SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hello and welcome to Uncanny Foot Club. I'm Isaac Bill, and joining me as always is my co-host Adam Ward. Yo. I'm not gonna lie, I almost went straight into the story summary and didn't do the intro, which would have been interesting. Well, I think it's just one of those weeks or something.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

I I think you probably would have breezed through it anyways, because you're uh professional, sir. You're too kind. We have three issues to talk about today. Three one-offs. That is a very All self-contained. Very polite way of putting that. You're being uh they're one-off stories. Self-contained. I would have said filler is why I'm I don't think they're filler. I mean filler's not bad. It can be filler and it can be fun, and it can just be fun filler. There's setups for future stories. I hope. Because there's a lot of things that I enjoyed in these at least really the two issues. I I have some feelings about the first one, but Interesting. I thought the latter two issues were pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

There's something to like about all of them. I agree. I do agree. I think 160 is the best of the three, and I liked 159 more than I thought I would. But yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

I'm curious if you'll agree with me, and maybe you'll get into this when you do the recap, but I felt like the pacing was just a little off in some of these issues, where we're kind of like just rushing through to a resolution in a way, without much explanation. Uh, I felt like the Dracula story specifically was like that. We'll have to get into that later. Yeah. Why don't you uh TS up because I yeah, I have some thoughts about this first issue.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Some good and bad. Issue 158 starts by showing that even without powers, Carol Danvers can still kick ass. She's sparring with the crew of the Starjammers, who eventually best her, as it is a 3v1. Peter is still recovering and spending time with his sister Ileana, while Kitty reflects on how awful it felt when she thought Peter died. She wishes she had another person she could confide in regarding her feelings. Lalandra summons Oracle of the Imperial Guard to enter Xavier's mind, and we once again see some metal art of Charles and a brood. Charles takes control of Oracle and attacks the medical unit and himself, but Wolverine is able to knock Oracle down to free her from his control. Later, the X-Men gather round the TV to see Senator Kelly talking about the danger of mutants and the damage the X-Men did to New York. Moira is concerned as Xavier shared data with the government when he formed the X-Men, and the team decides they need to plant a virus to erase all traces of the X-Men from the government's database. Meanwhile, Alex and Lorna are cooking up some chili when Scott arrives to introduce his brother to their father, Corsair. Wolverine and Carol don military outfits and are accompanied by Storm in their mission to infiltrate the Pentagon. Things are going smoothly enough, but Carol has the misfortune to bump into Rogue, the mutant who stole her powers and memories, and member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Rogue is just as dismayed to see Carol and slaps her away. A fight starts and the X-Men keep Rogue occupied while Carol stays on mission. Rogue ends up stealing Wolverine's power, and the two summon Nightcrawler to assist them. Meanwhile, Miss Diek, in her disguise as Raven Darkholm, her actual name, oddly, and deputy director of DARPA, notices Carol and follows her. She changes into Nick Fury and shoots Carol. Thankfully, due to her reflexes, she's able to narrowly dodge the shot and knocks out Miss Deke, who is then arrested. Storbury gains her powers, which were also previously stolen, and carries Rogue away by forming a tornado. Carol is able to successfully erase the X-Men and chooses to erase her own files, both military and as Miss Marvel, from the computers. Carol, now feeling a sense of closure, feels free to begin her life anew. Next issue. Dracula. Dracula. So why don't we start with some pros? Yeah. I think it was a fine little one-off. I think one of the main highlights for me is I think the infiltration plot is kind of fun. It's a good use of Wolverine and Carol's military experience.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

I like the idea in principle, but I did make a note about how this plan was just absolutely insane. Like their plan is to walk into the Pentagon. Things were different then. With, you know, sure Logan maybe he can pass up, you know, for for who he's pretending to be.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Was he supposed to? I wasn't sure if he was supposed to be like American military or like Canadian military, like, but like visiting. I assumed American because I felt like the other one wouldn't really make much sense, but he has this experience.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

They didn't specify, so I just assumed that he was pretending to just be a general. I I didn't even really consider the nationality, to be honest, because if you're just pretending, then you're pretending it doesn't really matter. So I guess whatever whatever you perceive it as is probably good enough rationale. I it it's just as I said, the idea is just absolutely crazy. Breaking into the Pentagon, and then I thought, okay, well, Kitty is kind of coming up with this plan, and we're gonna use this alien technology because they can create this virus that can go in and find all references of the X-Men and destroy them. And then Kitty, the person who can literally phase through walls, isn't involved in executing an espionage plan.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Realistically, she's the best member to do crime, not just because of her powers, but because she's a minor. She can just, you know, you do a little time in Juvie, and then you're out. She's free. Well, and even that's not gonna go on her permanent record. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

It's it, you know, it makes no sense, like why she's not involved. And then you have Carol, who is probably public enough. Like people know who she is. It's not like Carol was mask masking her identity at the time, was she?

SPEAKER_00 6:54

I mean, I don't know. I feel like we're so used to like a lot of the like high-profile heroes being like known who they are, but I'm not convinced that the public would know Carol's identity.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

I'm just going back to the interaction that she was having with the guards when they arrived. I guess like these guys could just be incredibly gullible and are just assuming and not like even considering that these people are lying. They look legit. It's uh it's about confidence.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

But then you have Storm who stands out like the plan is just so stupid, man. It's such a she's just like accompanying them. She's not in costume, she's just wearing all black and has sunglasses on. It's enough. She's a diplomatic. Stuff that you would wear if we're doing crimes. Dude, man. It's fine. It's the 80s, baby.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Yeah. I mean, I like the I I like everything that kind of happens from like an action perspective, I thought was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Yeah, the fight was pretty good. I really thought they did a good job of showcasing like Rogue is a absolute tank powerhouse, but you know, the X-Men are still doing pretty good, and we see them eventually win. It's a really good showcase of just how far like their training and teamwork has come. Because in the early issues, it's kind of them stumbling through every foe just based on like, oh, they're all very powerful and strong. And now they're fighting a stronger foe than them, but they're able to make it work because they're working together.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Are you familiar at all with Stanley's kind of uh philosophy around how storytelling and comics should kind of work with heroes and villains?

SPEAKER_00 8:49

I know you either explained it in the podcast or in between, or like when the mics weren't recording. Why don't you give it for the audience?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah, so the general idea is your villain has to be such a larger foe in in power and intelligence and something that that really challenges the hero, where the odds seem insurmountable to overcome. And the idea is that with this challenge being laid out the way it is, you know, that essentially a wall that they have to climb over. Once they finally do, you as the reader are like, Yes! They did it. And the reason some comics can suck is because, you know, they don't get over the wall.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

So this is the reason why we're never impressed with arcade, because he's not like an insurmountable thing. He's just like an annoyance to our heroes. I think you're on this. And their loved ones. It's all making sense now. We've cracked the code. So you've been someone that's been pretty critical about Carol Danvers' appearances so far in the X-Men. Here is maybe the first time they're, you know, actually utilizing her, and she's an actual character and is able to think thoughts and say words and everything. How do you feel about this, uh, Carol Danvers' implementation?

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Yeah, my initial reaction was this is awesome, so why did this take so long? Like we've had Carol hanging out with the X-Men now for several issues, essentially doing nothing, so much of nothing, that she's replaced with Tigra, who ended up getting more, I think, spotlight than Carol does at any point in time before now. And so you're asking a lot of the reader to care about a character, especially when you're releasing these on a monthly basis. You're gonna be you're not gonna get like the insurmountable wall situation here where you're like, oh my god, finally, you're gonna be like, oh, like, disappointed that we could have been having this awesome powered down version of Carol, who's a total badass with little care, right? Like she's literally causing a massive confrontation to break out in the Pentagon of all places.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

She very quickly steals someone's gun and unloads on Rogue, which doesn't work because she has her powers, but I mean there's there's zero hesitation on that one. She just all I need, gentlemen, is this, and then swipes the gun from the military police.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Yeah, I think the other problem I have is this beef between Carol and Rogue kind of happens off-screen for us, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Like it happens in another that's our fault for not reading the annual. Or that wasn't even an annual, that was like a because that wasn't an X-Men comic. It was uh Was it like an Avengers like an Avengers comic? I don't even think it was it may have been Avengers, but I'm not sure. I thought it was just like a some other, you know, special event annual type something. Well, all the more reason that it's not our fault.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

It it just does an incredible disservice to what ends up playing at. Because we lose the stakes, right? Everything like we could have had a little break at some point that would have given us that confrontation between Carol and Rogue, and it'd been situated within the story of the X-Men, that would have been awesome, man. It would have been so much so much better than what we got because the payoff is very good, right? Like, even without knowing much about Carol, for example, like let's say let's assume that most people at the time were just doing what we're doing right now, and you're reading X-Men, maybe you're not reading whatever book Carol's in.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

You only got so much 60 cents to spend. It's a lot of money, man.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Anyways, I feel what played out was very good. I liked how this fight breaks out over basically a uh passion uh of revenge against Rogue. And as you said, like it does set Rogue up to be like this big baddie. But for how long? Yeah, for how long? I don't yeah, I'm curious when that will kind of transpire. I would hope. I don't think it's that far away. I would honestly hope that we would get more of a proper confrontation of her and the X-Men, because like we're not like this this is the only run-in that we're kind of getting.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

This is our first real brotherhood of evil mutants, anything since Days of Future Past, correct? I want to say yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Because that's what this is that's when they attack the capital, correct?

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Yeah. It does feel like we can implement them a little bit more. On that subject, though, I am really curious about what exactly is our like Rogan Mystique up to. Yeah, that's because this is apparently like a pretty deep cover for Mystique, who has this whole other, like, I mean, her real name. So, I mean, what it's such a it's that's kind of a weird choice to me. I don't really understand that part of it. But like the alter ego, I guess, you know, she's high up in the organization. Like, what is their end game here?

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Yeah, it left me with a lot of questions. It also kind of made me question why rogue was there to begin with. And, you know, if you are there for something bigger, right? Because presumably rogue and mystique are working in conjunction with one another. So if I'm rogue, isn't the goal to maintain not blowing the cover for the greater plan? So, like, why even acknowledge Carol at all? Like, you could have just have done nothing and Carol would have kept walking by, and that would have been the end of it.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Well, I think a lot of it is just like a traumatic reaction because her stealing her like abilities and memories and everything was, I mean, obviously worse for Carol, but something that you know deeply affected both of them. Yeah. So like when she sees her, she's like shocked, and then her first reaction is like, get away from me, like don't touch me. I'm I can't do this again. So I think a lot of that is just kind of there, just like the initial shock. And then I don't know, at that point, it's just in too deep and the X-Men attack her. Passion is too much.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

They run amok, man. They do run amok. Yeah, I'm curious.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

I I'm I wonder if it's connected to the Sentinel program. Could be. I think that's one possibility. I'm wondering, is is Rogue there making use of like what she gained from Carol in some way? Or is she just there because Mystique is there? Or is she there for a completely unrelated reason?

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Probably not unrelated. I don't know. Well, and I even thought, you know, if you're if I were to believe that they're there for a greater purpose of some kind, again, why would Raven risk like I guess like maybe she's just overconfident? Like she was so convinced she would get the drop on Carol that she just underestimated.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

It is a little embarrassing that that plot didn't work out, like the oh okay, Carol dodged the bullet, okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Due to her training. Yeah. Because she was trained by the best to be the best, I believe, is uh verbatim.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Mystique should uh you can't just shoot one shot, you gotta fire three.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Another plus for me in this issue specifically was the whole interaction between Oracle and Xavier. I felt like that was kind of a turning point because I did think the beginning of this issue was a little slow to start. And then and then we get into this sequence with like incredible art, especially like this first panel. So the bottom panel on this first kind of sequence when she begins the connection with Xavier's mind, and we see the flame ripping across Xavier's face with the presumably a brood underneath of it, this transformation. We see the little xenomorph thing in the bottom corner and the swirling colors, Zolt Trippy. It's awesome. By far my favorite panel in this issue.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

I also like that we gained a little bit more information, and I think it's a little different coming at it from like the perspective of us who know the brood a little bit better than people back then, where this is like a brand new concept, but like the whole like Charles is trying to it seems like he's trying to stop it. Is he trying to kill himself to stop the brood? Is he trying to attack himself to like save himself but only kill the brood? Or like it it's very unclear exactly what his motivations are, but I like that we got to explore that a little bit more versus him just being stuck in a coma for issues at a time.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

I never imagined that would happen. Uh if anything, I would have imagined he would wake up here. Like if any other situation played out than the one that did, it would have been him waking up and just delivering the answer. Because I still feel very bitter about the Colossus situation from our last arc and him just seemingly being better. It it just I get it. Like, I get that that probably sells better than having a character sidelined. But I feel like everything that kind of happens after that moment when we paint this picture of a very injured Colossus, had he just stayed injured through that arc and were coming back into this kind of like at this moment where they're returning to Earth and you know this all this other stuff is gonna be kind of happening, like it I think it would have just gave more room for it to breathe and bring more meaning to his return to the X-Men. And then we see him get clowned repeatedly. Poor guy. Yeah, man. The only other thing I was just gonna quickly mention that I did like, and you know, when we're talking about, you know, moments that are kind of feeding to a bigger picture, I think the brood I am like so sold on and really want that now. Like I don't want to wait. I think it's so interesting. I think like what's happening to Xavier, I want to know more about. Even this, you know, you're pulling at the string of him wanting to kill himself to prevent some terrible event from unfolding. So there's a lot of teasing going on, and I really, really want to see what happens there. Another thing that we kind of got a little bit of was Scott and Corsair going to meet up again with Alex and this family reunion, and it's just kind of tease, and we get a little bit more, and then it kind of goes away. But it was nice to kind of see them look towards reuniting the family, and I just really love that this kind of family drama story is unfolding the way it's unfolding.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Issue 159 begins with the X-Men bursting into Misty Knight's apartment unannounced, startling her roommate, model Harmony Young. The X-Men arrive there, for some reason in costume, because Kitty is meeting with her parents. She wants Storm to go with, and Harmony lends her clothes, because again, for some reason in costume. Scott and Alex have some sibling bonding time, testing their powers, and discussing the arrival of their father. They rejoin Lorna and Corsair, and Scott asks his dad if he'll stay on Earth. But Corsair says he feels out of place after being gone for 20 years. They ask if he would want his sons to accompany him on the Starjammer, and Corsair says with sadness that he doesn't know. Later, Kitty calls the X-Men to check in on Auroro, but learns she never returned to the apartment. We see her injured in an alley. She arrives to the hospital with a neck wound, and Peter and Logan also show up. Storm is up and about when they arrive and decides to leave against medical advice. She peers out the window into the night and thinks she sees eyes in the fog. They put her into Misty's bed, but she tosses and turns. A voice calls out to her and it says she ignores it as long as she's able. Then she opens the window and says, Enter freely of your own will, as the fog swirls around her. Kitty arrives and the X-Men are morose, saying that Auroro is not well. Logan says that she doesn't want to go on living. Kitty bursts into the room and opens the blinds, causing Storm to scream out in pain. Kitty notices her wearing a new scarf with an embroidered D on it, and that she flinches away from her Star of David. She's starting to put two and two together, but flees the room when Storm strikes her. On nightfall, Dracula returns for Storm, but Kitty phases through the wall holding a cross. It has no effect as she isn't a Christian. Dracula grabs her neck, but is then burned by the Star of David. The two flee into the night. The rest of the team comes running, and Kitty fills them in on what's going on. They track down Dracula and begin fighting him. Wolverine makes a cross with his claws, but again to no effect. Nightcrawler does the same but with a pair of stakes, which hurts Dracula. Meanwhile, Kitty is looking for Storm, who surprises her with a blow. She has red eyes and fangs, but Kitty knows that she isn't a true vampire and realizes that the process to turn begins when one is still alive. Kitty drops her stake saying, If you want my life so badly, then take it. I won't try to stop you. The X-Men are still fighting Dracula when Storm arrives. He orders her to slay them, but she surprises him with a bolt of lightning and the two begin their own fight. He orders her to bow and she does, but when it comes time for Dracula to finish her off, she denies him. He grabs a random hostage, but Storm says none shall die because of her. Dracula says he doesn't wish to be foes with Auroro and lets the hostage go. He leaves saying that she has his respect. Storm wishes to hunt him, but Dracula says that if confrontation ever comes, it will be a time and place of his choosing. The sun rises and Storm is unfazed. Her and Kitty hug, and she thanks her for saving her. The issue ends with Moira calling for the X-Men to return as Xavier has taken a turn for the worse.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Well, why don't we start with what we just wrapped up with, which is the summers. Sure. Big family drama. I I yeah, I can really see in the kind of conversation that happens between them that this is really difficult for all of them. Like while it might be a happy moment, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty about what this means and, you know, could look like. And, you know, do Scott and Alex and Corsair all want the same thing ultimately? Because it sounds like the kids want a dad, but it sounds like Corsair's hesitant, and it's all you know, like you can see how it's all relatable, and you can be sympathetic to any member of the Summers family. So I'm curious to see where it's gonna go. And I think it's gonna obviously end up with Corsair leaving, which then begs the question uh space pirate stuff. Yeah. What's gonna happen?

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Yeah, I can't imagine it's going to go well. I don't I feel like they probably do not part on good terms. It is rude of them to kind of cut the conversation there and not show us what happens after that. I understand Corsair's point of view for like Well, I mean, I don't as like, you know, a parent, obviously, I would stay. But I understand his like what he's saying about like He's a fish out of water. He yeah, he's a fish out of water. He says 20 years behind the times, yet light years ahead of them. He's used to completely different like levels of technology and things must just be so odd now on earth for him after being away for so long. And I think ultimately he's probably coming at this from you know, a a kind of a good place of like they ask him, Hey, do you want us to go with you? And I think Corsair realizes that he lives a very different life than his children. He's a bit of a morally gray character who probably does a lot of morally gray things. Yep. Alex studies rocks or something like that, and Scott is a member of the X-Men, so it's not really it that life doesn't really fit them. No, it it doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

And I guess like as a father in that situation, the question is, are you serving them better by trying to be something you're not, or do you let them continue doing their thing and you know, you go back to doing yours, knowing ultimately that, you know, I can come visit. We can keep in touch.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

I mean, like, I hope that's how it ends. It does seem like there's an obvious middle ground of keeping in touch and visiting, but I don't know how how how close to that we'll get.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Well, and I think it's fair too to understand, like, it's fine that Scott and Alex are hurt. Like, you know, they live their entire lives as orphans, though only to find out that their dad is like alive. Alex got adopted. Oh, because Scott didn't, you mean? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay, well, one was an orphan and the other adopted, nonetheless, probably feeling like, okay, well, my parents have never been around, and here he is again, and I want to have you in my life, and and and you're telling me no, and that sucks. And would be incredibly difficult. Anyways, it was some nice family drama, and I think like really humanizes all the characters because that's like an incredibly relatable situation for people. And it's easy to see how everybody would feel, you know, when an estranged family member comes back into their life.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

I'd be curious to see how this continues to play out. Hopefully, we get a little bit more time dedicated to it though. Yeah, hopefully.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

It it would suck for that to be the final conversation, and then, you know, they go. I I'm guessing the Corsair's gonna be involved in the brood stuff, but I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

I'm curious about that as well, just because we know they're gonna be going to space, I assume, soon. I I I mean, I have to imagine that this the the brood saga involves space and not just like the brood coming to Earth because that's not as cool. Yeah, that would be kind of lame. Yeah, so like, you know, how how how much sticking power are the Star Jammers gonna have? Like, how much of them are we expecting them to see? It's I didn't think that they were gonna be here this long, but here we are. Very unsure and curious about what the next several issues are gonna be like. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

And that's kind of the uh there is an incredible tone shift beyond this family story that we're getting with the Summers. With Dracula of all people. The vampire. And I thought, you know what? I I don't know. I didn't look this up, and maybe I should have, but it had me thinking, man, a mutant vampire would be quite powerful, I would imagine. You mean Jubilee? Is that what Jubilee is? She was stuck as a vampire for a long time. Oh, like in modern comics, or is that like a 90s story? Sounds like a 90s story. Um, I think 2000s, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Pretty modern.

unknown 30:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Oh, all right.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Was she any more powerful, like, because she was a vampire?

SPEAKER_00 30:29

I I think a little bit, you know, like probably stronger, faster, stuff like that, but you know, also all the vampire weaknesses and having to fight against the urge to drink blood and do evilly things.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

I'm curious what your general thoughts were around how they presented like Dracula and Vampirism. Because they lay, and I'm unsure at this point, like what has been established in terms of vampires. I'm assuming quite a bit. But I'm assuming Blade exists, huh?

SPEAKER_00 31:08

At this point, I don't know. Blade. First appearance, the Tomb of Dracula, 1973. Yeah, so yeah, he would be around. Yeah, so there's probably a lot of rules that they've established for vampires within this universe. And I do feel like they did a pretty good job of going over some of those basics. Like, oh, he's weak against symbols of faith that the holder believes in. Which is a really cool garlic.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Like, that's a a super cool caveat that the the holder of the holy symbol has to actually believe in the power of that god. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

That's something I've seen in different fiction as well. I'm a big uh Dresden Files fan, and I know in th in that series, vampires are still have that weakness against something of faith. Um, for that character, it's uh like a pentacle amulet, so it's not even necessarily uh god or a religion or anything, but just kind of that article of faith, what he believes in.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Yeah. And then they kind of set some ground rules for how vampires turn into vampires, albeit I think they pretty much just said that it takes like three days.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

And that's three days after they're dead. Like they rise on the third night as a vampire. But they have to die first. Yeah. So I don't know why like Storm was left alive. Because that didn't seem like it was necessary for this vampire journey, but you know, Dracula's real old, he does weird things probably. I don't know. Comic book logic.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

I mean, it could it could also be that Dracula had no idea that Storm was Storm, you know? Too powerful. Just, you know, bit her thinking she was just some woman and turned out, oh yeah, no, she's actually like incredibly powerful. And but yeah, I didn't understand like was she ever going to turn, and then suddenly the power of love just conquered all of her vampiric urges. Like it is kind of like the takeaway. That's how it is. That's the takeaway I had, right? I did not like that. I thought it was a bit of a cop-out of a resolution.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

It's not unexpected, but yeah. I have really mixed feelings about Dracula himself because I think one, they do like a really good job of showcasing a number of really interesting powers and abilities, but he's also like really weak to like holy symbols to a degree that is just like, all right, buddy, how have you not been killed yet? And he's just kind of, you know, he's like a cheesy vampire instead of like a very scary vampire, if that makes sense. Yeah. Especially with the the cape and the cowl.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

I'm also just looking again at kind of those last few panels where she has the confrontation with Dracula one-on-one. And she v very much looks like a vampire. Like she has teeth, you know, like she's red eyes. She has the red eyes, she's pale, like she's dead. Lipstick, which all vampires love. So we go from that confrontation with Dracula. Dracula jumps out the window, flies away, and then on the next page, it's just morning, and suddenly she's fine.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Yeah. I mean, she also suddenly changes from the white gown to back to her X-Men outfit, like when you turn the page. Um, like in the middle of the Dracula fight. Yeah, I see that. I think that's probably just a a small mistake. That's a fun one, though.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

I I thought overall, like the Dracula going after Storm, and if it were to be deliberate, I would kind of see this resolution of him flying away and showing his respect to her. And this is a growing trend of powerful men respecting powerful men like Storm. They really do. It makes sense. I mean, what's not to like? T'Challa really messed up. Yeah, he did. It's a shame that we'll never get that on screen. That would have been a cool moment.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

I mean, I guess they can recast everything, but we don't know what'll happen post um Doomsday and Secret Wars and stuff. Yeah, that's true. I that's a whole other conversation. It'll it will be really interesting to see like, do they take that as an opportunity to recast a bunch of established roles just with different actors? Yeah, I'm s I'm I'm thinking probably not, but it would be interesting.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

I'm curious to see what happens. Um just like I've been enjoying Wonderman, which has also been very good. I still need to start it, but I've heard it's good. It's one of those shows that is really a kind of meta look at Hollywood, right? Like a struggling actor trying to find work, and then they just use like the superhero element of Wonderman and interween it to make it more dramatic to the MCU.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

Mm-hmm. So it's yeah, it's very good. I highly recommend it. One of the things I wanted to make sure I brought up, and it's unfortunate because again, this is an audio medium. There are two out-of-this world art panels in this comic. So the first one is when she opens the window for Dracula. There's this it's like in a completely different style than the rest of the book, but it's this Yeah, smoky entrance at the window. No, no, no. The one like uh the one in the lower left before that. Like the just tight shot on her face, where it's just like uh kind of like a like a dripping sketch. Wish I knew art terms. Oh, oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kind of like a sketch. I think that that's like such an interesting panel in here because it looks nothing like the rest of the comic and not really like something that was drawn in the 80s. Yeah. That looks like a lot more modern. It's really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

It looks like something I would have I would have seen in like a 90s Punisher comic or something, you know? Like just that. Something dark and gritty. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Alright, next one. The next one is the panel of Storm after they open the the blinds and she like reacts to it. That one is like pure horror. It's like spooky. Yeah, with the white eyes. Yeah. Like I came to across that one, I was like, oh. Very evocative.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Yeah, that really sets the tone too after that point, because she doesn't really go back to pupils. Who needs them? Not Vampire Storm. Yeah, you know what? Like, overall, it was I thought Dracula was fun. Like it was it was fine. I I d hated the ending. That's I can that's all I had to say. I I liked everything else about it. It's a fun one-shot that didn't really matter, and if we got a zombie or not a zombie, a vampire mutant arc at some point in time against Dracula, I I would be down.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Well, I've got some news for you, because the X-Men once again do fight Dracula in an annual that I believe is soon after this. That's unfortunate news. Good for 160? I'm good to go. Issue 160 begins from a demon's point of view as he watches the X-Men train in the danger room and makes note of each of their abilities. Eventually a voice calls out to Iliana, Peter's young sister, and she slips away following the voice. But Kitty notices and goes after her. She traces her to a dark room when a disk of light appears beneath her and she disappears. Storm is still recovering from her brush with Dracula, but is able to summon the strength to call Rain for a shower. Meanwhile, Peter wonders where Kitty and Ileana are, and with Logan's abilities, the X-Men begin tracking them down. Much like Kitty, the rest are likewise ambushed by disks of light that spirit them away. Kitty awakens in a hellish place and is relieved to find a strangely dressed nightcrawler there. This is not our Kurt, however, and he gropes Kitty, causing her to flee from him. Eventually, she stumbles into the throne room of Belasco. Peter and Storm are exploring what we'll eventually learn is Limbo, but Peter is teleported away and Storm is grabbed by a bunch of tentacles. Belasko has trapped Kitty in a crystal, but blasts Evil Nightcrawler when he interacts with Ileana. Belasko announces to Kitty that that is the true Nightcrawler, reshaped body and soul in the image of his true lord, Belasko. He reveals that he is the sorcerer chief disciple of the Dark Ones, elder gods who seek to conquer reality. He previously tried to open the gateway between the two dimensions, but was stopped by Kazar. As punishment, he was condemned to limbo. We also meet Sim, a big brute of a demon, who pounds on the skeletal remains of what was once Wolverine. Velasco gifts Iliana with an amulet. He says that while it's empty now, when she learns the full measure of the Arcane Arts, and all five bloodstones are in place, she will ascend to a glorious destiny. Meanwhile, we see the real Nightcrawler viewing the scene, wondering where his companions are. Storm awakens, unsure who has saved her from her fate, but finds clothes that fit her. We see a shadowy figure thinking that she will help save the X-Men, but if she must sacrifice them to destroy Belasco, then she will. Nightcrawler finds his evil doppelganger and the two fight and disappear. In the next panel we see whoever the victor was wearing the clothes of evil Kurt, announcing that he's killed the good version. Wolverine finds a long-dead Colossus, who died an old man, not his young spritely self, but is attacked by Sim. The real Colossus shows up and Wolverine is teleported away before Sim stomps him. Sim throws one of Wolverine's claws into Peter's shoulder, and the two grapple. Thankfully, Wolverine shows up behind him, and eventually the two kick him into a teleportation disc. The Shadowy figure from earlier appears and teleports Logan and Peter to Belasco's chamber, and now the whole X-Men team engage in a fight against him. Belasco runs and we learn that the Shadowy figure reveals herself to be an old Auroro who has become a sorcerer. She frees Kitty and orders the X-Men to escape via a magic necklace she gave to Storm. Old Auroro is holding off a group of demons, but Belasco slips by her and grabs Ileana. An interdimensional game of tug-of-war ensues over her. Kitty loses grip momentarily but finds her a second later. The X-Men are successful and pull her through the teleportation disc, but the Ileana that they rescue is now a 13-year-old girl. Seven years have passed in limbo from when Kitty lost her grip. Peter wonders how he can face his parents and says sometimes he wishes he never met Charles Xavier and the X-Men. He is saddened by Ileana losing what should have been a happy childhood and goes to check on her. She awakes, startled, but is relieved to see that it's Peter and says that she was afraid they had forgotten her or would hate her. She babbles until falling asleep. In the night, she stirs and opens the ancient amulet and hears a voice in her mind When you are grown into a woman and have learned the full measure of the arcing arts, when at last the bloodstones are in their proper places, you, Ileana, will ascend to the The most glorious destinies, we see that three of the five bloodstones are in place. Dramatic horn.

SPEAKER_01 44:10

Well, I think let's just uh address the elephant in the room. I think the introduction of evil curt could have been much better and was gross. Yes. Evil Kurt is very gross. Like it was very unneeded, really. Like there's so many other ways that you can make him creepy. Like you already looked creepy, right? I mentioned to you earlier that I found this issue to be much more mature in many themes, and the art to be a little more mature than we've seen. I just wanted to get that out of the way because I think this issue is otherwise really interesting and fun, and was by far my favorite of the three.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

Same. It's very unexpected. It just happens. And I think it sets up a lot of interesting things.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Yeah, Iliana's come a long way from being a background character in our very first introduction to Peter. Mm-hmm. And here we have like kind of a bit of a slow burn that we've had with her, where she's been kind of around more. And here we have an incredible time jump that happens, and a lot of story potential when it comes to filling what happened in those seven years, really gives Chris or whoever would be writing about Ileana like a bit of a blank canvas to kind of fill in those seven years and really make that character sing and interesting. And as we know, I don't know if this is known at the time yet, but as we know, Ileana will go on to be one of the leads of a new X-Men book. So, you know, it's uh I'm excited to kind of see where this goes. And and of course we have the the mini, which Chris was also the writer of, that does fill in that time. But I uh you mentioned that it's like significantly separated, right?

SPEAKER_00 46:19

Yeah, I believe it came out over a year later. So I guess like the next year's worth of comics are just sort of probably missing those full details or maybe like tease things here and there. But I mean, I'm assuming it's also a situation where maybe Ileana doesn't really want to talk about it that much. Yeah, there's definitely ways you can get around it. Very interesting in seeing where we go with this character next and whether that is in the X-Men, or is it going to be in New Mutants? Like, what is the follow-up to this? It starts a really interesting story thread, but when do we go down that path and where do we go down that path?

SPEAKER_01 47:04

Yeah, my hope is that it's not too long. Like, my hope would be that you know, you have Ileana coming back, we have a lot of questions, right? We don't even know that she has powers at this point. We just know that she disappeared for a second, came back seven years older, and that's about it. We're teased with the sorcerer powers. We are teased with the sorcerer powers, so we can take away the magic powers. Exactly. So there's a big blank canvas that needs to be filled. And my hope is that it's you know, we begin to see the signs of these things, right? Like I I hope we begin to kind of see over the next couple of issues, maybe even hints that she has mutant powers or or just her using magic, like anything that would kind of allude to there being more to her than meets the eye, I think would be a very good thing to see.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

Maybe she can start training with everyone. She's only a year younger than Kitty at this point now. She can basically be an X-Men.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

Which m it makes you saying that again just makes that entire sequence just even more gross.

SPEAKER_00 48:20

Like it's so awful. It's a little too much. Apart from that, they did a really good job of setting up just how awful Limbo is at the moment. Yeah. The dead Peter, dead Wolverine, etc. A lot of body horror that kind of how everything looks.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Yeah. And did you take away that we are essentially t seeing like a divergence of timelines? Like what like a different universe? Because Storm, the older Storm, makes a mention, right? Like, no, don't go after or like attack Belasco. Like, don't attack him, just leave, right? Because she's like, I already we've already done that. Like, we know how it ends. Like everybody gets trapped here. It doesn't work out. Doesn't work. So she's like, you gotta go. So like we're essentially seeing like two outcomes of the same situation. One where they fought Belasco and failed, and one where they didn't and fled. And that's why the characters are portrayed the way they are, why we have this messed up Kurt, why Colossus is literally ripped open, and we have Storm who has managed to learn magic, and that was also super cool. And that she was I I was taking it that she was the one who was teleporting everybody around.

SPEAKER_00 49:49

I believe so. Which is weird because spoilers, we're kind of seeing, I mean, that's basically Ileana's mutant power is those teleportation discs.

SPEAKER_01 50:00

Who's to say how magic works or mutant how mutant powers work? I don't know. Maybe they manifested because of of her passing through one or something. Could be. That makes sense to me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

Kind of getting the powers from your environment. Yeah. I I I mean her powers they they do like when it's not like uh you know A to B. You you go through limbo when teleporting. Right. I don't know the mechanics of it, but well, maybe we'll find out in the mini. True, true, true. Which, by the way, we will be reading next. Yeah. Uh Diverge from the path, do a special magic mini one-off. I'm excited. Me too. I think they've set up uh a potentially very dark and sad, but also interesting story, and it'll be nice to explore the origins of one of our favorite characters.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

Yeah, and I think there's a lot to explore even beyond Ileana, right? Like, you have presumably, like, I I hope we're gonna get a little bit more insight into kind of what happened to the X-Men during that time. I am curious about that.

SPEAKER_00 51:13

Because we know old Aurora is gonna be a major part of the miniseries because sometimes they refer to it as magic and storm instead of just magic. But like, when did the X-Men show up? Time works weird there, so it's very timey whimey, who knows what happens? Like, are they already like is Peter and Wolverine dead by the time Ileana gets there, or does that happen after she arrives?

SPEAKER_01 51:42

Yeah, and I think you can even address it just in a flashback, even, right? Like you can you can tell a story that is just entirely separate from you know how much time had passed. I don't know. You're you're probably right, like there's some timey whimey stuff happening, but I guess we'll see. I'm excited. Like, I think this is leaves the door open to so much, and I'm super interested to kind of see what those presumed seven years would have been like for her. Mm-hmm. And I'm also curious how much longer we're gonna have to wait until we get to uh the brood. I'm I'm hoping it's not much longer because we've had three one-offs now, and we know that the like there's a mini that goes into everything we've just talked about, so like that's not part of the core reason.

SPEAKER_00 52:31

That's our choice, though. That is no, I think it's us delaying things. I mean, based on you know, we based on looking at the covers, it'll be the next episode, the next uh full episode, main episode will be brood-related in some way. Yeah, one can hope.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

I oh man, I'm just there's so many cool little sequences. Like Storm transforming her entire body into like an amalgam of all the X-Men. That seemed like totally out of nowhere, and I'm still not entirely sure how I understand it beyond maybe like old Storm helping.

SPEAKER_00 53:11

I forgot that that happened. Hold on, I have to I have to scroll to that. It's weird that she doesn't use like her mutant powers, though.

SPEAKER_01 53:21

I'm having a hard time finding the panel you're talking about. Yeah, it's on the same page with all the tentacles. It's like the the middle panel on the bottom row. Like the last three panels are all with her like amalgam form.

SPEAKER_00 53:39

Oh, that's weird. I feel like I missed that partially. It's very strange.

SPEAKER_01 53:44

It just kind of happens and then that's it just it's gone. Should we do some ratings? I think so. Alright, so do you want to rate these as a collected three, or should we do these individually? Because they kind of all stand alone. They're not really connected very much, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

Yeah. I could go either way. I was probably gonna give 160 its own rating, apart from the collective rating, but overall I think these were three very distinct on their own self-contained issues. Fairly good. You know, we got some good stuff in all of them. Things were kind of here and there, and maybe the first two. I think I enjoyed myself a pretty good amount. Um, I think it sets up some interesting things. I will say that my only wish is that we didn't do three standalones in a row. Yeah. This would have been much better if this was like broken up over time, where it's like, here's a three-issue arc, here's a one-off, here's a four-issue arc, here's a one-off, here's a two-issue arc, here's a one-off, something like that. But I think they're all setting up something interesting, you know, 160 especially. I think 158 does a good job of featuring Carol, giving her a conclusion, maybe some setup for moving forward. Issue 159 is pretty fine. Dracula and Vamps will come up again, but you know, now we have that established history. Overall, I'm gonna say a 7 and 160 will do 7.5. I think I'm gonna just repeat your score.

SPEAKER_01 55:26

Perfect. Because I I feel pretty much the same. I I've, you know, I described at the top that this was fun filler. There's things that I don't like about these issues, or things that I do like about them. It does feel unfortunate that we are getting three standalones in a row. It's a weird choice. Yeah, and I'm I was curious if maybe it's like an editorial decision. Like maybe these one-offs are just kind of produced because they're they're probably a lot easier to do because it's just a self-contained story. But maybe they just had these in the hopper ready to go. But but then there are I assume Dracula was to set up the annual. Yeah, I have to imagine. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:06

And then one of them is just uh set up Iliana being older and having this backstory.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

Yeah, and then obviously the the first issue is the I would say the closest one to the continuity of the story as it stands. Mm-hmm. Anyways, uh yeah, as you said, I would give this like a seven and a seven and a half.

SPEAKER_00 56:28

That does it for this episode of Uncanny Book Club. Thanks for listening, and we hope to see you next episode where we'll discuss magic issues one through four. Yeah, magic, magic, magic, instorp.

SPEAKER_01 56:42

Instorm, instorp. Alright, I'm excited, man.

SPEAKER_00 56:47

It'll be good. Bye everyone. Uh see uh thanks for tuning in to this episode of Uncanny Bookball. If you enjoyed this podcast, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share with a friend.