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X-Terminators #3Issue(s): X-Terminators #3 Review/plot: ![]() Meanwhile, Crotus continues to convice N'astirh that capturing Taki was a good idea, because Taki can build a super-computer (with a spell checker) to help N'astirh cast his spells. ![]() At this point the demons have collected seven babies, but N'astirh will have all that he needs by the end. ![]() ![]() So he agrees to build the computer, but he employs as many delaying tactics as possible, demanding lots of computer parts (actually, multiple whole computers) and lots of health food to keep his energy up. And he ensures that Artie and Leech are spared. ![]() We see during these scenes that N'astirh's alliance with S'ym is not a long-term one. ![]() The older X-Terminators, meanwhile, are fighting their way to the graveyard in Queens. ![]() But Taki is unable to keep N'astirh delayed for too long, and the computer is completed. ![]() The other X-Terminators show up but are defeated by the demons. ![]() N'astirh then begins the spell, choosing "the most central source of negative energy in Manhattan", which is the seedy Times Square. ![]() I wonder if today's Disney-fied Times Square would still have been chosen as the spot. That's a different kind of negative energy. By the end of the issue, N'astirh has the babies needed to complete his spell. Much later in Zeb Wells' New Mutants series, we'll see the Inferno babies grown up as teenagers and they'll be given (partial) names and powers, and one of them, Face, becomes a semi-regular character. I tagged two of the babies in X-Terminators #2 because those characters are actually named (the MCP isn't tracking these characters yet): Timmy and Russell. Beginning in this issue, i'm going to be tagging all of the Inferno babies wherever we see at least some of them. I get confused regarding the number of babies. N'astirh said in issue #2 that he needed 13 infants. We see 10 in the pentagram here. ![]() And earlier in this issue, N'astirh says that besides the 10, he needs one more to channel the power for the spell, which i guess is Nathan, who he seems to have acquired by the end of the issue. And then three more after the final transformation, which references X-Factor #36 (where Cyclops and Marvel Girl are in pursuit of the babies stolen from the orphanage in X-Factor #35). ![]() In the Zeb Wells story, there are twelve kids, and that doesn't include Nathan Summers (i'm going by the Marvel wiki pages, not digging out my actual issues yet). There's a Tim (Scab) and a Timmy, but i don't think they're the same character. So that's thirteen kids, which i guess works out. Three must be off to the side and not part of the pentagram. We also saw in X-Factor #35 that the demons seemed to be grabbing more babies than were needed, but if that's the case we don't see what happens to them (and probably wouldn't want to; these demons are all full of talk about eating babies). Or it's possible that someone (possibly me) is having a counting problem. For now i'll be following the Marvel wiki and listing all twelve plus Nathan and will possibly revise when i get to the Zeb Wells stuff. Two more housekeeping notes: 1) i didn't list any of the babies as appearing in X-Factor #35 just because i wasn't sure which ones came from that issue, and 2) i've listed the babies by their known first names and an "(Inferno baby)" label unless the character has an obvious super-name, in which case i've just listed that name. I know that's inconsistent but since Face, at least, is a semi-regular character, i don't want him labelled as (Inferno baby) all through his later appearances. At the very end of the issue, we see the portal to Limbo opened via the infant pentagram. It's said that the Darkchilde is forcing her way through, but we don't actually see the New Mutants (except earlier via a scrying spell which i've included as a Reference but i'm not listing the New Mutants as characters appearing). N'astrih's spell is controlling Magik's portal. We don't actually see the effects of the portal being opened this issue. This continues to be a fun build up and it provides an important "glue" for the other X-books during Inferno. But i feel like it's too hectic and at times a weird mix of cutesy-ness and real horror. Quality Rating: C+ Chronological Placement Considerations: I've placed a lot of space between issues #2-3 of this series to allow for the rest of the Marvel universe to catch up to Inferno. That's what my "have been scouring the city" and "finally" are about in the first sentence of this post. New Mutants #71 and X-Factor #36 take place concurrently with this issue. With this issue and New Mutants #71 (which shows the same end scene from the New Mutants' point of view but takes it further), we get to a kind of Inferno Stage 2 where auxiliary characters are more likely to be running into actual demons instead of just possessed inanimate objects. References:
Crossover: Inferno Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A Inbound References (3): showCharacters Appearing: Alex (Inferno Baby), Artie Maddicks, Bob (Inferno Baby), Boom Boom, Cable (Baby Nathan Christopher Summers), Crotus, Face, Leech, Loca (Inferno Baby), Maw, N'astirh, Rictor, Russell (Inferno Baby), Rusty Collins, Scab, Shauna (Inferno Baby), Skids, Timothy (Inferno Baby), Toko, Trista (Inferno Baby), Wiz Kid CommentsThis is a quote from the wiki page on the Inferno babies: In X-Terminators #2 N'Astirh says that he needs thirteen children, who will act as focuses for his power and open a gate from Limbo to Earth: http://marvel.wikia.com/Inferno_Babies_(Earth-616) Posted by: clyde | August 20, 2014 11:15 AM N'astirh said that he needed 13 infants in issue #2, though. Wiz Kid shouldn't count any more than Artie and Leech did. Posted by: fnord12 | August 20, 2014 11:23 AM The last 3 babies show up in X-Factor on the Empire State Building when Madelyn is defeated. They were to be used somehow when she sacrificed her son. Keep an eye out for that bit of dialogue when it comes around. Posted by: Jay Demetrick | August 20, 2014 12:14 PM Note that N'astirh tells Taki that he's the one transforming the city but in X-Men 242, he makes it sound like Maddie is transforming the city. Posted by: Michael | August 20, 2014 7:44 PM The goblins bringing in the last of the babies seem to be the ones from Mr. Sinister's orphanage. That means Nathan Christopher is probably among them. N'astirh would not shift his operations without his final crucial element in hand. Posted by: Jay Demetrick | August 27, 2014 1:19 AM Comments are now closed. |
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