Hello and welcome to another.....what shall I call it?
It's not a DC column, for sure. It wasn't scheduled, but then, nothing in life generally is.
I don't think any of this has been collected so far, but from experience, I can say that's how the best stories are. You find something, somewhere you never thought you would, ever and sometimes, your life is the better for it.
Circa the early nineties, Annuals at DC and Marvel were an unruly bunch - DC had their crossover events and all the annuals of that year had to confirm to the main storyline. Before that, Annuals were merely collections of stories, in the sixties, and later on, full length one shots. But this new breed of storytelling was all the rage for a few years - at least, until the Annuals existed. DC usually went all out, with all the Annuals dedicated to one event, while at Marvel, different families of titles had different events, most of the times. These annuals contained a main story, as well as a few smaller stories, pin ups and all. The main stories would get collected in trades, if released, covering that particular event, but the smaller ones are questionable.
The event in question, for the most part, is a four parter called "Days of Future Present". The main story revolves through annuals Fantastic Four, X-Factor, New Mutants and X-Men in 1990. It features various characters of the X-stable and while I'm not too familiar with my Marvel, I could identify Rachel Summers and Franklin Richards in some sort of complicated storyline. That, however isn't important. This is.
The second story in X-Factor Annual 5 is called "Tribute The First", written by Peter David, with art by Dave Ross. Our story begins with a red headed girl laying flowers on Jean Grey's grave, when a passing older woman comments on her dying too young. On questioning who Jean is to the red headed woman, she doesn't answer clearly and tells the elder woman that she is going through some sort of identity crisis, where she doesn't know what she is to her, sometimes she feels that Jean is a part of her.
On further conversation, in an attempt to help the red headed girl with her problems, the older woman tells the story of her life, her past in the concentration camps and about the fickleness of identity.
I mention 'red headed woman' everywhere because I'm not too familiar with the history of Jean Grey - lord knows that she has had her share of death and resurrections, and I'm not too far done with X-Men to know whether the woman is Madelyne Pryor, or Rachel Summers, or Phoenix (?)....the farthest I'm done with Claremont's run on X-Men is The Phoenix Saga, and later on I've read Fall of the Mutants. I keep on postponing the reading of the telephone books they call Essentials, and after that the only two runs I've read are by Grant Morrison and Chuck Austen. So maybe one of you astute X-Men readers has the answers to my questions.
What I'd rather point out, is that the story works even if you ignore the X-Men connection entirely - it could be just two females talking in a graveyard, and it wouldn't change a thing. Posting more pages would definitely spoil it, as I believe this is the finest ever work produced by Peter David, and undoubtedly the best of this series of stories.
The second story in New Mutants Annual 6 is called "Tribute The Second", written by Peter David, with art by Gavin Curtis. The characters are somewhat more familiar here. Doug Ramsey, killed in the aforementioned Fall of the Mutants takes title spot here, speaking from beyond the grave, as a spirit in a graveyard, able to communicate with other spirits, but not with the living.
Rahne Sinclair, aka Wolfsbane, comes to visit Doug's grave and tells her what she feels in her heart about someone else called Victor (I think it's Rictor, but Doug doesn't understand her, and the ones who do, apparently don't know Rictor) which irritates Doug.
Doug's compadres advise him to let her go so that she can move on. A bunch of grave defilers arrive upon the scene and Doug finds himself powerless to stop them. How he finally finds solace forms the rest of the story.
A year later, in X-Factor Annual 6, part of the "Kings of Pain" crossover, we see "Tribute The Third", written by Peter David with art by Guang Yap. Mystique endeavours to fulfill Destiny's last wish, shortly after her death. The story revolves around Mystique's relationship with Destiny and her brooding nature. Revealing more about this one would be telling.
Each story is simply ten pages long. That's it. Which brings me again to the point, how will or how can they be collected? Maybe in a Peter David Visionaries volume? I don't know. This series has three entries and is worth tracking down. If you're looking for action packed stories, look elsewhere - these are emotionally resonant stories; marking time stories, the ones you'll see between major events. While it'd be inaccurate to call them 'A day in the life' stories, that's what these actually serve best as.
Go to the effort of collecting the individual annuals, and by all means, if the main stories interest you, why, simply collect them all. But for my recommended short stories, you need just purchase:
X-Factor Annual 5 (1990)
New Mutants Annual 6 (1990)
X-Factor Annual 6 (1991)
Go on, start scouring the back issue bins. A perfect 10 on 10, all of these.
Next week: Another short tale....Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
It's not a DC column, for sure. It wasn't scheduled, but then, nothing in life generally is.
I don't think any of this has been collected so far, but from experience, I can say that's how the best stories are. You find something, somewhere you never thought you would, ever and sometimes, your life is the better for it.
Circa the early nineties, Annuals at DC and Marvel were an unruly bunch - DC had their crossover events and all the annuals of that year had to confirm to the main storyline. Before that, Annuals were merely collections of stories, in the sixties, and later on, full length one shots. But this new breed of storytelling was all the rage for a few years - at least, until the Annuals existed. DC usually went all out, with all the Annuals dedicated to one event, while at Marvel, different families of titles had different events, most of the times. These annuals contained a main story, as well as a few smaller stories, pin ups and all. The main stories would get collected in trades, if released, covering that particular event, but the smaller ones are questionable.The event in question, for the most part, is a four parter called "Days of Future Present". The main story revolves through annuals Fantastic Four, X-Factor, New Mutants and X-Men in 1990. It features various characters of the X-stable and while I'm not too familiar with my Marvel, I could identify Rachel Summers and Franklin Richards in some sort of complicated storyline. That, however isn't important. This is.
The second story in X-Factor Annual 5 is called "Tribute The First", written by Peter David, with art by Dave Ross. Our story begins with a red headed girl laying flowers on Jean Grey's grave, when a passing older woman comments on her dying too young. On questioning who Jean is to the red headed woman, she doesn't answer clearly and tells the elder woman that she is going through some sort of identity crisis, where she doesn't know what she is to her, sometimes she feels that Jean is a part of her.
On further conversation, in an attempt to help the red headed girl with her problems, the older woman tells the story of her life, her past in the concentration camps and about the fickleness of identity.
I mention 'red headed woman' everywhere because I'm not too familiar with the history of Jean Grey - lord knows that she has had her share of death and resurrections, and I'm not too far done with X-Men to know whether the woman is Madelyne Pryor, or Rachel Summers, or Phoenix (?)....the farthest I'm done with Claremont's run on X-Men is The Phoenix Saga, and later on I've read Fall of the Mutants. I keep on postponing the reading of the telephone books they call Essentials, and after that the only two runs I've read are by Grant Morrison and Chuck Austen. So maybe one of you astute X-Men readers has the answers to my questions.
What I'd rather point out, is that the story works even if you ignore the X-Men connection entirely - it could be just two females talking in a graveyard, and it wouldn't change a thing. Posting more pages would definitely spoil it, as I believe this is the finest ever work produced by Peter David, and undoubtedly the best of this series of stories.
The second story in New Mutants Annual 6 is called "Tribute The Second", written by Peter David, with art by Gavin Curtis. The characters are somewhat more familiar here. Doug Ramsey, killed in the aforementioned Fall of the Mutants takes title spot here, speaking from beyond the grave, as a spirit in a graveyard, able to communicate with other spirits, but not with the living.
Rahne Sinclair, aka Wolfsbane, comes to visit Doug's grave and tells her what she feels in her heart about someone else called Victor (I think it's Rictor, but Doug doesn't understand her, and the ones who do, apparently don't know Rictor) which irritates Doug.
Doug's compadres advise him to let her go so that she can move on. A bunch of grave defilers arrive upon the scene and Doug finds himself powerless to stop them. How he finally finds solace forms the rest of the story.
A year later, in X-Factor Annual 6, part of the "Kings of Pain" crossover, we see "Tribute The Third", written by Peter David with art by Guang Yap. Mystique endeavours to fulfill Destiny's last wish, shortly after her death. The story revolves around Mystique's relationship with Destiny and her brooding nature. Revealing more about this one would be telling.
Each story is simply ten pages long. That's it. Which brings me again to the point, how will or how can they be collected? Maybe in a Peter David Visionaries volume? I don't know. This series has three entries and is worth tracking down. If you're looking for action packed stories, look elsewhere - these are emotionally resonant stories; marking time stories, the ones you'll see between major events. While it'd be inaccurate to call them 'A day in the life' stories, that's what these actually serve best as.
Go to the effort of collecting the individual annuals, and by all means, if the main stories interest you, why, simply collect them all. But for my recommended short stories, you need just purchase:
X-Factor Annual 5 (1990)
New Mutants Annual 6 (1990)
X-Factor Annual 6 (1991)
Go on, start scouring the back issue bins. A perfect 10 on 10, all of these.
Next week: Another short tale....Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
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