Hello and welcome to another exciting week in Ye Olde School Café! This week will once again bring us to a pivotal point in this epic tale (Evolutionary War). This week we’ll see a couple of issues, beginning first with Fantastic Four Annual #21. This book will bring a clash between the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans. Then an adventure with the X-Men that ties into this great story, as well!
After returning from an adventure in space (and underground against the Mole Man, and also into Belasco’s realm), the Fantastic Four (minus Reed Richards, but plus Shary) try to relax before they head out on another mission. Within hours, an image of Black Bolt and Medusa appears and tells Crystal that she must return to the moon. She tells them to forget it, and they return in their physical forms, along with Karnak, Lockjaw, and Gorgon. It doesn’t take long before the fists start flying. There is some back and forth, and both teams seem to get an edge only to be near defeat in the next moment. As the two teams are trying to end it peacefully, an image appears to tell Black Bolt that Attilan is being invaded!
Meanwhile, the High Evolutionary confronts The Watcher, as his forces are the ones attacking Attilan. They are ravaging the home of the Inhumans, because the Evolutionary believes that they use the Terrigen Mists to alter their natural state, or possibly to steal the mist itself to create new life. The Watcher and the High Evolutionary converse about his recent actions, and on the other side of the moon, Pietro Maximoff and the citizens of Attilan fight for their very lives! The FF and Inhumans then teleport to Attilan and join the fight! It doesn’t take long for the invading forces to realize they aren’t up to the challenge of this brawl, so they retreat.
As they teleport away, Ben yells at The Watcher and asks him what’s going on. At this moment, another Watcher appears and starts to answer that question, but is halted by the other Watcher, Uatu. They tell everyone that it is only their place to watch, and not interfere, so they leave with questions still unanswered. The FF and Crystal make their intentions clear, that they’ll return to Earth together, but Black Bolt intervenes. He swoops in and grabs Crystal, taking her to the “dark side of the moon” (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). She begins to holler at him, and then asks him what the point of her staying would be. Of course, he usually doesn’t speak because his powerful voice can level a mountain, but in this case, he has no other course. He utters the word “stay,” and then he uses his finger to scratch the word family into the ground. At this point, Crystal decides to stay and work things out with Pietro, and the FF leaves for home.
The next chapter of this story begins with Storm flying around and looking very upset. She unleashes a gale force wind that knocks Longshot right out of the window. Luckily for him, Dazzler is watching and she saves him from a nasty fall. The rest of the team is trying to figure out what has Storm so out of control. They quickly discover that she’s heading for the Savage Land, and then use their friend, Gateway, to get there immediately. The team is stunned to find the area that was once very heavily populated to be burned to the ground.
The team is wondering what move to make next, when suddenly the ground begins to shake. A little further down the road, the High Evolutionary is walking around looking for signs of life. He finds one, but is then attacked by Terminus! The X-Men see this and jump into action, attacking the behemoth any way they can. Colossus takes the brunt of an energy blast, and Psylocke gets KO’d by her own powers being turned against her from his psi-shields. They pretty much get their butts handed to them, but then Storm arrives and knocks the giant off of his feet, and into a wall of rock. The High Evolutionary then invites the X-Men to join him at his base nearby. Longshot walks away, slips into a portal, and disappears.
Storm doesn’t trust the Evolutionary, so she sends Havok as an emissary of sorts. The two men walk throughout he halls of the base, and the Evolutionary tells Alex about his intentions for the Savage Land. He then introduces his assistant, Zala (Zaladane), and they continue their dialog. Meanwhile, Storm tells Rogue and Psylocke to search for Terminus, and Wolverine and Dazzler try to locate Longshot. They do find the portal, and what’s inside is something extraordinary. Storm and Colossus are stunned to see M’Rin and her troops. The reunion only lasts a few moments, and then Terminus busts out of his rock prison. Before you know it, an all out war is going on between Terminus and the X-Men, and throw in M’Rin’s forces as well!
The heroes fight valiantly, but it appears that they cannot breach his armor. Rogue then steals some of Longshot’s good luck powers, and attacks Terminus. She breaches the armor only to find that Garokk is behind the steering wheel! Rogue tries to absorb his power, but realizes it’s too much. Outside, Havok, Wolverine, and the others have been hitting the spot that Rogue opened up, and then Terminus falls. The High Evolutionary then convinces Garokk to use his remaining life force to reinvigorate the Savage Land. He does, and then Ka-Zar and Shanna return to their home to celebrate this great victory. In the background, Zaladane is plotting her revenge on the X-Men and Ka-Zar.
Well, that’s it for now, but tune in next week for more action as Peter Parker and the West Coast Avengers will be trying to stop the High Evolutionary, and an Avenger will die! See you next week!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
