After the end of the Dazzler series, there was one thing that was never addressed: whatever happened to Dazzler’s sister? Until the 2009 event Necrosha, that is.
A warning: I’m reading this for the first time, since I had stopped reading X-Men when this came out. Since I’ll concentrate on Dazzler’s sister and skip most of what I can, take my judgment with a grain of salt.
My first impression is that Necrosha is crap.
X-Necrosha: The Gathering (2009)
written by Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
pencils by Kalman Andrasofszky
cover by Clayton Crain
The cover certainly doesn’t do much to get my attention. It would be a fine poster for a horror movie, but it definitely doesn’t make me think of the X-Men.
One of the reasons why I didn’t bother reading this even is that, much like its name, the premise sounds pretty dumb. It’s about mutant supervillain vampire Selene resurrecting the dead mutants of Genosha and turning them into her own army of the undead.
I mean… I never cared much for either Selene or Genosha… but the nail in the coffin for me was the dumb use of Wither.
He was one of the Young X-Men, the team that was the last time I ever cared about mutant titles. I absolutely adored that series and Wither was a fantastic idea: he has the power to kill anything he touches, but he was still trying to be a hero even with such an evil power.
The least creative thing you could possibly do with a character like that is turn him into a supervillain, and that’s exactly what Necrosha did.
The book is divided into separate stories showing how Selene recruits her generals.
Besides Wither there’s Blink (a.k.a. “the version that is not from Exiles that nobody gives a crap about”) and Senyaka (a.ka. “I can’t believe that’s not Omega Red”)… and the reason for why I’m looking at this whole thing: Lois London.
She’s having trouble controlling her powers, which in one of the VERY few subtle touches of this entire event is shown by having dead plants near her.
As you can probably tell, the narrator is Selene herself.
Dazzler had re-joined the X-Men at this point, something that Lois resents.
Remember that Dazzler left Lois to live with her alcoholic father? SHOCKINGLY, it turns out it wasn’t a great decision.
(in case you forgot, this isn’t Dazzler’s father: they’re half-sisters)
Is it any wonder that Lois snaps and kills him?
Lois feeling so guilty about this that she tries to use her death powers on herself deserves to be in a better comic.
This is where Dazzler shows up…
…except this is actually Selene in disguise, manipulating Lois into becoming a supervillain.
That’s not a bad scene, and it would be a good idea. If Lois didn’t take the dumb supervillain name of “Mortis” and just turn into Selene 2.0
Not the worst re-introduction for the character. Now let’s see how the rest of the event squanders all the potential.
X-Necrosha #1 (2009)
“Necrosha: Chapter One” by Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost & Clayton Crain
“The foretelling” by Mike Carey & Laurence Campbell
cover by Clayton Crain
This one is also separated into different chapters, and Lois appears in a couple of them.
The story is about Selene and her generals attacking “Utopia”, the island where the X-Men had established their own mutant nation at that point.
Not to be confused with Genosha, where Magneto previously established his own mutant nation, or Krakoa where the X-Men will later establish their own mutant nation. Again.
Most of the time Lois is just in the background murdering random people.
I’m glad I decided not to give this one a proper review since it’s soooooo boring.
None of Selene’s generals display any initiative. They’re basically puppets… why did they even bother? They could’ve given Selene only her zombies and it would’ve made little difference.
X-Force vol.3 #22 (2010)
written by Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
pencils by Clayton Crain
Selene’s minions are not supposed to be grey-skinned vampires, but that’s how they all come off.
This is the extent of Lois’ dialogue in the entire issue.
X-Force vol.3 #23 (2010)
written by Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
pencils by Clayton Crain
At long last, TWENTY-SIX YEARS after Dazzler #30, she meets her sister again!!!
Just to watch her murder former Alpha Flight member Diamond Lil.
As of 2023, Diamond Lil is still dead. Dammit, I really liked her!
And of course her death is completely pointless.
It’s only SEVERAL PAGES LATER that Dazzler confronts Lois!
And that is the entirety of their interaction for the entire issue. It’s not even because it’s the cliffhanger… there are 8 pages before the issue ends.
Aren’t you glad it took TWENTY-SIX YEARS for that scene?
X-Men: Legacy #231 (2010)
by Mike Carey & Clay Mann
cover by Adi Granov
My first reaction was “What the heck is X-Men Legacy, how come I’ve never heard of this series if it has over 230 issues!?”. And then I discovered that it’s because it continues the numbering from the 1991 X-Men series.
Oh well. At least Granov guarantees the cover is great.
I skipped a few chapters, but all that happened is that even more dead mutants showed up as mind-controlled zombies to fight the X-Men.
And no, I still don’t get how Selene managed to do that.
Words can’t express how utterly BORING Selene and her generals are.
Nothing against the character: I never found her all that much interesting, but she’s not a bad character. Except in this she doesn’t seem to be able to do anything but pontificate and pose for the camera.
As for Lois, she barely has ANY scenes and she’s Selene’s minion now, without any personality.
X-Force vol.3 #25 (2010)
written by Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
pencils by Clayton Crain
Lois also appears in #24, but don’t be too surprised to learn she doesn’t do anything except be present as one of Selene’s generals.
But #25 is the conclusion to Necrosha, where thanks to some magic nonsense Selene has gained enough power to be considered a goddess.
Hey, bonus Doctor Doom cameo! Saves me the trouble to re-visit this when I’ll eventually look at his 2000s cameos, because there is NO WAY I’m reading this again.
I think Selene is absorbing the dead people she resurrected? I swear I don’t know what’s going on.
It’s probably my fault: I found this so boring I flipped through most of the story.
Maybe, juuuuuuust maybe, blindly following the psychotic vampire maniac wasn’t a great idea.
The only real fight Dazzler’s sister has is not against Dazzler, but against X-Force member Rahne.
Who’s had her own extremely complicated plot going on simultaneously, so don’t ask why she looks like this.
This might have had SOME impact if either Dazzler was the one defeating her or if Lois hadn’t spent 99% of the time doing nothing but lick Selene’s boots.
Now I could talk how Selene is eventually defeated through some magical nonsense that involves a cursed dagger, but be honest: does anyone care?
So yeah… bringing back Dazzler’s sister was COMPLETELY MEANINGLESS.
Is ANYONE going to do ANYTHING with her!?!?
Dazzler Vol.2 #1 (2010)
written by Jim McCann
pencils by Kalman Andrasofszky & Ramón Pérez
“In the Blood”
Well yes, surprisingly enough, with her own one-shot no less!!!
This is the aftermath of Necrosha and Dazzler FINALLY gives enough of a crap about her sister to look for her.
Even then, Lois was the one who had to contact Dazzler first. She even left her a drink!
And Dazzler, being Dazzler, doesn’t see anything suspicious with that and immediately falls for one of the most obvious traps ever: the drink was poisoned.
Never change, Dazzler, never change.
Well SOMEBODY is a fan of her original look!!!
We’re later told this is a man’s voice, so neither Lois nor Selene are behind this.
This quick montage is a way better character arc about her rise and fall than the entirety of her original series!!!
It’s even savvy enough to CORRECTLY predict its pop culture references will be obsolete!
After the Necrosha abomination, is… is this story actually GOOD!?
We even get a GO FOR IT! Someone definitely remembered the old series.
Then Dazzler has to fight a couple of her old foes…
…or rather, their robot versions.
That’s because Lois has hired X-Men villain Arcade to murder Dazzler.
A bit weird because Dazzler points out (correctly, I believe) that she’s never even met Arcade.
Arcade is definitely bringing out Dazzler’s Greatest Hits!!!
Jim McCann had way too much fun writing this.
You see, X-Men Unlimited #32? THIS is how you do a nostalgia throwback to poke fun of the original series!
Dazzler eventually destroys Arcade’s robots, and she has a rematch with her sister. Well, more like a proper match.
And FINALLY someone reminds Dazzler that she’s been a TERRIBLE sister!!!
Now don’t get me wrong, after the Necrosha business Lois is probably irredeemable, but it’s hard not to see her point!!!
Despite all her talk about wanting to murder her sister, Lois has contracted another supervillain to do the job… how the heck did she get Klaw!?
Even Dazzler wonders!!!
Dazzler’s first choice is to absorb Klaw’s sound again, but… surprise: it doesn’t work anymore!
Double surprise: the drink was NOT spilled, it was a surprise attack by Klaw!
Holy crap, Klaw was AWAKE while trapped inside Dazzler!? No wonder he was completely nuts when he was resurrected in Secret Wars!!!
Klaw is AWESOME in this. He’s never been THIS creepy, and I absolutely love it!
Arcade is not happy about the fact Lois hired both him and Klaw. My question is: if all she wanted was to kill Dazzler, what was even the point of having Arcade kidnap her?
The sound created by Arcade’s robots clearing the scene is enough to allow Dazzler to create a cage of solid light to trap Klaw. I guess it’s something she learned to do in stories I haven’t read.
Alright, it’s been teased enough times: the ACTUAL fight between sisters.
You’d think that was easy for someone with the power to kill anything she touches, but mutant siblings are often immune to each others’ powers. Apparently that works for half-siblings too.
I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to cover a Dazzler story set after this one, so I’m quite glad it includes Dazzler accepting all the various phases she went through over the years.
Dazzler’s self-affirmation comes with holograms of all her various looks, which distracts Lois while she narrates how her sister is STILL talking about only herself.
Again: she’s gone nuts, but she’s not exactly wrong in calling out Dazzler.
But she IS planning mass murder again, so Dazzler has to knock her out for good.
But at least, at long last Dazzler finally takes SOME responsibility for her half-sister.
The first part of the issue is understandably dedicated to Dazzler artist Frank Springer, who died in 2009. The second part…
written by Jim McCann
pencils by Francesca Ciregia
“Tough call”
…sees Dazzler take Lois to Utopia.
Any chance to call bulls##t on the INSANE amount of double standards the X-Men have is always fantastic.
While Cyclops is his usual jackass, at least Psylocke is willing to help.
So… yeah, Lois is in a psychic coma now.
We have a gut-wrenching scene with Dazzler calling her mother to inform her about what happened to her other daughter.
And while she fantasizes about chewing her out for abandoning her…
…she takes the hard road, telling her the truth without sugarcoating anything.
Her mother also shows a lot of growth by admitting her own fault on this.
Now I’m not saying this redeems the idiotic way the Lois storyline was abandoned for TWENTY-SIX YEARS, but this is a great way to end it.
As of 2023, Lois has not appeared again. But now I kind of trust Dazzler with her.
I’ve done quite a few reviews that cover multiple comics, but this might be the widest gap of quality between stories from the same franchise published in the same year.
The difference in quality between Necrosha and this story is absurd.
Dazzler significance
Necrosha: 0/10
There was no reason to involve Lois in this.
Vol.2 special: 10/10
The REAL conclusion to her series.
Silver Age-ness
Necrosha: 0/10
Shocking, I know.
Vol.2 special: 6/10
On the strength of bringing up some of the old insanity.
Does it stand the test of time?
Necrosha: N/A
I can’t in good conscience give it a real score since I didn’t do a proper review and I skimmed most of it. But I still think this is crap.
Vol.2 special: 10/10
Is it perfect or a masterpiece? Not by any stretch of the terms. But holy crap is this a step in the right direction for all the characters involved, and finally some justice for the old series.
GO FOR IT! 18
One last addition to the list.
And that’s it for the chronological retrospective on Dazzler.
But before we can finally move on, there will be one last Dazzler review about a story that is very dear to me and is a huge reason why I bothered with the entire retrospective.