X-Men Annual 10 and the Mutant Massacre

[Michael]

We've currently placed X-Men Annual 10 in between X-Men 210 and 211. The problem I have with this is that the Annual lasts over a day. Now, X-Factor 9 crosses over with X-Men 210, where X-Factor and Magneto see each other. The problem is that only a few hours pass between X-Factor's encounter with Magneto and X-Factor finding out about the Massacre. So the X-Men got invovled in the Massacre over a day later than than X-Factor but almost got zapped by Scott in issue 211 shortly after they got involved- I don't think that works.

[Russ Chappell]

Michael,

Please rewrite your post, so that it makes sense to people who have never read the stories.

For instance,

So the X-Men got invovled in the Massacre over a day later than than X-Factor but almost got zapped by Scott in issue 211 shortly after THEY got involved

Who is "THEY"? X-Men or X-Factor?

The problem is that only a few hours pass between X-Factor's encounter with Magneto and X-Factor finding out about the Massacre.

Without understanding the sentence that follows the one above, it's hard to see why that's a problem.

It may be my reading comprehension that's lacking here, but if you assume the other members on the Forum haven't read the stories you're referencing, and phrase your posts with that in mind, you'll get more lucid answers.

Thanks.

[JephYork]

Michel -- sadly this is pretty much the ONLY place this Annual can occur. Yes, you have to ignore the fact that the overall X-Men story takes longer than the overall X-Factor story -- and you also have to ignore that Nightcrawler can teleport just fine in the Annual, despite his being injured in #210 and 211. But because of his presence there, and Psylocke's, the Annual can't occur AFTER the Massacre (he's comatose) and it can't occur BEFORE (Psylocke's not there yet).

You just gotta squint and read 'em in that order. Sorry.

-Jeph!

[Michael]

My apologies, Russ. The problem is this- in X-Factor 9 X-Factor sees Magneto entering the Hellfire Club and a few hours later in X-Factor 10, they find out about the Mutant Massacre. Now, let's look at things from the X-Men's perspective: X-Men Annual 10 takes place over a period of a day and a half. We see the scene with X-Factor and Magneto from Magneto's perspective in Uncanny X-Men 210. In Uncanny X-Men 211, the X-Men find out about the Massacre and have Illyana teleport them to the tunnels. Shortly after they arrive, Storm is almost hit by one of Scott's optic blasts. (X-Factor and the X-Men don't actually meet.) After X-Factor 10 and Uncanny 211, Scott and Logan both appear in Power Pack 27- Logan runs into Power Pack, and a little later, Scott runs into Power Pack. (It seems like Logan is appearing shortly after his appearance in Uncanny 211 and Scott is appearing shortly after his appearance in X-Factor 10.) My point is this- X-Factor 10 and Uncanny 211 should take place at about the same time. But if we squeeze X-Men Annual 10 in between Uncanny 210 and Uncanny 211, Uncanny 211 has to take place over a day later than X-Factor 10.
I guess you're right,Jeph- we just have to ignore it.

[JephYork]

You could just punch a hole in X-Factor #10 and let a day elapse. There's a million examples of two different comics giving two different time-references between events ... the only thing to do is ignore them, or create gaps in issues to "let out" some time so everything lines up.

I actually wrote a whole sidebar article outlining the Morlock Massacre chronology, in the Official Index to the Marvel Universe #5. Check it out!

-Jeph!

[metaldragon]

The problem is X-Factor's issues are so tightly packed story-wise between XF 8-11. I did an analysis of the timing for myself a while back. Hope you don’t mind if I post it here?

XF 8: Pgs 1-7 Cyclops & Marvel Girl clean up radiation in sewer tunnels the morning after events of XF 7 while Iceman, Beast, Angel, Rusty, Artie and Vera, all lounging in their PJs, watch a newscast what happened in XF 7. (It was evening/night when Glowworm & Bulk attacked the X-Factor Complex so this takes place the next morning. P11 confirms it.)
Pgs 8-10 "Washington--the Pentagon headquarters of the organizaton known as Freedom Force..." They are reviewing a tape of the newscast of the battle in XF 7 looking for Rusty Collins.

[There is a gap of most of the day here and this is when ASM 282 & M/FAN 32 must take place.]

P11-14 "The X-Factor Complex, later that night..." X-Factor discusses the events of UX 209 taking place at that very moment (X-Men are fighting Nimrod in Central Park). Hodge mentions the events of XF 7 took place "yesterday" (so the beginning of this issue has to take place the morning after the end of XF 7). Artie senses Freedom Force following X-Factor and Rusty goes to warn them.
P15 "A harrowing cab ride later..." Rusty manages to catch up to X-Factor in Central Park not far from the Sheep Meadow. Freedom Force stops them to arrest Rusty.
P16 Spiral leaves the confrontation with X-Factor to appear in UX 209 (a note in the corner of the second panel informs us).
P18-19 Skids shows up and rescues Rusty from Spider-Woman.
P20-21 Trish Tilby, with her W-ARC-TV news team is reporting on the aftermath of the X-Men vs Nimrod battle from UX 209 and Rusty & Skids rush past her with a human mob in hot pursuit.
P22 Freedom Force catches up with Rusty & Skids while the mob looks on. TBC...

XF 9: Pgs 1-2 Rusty & Skids are in stand-off with Freedom Force in Central Park. (It looks lighter, so it must be dawn by this point. This continues directly on from the end of XF 8.)
P 3 "While across the park" As X-Factor reach the edge of the park they run into Trish Tilby and her W-ARC-TV news team.
P 4-5 A Police Officer on the street mentions he doesn't trust the Avengers and is glad for X-Factor. As they're walking past the Hellfire Club they spot Magneto about to enter (as seen in UX 210 pgs 15-16 from his perspective. It is after 10:00 am by this point). [A little while before this, Rogue sees the dammage to the X-Factor Complex and wonders about it, at 10:00 A.M. she enters Bloomingdales, then shortly after that spots one of X-Factor’s ads on the side of a bus. That takes place just before Magneto arrives at the Hellfire Club.]
P 6-9 "Meanwhile, Rusty runs and Skids glides toward Fifth Avenue..." They run into Spider-Woman's psi web and are caught by Freedom Force but a human mob arrives and begins throwing stuff at Freedom Force for being mutants. X-Factor shows up to hold off the mob.
P 10 "While on 67th Street off of Fifth Avenue..." Skids takes Rusty into the Morlock tunnels.
P 11 "Meanwhile" Freedom Force leaves to search for Rusty and X-Factor dodges Trish Tilby's questions and leaves to search for Rusty too.
P12 "Meanwhile, the morning sunlight shines on the X-Factor Complex..." Artie "sees" Rusty & Skids enter the Morlock Tunnels, then Freedom Force searching for them, then the murder of the Morlock Tommy from the end of UX 210. He tries to show this to Cameron Hodge but Hodge shoves him out of his office so Artie decides to draw X-Factor a message and go after Rusty himself.
P13 "Later, inside the X-Factor Complex..." X-Factor check to see if Rusty returned there and see Artie's picture message of what he saw and and where he went.
[How many hours have passed while they’ve been searching is not mentioned. It is probably afternoon by this point.]
P14 Artie runs into Leech in the Morlock tunnels. "Meanwhile" X-Factor strip off their X-Factor uniforms and head down into the tunnels in their "X-terminators" garb.
P15 "While elsewhere in the tunnels..." Leech brings Artie to Caliban.
P16-20 "While elsewhere in the tunnels..." Rusty trips over the body of a dead mutant (possibly Tommy's?) much to his and Skids's shock. They then run into Freedom Force again and Blob begins beating up Rusty. X-Factor arrive and the battle begins while Skids tries to protect the unconscious Rusty.
P21-22 "Moments later..." after Destiny convinces Freedom Force to leave, Beast examines Rusty and says he needs a doctor fast. Marvel Girl & Angel head back towards the X-Factor Complex with Rusty & Skids while Cyclops, Iceman and Beast head deeper into the Morlock tunnels. 2 panels later they hear a scream while, in the next panel, Artie, Caliban and Leech hear possibly the same scream and a box says "And nearby, in the tunnels, mutants start to die..."
P23 "While very shortly in Washington, in the section of the Pentagon run by Valerie Cooper and devoted to the special agency known as Freedom Force..." Val gives them a dressing down about not capturing Rusty Collins. As they leave the meeting, Mystique decides to dig dirt on Angel, aka millionaire playboy Warren Worthington III, and leak whatever they find to reporter Trish Tilby... TBC [Since Spider-Woman is shown to be still a member here, this has to take place before A@ 15-WCA@ 1]

XF 10: P 1-3 The Morlocks are attacked by the Marauders.
P4 "While in the tunnels several miles away, a team of mutants who are not Morlocks recover from a pitched battle with the government-sponsored bounty hunters Freedom Force..." aka X-Factor. The first two panels of this page take place between panels 3 & 4 of XF 9, p22. The last 3 pannels take place during pannels 4-6 of XF 9, p22.
P5 continues on from the end of XF 9. Cyclops, Iceman and Beast run into Harpoon & Arclight. Harpoon slashes Beast in the side. Arclight drops the roof on them and Cyclops blasts the debris.
P7-8 Angel, Marvel Girl & Skids arrive at the X-Factor building, Angel gets Hodge to call for a Doctor and Skids freaks out when she realizes they are X-Factor.
Pgs 9-10 “Several hours ago, led by his ability to visualize far off events, X-Factor’s mute young ward, Artie Maddicks, entered the Morlock tunnels in search of his friend, Rusty Collins... ...and was, himself, found by the Morlock child Leech--whose power is to siphon off the powers of others, and Caliban--a living mutant detector. Now, the trio of mutants creep fearfully towards the sounds of ambush and death...” They are attacked by Sabertooth. They dive for cover and Cyclops blasts Sabertooth but, not realizing Artie is hidden nearby, Cyclops, Beast and Iceman leave when they hear another scream.
P11 "Meanwhile in the Pentagon headquarters of Freedom Force..." They are watching Trish Tilby reporting on Angel's financial backing of the X-Factor organization (neither Spiral nor Spider-Woman are present). "Meanwhile in Philadelphia, on the top floor of the Worthington Building, the newly appointed chairman of the board, Candy Southern calls a meeting to order..." Candy Southern is pulled out of a meeting by the same newscast. "While in the infirmary of the X-Factor Complex..." A doctor examines Rusty and Cameron alerts Warren & Jean to the newscast.
Pgs 12-13 "While in the alley..." Cyclops, Iceman and Beast stop Blockbuster and Vertigo from attacking Erg, Ape, Tarbaby and Beautiful Dreamer.
P14 "While elsewhere in the tunnel, two small faces peer from a drain tunnel into the alley..." Sabertooth finally left so Artie leaves Leech and the wounded Caliban to search for X-Factor. (Leech & Caliban next appear in PP 27 on p 4 in Franklin’s dream and by then it is nighttime.)

[There is a gap of time here, long enough for Candy to fly from Philadelphia to New York at least. It may be the evening shown in PP 27 after this point.]

P15 "Much later, in the X-Factor infirmary..." Candy Southern walks in on Angel comforting Marvel Girl, blows up at him and leaves. They decide to leave Skids to look after Rusty and go back into the Morlock tunnels.
P18 "While almost a mile below..." Apocalypse saves Plague from Harpoon and Sabertooth to make her his first Horseman.

[Time passes as Marvel Girl & Angel search the Morlock tunnels for the rest of the team.]

P19 "Ages later..." Angel & Marvel Girl arrive in time to help the rest of X-Factor fight off Arclight, Scrambler and Prism. Cyclops blasts Prism but his beam is refracted by Prism’s body and used against him. (During this battle is when, in UX 211, p17, Storm is nearly hit by Cyclops's optic blast.) Marvel Girl shatters Prism in the battle, Arclight then brings down the tunnel ceiling and escapes with the unconscious Scrambler. (This is the moment in UX 211, p17 when Wolverine says to Storm & Rogue that he can smell Cyclops, "And Angel and the Beast--ALL the original X-Men" and they see the tunnel collapse, UX 211, p18, cutting them off from X-Factor.)
P21 Angel stays behind to look for Artie while Marvel Girl takes the rest of the team back to the X-Factor Complex for first aid. (Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, and Marvel Girl next appear in PP 27, pgs 14-23.)
P22 Angel finds Artie but is trapped by Vertigo, Blockbuster and Harpoon. He tells Artie to run hide, manages to take out Vertigo but Blockbuster shatters his wings and Harpoon nails his wings to the tunnel wall. (This leads directly into T 373 p19-22 where Thor hears Angel's screams & stops Blockbuster, Harpoon and Vertigo from torturing him further.)

PP 27: Pgs1-3 Power Pack watch the evening news with their parents and see the newscast of the “X-terminators” attacking the X-Factor Complex (XF 7, this is a repeat of the newscast shown earlier in XF 8, pgs 4-5). Franklin Richards sleeps over because his parents weren’t home.
p4-7 "Hours later..." Franklin dreams of Leech crying over the wounded and unconscious Caliban (last seen in XF 10, p14) and Jack and Alex are woken by their dream forms appearing in their bedroom. They wake Franklin from his nightmare, Julie & Katie are woken by their voices and when Franlkin tells them what he dreamed they decide to travel down to the Morlock tunnels to stop whoever was attacking the Morlocks.
p8 “While elsewhere in the tunnels...” Scalphunter is shooting Morlocks and Leech’s arm is grazed by a bullet as he’s trying to drag Caliban to safety. He begs for help from Annalee and Power Pack.
P9-11 “Meanwhile, Power Pack enters the Alley, the huge, mile deep tunnel that runs the length of Manhattan...” They are attacked by Sabertooth and manage to evade his attacks until Destroyer collapses the tunnel on him.
P12-13 Power Pack runs for it and run into Wolverine who tells them to get out of the tunnels. He makes them promise to leave and they do but they decide to leave after they find Leech. (Wolverine was last in UX 211, last page & appears next in UX 212, p1.)
P13 “Later...” Power Pack discovers the bodies of Annalee and her kids.
P14-15 “And miles away, a sorry band of Mutants enters the X-Factor Complex...” X-Factor reunite Erg, Ape, Tarbaby and Beautiful Dreamer with Skids. Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman and Beast decide to re-enter the Tunnels in spite of how injured they are. (They appear here after XF 10, p21 & after leading as many Marauders as they could find to safety.)
P15-23 “While back in the tunnels...” Power Pack finally find Leech and Caliban. They are attacked by Harpoon, Arclight and Scrambler. They do well holding their own against the 3 Marauders until X-Factor show up and chase them off. Harpoon mentions what they did to Angel (making his appearance here shortly after T 374, p9.) Leech learns that Annalee is dead but Cyclops tells him his some of his other friends are still OK. Iceman & Beast take Leech & Caliban back with them while Cyclops inform Power Pack it’s “Going on 5 A. M.!” and sends them home. Cyclops & Marvel Girl continue on to search for Angel & Artie.
P24 “Soon...” Power Pack reach street level and decide to check if Franklin’s parents are back yet on their way home.

T 374: Pgs 1-5 Thor fights off Blockbuster, Harpoon and Vertigo, unpins Angel from the wall and carries him off to find help. (This continues on directly from the last page of T 373.)
Pgs 5-8. Asgardian stuff.
P 9 Harpoon and Sabertooth mock Blockbuster who leaves to find Thor again.
Pgs 10-13 Thor finds Artie and Blockbuster attacks, shattering Thor's left arm. Angel regains consciousness in time to distract Blockbuster. Blockbuster begins choking Angel and Thor recovers enough bash in Blockbuster's face with his hammer. Artie leads Thor, who is again carrying the unconscious Angel, to find X-Factor.
Pgs 14-15 Asgardian stuff.
Pgs 16-18 Artie finds Cyclops & Marvel Girl. Cyclops makes crude splint for Thor's arm. They warn Thor not to believe what he hears about them when he gets back topside and leave with Angel and Artie for the X-Factor Complex. (This leads directly into XF 11, pgs 1-10.)
Pgs 19-22 Thor searches for any further survivors in the tunnels and Hela appears to inform him his "bones are now as brittle as those of an old woman" and will not heal because she hit him with a spell at the beginning of T 373. Thor sets fire to the tunnels in his rage and sorrow. (This takes place on the last page of UX 212 and XF 11, p10.)

XF 11: Pgs 1-3 Iceman & Beast are ambushed by 4 Morlock calling themselves "Tunnelers" while carrying Leech and the wounded Caliban back to the X-Factor Complex (after PP27, p23).
Pgs 4-5 “While nearby...” Cyclops & Marvel Girl are taking Artie and the badly wounded Angel back to the X-Factor Complex (after T 374, p18). They hear sounds of battle.
Pgs 6-8 “Minutes later...” Cyclops & Marvel Girl arrive in time to save Iceman & Beast from the Tunnelers. They stop fighting when Berzerker recognizes them as the “X-terminators”. X-Factor invite them back to their headquarters.
Pgs 9-10. They hear the sound of thunder and feel a wave of heat. They make it back to the X-Factor Complex just ahead of Thor’s firestorm. (See T 373, pgs 19-22 & UX 212, last page.)
Pgs 10-15 The Tunnelers are reunited with the “Drain Dwellers” aka the Morlocks X-Factor managed to save. Angel is then taken by ambulance to the hospital. The Tunnelers leave only to run into a street gang, Blowhard is shot to death and Masque wounded. Berzerker and Masque kill them all in revenge. At the hospital, Cyclops & Marvel Girl see the news reports of the dead gang members and recognize Masque’s work.
P16 “While miles away, in the paraplegic ward of a Veterans Administration Hospital in Atlanta, GA...” Apocalypse recruits Abraham Lincon Kieros to be his second Horseman.
Pgs 17-21 Cyclops & Marvel Girl find the 3 remaining Tunnelers cornered by police on a dock by the Hudson River. Scaleface and Berzerker die in the confrontation leaving Masque as the remaining Tunneler. Cyclops & Marvel Girl leave with him.
P22 “While in a loft near Times Square...” Boom Boom argues with Vanisher and leaves his band of girl thieves. “Meanwhile, Scott and Jean return to the hospital as Warren is wheeled from the operating room...” The Doctor announces that they will have to remove Angel’s wings.

[metaldragon]

Going over it again, I noticed that there were two major time breaks in XF 10. One where Candy travels from Philadelphia to New York. That gap of time might be one night and she confronts Angel the next morning. The second gap that takes place after that may be most of the rest of the day. During that gap, it's possible Beast returned to the X-Factor Complex (missing Angel & Marvel Girl along the way) to take care of the gash in his side Harpoon gave him on p6, took a shower and answered a phone call from the Wasp during WCA@ 1 then returned to the tunnels to look for the rest of the team. It's a huge, painful stretch and his dialogue doesn't make any sense there but it may be the only spot for it to fit if it has to take place after Thor returns to Earth in T 373 and before the events of PP 28.

How this helps to resolve the problems with UX@ 10, I'm not sure. There appears to be a gap between UX 210 and UX 211.