Comics Corner: Marvel Graphic Novel 17

   

Title: Marvel Graphic Novel
Issue Number: 17
Release Date: October 1985

Highlights

• First appearance of Apocalypse, though he remains unnamed
• First appearance and death of Filene Abdol, and Fayah Sahid, AKA Salome Abdol
• First appearance of Living Planet, AKA Ahmet Abdol, Hassan, Ms. Kweston, the Living Pharaoh cult, and named member, Arani
• A young Ahmet believes he will one day be a king, but this only serves for Hassan to bully him
• As he grows up, and attends college, he believes he's found documented proof that his family are decedents of the Pharaohs
• Ahmet marries his childhood sweetheart, Filene
• Ahmet's research concludes with him telling the scientific and religious communities of Cairo that the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt were mutants, a statement which is met with anger from his audience
• The crowd gives chase, and Ahmet, his wife, and infant child, Salome, flea in their car, only to end in an accident that leaves both him and his daughter thrown from the vehicle, and his wife trapped within
• The crowd catches up, but refuse to help him get his wife from the car, and it explodes, resulting in her death
• In a fit of rage, Ahmet fires a beam from his hand at the crowd, killing some, and sending the rest running
• Ahmet is led to a hidden cult who believe he is their long awaited God
• Ahmet sends his daughter away to school, and with her gone, he focuses on becoming more powerful, only to be thwarted repeatedly by the X-Men
• Ahmet awakens from all of the above, a dream he was having while locked in prison, his hands sealed in electronic shackles to prevent him from using his powers
• Hassan works at the prison as a guard, and continues taunting Ahmet, only to find out the hard way that the Living Pharaoh has been weakening his arm shackles over time, and blasts the bully
• Living Pharaoh's men storm the prison, aiding their master in his escape, and taking Hassan with them
• Two of the Pharaoh's men don't make it to the escape vehicles, and he blasts them from the sky, killing them so that they can't be captured and questioned
• In New York, Fayah makes her way to the Baxter Building, only to be surrounded by the Pharaoh's men - Human Torch intervenes, sending all the villains running for their lives
• Fayah informs the Fantastic Four that Living Pharaoh had created a machine that would force all humanity to bow down to him - Stealing a piece of that machine, she sought out the FF4 to get help stopping him
• Despite Johnny Storm saving her earlier, Fayah insists She-Hulk stay with her instead of Torch while Reed examines the machine part - But the look on her face spells that it's all a ruse, and Fayah has ulterior motives
• Fayah was indeed playing the FF4, and springs a trap which captures Human Torch, Mister Fantastic, and Invisible Girl, sending them to Egypt, and into the presence of Living Pharaoh
• Living Pharaoh orders his men to attack, but this too is all a ruse
• As the FF4 battle, the Pharaoh's scientists are analyzing their cosmic signatures, drawing their power into an ankh projector
• Fayah gets trapped in the Baxter Building, and Pharaoh doesn't want to activate her shock collar to kill her
• It's revealed that Fayah is really Salome, Pharaoh's daughter
• Hassan taunts Pharaoh, calling him a wimp as he battles with himself over not wanting to kill his daughter, but knowing he should
• Pharaoh activates her collar, killing his daughter
• Angry, and pushed over the edge, Pharaoh steps into his machine, transforming into the Living Monolith, powered by the cosmic energies being syphoned off of Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, and Human Torch
• Monolith decides to destroy New York as his revenge for the loss of his daughter
• She-Hulk reaches out to Captain America for help, and he decides they need someone with a scientific brain who can analyze the energy pyramid which took her three team members
• Cap thinks of Spider-Man, but admits he doesn't know how to find him
• Captain America heads to the Daily Bugle to find Peter Parker, knowing he takes a lot of photos of the hero
• Peter see's Cap in the Bugle, and decides to wait for him outside as Spider-Man
• Spider-Man is taken to the Baxter Building, and given free reign of Reed Richard's lab to analyze the Egyptian components
• Monolith attacks, and though She-Hulk insists they find the remaining FF4 first, Cap reminds her of their duty to protect the city
• The heroes are no match for Monolith, who ignores their attacks before swatting She-Hulk through a series of buildings
• Spider-Man uses the pyramid technology to transport himself to the Monolith's base
• Spider-Man decides to destroy the machines to free the FF4, but is warned that the equipment's destruction would trigger nuclear reactors to blow, killing everyone
• Monolith hesitates in his rampage when he sees children fleeing a school, running from him in terror
• Cap uses the opportunity to try to reason with Monolith, telling him that he is acting out in the same way he feels people did against him
• Just as Monolith is about to see Cap's point, the army hits him with a rocket, sending him into a rage again, and accusing Cap of trying to trick him
• The military follows up with a bombardment of bombs from fighter jets, which do nothing but anger the Monolith further, but expose a massive wire which powers all of Manhattan
• Using timing, Cap and She-Hulk deenergize and reenergize the line when it makes contact with Monolith, knocking him down
• Spider-Man returns with the FF4
• Monolith's body continues to grow, even though he lays unconcious
• Captain America calls in Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Wonder Man, and Starfox to help
• Monolith's men arrive, and a war breaks out, which the citizens of New York rush in to join
• As Monolith awakens, he witnesses the battle before him, and questions why the citizens of New York would fight, and risk their lives, particularly one man who pushes a random child out of harms way, losing his own life in the process
• Monolith and Thor work together to literally throw Monolith into space, where he'll do no more harm
• As Monolith drifts through space aimlessly, he's pulled into the orbit of a star, where he suddenly begins to sprout vegetation, transforming into Ahmet Abdol, the Living Planet, finding peace that good has finally come from him
• It's different to say the least

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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