Friday, May 22, 2015

Take No Prisoners!


In Uncanny X-Men #145, the assistant of the murderous Arcade, Miss Locke, ambushes Storm and presents her with this ultimatum:




After confirming that the hostages Locke mentioned are indeed missing, Storm returns to home base and informs the X-Men and Charles Xavier of the situation. Xavier is leaning in the direction of accommodating Locke's demands--but I always liked the speech Wolverine gives in rebuttal. For all the good it does. It's Storm's response that raises an eyebrow:



Whoa, Ororo! Who's talking about abandoning or sacrificing Locke's hostages? Wolverine speaks of saving the hostages and abandoning Arcade (and, if he has his way, making sure Locke's days of kidnapping are finished).

Soon, however, Storm presents her plan, which is immediately given the green light:



In effect, Storm is amending Wolverine's proposal by splitting the team, for reasons which don't make sense: One group breaks into Murderworld and rescues the hostages, while the other team negotiates with Doom for Arcade's release. To make matters worse, what Storm fails to make mention of in this panel is the fact that her group's purpose is not to secure Arcade's release without a fight--it's to infiltrate Doom's fortress and actually break Arcade out of his cell, while Storm meets with and distracts Doom.

In other words, Storm gives writer Chris Claremont what he needs to make this into a three-part story--and for what? Why should the X-Men care about Arcade's affairs vis-à-vis Doom, or that Arcade has fallen into Doom's clutches? It's Locke who is the enemy to overcome here, isn't it? Let's break down Storm's "stormtrooper" plan:  If Storm agrees with Wolverine insofar as rescuing the hostages, why bother with Doom at all? And if her team is breaking Arcade out of captivity and complying with Locke's demands, why invade Murderworld at the same time?

So, let's say you're Charles Xavier, and you have to make the call. In your opinion, which team member has offered the best approach here:


Wolverine--or Storm?

(And who forgot to give these people eyes??)

 

1 comment:

George Chambers said...

Wolverine. Definitely Wolverine. Ororo, honey, any plan that includes the words 'confront Doctor Doom' could be improved.