Tricky
Quote: “Come here, girl, and don’t you tarry…..I’ve found the god that you’re to marry!”
Synopsis:
The scene opens with Storm explaining her to her teammates her history/past with her adoptive mother, Ainet, and why she must depart immediately to Kenya to save her. Wolvie convinces Maggott to come along despite his desire not to go to Africa. Just as they are in the middle of discussion, Psylocke arrives on the scene via her shadow powers (weird crimson dawn powers oh how I miss you…….not!)
Turns out she’s the transport to Africa (no plane for these muties). Storm and Betsy make with the happy meetings then she starts melting them into the shadows just as they are about to leave Marrow walks in and Wolvie pulls her along.
After teleporting Psylocke and Wolverine are quickly separated from the others as they are ambushed by sand warriors, they fight them off and they disappear in a poof of sand, along with them Wolverine disappears and Psylocke is left stranded and alone.
The team has arrived in what appears to be an empty village and then suddenly Cannonball disappears. When we next see him he has awoken in the Kentucky mines where his dad died years before he came to Xavier’s. What’s worst is his dead dad has been seemingly reanimated and aims to kill him for abandoning the family.
Meanwhile the other X-Men find the villagers, who are in a trance with flies swarming them, all they can say is anansi. Just as the good doctor can diagnose the problem, it rears its ugly head. The spider trickster god, Ananasi, shows up with Storm’s adopted mom Ainet, in his clutches and also under his thrall.
Ananasi says he wants Storm to be his bride. When storms show spirited resistance to his claims he cuts down the new x-men Maggott, Marrow and Cecilia. Storm manages to free her “mother” however and cradles her unconscious body.
Elsewhere, Maggott, Marrow and Cecilia find themselves in a strange place, Marrow is pissed and is about to start killing when Maggot realizes that Marrow’s bone growths gone and Maggott no longer need to rely on Eany and Meany.
Ananasi then appears before them with a feral and chained Wolverine he then tells them he has a proposition for them.
Storm then begins to engage Ananasi in battle and she is joined by Psylocke. Betsy does a quick scan of Anaise and realizes that anansi is not actually a “god” but is in fact a telepath (of high order I might add). After a series of taunts Psylocke and storm go straight to the astral plane where the two women find the villagers’ minds set up in a distinctive pattern.
Before they can discern the reasoning behind all this, Ananasi blindsides them and closes in on Psylocke while completely over looking Storm. Ororo realizes something is wrong and this is confirmed by her adoptive mom as she says anasi is a trickster and always talks in riddles. With that storm realizes that it is not she he wants but Psylocke.
Before she can share this info she is whisked away to a prison where she finds herself buried in the bodies of her dead friends. He continues to taunt her and brings up her past (everything from her multiple deaths and resurrections to her changing powers) failures he goes so far as to say she was always nothing
Soon Psylocke breaks and with all her might she strikes out at him with all the power at her disposal. What happens in she falls into his carefully laid trap; she has accidentally hit one of the villagers whose mind is connected to another, and in a domino effect, she explodes in a burst of psionic energy. What this does is effectively cripple all beings connected to the astral plane, even all psi-sensitive in the corporeal world. (spiderman, and doctor strange, Emma frost, jean grey, M, Chamber etc)
Psylocke is left as a grotesque mess; a plane reflection of what she once was. At that point Ananasi reveals himself to be none other than the SHADOW KING! And with his perfectly laid plan complete he is free of any opposition on the Psionic Plane! (this cant be good!)
The Good!
What can I say? the story read like poetry. Art matched the tone as well.
The Bad!
Hmmm it was good sure……but the reveal of the shadow king seemed a bit out of place can you say editorially mandated? perhaps......
The ugly!
Joe Kelly has a handle on his characters, and for me I got Psylocke, Marrow and Cecelia all in one issue!!! What more could you ask for? Solid read with great art!