Era #4, Part 10: Fall of the Mutants (X-Men)

My Grade: A

Like X-Factor, the X-Men are significantly changed by the Fall of the Mutants. This starts small with a realization by Storm that she needs her powers back to deal with increasing threats facing the X-Men. This means that she must finally confront her former lover, Forge, who developed the weapon that removed her powers. Her journey leads to deadly confrontation with demonic forces and the death of the X-Men.

[3-Stars] 220 - "Unfinished Business" Storm goes to Dallas to find Forge but discovers his corporate headquarters abandoned.  Naze, the Cheyenne shaman who mentored Forge in the mystic arts, arrives and convinces the X-Man that the only way to find the missing Maker is to go on a visionquest.

[4-Stars] 221 - "Death by Drowning" Remember when Rogue was a villain who battled Dazzler? Dazzler does, and the two finally have it out. Wolverine is in charge of the team while Storm is on her visionquest and sends them to San Francisco to protect Maddie from the Marauders (yep, that would be Cyclop's missing wife). We got drama, a big battle and the first appearance of Mr. Sinister!

[4-Stars] 222 - "Heartbreak" The X-Men battle the Marauders while Storm battles Eye Killer demons in her visionquest.

[3-Stars] 223 - "Omens and Portents" Naze falls ill leaving Storm to finish her visionquest alone. Destiny of Freedom Force has a prognostic vision that the X-Men will die in Dallas!

[3-Stars] 224 - "The Dark Before the Dawn" Storm finds Forge while being attacked by a hoard of demons, but has she been been fooled about the real goal of her mission? Rogue shares Destiny's vision with the team, and they determine that they must go to Storm. That means going to Dallas.

[4-Stars] 225 - "False Dawn" Colossus is back! Roma, Guardian of the Omniverse, visits the Russian mutant while he recovery in Scotland from his earlier injuries that makes it difficult for him to transform from his organic steel form. She leaves him a sign that he must go back to the X-Men who are now at Forge's Dallas headquarters. They have a difficult time entering the abandoned building armed with an automated defense system, but things get worse when Freedom Force arrives with a warrant for their arrest in an attempt to save them from fate of Destiny's vision.

[5-Stars] 226 - "Go Tell the Spartans" X-Men versus Freedom Force until reality is upended by strong magic. The two teams call a truce so that they can save innocent civilians from dinosaurs, barbarians and other out-of-time dangers. Their efforts are captured on film by reporter, Neal Conan (who is actually a real journalist for NPR and friend of Chris Claremont). Storm and Forge spend a year in a beautiful prison dimension built just for them knowing that they must return and face the Adversary.

[4-Stars] 227 - "The Belly of the Beast" The X-Men realize that to end the devastation and return Dallas to normal reality, they must find Forge within in his headquarters now filled with demons and the horrors of the Vietnam War. They eventually make it through the Adversary's defenses and confront the immortal Trickster, but in the end, the only way to save the world is to carry out Destiny's vision.

Nightcrawler and Shadowcat are the only X-Men left. They later join Rachel (who disappeared way back in issue #209) and Captain Britain in forming a new team in the UK called Excalibur.  I originally tried to collect Excalibur but eventually dropped it and sold most of the comics because the heavy involvement in the Omniverse which I found silly. I learned to stay away from Roma and Omniverse (mainly because they confuse me), but the Fall of the Mutants kept it to a tolerable minimum.