneto. Cortez had previously been snatched from SHIELD custody by the Consortium and turned into a human guinea pig. The Consortium's experiments on Cortez lead the to a weapon capable of killing every mutant on Earth. Faced with imminent genocide, the X-Men and Nick Fury launch an assault on the Consortium satellite.

Much of issue #21 has the X-Men dealing with the revelations made by the now late, and very much unlamented, Cortez. The events of the second X-Men Forever arc, which dealt with the origins of the Sentinels, are elaborated on. Tony Stark's father Howard is revealed to be both a benefactor and friend of Sentinel creator Bolivar Trask. The close ties between their two families apparently led to both Amelia Trask and Tony Stark becoming key players in the Consortium. And we learn that Nick Fury has a mole deep within that nefarious organization.

Claremont's ear for dialogue is especially keen in this issue. Looking over Cortez's corpse, the Beast muses "I wonder, Cortez -- is Magneto waiting for you, somewhere in the afterlife? Bet that'll be an interesting conversation."

Issue #s 22 and 23 see the X-Men and Fury's offensive against the Consortium in Earth's orbit. Opposing them is Amanda Trask's daughter Ziggy and her squad of Neo-Sentinels. The much anticipated next generation of Sentinels, first hinted at back in issue #9, finally appear on-stage. And, truth be told, they actually don't seem to be much more effective at fighting the X-Men than regular Sentinels. This is even commented upon by the characters themselves, with both Stark and Cyclops at different points wondering at the Neo-Sentinels' under-performance.

Perhaps Claremont intends to bring the Neo-Sentinels back in X-Men Forever year two, and show them as having learned from their initial battle with the X-Men. But their debut outing here is not especially impressive. Oh, well, at least they look cool. As the Beast comments, "Interesting new take on the classic family design."

Strangely, only a small group of X-Men head off to fight the Consortium. They don't bother to call for reinforcements. The rational behind the X-Men immediately rushing off with such a small squad is that the Consortium could activate their doomsday weapon any minute, and there's no time to wait for back-up. Not even the Starjammers, who we've been informed more than once are hanging out in Alaska. But, really, the Starjammers have a freaking alien spaceship. If anything, if called in, they'd probably have been able to reach the Consortium satellite before the X-Men. Besides, it would have been cool to see them.

In this case, I think that certain behind-the-scenes aspects of the X-Men Forever series played a role in Claremont's odd storytelling choice. Claremont has stated in interviews that he is limited by editorial fiat to using a small cast of characters. So, unfortunately, the X-Men's reasoning for going into a major battle with only seven members, plus Nick Fury, appears to be a case of Claremont struggling mightily to rationalize within the story the stricture imposed by his editors.

Fury's informant in the Consortium turns out to be Tony Stark himself. While not unexpected, this does raise several questions. If Stark intended to stop the Consortium's plans, why did he sit back and let their actions go unopposed for so long? Why did he not let Fury know about the infiltration of both SHIELD and the X-Men? Why wait until the Consortium had a fully functioning weapon capable of killing every mutant on Earth before finally acting?

At one point in #23, the Beast tells Stark "I really had a hard time believing you'd gone over to the Dark Side." Tony replies "Trust me, that call was a lot closer than you think." I really wish Claremont had gone into detail about Stark's motivations and thought processes in helping to head up a group like the Consortium.

It's funny. Back when I reviewed the four part X-Men Forever arc "Black Magik," I commented that perhaps the story would have worked better if it had been an issue shorter. Well, the exact opposite is true for the three part "Into That Good Night." Between the rushed battle with the Neo-Sentinels, and Stark's motives getting pretty much glossed over, this arc really needed an extra issue. Especially since it is the dramatic climax to X-Men Forever volume one. The last think this denouement should have been was claustrophobic.

Oh, yes, #23 also had a five page back-up story which serves as a prologue to the upcoming Giant-Size X-Men Forever #1. Again, considering "Into That Good Night" felt quite rushed at times, I definitely feel these five pages would have been better utilized as part of the main story. Instead, they are used as a teaser involving the Shi'ar Empire's conflict with the War-Skrulls. Makes me wish, again, that Claremont had paced out the first year of X-Men Forever a bit more judiciously, so that the climactic arc could have contained an extra chapter.

Issue #24, the "Requiem" epilogue, is the best of the four. We see the tragic aftermath of the X-Men's battle. Yes, they have achieved victory, but it is a pyrrhic one. Claremont really puts Jean Grey through the emotional ringer here. So soon after the death of Wolverine, who she shared an unconsummated romance with, Jean has now lost another teammate who she had just begun to be intimately close with. Understandably, we see her cutting herself off emotionally from the rest of the X-Men, lest she be hurt once again

I really liked the scene with Nightcrawler and Rogue towards the end of the issue. Likewise the segment as a brooding Nick Fury pensively contemplates the future. It'll be interesting to see where Claremont goes with all of this in the coming year.

Several different artists worked on these four issues. I guess the biweekly schedule of the series finally caught up on Marvel.

The semi-regular art team of Tom Grummett & Cory Hamscher drew the epilogue. Their work is oddly uneven, with several pages, namely the funeral in the middle, looking rushed & scratchy, whereas the pages both before and after are much more polished. In any case, Grummett's storytelling is strong throughout. He really captured the raw emotions of the characters.

As for "Into That Good Night," Randy Buchemi penciled the first and third parts, with the middle chapter by Daniel HDR. Inks on all three issues were courtesy of Greg Adams. He helped maintain a consistency between the two pencilers, so their work did not appear too disparate. Never underestimate the impact, or importance, of a good inker on the finished artwork. Oh, yes, Fernando Blanco both penciled & inked the back-up story in #23.

In any case, aside from those few rushed-looking pages in #24, all four issues look very good.

So, while it was not the strongest of finishes to the first year of X-Men Forever, with several areas that could have used definite improvement, Claremont did still produce an interesting and entertaining story. His best work here is on the quieter, character-driven moments. I'm still looking forward to volume two.