UNCANNY X-MEN #187: WRAITHKILL!

Forge and the X-Men find themselves as Brothers in Arms when Dire Wraiths attack!

Originally Published November 1984

When we last left off with Storm, she was defiantly walking away from Forge's pad at Dallas' Eagle Plaza, in light of the fact that he was responsible, if indirectly, for her traumatic depowering, and also because he is a hollow man who can love nothing and has a cavernous abyss where his heart should be.

Storm's grand gesture of independence is laudable and all, but could hardly have come at a less convenient time, and not just because she has found herself traipsing out into an unusually cold November Rain (making it extra-hard to hold a candle, by my reckoning) but because those sneaky-deaky Dire Wraiths have arrived right behind her to enact their plot to kill Forge to prevent him from using his technology to destroy them.

Because he created the power-removing gun under the premise of fighting them, Forge has caught the ire of the Dire Wraiths - sorcerous aliens bent on the subjugation of humankind (who normally spend their time elsewhere fighting Rom, the Spaceknight.) And they have used their gross brain-sucking abilities to sneak into Forge's condo in the guise of an elderly security guard.

Zero percent chance he was being paid enough for this gig

 Outside, Storm is attacked, but even without her powers, is able to fend it off thanks to a well-placed stilleto.

Retreating back into Forge's building (thanks to a window smashed in by a trash can - which, wow, where is Forge's high tech perimeter defense now?) Storm is cornered, barely able to stun the thing by firing Joe's discarded weapon, until someone comes along to snipe it with a nasty headshot.

Yes, it's Forge's mentor, estranged friend and incumbent Magical Native Person Naze, who says he had a premonition about the Eagle (ie Forge) fighting for his life atop his aerie (ie, his fabulous high rise) struck down by those who seemed to be his friends but were not (ie shape-stealing alien monsters.)  Naze must protect Forge because he believes only he cane protect the world from some upcoming cosmic-level events - which is a lot of importance to put on a guy we only just met and don't particularly like. 

Arming up - with Storm reflecting on the time Wolverine taught her to shoot (just in case, you know, you ever happen to lose your powers) - Storm and Naze climb up the elevator shaft to reach the penthouse, just like in that movie -- Skyscraper (2018).

Privately, Storm thinks to herself that she cannot allow any harm to come to Forge... unless she is the one responsible.

The two are separated when the Wraiths sabotage the elevator and cause Storm to snag on the cable, only barely freeing herself before splattering. Naze is able to combat them by sensing their presence with his magicks (his shotgun also helps) while Storm confronts one on the roof in an unseasonable winter blizzard (caused by the opening of the Cask of Ancient Winters, which you can read about on somebody's THOR recap blog.)

Storm makes do with what he has, but is again surprised and alarmed to find that the weather is affecting her far more than it did when she was its mistress:

Storm is able to lock the Wraith outside, but things get even worse when she is bombarded by a psychic shock that melds her with Forge, Naze, a Wraith, and one mysterious other - hinted to be the most powerful, devilish foe of all, which opens the gates of chaos into her soul.

Yeah, I've had that feeling a lot here in the year 2020.

Forge and Storm meet up. When a Dire Wraith casts an illusion so that Forge will see Storm as one of the enemy creatures, he "calls on a part of himself [he's] denied for ten years" to see through it (ie, his Magical Native Powers.)

While Naze busies himself with Native Magicks elsewhere in the building, Rogue and Colossus arrive, but get a little tangled up with holographic versions of the Dire Wraiths. Forge's solution is to conjur up illusory versions of the Wraith's enemies, Rom (Spaceknight) and Starshine (Spaceparamour.)

Much like a new foe appearing on the entrance ramp in WWE, this distraction enables the X-Men to blast the real Dire Wraiths, who cannot maintain their sorcerous illusions.

As the heroes stand around tying to determine whether they've won, this happens:

Oof, don't you just hate that?

Further Thoughts:

I've said it before and I will continue to do so: I don't like it when comics incorporate real-world cultures and faiths into magical-mystery powers. Create a whole new funky cosmology if you wish, but to reduce Native People - or Roma, or Asians or Africans or whatever - into a cartoon version of their real belief structures does them a disservice. Between Shaman of Alpha Flight, Dani Moonstar and her late grandfather, and now Forge and Naze, the X-Men have met nearly half a dozen magical Natives, as well as the Inuit-powered Snowbird, who is inexplicably a white lady, and still to come, Gateway. In this respect, Thunderbird was shaping up to be a strong deviation from this trend since he only had physical strength and speed. But he died immediately.

There's also this other weird shady stuff going on with Naze and Forge in that direction that is hard to suss out. There's that moment where a bizarre psychic event joins Forge, Storm, Naze, the Wraith and an "other" - and while I appreciate some ambiguity to build mystery and suspense, it isn't very easy to account for in the format of this blog. But we can healthily assume that this is the Native-themed problem Naze came here to draft Forge into dealing with. 

As far as all-action issues go, this is fine but a little tiring because, as much as the Dire Wraiths have been around for a few issues now, they're still not really the X-Men's foes and I can't really care about them. The best feature of this issue is that it's an action showcase for depowered Storm, who is still a highly competent superhero. And it is all too fitting that this event occurs during the bleedover from Thor's Cask of Ancient Winters event, so that she can interact with - and be at the mercy of - this intense weather she cannot control.