X-Men and Alpha Flight #2
Talisman is under the strange building looking for Kitty and Rachel. She finds the architect's sketchbook. The early drawings are as we saw them before, but then the later ones look like a child's drawings. They find Rachel, who wants to be left alone. She's upset that her father's having a son, meaning she'll never exist. Kitty comforts her, telling her that the world she's come to is better than the one she left. The area starts to collapse and they flee, Rachel blasting a hole into the firefountain (where the power comes from.) Talisman touches the firefountain and it temporarily blinks out. Kitty figures something wanted to keep them from exploring and she is suspicious about the whole deal suddenly. (Of all the Alpha Flight characters, I think Chris does the worst job on Talisman. She is Shaman's estranged daughter, a normal college girl, who has discovered she is a being of great magical power, for the record. Her power is that she is immune to magic.)
Above, Madelyne slips away and into a room where Wolverine is sleeping. She uses her power on him and leaves. Kitty sees this and wakes up Wolverine. He discovers that she's drained the animal side from him. Kitty points out that the animal side of Wolverine is what saved them from Ogun, and Wolverine asks if she thinks he can't cut it as a man, only an animal. She apologizes. Kitty wonders what happened with them trying to track down Snowbird, and Wolverine says that they were on her trail then it goes blank. Kitty suggests that the guy who controls animals might have had influence over Wolverine. He no longer has that animal side and gets Aurora to fly him to where he left off. He sees Shaman's medicine bag, with demons popping out of it. He finds Snowbird in a cave, near death. The two racist guys show up, the one with a bunch of mountain lions and bears at his side. They say there's no place for people like Snowbird in the new world and ask that Wolverine step aside and let them put her out of her misery. Lockheed arrives and the two prepare to defend Snowbird.
In the building, Rogue shows up in a girly dress and asks Northstar to dance with her. He agrees, though Sasquatch asserts that even friendship is more than Northstar is willing to give. Rogue feels she understands him very well since she absorbed his psyche earlier. Puck and Heather feel like something's wrong, somehow. The guy who is a repository of knowledge looks at the runestone Talisman found and says that most are dedicated to Thor or Odin, but this one's dedicated to Loki. In Asgard Loki watches all this transpire and wonders why they can't just accept his gift without question. Northstar and Rogue stand on a balcony. Northstar feels that nothing can come without a price. Inside, Wolverine comes back, all beat up, with a bundle over his shoulders and another on a crude sled behind him. The bundle on his shoulders is one of the racist guys. They ask where the other one is, and Wolverine swigs a bottle of wine and says, "Flyin' with the angels." The bundle on the sled is Snowbird.
They determine that the firefountain will remove all the magic from the world, killing magical people. Colossus thinks that the promise of a paradise would be worth it, and Rachel agrees, having seen how it could have turned out for herself. Sasquatch, Madelyne, and Aurora stand with the dissidents, along with the passengers from Cyclops's plane. The groups tussle. Finally the architect's book is discovered, and he says that he hasn't been able to create anything since the firefountain. They realize that it also removes your imagination, and nobody is willing to back it then.
Loki appears and tries to talk them into accepting a worldly paradise in exchange for magic and imagination. He wonders why they just can't trust him, and Cyclops says it's because he's well known as the god of lies, blasting him. Loki summons some frost giants to assist him and a battle ensues. The firefountain begins spreading its power across the world. Rogue grabs Loki, trying to absorb his powers, but she fails. A frost giant knocks the knowledgeable guy off into the sunset. Madelyne tries to heal him, but Loki's taken away her power. She agrees to do whatever Loki asks without defiance in exchange for her powers back, and heals the man. Lokis is proclaiming victory, when Those Who Live Above in Shadow appear, saying he has failed. Forcing the humans to accept a gift doesn't count as doing them a favor, it turns out. Further, they say that if he pursues vengeance upon those present, he will answer to them. Everone is returned to normal again. Loki offers them one last chance but Puck tells him to "take off, eh?!" (In her first appearance Rogue stole Thor's power without a hitch. Is Loki different somehow? I think it's more that it was her first appearance, and she wasn't concrete in Chris Claremont's brain yet. On the other hand, when the remains of those she's absorbed rebel against her while she's catatonic in Genosha, Thor is among them, so it's not retconned away.)
Everyone prepares to leave. Rachel cannot be found, so Cyclops goes looking for her. The two talk and bond. "My mom had a saying: everybody deserves a second chance." "Smart lady." "Yeah. When they made my folks they broke the mold." She decides that she won't tell Cyclops who she is, for now: "I'm not going to tell him. All of a sudden, I've a feeling I don't have to." The end! (It's a long time before Cyclops officially knows who Rachel is, but it's implied that he's figured it out himself and is just keeping quiet about it, so as to not upset Rachel.)
Overview: A fairly decent issue. Nothing spectacular. It's a pity John Byrne didn't get to do these. Oh well. Loki gets his revenge in less than a year by manipulating the Enchantress to do it for him. This leads into the spectacular New Mutants Special Edition #1 and X-Men Annual #9, some of my favorite comics!
Above, Madelyne slips away and into a room where Wolverine is sleeping. She uses her power on him and leaves. Kitty sees this and wakes up Wolverine. He discovers that she's drained the animal side from him. Kitty points out that the animal side of Wolverine is what saved them from Ogun, and Wolverine asks if she thinks he can't cut it as a man, only an animal. She apologizes. Kitty wonders what happened with them trying to track down Snowbird, and Wolverine says that they were on her trail then it goes blank. Kitty suggests that the guy who controls animals might have had influence over Wolverine. He no longer has that animal side and gets Aurora to fly him to where he left off. He sees Shaman's medicine bag, with demons popping out of it. He finds Snowbird in a cave, near death. The two racist guys show up, the one with a bunch of mountain lions and bears at his side. They say there's no place for people like Snowbird in the new world and ask that Wolverine step aside and let them put her out of her misery. Lockheed arrives and the two prepare to defend Snowbird.
In the building, Rogue shows up in a girly dress and asks Northstar to dance with her. He agrees, though Sasquatch asserts that even friendship is more than Northstar is willing to give. Rogue feels she understands him very well since she absorbed his psyche earlier. Puck and Heather feel like something's wrong, somehow. The guy who is a repository of knowledge looks at the runestone Talisman found and says that most are dedicated to Thor or Odin, but this one's dedicated to Loki. In Asgard Loki watches all this transpire and wonders why they can't just accept his gift without question. Northstar and Rogue stand on a balcony. Northstar feels that nothing can come without a price. Inside, Wolverine comes back, all beat up, with a bundle over his shoulders and another on a crude sled behind him. The bundle on his shoulders is one of the racist guys. They ask where the other one is, and Wolverine swigs a bottle of wine and says, "Flyin' with the angels." The bundle on the sled is Snowbird.
They determine that the firefountain will remove all the magic from the world, killing magical people. Colossus thinks that the promise of a paradise would be worth it, and Rachel agrees, having seen how it could have turned out for herself. Sasquatch, Madelyne, and Aurora stand with the dissidents, along with the passengers from Cyclops's plane. The groups tussle. Finally the architect's book is discovered, and he says that he hasn't been able to create anything since the firefountain. They realize that it also removes your imagination, and nobody is willing to back it then.
Loki appears and tries to talk them into accepting a worldly paradise in exchange for magic and imagination. He wonders why they just can't trust him, and Cyclops says it's because he's well known as the god of lies, blasting him. Loki summons some frost giants to assist him and a battle ensues. The firefountain begins spreading its power across the world. Rogue grabs Loki, trying to absorb his powers, but she fails. A frost giant knocks the knowledgeable guy off into the sunset. Madelyne tries to heal him, but Loki's taken away her power. She agrees to do whatever Loki asks without defiance in exchange for her powers back, and heals the man. Lokis is proclaiming victory, when Those Who Live Above in Shadow appear, saying he has failed. Forcing the humans to accept a gift doesn't count as doing them a favor, it turns out. Further, they say that if he pursues vengeance upon those present, he will answer to them. Everone is returned to normal again. Loki offers them one last chance but Puck tells him to "take off, eh?!" (In her first appearance Rogue stole Thor's power without a hitch. Is Loki different somehow? I think it's more that it was her first appearance, and she wasn't concrete in Chris Claremont's brain yet. On the other hand, when the remains of those she's absorbed rebel against her while she's catatonic in Genosha, Thor is among them, so it's not retconned away.)
Everyone prepares to leave. Rachel cannot be found, so Cyclops goes looking for her. The two talk and bond. "My mom had a saying: everybody deserves a second chance." "Smart lady." "Yeah. When they made my folks they broke the mold." She decides that she won't tell Cyclops who she is, for now: "I'm not going to tell him. All of a sudden, I've a feeling I don't have to." The end! (It's a long time before Cyclops officially knows who Rachel is, but it's implied that he's figured it out himself and is just keeping quiet about it, so as to not upset Rachel.)
Overview: A fairly decent issue. Nothing spectacular. It's a pity John Byrne didn't get to do these. Oh well. Loki gets his revenge in less than a year by manipulating the Enchantress to do it for him. This leads into the spectacular New Mutants Special Edition #1 and X-Men Annual #9, some of my favorite comics!