Daredevils #2

"An Englishman's Home..."
Published: February 1983
Writer: Alan Moore
Penciller: Alan Davis
Inker: Alan Davis

What's Going On?
Having survived (he thinks) his ordeal on the alternate Earth, Captain Britain returns home to the ruins of Braddock Manor, which was destroyed some time ago during a team-up with Captain America (Captain Britain Vol. 1 #18).  Or was it?  While the average Joe sees nothing but rubble, CapBrit sees the mansion unblemished.  He enters and is greeted briefly by his family's housemaid, and then by scenes from his past; the kicker seems to be the skeletons of his parents asking him to join them in death.  All he has to do is allow his old enemy, Mastermind, to kill him.  That's when CapBrit remembers that Mastermind is a hologram controlled by the computers in Braddock Manor's basement --- and holograms would explain all the crazy things he has seen since returning home!  The Captain then figures out how to shut down the computer (which is basically sentient and has developed a way to self-replicate and grow vast enough to cover an entire cavern), thus saving the day.

Sub-plots, oh the Sub-plots!
- There was an offhanded remark by Merlin last issue, where he mentioned that he might not have put Captain Britain's mind back together in the right order; the Captain may very well be insane.  As Merlin and Roma observe the Captain's actions from afar, he once again mentions the possibility of insanity.  I'm guessing that this issue marks the end of this brief subplot, since it acts as a red herring for the true villain.

- Apparently, the Fury is not satisfied with killing Captain Britain.  Despite seeing the smoldering husk of the Captain at its feet, the Fury's animal instinct tells it that the Captain has survived.  That might be a problem later.

- A mysterious woman with super-strength has a panic attack that roughly coincides with Captain Britain's death.  While she isn't mentioned by name, she seems to have felt the Captain's death and is afraid something (the Fury?) will come after her soon.

- CapBrit is the only person able to see through the hologram of Braddock Manor as rubble, and he is able to "sense" where the computer's core is.  His reaction is "It's almost as if my senses have been enhanced somehow.  But by who?"  That would be Merlin and Roma, sir.

- Captain Britain has a ridiculously futuristic supercomputer in his basement that has murdered his parents and tried to kill him.  Naturally, he knows enough about computers to reprogram this nearly sentient device so he can "put it to work for [him]."  That seems like a good idea.

Writing!
It was an interesting choice for Alan Moore to retcon the destruction of Braddock Manor.  At that point, the mansion had been destroyed for about six years; reestablishing it as Captain Britain's base of operations feels like a step back.  I suppose you can describe it as back-to-basics, but that's never been Alan Moore's thing.

Art!
This is basically a psychological drama issue, so there's not a lot of action inherent in the plot.  Luckily, Alan Davis can tell a story that doesn't require uppercuts.  Honestly, I think his strength is in facial expressions.  A personal favorite moment is when he pulls out his "I'm under mind control" googly eyes.

I'm not quite sure if I like Davis inking his own work, though.  There is a sketchiness to the finished product here that doesn't do his work justice.

Retrospectively Funny:
- As a reader of the X-titles, I knew that there were several villains named Mastermind.  I did not, however, know that Marvel UK had one, too.  This prompted me to do a bit of quick research; there are apparently five Masterminds in the Marvel Universe, none of whom has been particularly threatening since the Dark Phoenix Saga.

-  According to this issue, no one knows that Braddock Manor is still standing.  And yet, it has electricity and phone service.  I don't think the Mastermind computer can control minds outside of the house, so...I guess we're left to believe that Brian Braddock pays his bills several years in advance?

Uncanny X-Men #166

"Live Free or Die!"
Published: February 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Paul Smith
Inker: Bob Wiacek

What's Going On?
Instead of following up immediately on the rather confusing cliffhanger of last issue, this issue picks up with Binary, who has been MIA since exploding out of the side of the X-Men's ship.  In the meantime, it seems that she has been taking her frustrations out on the Brood empire, blowing bases and ships to smithereens.  You might think that she will never find her friends again in the vastness of space, but you would be wrong.  It turns out that Storm --- who is now a hologram projected by the consciousness of an alien Acanti that has swallowed the X-Men's spacecraft --- is able to track Binary down fairly quickly.  And the X-Men, who are all incubating Brood children inside their bodies, are all in pretty good spirits, considering that they are all going to die.  But instead of going on a revenge-fueled suicide attack to bring down the Brood, once and for all, they are given an alternative.  Instead of just trying to kill stuff, the X-Men could choose to free the Acanti alien race from the slavery that the evil Brood have imposed upon them.  How do they do that?  Mostly by killing stuff, but they are also going to free a soul from its eternal prison...somehow.  The end result is bye-bye Brood.  Oh, and the Starjammers arrive, just in time to contribute very little to the battle.

Subplots, Oh the Subplots!
- Finally!  We are returning to the subplot introduced in Uncanny #161, where it is revealed that Professor Xavier also has a Brood gestating within him.  Since this has already been used as a surprising twist, months earlier, I don't know what it is being used as a cliffhanger here, but I'm tired of the X-Men fighting aliens and am ready for this storyline to finally end.

- Hey, it turns out that the X-Men didn't completely forget about Binary blowing a hole in the side of their spaceship a few issues back!  Even better, they don't seem to mind at all that one of their friends almost killed them.

- This is the first appearance of Lockheed, although we don't get a name for him just yet.  It's a pretty sweet first appearance, too:

It gets even better when we see the relative size of the dragon:

What a fun introduction to this completely superfluous --- but lovable --- character.


Writing!
It's nice to see the X-Men given a way out of the suicide run that this storyline initially set up for them.  Granted, it's not a whole lot better than suicide, but I suppose the change of intention is worth a lot.  I'm not a fan of the Storm/Acanti subplot, but it was short enough to keep the ridiculousness of it from being irritating.  Really, at this point, I am just happy to have the X-Men coming back to Earth.  This is definitely one of the best "X-Men in Spaaace!" storylines, but I prefer supervillains to personality-free aliens.

One of best moments of this storyline comes in this issue, with the climax of Wolverine's conflict over whether or not to kill his infected friends. 

Yes, Wolverine is a badass for being willing to make the difficult and probably wrong choice here.  And yes, Carol's hair in this scene is pretty funny.

Art!
Paul Smith is clearly still getting used to some of the character designs here, specifically Binary's.  He doesn't seem sure what to do with her, especially when she is in her Carol Danvers form.  It's a minor point, but it still gives a few giggles looking at the various hairdos she has in this issue.  Smith does a solid job with the action in this issue without getting graphic.  I could have done with more alien guts, but that's just personal preference.

One of the cooler visuals in this issue comes when the Brood are crystallized.

Granted, this is a comic that features Iceman on a semi-regular basis, so it's not like the readers have never seen a character looking like this, but it is still well done and pretty cool looking.

Retroactively Amusing:
- Carol's hair.

- I love that Storm's body being regrown inside an alien that resembles a catfish is never really brought up again.

Holy crap, that should be a trauma that sticks with a character for ages, or at least results in her having short hair or something for a while.  But no, Storm's back to business as usual when the X-Men return to Earth.  Oddly enough, this experience isn't referenced as even a possible partial cause to Storm's extreme makeover Uncanny X-Men #173 in a few months time.

Worth Noting:
- This is the first appearance of Lockheed, although he is not named here.

Everything 80s:
Check out Spider-Man hawking a puzzle toy.

Fun fact: this relatively unknown toy is actually a follow-up invention from the creator of the Rubik's Cube.  I don't know if they meant to imply that only criminals would want to play with this toy, but I suppose theirs is an untapped market.