The X-Men tangle with the Freedom Force, not knowing that the fate of the Universe may hang in the balance!
Originally Published January 1988
We begin in Edinburgh, Scotland, where a familiar hand is sketching his woes away.
You may recognize this Russian bohunk as Colossus, the steel-skinned powerhouse of the X-Men, but today he prefers to be plain old Piotr Nikolievitch Rasputin, drawing X-Men battles that occurred here months earlier. The wee local lads flanking him play out the Juggernaut fight whilst complaining that all the X-Men are yucky girls these days. Peter explains that there is another boy-mutant, Colossus, who was recently injured in battle with the Marauders, but he's finally feeling much better these days, thanks.
Another kid comes by to stir up trouble by pointing out the real heroes are X-Factor, who are not stinkin' muties.
As the kidlets run off before Pete can give them a Kitty Pryde style lecture on judging people by their character and not their fearsome powers, Peter is approached by a strange woman, who commissions him to draw her portrait in exchange for some fortune telling - a sure sign that you're having a normal one.
From reading Peter's palm, the mystery woman shows that she knows much about our friend here: that he has a strong and honorable soul, which has been tested twice by the necessity of taking a life. She indicates that his future contains a choice on which the fate of everything depends. When Peter asks her for some clarification, she disappears, leaving behind a little maquette of him as Colossus -- and revealing that the face he drew was somehow different from that of the woman he thought he was seeing!
We are next taken to an "impossible place," which we know to be above time and space and reality because there's an ominous chessboard with the X-Men as pieces and you can see the whole universe out the window at all times of day. This is the abode of Roma, currently being held captive by the Adversary. Roma is apparently a big deal in cosmic circles, since apparently it was she who had hoped for Forge and Storm to defeat the Adversary, but who's laughing now since they are off the board and Roma is tied to a pillar in her own home.
Yes, things look bad for all of reality, but Roma smirks, seemingly knowing a secret that the Adversary has yet to uncover. She has another trick up the sleeve of her fabulous low cut ostentatious gown.
Back in Scotland, Peter finds he cannot transform back into his flesh-and-blood form without great effort after being provoked by some of those pint-sized ne'er-do-wells -- Colossus is now his default mode. Frustrated and unable to control his now-augmented strength, he accidentally smashes an iconic British telephone booth (or as they call it, a "lorry.") He hastily repairs it and is able to phone home to Xavier's School, where thankfully he still has a few friends...
That's right, his sister Illyana, also known as Magik of the New Mutants, is here to use some of that eponymous magik to reunite Colossus with his fellow X-Men who, as of this moment, have just arrived in Dallas, aka the Big D, aka the place where the X-Men are definitely going to die soon.
In their search for Storm, they have understandably come to the last known residence of the man she was known to be seeking out, Forge, at Eagle Plaza. Like Storm, they find it abandoned and derelict, a whole skyscraper empty of people. And it's not even a pandemic.
Wolverine ventures inside to check out the situation...
...and finds out, the hard way, that the building's automated defenses are still very much intact.
The X-Men are able to retrieve Wovlerine before any permanent damage is done thanks to some fun teamwork, but in rushing out of the building, they run into a new old friend of Storm's...
Yes, that's Lewis Hamilton, also known as Stonewall, newly minted member of the Freedom Force, the Government's own superpowered smackdown squad. He's not alone either, of course, as he's accompanied by team leader Mystique, her very good friend, roommate and co-parent Destiny, the six-armed sorceress Spiral, Avalanche, Pyro, Super Sabre, Crimson Commando, and hm, I think that's all of them--
Right, and featuring Fred J. Dukes as the Blob.
The Freedom Force have come to bring the X-Men in for their various charges of being mutant outlaws and such, and if, in the process, they happen to get Rogue far away from the doomed city of Dallas, that would just be a happy side-benefit for Mystique and Destiny.
The X-Men take a contrary stance on the issue of whether the X-Men should be arrested, and a fight breaks out. However, out heroes find themselves slightly outmatched by a team whose membership includes someone who can see the future, a six-armed witch who can do seemingly anything, and America's Sweetheart, the Crimson Commando.
But that isn't to say the X-Men don't get some good licks in...
Especially when Colossus arrives right in the thick of things.
Just then Storm, of all people, arrives. She advises everyone to just be cool and, you know, do what Mystique says, even if that means letting themselves arrested.
Rogue, who knows a thing or two about the kind of shenanigans Mystique can pull, determines that this is in fact her shape-shifting mother pulling a Mr. Snrub. She attacks, but then Spiral zaps her. The X-Men are able to get custody of Mystique, but lose Rogue to the Freedom Force. The heroes head into the now-disarmed building to regroup, which triggers Destiny pretty badly.
That's pretty bad, but luckily it's the middle of the night and the break of dawn is still hours away.
Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Further Thoughts:
Although it has been clear for some time that we are barreling towards some major cajunga developments in the world of X, this is the first issue to bear the official name of this event - The Fall of the Mutants. From the name, it promises to be a major shake-up, possibly leading to the deaths of all out favourite X-Men and the end of the series. Seems like it might be a downer, but let's play it out and see where it goes.
This issue brings us the full realization of the Adversary, an acknowledgment that he's been wearing Naze's face since at least the Wraith War, and perhaps most importantly the introduction of his counterpart Roma. About Roma, not much is said, other than that we can infer that she is a Very Impressive Figure on a cosmic scale, and that for some reason she wants Colossus in the fight against the Adversary. Beyond that you'll have to do some extra-credit work reading old Marvel UK stories in which she appears and learn the whole complicated legacy of Captain Britain and my friends I barely have enough time to read Uncanny X-Men as it is.
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| Also, these two have A Moment. |
My hope -- having not re-read this story in a very long time -- is that we can bridge the gap between the nature of the Adversary and the powers of the X-Men so that our heroes aren't merely standing around watching big cosmic mover-shakers do their thing. Slotting them in against the Freedom Force is a good way to ground this, as the X-Men's death forecast looms in the background but they find themselves drawn irresistibly to the forces of their demise. Considering how many times the X-Men have fought this team in the last few years, it's a good way to add tension and intrigue to these foes, leading up to the big cosmic cliffhanger we get here.
Joining us for the battle are of course everyone's favourite pensioner mantrackers, Crimson Commando, Super Sabre and Stonewall. As you may recall, I actually ended up really appreciating their first story as a cogent meditation on vigilante justice and the line between hero and villain and the position of the X-Men as resistance fighters against a majority force that sees their existence as wrong. But that doesn't mean I think they are great characters with legs who deserve to be incorporated into the book over the long haul. Although everything about their "deal" makes them ideal candidates for the Freedom Force project in-story, I'd prefer they were cordoned off into their own little thing. Sure, I've been known to get the temperature of the fandom wrong from time to time (see my dismissal of beloved Annual #11) but I suspect people are not salivating for their next Frank Bohannan fix.
On the X-Side, our heroes are reunited with Colossus, who had been taken off the board along with Nightcrawler and Shadowcat in the wake of the Mutant Massacre. Considering he had somewhat fallen by the wayside over the last few years as far as character development, it's nice to see him back with a little more oomph put into his portrayal.
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