LONG DAY’S JOURNEY THROUGH THE NIGHT!

MUTANT X #26 (MARVEL COMICS)

“In another place–in another life–Alex Summers led a team of mutants in a battle against oppression. His methods were extreme, his tactics questionable, but–in his soul–he knew that he was fighting for the greater good.

Now that soul has been transferred to another world, and Summers, also known as Havok, has found himself living a lie, allied with a team of mutants who are sinister, parallel versions of his friends and family. It is to this dark, new place that Havok has come, where he stands as a man alone… a mutant alone. Alex Summers is Mutant X.

Fear him. Fear for him.”

25 years ago, Marvel Comics launched Mutant X, a Havok led X-spinoff. I recently came into a complete run of the series, and so now I’m going to re-read the series once a week, and you guys get to come along for the ride!

This week, it’s another Bloodstorm episode.  Bear with me as I look into “Long Day’s Journey Through the Night!”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #26 is cover dated December of 2000.  It has story and art by Howard Mackie, Ron Lim, and Sandu Florea, with colors by Gina Going, and letters by Chris Eliopas.  Once again, the cover is by Michel Golden, though I don’t think this one has quite the same dynamic flair as the last one.

Bloodstorm is on a warpath, tearing through patrons at a bar called “The Bucket of Blood.”  She’s looking for someone, but her rampage is interrupted by the arrival of Gambit.  Gambit reveals that Ororo has been doing this routine for some time, and he wants to know why.  After a scuffle between the two, Ororo fills Remy in.  Earlier at the Castle of the Six, the team was contacted by Henry Gyrich regarding an emergency at the Vault.  He reveals a box was removed from the Vault by unknown intruders, and requests that the team retrieve it.  While Havok balks at the idea, Bloodstorm volunteers.  Back in the present, the Marauders (Cannonball, Husk, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, and Jubilee), move the box through the sewers.  A booby trap is triggered when Cannonball attempts to open the box, causing a fight between the team members.  While they’re distracted, something unseen grabs the box, and the group chases after it.  Storm and Gambit track the box to the sewers, and Storm enters alone.  The Marauders are fighting shadows around the box, and Storm jumps in, almost turning them into meals in the process.  Gambit intervenes and the Marauders escape.  Gambit causes an explosion that sends the box further into the sewers, and Bloodstorm reveals what the box contained: Dracula.  The pair are surrounded by hooded figures looking for Gambit, and elsewhere Dracula awakens.

This issue represents a hard break from previous build-up, and, like most Bloodstorm-centric stories, picks up in the middle, with vague indication at first as to when exactly in the timeline it’s supposed to be happening.  I honestly thought it might be a whole flashback story at first, until the actual flashback occurred.  The Six getting relegated to just the flashback (in stark contrast to the cover depicting Havok in the sewers with the other two) feels like a bit of a waste of the characters.  The Marauders are an interesting idea, though, and I’m curious to see if they get expanded upon at all as the story progresses.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I know absolutely nothing about this particular storyline, so I didn’t even know it was coming.  I continue to not be much of a Bloodstorm fan, but as the letters column in the back likes to remind me, I’m the odd man out on that point.  People just really wanted more of her, I guess.  Well, maybe this story will turn me around?  We’ll see.  On the plus side, we did get another Bullpen Bits in this issue, and that’s always fun!

I snagged this whole run from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.