Inferno (1988) part 2

Inferno part 2

X-Terminators #4, New Mutants #72-73, Uncanny X-Men #241-243, X-Factor #37-40

Originally released in 1988

Written by Louise Simonson (New Mutants, X-Terminators, X-Factor) and Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men)

Art by Walt Simonson (X-Factor), Marc Silvestri (Uncanny X-Men), Jon Bogdanove (X-Terminators), Bret Blevins (New Mutants)

Continuing with the Inferno crossover, the New Mutants and X-Terminators are trying to shut down a portal and prevent an army of demons from invading New York City.  Meanwhile, the X-Men are becoming more aggressive thanks to the demonic influence, with only Colossus remaining unaffected.  In the pages of X-Factor (the team consisting of the original five X-Men), Cyclops's ex-wife Madelyne Pryor (not to be confused with his X-wife Jean Grey) discovers the awful truth about her birth and has her feelings twisted by demons so that she seeks to destroy everything that Scott loves, starting with their baby boy Nathan.

Issue four of X-Terminators is its final one; I'm not sure if it was always intended as a short tie-in for Inferno or if it wasn't popular enough to be expanded into a full series. (given how popular X-Men was in the late 80s and early 90s, I'm guessing it was the first one, though Marvel's no stranger to cancelling series abruptly)  Most of the issue focuses on Takeshi, a technopath mutant in a wheelchair who was forced to make a spellcasting computer for a demon, with the rest of the team trying to remove kidnapped mutant babies from a demonic portal in order to close it.

Between this and the baby Nathan Summers playing a major role in X-Men and X-Factor, the words "baby" or "babies" get used so often that it quickly that it starts to feel hilarious.  New Mutants has a similar split in focus, with Magik being the star while the rest of her team helps X-Terminators with saving the babies.

Magik, also known as the Darkchilde, is the ruler of the hell dimension Limbo, though Inferno is the result of two demons, N'astirh and S'ym, plotting to take Magik's power for themselves, with each one wanting to be the leader of Limbo.  Mister Sinister, naturally, has his own plans, though his are further along in terms of completion - it's revealed here that he created Madelyne as a clone of Jean Grey, as Mister Sinister wanted Jean and Cyclops to have a kid for his own purposes.

Magik manages to stop the invasion from Limbo, though it comes at a cost that (given what little I know of the character) doesn't seem like it will stick.  I felt a little lost with the mechanics of Limbo and Magik's personal history, but it was a well-written sacrifice.

While Madelyne is easy for various villains to manipulate, she proves to be more powerful than any of them expected, leading to her rebelling against their plans and becoming the final anchor that's keeping Hell on Earth.  However, she starts off by turning the X-Men against X-Factor... and making the X-Men unnecessarily horny in the process. (in the first few pages of issue 242 of X-Men alone, Wolverine kisses Jean, Rogue kisses Angel, and Dazzler kisses Longshot)  Or maybe that's just a more common aspect of the team than I realize.

It almost comes across as a parody when Havok, Cyclops's brother, shreds his outfit to resemble Madelyne's skimpy ensemble.  Madelyne's outfit was already impractical looking (it seemed like it would only take walking a single step for her to expose herself), but seeing it on Havok looks laughable.

Once things are cleared up, the X-Men and X-Factor work together to defeat N'astirh, seemingly killing the demon in the process, but while the teams were distracted, Madelyne kidnapped Jean, holding her hostage.  Madelyne's characterization changes a bit from writer to writer, with her being more sympathetic under Claremont's pen and more vengeful when written by Simonson.

Earlier, Cyclops fought a powerless Storm for the leadership of the X-Men, with Storm winning.  There's still friction between the two on how best to lead, but there's an odd plot development where Madelyne claims (or at least believes) that her manifested powers allowed her to influence the result of the fight, implying that Storm's leadership of the team wasn't fairly earned.  I'm not really sure why this was necessary, as it takes away from Storm's accomplishments for no real reason. (another odd plot point is that, earlier in the Uncanny X-Men comic, the X-Men were supposedly killed in Dallas, which results in them being invisible to cameras - it gets brought up a few times, though it's not plot-important)

Even when Madelyne is beaten, it's not over yet.  Jean discovers Mister Sinister's role in this and his location while in Madelyne's mind, and X-Men and X-Factor vow to make him pay for what he did.  This takes them back to Xavier's abandoned School for Gifted Youngsters, which Sinister promptly blows up.

A lot is revealed or hinted at here regarding Mister Sinister's ties to Cyclops - he seems to be vulnerable to Cyclops's optic blasts (unless he's faking that vulnerability for whatever reason), he talks to Cyclops like a schoolyard bully (part of Claremont's original plan for the character), and Archangel believes that he manipulated Scott into leaving Madelyne (which is presumably the explanation for a moment that felt out-of-character for Scott).

The second half of Inferno felt more focused than the first half - it likely helped that two of the teams were focused on one task while the other two teams were focused on a second task, so the plot was less spread out.  I feel like I'd have to read more of the New Mutants to get a better idea of Magik's storyline.  Madelyne's life was a tragic one, with her being used as a puppet for most of it and rarely being treated like a person.  It's a major shift in tone between this story and the version on X-Men '97, so it was interesting to go between the two tales.