UXM #140: "Rage!"

(Wendigone)

Comments

We interrupt this ongoing monster attack to bring you: Days of our X-Lives, in which Colossus clears a hectare of land for (presumably) future arable farming, and Angel points out Wolverine is a psychotic killer who possibly shouldn't be allowed to play with others. Also in this episode: Storm gets hit on by a jive buster, and Sprite gets her dance on again.

Back at Hudson Bay, Nightcrawler is trying to dodge his assailant, and gets creative with his powers to do so.  Since he can't 'port through the woods without risking rematerialisation inside a tree, he jaunts a few hundred feet into the air, finds a clearing, and jumps to it before he has time to start falling too fast to survive when he reappears.  The wendigo's sheer speed means it doesn't do him much good, but it's still a great idea.  As a reward, the creature punches Nightcrawler clear out of the forest, but straight at the cabin where the other heroes are planning.  Hearing the resulting THWUMP! (though not, oddly, the monster constantly bellowing its own name), they pile out and attack.  Within seconds, the wendigo has taken an exploding truck to the face, and beat a hasty retreat.

Whilst Shaman and Vindicator deal with the resulting forest fire, Wolverine and Snowbird track the fleeing beast to its lair. Logan sends Anne back to gather reinforcements, but the wendigo suddenly decides it's peckish for man-flesh, and Wolverine has to attack before back-up can arrive.  He manages to overpower his foe for long enough for its prisoners to escape, but is then knocked out just as his friends arrive.

With the wendigo resurgent, and Logan unconscious, our heroes seem desperately short of stopping power, until Snowbird hits on the bright idea of morphing into a giant wolverine herself.  The resulting brawl leaves wendigo battered and defeated, but Snowbird has gone too deep: the irresistible raw power of the wolverine (seriously? They always looked like dogs dressed as bears to me [1]) has overwritten her gamma waves.  Wolverine manages to talk her down, in one of those "what did they actually say?" Lost in Translation scenes that always annoy me more than they probably should do.

With Snowbird calmed and returned to her human form, Shaman works his Tsuu T'ina mojo, and the wendigo once more becomes a rather confused-looking Georges Baptiste, who looks even more befuddled when Guardian immediately arrests him.  Hudson reasons that since Baptiste willingly became the wendigo, he's legally responsible for everyone he then ate.  That's a court case I'd like to read the verdict from.

As Alpha Flight depart, Nightcrawler asks the awkward question: what exactly separates Baptiste's desire to become wendigo, and Wolverine's bellicosity and beserker rages?  Logan explains that no-one he ever killed wasn't trying to kill him, and Nightcrawler concedes that point, but notes that having justification isn't the same thing as having the right.  It's a good, believable exchange between the characters (and far from the last time they will have the conversation), and they both have solid bases for their opinions - Logan because he's only ever killed in self-defence, and Kurt because Logan chose to end up in situations in which killing in self-defence became necessary.  No-one who insults as many people with guns as Wolverine does gets to claim their hands are entirely clean when the violence starts.

We end with two brief diversions.  In Ottowa, Guardian learns that the government are shutting down Alpha Flight (maybe Operation: Nick A Cyborg didn't work out to well) and in New Mexico, Fred Dukes AKA The Blob escapes from a maximum security prison, swearing to join the New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants under a mysterious new female leader...

Clues

This issue takes begins just before midnight, and continues into night the following day.

The opening narration tells us that this story takes place in the final days of summer.

No.  No no no no no no no.

No.

We went through this yesterday, but let's review. Consider the following: Jean Grey became the Dark Phoenix in the middle of winter (UXM #134), and was buried less than a week later (UXM #138). Are we really supposed to believe that UXM #139 is set in early September?  That Kitty Pryde was at the school for seven months before she saw the Danger Room or got around to returning to her dancing hobby?   That more than half a year passed before Xavier had time to test Angel's ability to work in a team after so long alone?

Je dit "la merde de vache", and that's before we get to the true killer: Kitty was described as thirteen and a half when she first appeared before Jean's death, and she hasn't turned fourteen yet.

I know why Claremont is doing this, actually.  The next story (spoilers!) is "Days of Future Past", which takes place on the eve of the 1980 presidential election - thus unwittingly presenting us with the thorny question: just how much of a cunt would Senator Kelly have to be to make him a worse executive than Ronald Reagan? Clearly Claremont doesn't want to wait, which is why Jean Grey dies around mid January and the wendigo attacks in September, despite every other indication being that only a few weeks have passed.

Anyway, we'll doubtless come back to this tomorrow.

Date

Wednesday 3^rd to Thursday 4^th of November, 1982.

X-Date 

X+4Y+218 to X+4Y+219.

Compression Constant

1 Marvel year = 3.74 standard years.

(Shadowcat is 22 years old).

Chased by zombies or bigots,
depending on the film.

Contemporary Events

The US midterm elections widen the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.

Standout Line

"I understand, Logan.  What you say is reasonable, logical, justifiable.  But does that make it right?"

[1] No conversation on this topic can go without a shout-out to by dear friend Ibb, who resolutely refused to believe that the wolverine existed as a creature at all, and was convinced I had invented it, using the name of Marvel character so as to confuse her.