Savage Avengers #0: Review

Feb 2020

Gerry Duggan, Greg Smallwood

::: click cover to ENLARGE it :::

Story Name:

Chapter 0: A retelling of the Kulan Gath saga

Review & Comments

Rating:

Savage Avengers #0 Review by Rob Johnson (February 21, 2020)

The X-Men made a deal with the sentient island Krakoa in the House Of X/Powers Of X mini-series and now it is the home for all mutants, including villains like Pyro.

This Cable is an earlier version of the adult Cable. He showed up from the future in the Extermination mini-series to set things right in the timeline, which included killing his older self, returning the 5 young original X-Men to the past where they belonged, and resurrecting (again) his father Cyclops.

Magik has had some fairly-recent (to her) dealings with Dr Strange. In Uncanny X-Men (2013) #7 she went back in time to get him to train her to use magic better. And she aided him in the 2016 Last Days Of Magic event.

This issue says it follows #11 which hasn't been published yet. So it's also after the battle between Dr Strange and Kulan Gath in #8-10.

From Our Blog:

Gwen Stacy, beauty queen of Standard High School, was Peter Parker's (alias Spider-Man) first great love.

Gwen Stacy: Classic Beauty

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Savage Avengers #0 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

Dr Strange magically appears on a beach on Krakoa, the new mutant homeland, and greets Pyro who accuses him of trespassing. Strange hands him a bottle of wine as a 'housewarming' gift, and says that it's a TARDIS bottle and so contains enough for all the population. Young Cable joins them and reminds DrS that Charles Xavier has banned all humans from setting foot on the island. So the Sorcerer Supreme resolves that by using his Cloak Of Levitation to float above the ground.

Stephen Strange reminds Cable in turn that *he* is charged to guard this whole dimension from magic attacks, and that includes Krakoa. Nathan Summers replies that *they* have the place guarded against such threats. As if on cue the resident sorceress Magik turns up via 1 of her stepping-discs. Illyana Rasputina and Stephen greet each other, and then DrS tells her that 'he' has returned.

We are then treated to a reprinting of Uncanny X-Men #190-191 where Kulan Gath took over Manhattan Island and turned it into a Medieval kingdom. People within, including super-heroes and villains, were transformed also but didn't realise it. The Island was surrounded by a mystic barrier and anyone who entered was transformed too. Spider-Man was left unchanged because Gath wanted personal revenge on him (for the defeat when he 1st came to the modern world in Marvel Team-Up #79). Eventually a small band of Avengers and X-Men defeated him and then Strange and Magik changed the past to create a new timeline where KG wasn't brought back to this world (in UXM#188-189).

Stephen now explains to Illyana that Kulan Gath is back but a barbarian warrior enemy of Gath's named Conan has been brought here from his time. Magik says she'll tell Charles, but she's not worried because they defeated the wizard before. Strange says that KG is now much more powerful. In #11 Stephen scanned the villain's past and has seen that he's spent thousands of years consuming sorcerers and their knowledge. Strange suspects that Gath will seek *her* out. Illyana replies that *she* has also grown beyond the child she was before, and she and her Soulsword are ready for him. DrS transports himself back to his Sanctum Sanctorum.

::: click cover to ENLARGE it :::