X-Men #6

X-Men #6
Writing: Jim Lee and Scott Lobdell
Art: Jim Lee and Art Thibert

What Went Down: Hey, Scott Lobdell is writing the dialogue! Remember that name because in a couple of issues, he starts writing the X-books for a really, really long time.

On to the issue. Cyclops and Beast take out a number of Hand ninjas, even though they don’t look like ninjas right now, with flashy powers and one-liners. They are looking for Wolverine with Jubilee, when they are all attacked and captured by, you guessed it, Omega Red.

Over in another part of the building, Maverick is trying to resuscitate Wolverine who has inconveniently decided to try to die. Three things to point out: 1. Maverick is now speaking German, even though last issue he spoke only in English. Actually, he is speaking in English translated from German, but this is still important in telling us who he is working for. 2. It turns out that Wolverine did hit the ground after he jumped out of that window last issue, even though the art showed him just disappearing, with no splatter marks on the ground. 3. Maverick explains that the mystery canister from last issue was actually full of healing cells extracted from Wolverine’s body, but it broke when he did or did not hit the ground—hence the dying.

Back in another urine tinted flashback, the team gets cornered by Omega Red, who is colored yellow and red as opposed to yellow and black. Creed/future Sabretooth panics, kills Janice=the agent they were supposed to protect, and pushes everyone out the window where they fall a number of stories. Creed than figures out that they are all mutants since none of them died.

Cut to the Mojoverse, where Lila has unhelpfully teleported Longshot, The Dazzler, and herself right to Mojo’s base and can no longer teleport away. The heroes fight Mojo’s guards, run away, and are saved by a member of Longshot’s resistance. Later, Longshot and Dazzler spend a tender moment outside under the stars.

Back on Earth proper, Rogue, Gambit, and Psylocke are fighting more guys in red trench coats… I mean ninjas. Fenris shows up to take out Gambit with an energy blast, and Matsuo triggers a post-hypnotic suggestion in Psylocke that causes her to take down Rogue.

Psylocke’s attack on Rogue causes Wolverine to wake up—at this point in continuity, Psylocke and Wolverine share a psychic link similar to Cyclops and Jean Grey’s. I’m unfamiliar with the story this happens in, it was before my time as they say, but it doesn’t matter a whole lot because this psychic link is completely ignored after this story.

Anyways, Wolverine attacks Maverick, and Maverick realizes that Wolverine doesn’t remember who he is. Another flashback shows Wolverine flipping out on Creed and walking away from the group. In the present, Sabretooth, dressed like a pimp for some reason, and his assistant Birdy show up at the villains’ base and jam the cameras.

Once inside, Sabretooth taunts all of the shackled X-Men. Most importantly, Creed reveals that he already knows Gambit and alludes to having injured him before.

Maverick and Wolverine go down to the sewers where they are ambushed by Sabretooth, now dressed in his normal costume, and the hypnotically controlled Psylocke; the fight isn't shown, but the end result is both heroes being carried away unconscious.

Fenris and Matsuo toast the success of Sabretooth—Matsuo explains that until they find the location of the c-synthesizer, Omega Red still needs the life force of others to sustain him. He suggests killing one of the X-Men. DUN-DUH-DUNNN!

How It Was: It’s the standard “all the heroes get captured in the third act before escaping and defeating the villains in the fourth act” set up. The main plot thread is not exactly innovative, but the stuff in Mojoworld is a little more fun. The recurring gag of everybody calling Mojo a fat blob like he’s not there, as well as a well placed Terminator parody, show that Lee and Lobdell at least get the humor and absurdity that are necessary for a decent Mojo story.

As for the main thread, it starts to drag at this point. The introduction of Sabretooth adds yet another villain to the already crowded plot; he basically gets brought in because you can’t have a token “Wolverine’s past” story without him. At least he doesn’t constantly complain about the synthesizer like every other villain in this story. As for the stuff with Psylocke being controlled, it’s pretty iffy and gets even more questionable after next issue’s explanation. And Maverick’s recollections of the events of the previous issue bear little resemblance to what actually occurred, which is kind of disconcerting.

The art is as always good, but with a few questionable choices. The dull looking yellow filtered flashbacks return, but then the final flashback is dark blue and black and works a lot better. Also all of the villains have weird colored dust clouds following them: Omega Red has a green one, although it might just be his “death factor,” and Sabretooth has a brown cloud trailing him when he shows up in the sewer with Psylocke. Hmmm… a brown cloud in the sewer, what could that be? Actually, now that I mention it, the cover also has the weird cloud on it as well. Oh, and Matsuo’s face isn’t colored in on the second to last page. Way to drop the ball!

C