Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Jan Duresma
What Went Down: Before I hear any complaints: no this isn’t a mistake and yes there is a storyline that takes place smack dab in the middle of the Fatal Attractions crossover. Today, Marvel probably would have labeled the issues in question as some kind of crossover fallout event, but the 90s were simpler times.
Anyways, mysterious soldiers that somewhat resemble Judge Dredd are camped outside of Opal Tanaka’s house, but they are ambushed by the X-Men. Rogue, Bishop, and Iceman defeat the soldiers, although two of them dissolve into pink slime. Opal is also quite angry with Iceman for being used as bait and at the very absurdity of her boyfriend’s life. She finally breaks up with Iceman, this time permanently.
In Washington, Storm and the Professor are attending a fancy party: among the guests are Senator Kelly and an ambassador by the name of St. Croix (no relation to Monet St. Croix, a character who will appear later in this title). The ambassador turns out to be a human member of Xavier’s Mutant Underground, a group dedicated to preserving mutantkind by keeping Xavier informed. Storm asks the ambassador why he puts his career and life on the line for mutants, and the Ambassador tells the story of his wife Lenore who was injured by a drunk driver, and was denied medical care because it triggered her mutation and scared away the paramedics, resulting in her death.
In the Blackbird, Iceman’s team is attempting to interrogate the surviving member of the soldiers. Rogue tries absorbing his memories, but the result causes her physical form to dissolve. The reason for this is that the soldier is an early form of the Phalanx, an alien race that is made up of techno-organic fibers. Outside the party, Xavier asks Storm to steal data on a power suit that is being tested to use against Magneto. Storm is hesitant to do so.
Bishop uses his powers to absorb some of Rogue’s powers so that she will regain her form. Back in D.C., Storm recalls encountering Xavier when she was a child. As she breaks into the facility, she questions whether or not Xavier might have used his powers to plant a hypnotic suggestion that compelled her to join the X-Men. Storm returns to Xavier with a disk containing the schematics of the suit, but she refuses to destroy it since the humans have every right to try to protect themselves. Storm leaves Xavier and tells him that she will never steal for him again.
How It Was: An odd little interlude that introduces us to the Phalanx (even though we don’t know what they’re called yet), ends Iceman’s go nowhere relationship with Opal, and introduces some potentially interesting revelations about the relationship between Storm and Professor X that are never mentioned again. The fight between the X-Men and the soldiers at the beginning of the issue is enjoyable enough, and I like the twist that the soldiers explode into goo and cause the X-Men to question each other’s techniques. Also the visual of Rogue absorbing the one soldier’s powers is very cool looking. Opal’s rationale for dumping Bobby is understandable, but not necessarily groundbreaking; it’s hard to be affected by this scene knowing that Iceman and Opal were hardly a couple at this point anyway, and the breakup doesn’t exactly affect Bobby long term.
Lobdell gets to show off his character skills with Storm and the Professor; St. Croix is an unremarkable character with a somewhat compelling back story. But what is really interesting to see is a Professor X who has become even more driven to stop Magneto after seeing a driven Magneto who is ready to finally end the conflict between humans and mutants. Storm’s recollections about her childhood seem convenient to the plot, but they do offer some potentially explosive revelations if they ever turn out to be true. Unfortunately the subject is never touched upon again, and the plot with the power suit is dealt with in a back up strip in X-Men Unlimited. A pretty average issue all told.
B
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