Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: John Romita Jr.
What Went Down: Cyclops and Jean Grey are taking a nice walk around the school grounds on Thanksgiving morning. They reminisce about when Jean first felt attracted to Scott: a flashback shows Cyclops falling from a ladder and Jean catching him with her powers back when they were teenagers. Back in the present, Jubilee and Beast are jumping into piles of leaves, irritating Storm since she, Banshee, and Forge are the ones who are raking them.
On another part of the grounds, Gambit, Rogue, Iceman, and Bishop are making a scarecrow resembling Dr. Doom. Bishop fails to understand the purpose of the activity, despite it being explained to him. Cyclops throws Iceman a football, and Jean describes another flashback where she was sharing her feelings for Scott with the Professor. Apparently Jean’s love for Scott helped to strengthen her telepathic powers, even though Professor X placed them behind mental barriers to protect her. Cyclops then recalls the Dark Phoenix storyline and explains how Jean’s humanity transcended into the imposter Jean and caused her to noblely sacrifice herself.
In Missouri, a man leaves his wife and kids to go join the Phalanx; you can tell this because he gets on a bus that says Phalanx.
The X-Men play football while Scott and Jean sit at the top of a hill and talk. During the game, the ball is fumbled into Professor X’s lap and he is accidentally tackled. Cyclops and Jean are about to go in for dinner when Jean asks him to marry her. By the way, a pretty significant word balloon is left blank by accident on this page, so you’ll have to wait until the letters column of the next issue to read it. Cyclops says yes.
Xavier (now sporting bandages from his injuries) gives a wonderful speech at the dinner table. Scott announces the engagement and everyone goes up to congratulate them except for Xavier. The narration tells us that he has reservations, but he is going to hold onto them until next issue.
How It Was: This is a sappy issue, but then again the X-Men kind of need a sappy issue after Fatal Attractions, Bloodties, and the whole Legacy Virus killing off mutants problem. My usual complaints about Scott and Jean being too mushy when placed together do apply, but here it feels more appropriate and natural. Where Lobdell’s script really shines is the scenes with the other X-Men interacting. Beast especially is amusing, and there is a nice portrayal of the X-Men as a dysfunctional family unit. The scene with Xavier getting tackled at the end is a little much, but it is well intentioned. Lobdell makes up for it with Professor X’s hidden resentment at the engagement announcement, which I always thought was a nice touch and leads to a really great issue coming up.
The art on the other hand isn’t looking too hot this issue; Romita’s faces and characters are looking a little too blocky and over shaded in many instances. There is also the matter of the phantom voice balloon that does kind of ruin the moment. Other than that, this isn’t a particularly spectacular issue, but it is better than average, even though it is a little over-sentimental. There just isn't much more to say about this one.
B+
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