Embarrassingly stupid example of self-important 90s Marvel
Remember the 90s, when everyone seemed to buy into the X-books and characters? X-Men Unlimited was something of a stand-alone series to begin with, and most issues of this oversized series tended to have self-contained stories. That was a truly positive selling point after the endless crossovers and tie-ins of the decade had led to a disastrous drop in readers and fans, so Unlimited wisely avoided that and tended to do more in-depth character studies and emotional stories than action-packed superhero-fests.
The wise part ended at the self-contained stand-alone stories. The rest varies sharply from issue to issue, with most of the character studies being truly horrible and showing the shocking weakness of the writing staff of the time. Even some more experienced writers -- some X-title veterans -- show their posteriors in this position with, typically speaking, stories far more ambitious than their writers have the ability to realise. The art is not much different, and many of the issues simply follow the trends of the time, which unfortunately is a mark of Marvel...not too big on originality, even when the golden boys of the company can't draw.
All that setup aside, this is a truly abysmal entry in the Unlimited series. Xavier and Lilandra, as usual, both come off looking ridiculously sanctimonious and insanely vacillating -- they had over 50 pages to develop the story, and they completely crashed and burned attempting a 'surprising' twist at the end since it was so arbitrary and not even remotely built up by the story. Additionally, even in superhero titles with a touch of realism, we don't read them to have characters who are supposed to be 'good guys' acting like villains, even if it is a horrible cardboard stereotype of a character who has never been particularly good with not thinking she's the centre of the universe. How heartbroken we weren't when the equally self-important Xavier turns his back on the hot piece of alien patootie who seemed to exist only to gallivant around in unlikely costumes and act like a tyrant. But oh no, we're supposed to like her because she nailed Xavier and because she's got busoms.
The story, of course, goes nowhere and then tries to go somewhere in the last five pages and fails because...it's the last five pages. Was it supposed to make sense that for some reason, now Deathbird rates higher than Xavier and the X-Men? Sorry, but I just don't buy it. And for some reason, despite what happened being clearly wrong, potentially the most powerful woman on the planet -- Storm -- and two not inconsequentially powerful mutants -- Jubilee and Forge -- just decide to stand down? When Xavier himself was trying to go for peace, and Lilandra had come along willingly, eagerly even? I don't think so. Lilandra's heel turn wasn't even believable, and she's a horrible fiend most of the time.
This issue is a prime example of trying to go for an emotional ride and failing on all possible counts because not only is that part botched, but there isn't anything else to enjoy. The action is barely action, and it's certainly not exciting. This story is really exemplary of what people refer to when they bemoan the fact that the X-titles at the time had largely become poorly-written soap operas, with a minimum of any real superhero excitement, and the worst part about it is that the writer either didn't know the characters well enough to involve them in such a story or simply didn't care. Either way, it's regrettable since even with an implausibly small cast of characters, it still wasn't right.
It's a laughable comic, and it's one of those that are -- and should be -- brushed under the rug in embarrassment whenever anyone new to comics decides to take a look back. The art is as ridiculous as the story, but given that it all seems to need the notation 'after Jim Lee', that's perhaps unsurprising. At least Lee, however, went for something remotely resembling anatomical correctness. The saddest part of that aspect of the comic is that the art team is clearly not untalented, but they were probably forced into a shallow aping of popular styles of the time, something that has ruined many a Marvel and DC title.
Avoid this, and indeed the Unlimited series in general, unless you have literally nothing else to read and want to refresh yourself as to why most people regard the 90s as the darkest of dark ages for superhero titles. The X-Men may have been the thing to read during that decade...but that hardly means that any X-title was gold. With so many of them about, it was more likely that anything you picked up would be mediocre or worse.
