And To The Loser... Death!

Having already seen her challenge Cyclops for leadership of the X-Men, and at the time without the use of her powers, we know the capabilities and resourcefulness of Storm when a decision is called for and/or decisive action needs to be taken. But some months before that time, when she still commanded the elements of the weather, she fought another duel for leadership--only this time, the contest was to the death!

Storm's foe was Callisto, leader of the outcasts known as the Morlocks (with apologies to H.G. Wells)--mutants who sequestered themselves one-thousand feet beneath the streets of New York, in a bomb shelter built secretly during the Cold War but then abandoned. It was there the X-Men came in search of the missing Angel, whom Callisto captured with the intent of forcing him into matrimony. The team was taken prisoner during their attempt to rescue him; and when they gained the upper hand in a second skirmish, the mutant known as Plague forced a standoff by infecting Storm and threatening to kill her.

With Kitty Pryde discovered in the same condition, Nightcrawler makes a bold decision to win their freedom--but he's countermanded by an unexpected source, considering her condition.

And so the die is cast (with apologies to Suetonius). Thanks to the weakness inflicted on her by Plague, Storm is considerably handicapped in this contest; in addition, she agrees to abide by Callisto's terms and battle only with the weapons at hand, forbidden to use any of her powers at the cost of Kitty's life.

Still, Callisto may want to keep that one eye of hers sharp--because Storm doesn't exactly look worried, does she?

As for Nightcrawler, he'll need to update whatever mental profile he's been keeping on Storm--because as this duel swiftly reaches its climax, it's a good bet he's standing wide-eyed and staring in disbelief while she draws in Callisto for the kill.

Thanks to the Morlocks' mutant healer, Callisto barely survives Storm's fatal strike. In the meantime, Storm has obviously read up on the concept of taking a victory lap; but in the process, she ensures that the danger that the Morlocks pose to the humans above is ended.

And as for Callisto, Storm also makes certain that the Morlocks' former leader understands that her threat is ended, as well.

Frankly, the Morlocks don't seem like the type of people to tolerate a leader who assumes command of them and then bolts to live elsewhere--but it worked for the Black Panther, so what do I know.

The Good With The Bad

Following the events of their 100th issue, the Defenders return home a demoralized lot, having lost their friend and comrade, Daimon Hellstrom, to the pits of Hades. And in spite of the fact that they saved Earth from the ravages of Satan, perhaps worse than having to leave Hellstrom behind is the knowledge that it was their actions, in part, which brought about his fate.

But try telling all that to the Hulk, whose words hang in the air as if to underscore their collective guilt.

Yet while all of the other Defenders feel a sense of loss, perhaps the one who feels it most profoundly is Patsy Walker, a/k/a the Hellcat--and so the Hulk's words impact on her harshly, causing her to snap and lose her temper while confusing the behemoth even further with her pain-filled response. And while she relents and apologizes, the Hulk rejects it and leaves in a huff.

Nor is he alone--though the Sub-Mariner's parting words are more reserved, if blunt.

Also departing is Nighthawk, who is now without the use of his legs during the day and has renounced his place in the Defenders. And Eric Simon Payne, the Devil-Slayer? Having faced the ultimate array of devils, where does he go from here? He stands in contrast to Dr. Strange, whose sense of failure is in its own way just as gnawing as Patsy's.

The rousing words of Isaac Christians, the Gargoyle, become the catalyst for the Defenders picking themselves up from this traumatic event and taking the first steps on the road to recovery--steps which writer J.M. DeMatteis dedicates this entire issue to pursuing, which will hopefully bring about what its cover proclaims.

Recap Of The Wrecker!

Having previously explored the villainy of the super-criminal known as the Wrecker in a number of PPC posts, his story only needs a few details of his origin to fill out his profile. So why not start with his awesome premiere cover from Mighty Thor, circa 1968?

We already know that it was the Norn queen, Karnilla, who was responsible for giving this lunatic the power of the gods; yet even before then, the Wrecker was setting the New York City police force on its collective ear, in a one-man crime wave that had victims and authorities alike at their wits' end.

But if we were to follow the paper trail, we'd really have Odin to thank for unleashing the Wrecker on the city, and ultimately on Thor--not a surprise, since Odin's plans have a way of causing more problems than they solve, and usually resulting in no small measure of collateral damage in the process. In the Wrecker's case, we have to revisit the story where Odin felt the need once more to punish his son, Thor, this time by stripping him of his Asgardian power. That ultimately led to Loki seizing the opportunity to attack Thor while his half-brother was at his weakest; only when Odin gets wind of it, he extends the same punishment to Loki. As a result, Loki is forced to call on Karnilla for an infusion of her own power to tide him over (and allow him to strike back at Thor and his comrades).

But before Karnilla arrives, Loki is mistaken for a fellow thief by the Wrecker, who attacks with the intent of hijacking his loot. And while Loki's natural strength would probably allow him to take the Wrecker, he doesn't get the chance.

And then, talk about a case of mistaken identity:

In the crime spree that follows, let's just say that the wave of destruction the Wrecker undertakes with his newfound might makes his previous petty thefts look downright nostalgic to the N.Y.P.D. trying their best to collar him. Thor, now shorn of his own power, doesn't fare much better.

We also learn the true aspects of the Wrecker's crowbar, which, when all is said and done, is no more than a typical crowbar you could pick up at any hardware store until the Wrecker takes it in hand, whereby it becomes an extension of his might.

And so we have to call "phooey" on later stories which were in the habit of making this bar the repository of the norn power the Wrecker was given.

In fact, the crowbar wasn't set out to have much of a history at all--thanks to the Destroyer, who put both the crowbar and its wielder out of commission.

Even so, when the Wrecker breaks out of police custody nearly two years later and once again wants to go rampaging with his trademark accessory, it never occurs to his creators (Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) to simply have him get his hands on another crowbar; rather, they discard their previous version of its fate and instead show it to have been confiscated and put in storage while the Wrecker has been on ice.

From there, the Wrecker and his Crew went on to make life miserable for any number of characters and super-teams--until Loki had the last laugh by reclaiming their stolen power as part of a scheme against Thor. Whether he hung onto the crowbar as a souvenir is a question we'll have to ask Loki sometime. But I doubt he gave it a second thought.

Four No More!

With the fabulous Fantastic Four having gone through their share of breakups, it can be difficult to sift through them and find one story that stands out from the others, a task usually complicated by the fact that any story featuring the FF breaking up is always hard to swallow. But a Len Wein story from early 1978 takes a little more care with the concept, and genuinely attempts to give the impression that this time the FF have every intention of parting company for good.

It's an issue that differs from others where, for instance, a team member has left in anger or frustration, or special circumstances have forced the decision. This time, the decision has been mutually accepted, if grudgingly, following the discovery that the team's leader, Mr. Fantastic, had lost his stretching power and that he couldn't continue to function in the field without being a liability to the others. And with Reed's departure, his wife, Sue, has also made the decision to leave with her husband, so that would seem to be that. Yet it all feels a bit rushed. Why take the extreme step of disbanding the FF? Sue is only leaving because Reed is--but does Reed have to leave the Baxter Building? He's not going to cease being an inventor, is he? Why leave the state-of-the-art R&D facility he's already built for himself? And while Reed is irreplaceable in the eyes of the others, no one even takes five or ten minutes to give any serious thought to a new team member.

We've already seen the Thing giving us his own account of the FF's tumultuous history, as a prelude to this issue--and now, with everyone on this former team resolved to going their separate ways, there's only the matter of packing up and saying goodbye.

So perhaps this really is

(Well, by now it's turned into the shocker we never thought we'd see so often.)

After The Rage

With the events of "Panther's Rage" having at last reached their conclusion, we rejoin the Black Panther two months after the fierce raid of Erik Killmonger virtually wiped out all that stood in central Wakanda, as its ruler and its people begin putting their country and their lives back in order. Writer Don McGregor appropriately titles the story "Epilogue!", though an exclamation point seems out of place considering the destruction and loss of life; perhaps it's in the spirit of transition, and moving on. Yet while there is no celebratory spirit resonating among the Wakandans, there is no cloud of sadness hanging over the country, either; rather, the mood is one of resolve and continuation, for the traditions and commitment of these proud people endure and will be reclaimed. Lives have been upended, but not abandoned.

The story spends less time than you might expect on the characters "picking up the pieces," so to speak, from the prior issue, though we can easily presume that much of the labor and administrative tasks have been well underway for the past sixty days. That leaves just a few loose ends to tie up that involve secondary characters. For instance, the former operative of Killmonger known as Venomm, who intervened in the final battle when another operative, King Cadaver, attacked the Panther's communications commander, Taku, whom Venomm had struck up a trusting relationship with during his incarceration. We don't know the extent to which Venomm may have worked against Killmonger's interests that day; perhaps he simply abstained from further action on Killmonger's behalf.  Whatever occurred, it's clear that he's being released, perhaps even on his own recognizance.

The mixed signals McGregor and artist Billy Graham are sending in regard to Venomm's current status don't leave enough room to speculate much further on the subject. Led around in chains (wouldn't handcuffs do?), Venomm appears to still be considered a threat in the eyes of Wakandan authorities--yet the Panther is supplying a craft to return him to America, in essence letting him go free (unless he's being extradited, in which case he would have remained bound). At the very least, his departure provides one last look (in the truest sense, as it turns out) at the hapless trials of Kazibe and Tayete, formerly in the service of Killmonger but in time rejecting their allegiance to him.

There is also T'Challa's security head, W'Kabi, to check in on, who fell victim first to Venomm and then became further injured when one of Killmonger's dinosaurs crashed into the hospital where he was recovering. Today, we find him not only having lost his family, but something that even Wakanda's technology can't fully replace.

Later, W'Kabi joins the Panther in investigating the deaths of two men, whose murders are in the style of one who was only recently dealt with. Both men, unfortunately, will fall to the merciless foe who ordered these recent deaths--or, rather, the one who acts in her name.

The story of the man called Mute and his mistress, Madam Slay, has already been recounted elsewhere in the PPC, serving to bring to a close this saga of over two years which became a well-regarded feather in the cap of McGregor, Graham, original artists Rich Buckler and Klaus Janson, and Graham's predecessor, Gil Kane.

---

Along the way, there were some noteworthy moments in "Panther's Rage" aside from the pages of the story itself. Additional insight into the story's plot and implications could be found in the book's letters pages, which, thanks to its bimonthly publication, were printed with as little as a two-issue gap between story installments rather than the usual four. There was unfortunately limited space for letters, for the most part; in fact, it's a fair observation that with a few less "filler" pages (as one letter-writer put it) of artistry and recaps, letters pages could have been expanded more frequently. In addition, many letters pages featured letters from the same writers repeatedly--among them Dean Mullaney, Ralph Macchio, and Peter Gillis (the latter two you may recognize as future Marvel Comics writers); it would have been nice to hear from a broader spectrum of readers, particularly since there was no lack of notices reminding readers that voicing their thoughts on stories made a real difference. (Though even one of Macchio's letters was omitted due to space limitations, it should be noted.)

And speaking of Machhio, he had the following food for thought on the deeper role that the boy and unexpected hero of the story's climax, Kantu, seemed to personify.

"When Erik Killmonger is pushed off the precipice in the climax, he is not pushed by either the Black Panther or Kantu. He is forced over the edge by the basic id portion of the Wakanda chieftan, T'Challa, for in truth, that is what Kantu really is. ... T'Challa and Kantu are inexplicably entwined, for each is but a different side of the same coin, with each emerging dominant in response to a given situation."

There were also two Editor forewords from those pages that followed the series and gave a virtual "Whew!" to the effort involved. Distilled and consolidated, they read as follows:

"It's all over.

"Two years and 209 pages later, the concept that began back in 1973 is finished. Oh, that concept changed subtly with the passage of time, as ideas reached their moment to become comic book reality: and the initial thrust expanded with each new chapter, sometimes adding more sagas to the entire "Panther's Rage" than had been originally planned: but even with the changes and expansion, it has ended.

"Don didn't realize what a controversial hornet's nest he was ramming into when he had T'Challa saved by that 'younger version of himself,' Kantu. Some were outraged by it. Some thought it negated the entire series. Others claimed that they didn't care how it ended except that was a stupid way to end it. On the other hand, there were positive responses also, and many of them, especially, were from you people who have been steady followers of the Marvel mythos."

Finally, to close out these PPC posts on "Panther's Rage" (and may I repeat:  "Whew!"), a sampling of splash pages which highlight the art of the letterer, so nicely coordinated with the work of Buckler and Graham.

Kantu's Rage!

It's time to finally polish off the series of PPC posts which have dealt with the 1973-75 story arc known as "Panther's Rage," a tale which somehow hung onto the readers of Jungle Action who at the time had to wait two months (or even longer) for a new story installment to be published. At the center of this conflict are the Black Panther, who headlines the book and who has returned to Wakanda to find it has come under attack by forces that are wiping out whole villages--and Erik Killmonger, the one who has launched a "revolution" against T'Challa's rule and is intent on taking down both the Panther and his legacy. Throughout his assault on Wakanda, Killmonger has made use of a number of operatives who are committed to his goal, some of whom have been altered or otherwise enhanced by rays emanating from a fallen stellar fragment; others are augmented by special weaponry, backed up by cadres of "death regiments" who specialize in their obvious vocation; while some, like Venomm, have certain talents that appeal to Killmonger's modus operandi in conquering Wakanda.

Over the course of this series, we've seen Killmonger move his forces around methodically, taking advantage of Wakanda's own weapons caches while also mining its Vibranium--always building toward a final power play that, with the conscription of the prehistoric beasts that roam Serpent Valley, is now at hand.

Snakes On A Plain!

We've at last come to the penultimate issue of the "Panther's Rage" storyline in Jungle Action, the calm before the storm which finds central Wakanda's security cells practically overflowing with nearly all of Killmonger's confederates (with the prickly archer known as Salamander K'Ruel being the most recent addition). Yet if you're thinking that this means that Killmonger, the instigator of this coup d'état against the Black Panther, will be more of a presence in this issue than in his sparse appearances throughout this saga--well, that would be a normal expectation to have at this stage. Instead, writer Don McGregor chooses to revisit the first Killmonger operative we encountered, Venomm, and make him the story's focus. In other words, you won't see Killmonger at all; but you will see much more of Venomm and his snakes than you did his first time at bat. If you don't exactly feel giddy at that news, put 'er there, pal.

In a way it feels as if McGregor is trying to close a circle with Venomm that doesn't really exist; yet there is closure that can reasonably be expected from the few segments he's featured in prior installments of this arc where the Panther's communications commander, Taku, has struck up conversations with the incarcerated Venomm and acted as a sounding board for the man's anger and frustration at his circumstances. Not quite a friendship, but more than words between jailer and prisoner. Venomm, however, has warned Taku that he'll eventually break out, and that he wouldn't hesitate to deal with Taku should the man get in his way. Unless there's so much action in the upcoming Part 12 to make it impractical, McGregor could likely have waited until then to pursue (and, if necessary, condense) what he has in mind for Venomm--but by the look of this issue, it seems that he's had this resolution for Venomm cooking in his head long enough for it to merit a story of its own. And perhaps it does feel that way, in McGregor's eyes. Your mileage may vary.

That story begins almost immediately--that is, after the first five pages catch us up with this book's starring character, the Black Panther, having returned at last to Wakanda following his trials in Serpent Valley and the northern region of the white gorillas. There can be little argument that he deserves some down time, even with Killmonger's threat looming--and he and his lover, Monica Lynne, make the most of it, courtesy of resident artist Billy Graham whose full-page work continues to impress.

Suffice to say that you haven't seen down time until you've seen it in Wakanda.

Target: Rogue!

As the catalyst for a 40-issue stretch that shifted the X-Man, Storm, to operating in the field without the use of her powers--a period that for readers lasted over three years, but only a few months in X-Men time--Uncanny X-Men #185 has a good deal more to offer for those following the progress of Rogue, the newest X-Man who joined under protest and still isn't sure that she belongs in the company of heroes. Adding to her conflicting feelings is the fact that Charles Xavier hasn't been able to help her in controlling either her powers, or the emotions and memories of Carol Danvers which now permanently exist in tandem with her own, a failure which probably astonishes anyone familiar with Xavier's abilities; after all, for such a powerful telepath, who can manipulate thoughts as adeptly as you or I might rearrange furniture, isolating Carol's thoughts while giving Rogue's dominance should be child's play. This was the man who psychically kept Dark Phoenix in check within Jean Grey, for pity's sake.

So this story serves to put Rogue in perspective, for readers and for herself, in setting her on the path to becoming an X-Man in not just name but in deed. Crucial to that shift for the character are the actions of Storm, the X-Man who had strongly opposed Rogue's addition to the team (to the point of issuing an ultimatum) but has grown to care for the welfare of this young woman who has proven herself with them. Though the excellent cover by John Romita Jr. might have us thinking that, for Rogue, the feeling isn't mutual!

Gather, Ye Witches!

Let's take a quick poll--c'mon, it'll be fun!

Question:  Out of all the foes the Silver Surfer has come up against, which would you want to see the most? And here's the cool part:  you only need to think of your answer!  Through the mental talents of Charles Xavier, we can tally all the thoughts of those taking part and automatically present the winning result below.  Ready? Take it away, Chuck!

"Gathering all thoughts... processing results..."

"Done."

Already? Then let's have a look at the winner, and...

...Wait, that's your choice? A witches' coven? Seriously?

My guess wasn't even going to be in that general neighborhood--

but we aim to please, so you got it!

Can I at least throw in the Abomination?