X-Factor Annual #3

Unnatural Selection by Louise Simonson and Terry Shoemaker is the first part in the Evolutionary War crossover. The Evolutionary War was an 11-part crossover that took place in 1988 and starred the Marvel Universe facing off against the High Evolutionary who sought to kick-start the next step in human evolution. The first chapter in the saga stars the original X-Factor (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman and Beast) as they investigate the High Evolutionary's mass-fertilisation of the Subterraneans and Apocalypse confronts the villain about his plans.

This story is really a story of two halves and sadly only one of those halves is entirely commendable. On one hand, the stuff with X-Factor is just incredibly generic and almost atypical for Simonson's X-Factor. The basic plot of X-Factor going underground and helping liberate a group that society treats poorly is like the standard plot for this period of X-Factor and at this point seems like an utter rehash of their role in the Mutant Massacre crossover. Most of the team even notes similarities between this and the Mutant Massacre more than once. While Simonson, like in Mutant Massacre, has us rooting for the team to help free a helpless young progeny it just feels too much of the same and without the memorable sequences of Angel being impaled by the wings.

On the other hand, the stuff between Apocalypse and the High Evolutionary is really good and a great way to start the crossover. As the two villains engage in a fight they also share an apt philosophical debate. It's a great set-up to the story that perfectly introduces the Evolutionary's goals to new readers and helps contextualise them against a villain like Apocalypse's goals. The story ends with the two characters accepting that each of their goals aren't too different for one and another. It's really strong stuff, a great opener to the storyline and an interesting and dynamic pairing.

Another highlight is one of the opening pages that features a nice collage of panels of Earth's psychics responding to the psychic screams from one of the tortured Subterraneans. Whereas most of Terry Shoemaker's art for the main story is fairly repressed and sees the character's stuck underground just fighting the same big robots, it's a nice little page that adds a bit of variety and scope to the story.

As a start to a big crossover, there's definitely some good stuff going on in X-Factor Annual #3. The problem is that it's mostly all within the sub-plot whereas the main plot which takes up about 60% of the pages is just pretty ordinary stuff. It feels odd to kick off a crossover with an issue that is so uneven, repetitive and doesn't really tease the rest of the crossover. There's nothing really to link the first chapter to the Evolutionary War other than the presence of the High Evolutionary and vague references to his "master plan". I'd say this is a rather poor choice for an opening to a crossover since it reads more like an arbitrary tie-in, but down to the Apocalypse stuff it is at least a half-way decent tie-in. In some ways it's a strong start and in others not so much.