X-Men #23

Chronologically I have the Gambit mini-series after this.  So read this, then go here.

X-Men #23
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Andy Kubert

What Went Down: Cyclops starts off the issue by blasting a hole in Mr. Sinister’s midsection; however, Sinister is actually immune to Scott’s optic blasts, and his death after the Inferno Saga was just a ruse to allow him to lie low. But Sinister isn’t here to fight. He wants to tell Cyclops about the Legacy Virus that Stryfe created and Sinister accidentally unleashed at the end of the X-Cutioner’s Song. We also learn that Sinister’s head geneticist died of the virus. When asked why he is telling Cyclops this, Sinister slips that he wants to protect Cyclops and his “brothers,” before correcting himself, since at the time Cyclops only had one brother, Havok of X-Factor. Some people also speculate that Sinister himself was infected, but this is never confirmed. This is the beginning of the “third Summers brother” subplot that goes on and on until it is answered in a little over a decade in X-Men: Deadly Genesis. As they talk, the Dark Riders ambush the pair to test them.

At Nyorin’s residence, the X-Men have Nyorin and Silver Samurai restrained and are interrogating them. Nyorin reveals that both women are Betsy Braddock, in that they are both a mixture of Betsy and Kwannon’s attributes that somehow fused after they touched. Nyorin also tells the X-Men about the Upstarts and Shinobi Shaw.

Back in the states, Wolverine and Rogue are telling Xavier that they found evidence that Magneto is still alive in the Savage Land during Wolverine #70-71. Xavier doesn’t want to believe it. Wolverine gets angry—you can tell because he is drawn with his angry red eyes.

For the first, and only, time ever, Sinister and Cyclops team up to beat the Dark Riders. After they are beaten, Sinister tells them not to kill Scott Summers before teleporting away. The Dark Riders take this command literally by trying to cripple Cyclops instead.

Gambit and Beast surprise Shinobi Shaw while he is taking a bath with many beautiful women. They tell Shinobi that they know about the Upstarts and make a couple of jokes about his nudity. Outside, Matsuo attacks Psylocke and Revanche, but is soundly beaten within two pages.

Poor Cyclops has to take on the entire Dark Riders team by himself. After losing his glasses, Tusk hits him and then the team returns his glasses claiming that the test is complete. The Dark Rider Hardrive announces that Cyclops has passed and that he is worthy to face the coming storm. This is a lead into the Ascension of the High Lord—a battle between Apocalypse and Stryfe…that never happens and gets forgotten about after the next issue. The Dark Riders teleport away, leaving Cyclops all alone.

How It Was: My, this issue is more of a mixed bag than a bag of delicious Chex mix. Ouch, that was painful to read, but not as painful as the double Psylocke storyline. Nyorin fills in a couple of blanks that the readers have already guessed, Silver Samurai contributes absolutely nothing, and then Nicieza remembers that Matsuo has something to do with this story, so he has the villain appear in a weak two page attempt to kill the Psylocke twins. The part where Gambit and Beast barge in to intimidate Shinobi Shaw is pretty entertaining, but since the Upstarts story is about to completely disappear from the X-Men books, now it reads as completely worthless material.

On the other hand, the scenes with Sinister and Cyclops are really good. These scenes manage to maintain some tension since Sinister is obviously a threat, but Scott knows that if what he is saying is true about the Legacy Virus, all of mutantkind could be threatened. The Legacy Virus is a solid storyline that dragged on way too long for its own good before becoming an on again, off again focus of the X-books for the rest of the decade. The fight with the Dark Riders also works really well; those poor losers just can’t win one. However, once again these scenes just serve as set up for plot threads that get forgotten about. In fact, I think this may be the last time we see the Dark Riders anywhere in the X-Men titles. Oh well, at least the X-office did set up one storyline with this issue that actually gets resolved—the Magneto thread that obviously leads into the Fatal Attractions crossover—coming soon to Illegitimate Children of the Atom. So we have three plot lines that go somewhere and two that go nowhere, which is really not a great way to run a comic book.

B-