In Remember to Forget, we spotlight comic book stories that I wish I could forget, but I can’t, so I instead share them with you all!
Today, we look at the downside of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.
In a single month in 2005 (less than a month, really - just three weeks' time. I forget whether two of them happened in the same week or if it was literally three weeks in a row. I think two came out the same week), three comic books came out from Marvel, Wolverine #25, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #2 and X-Men: The End - Heroes and Martyrs #1.
In ALL THREE COMICS, Northstar is killed.
In Wolverine #25, Wolverine is sent by his new masters, Hand/Hydra, to kill Kitty Pryde to show that he is truly one of them now. Kitty phases and Northstar takes the bad end of it...
In X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #2 (by Akira Yoshida, Chris Bachalo and a ton of inkers), the Age of Apocalypse versions of Wolverine and X-23 are attacked by the Age of Apocalypse versions of Aurora and Northstar. It does not go well for the twins...
Finally, in the first issue of the second book of Chris Claremont's epic "The End" story, set in the future, the X-Mansion blows up, but Northstar is able to save Cyclops' life...
But he dies for his efforts...
The Age of Apocalypse one was under the X-Offices proper, while X-Men: The End was under the general The End editorial offices (ostensibly Tom Brevoort, but I imagine Andy Schmidt probably handled this one) and finally, Wolverine was under the Marvel Knights offices.
So there were three different editors on the three different comics, which explains why this bizarre coincidence took place, but even though we know how it happened, it's still a weird look for one of their only gay superheroes to get killed off three times in a month!
If anyone else has a suggestion for a story that you wish you could forget, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!