Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Roger Cruz
What Went Down: On the Xavier Estate, workers are removing the “Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters” sign because the name is being moved to the Massachusetts Academy for Generation X. While they work, the workers talk about Angelo Espinosa, the young mutant with distorted gray skin. Angelo has decided that he is going to try to hitchhike to get away from the institute, but he winds up getting picked up by the Beast, who has taken it upon himself to change Angelo’s perspective on the school. Angelo is very short with the Beast and sees Hank’s attempts at levity as stupid and annoying.
In Xavier’s living room, Cyclops and Jean Grey fill Xavier in on the events of the mini-series The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix. Cyclops expresses sadness and regret at having to leave his son behind; they also express hope since they witnessed the creation of the Legacy Virus, which might lead to a cure…but it doesn’t. Xavier loses control of his body for a second because of the strain of reading their minds, and Jean catches his mug. He also mentions the stress of having his life’s work destroyed to prevent the Phalanx from getting access to it.
At the mall, Monet has decided to buy new clothes for all of her Generation X classmates because she is rich. Paige and Everett are hesitant since they both come from more modest backgrounds. It is left open as to whether Monet is motivated by generosity, or if she just likes feeling superior to everyone else. At the food court, Banshee, Storm, and Bishop discuss Banshee’s new role as headmaster. They talk about the new recruits, and poke fun at Banshee a little.
In the car, Beast’s singing causes Angelo to lose control of his skin. Over at the estate, Emma Frost is supervising the workers replacing the sign with one that says “Xavier Institute for Learning.” Internally, Emma expresses frustration with not being able to just use her powers on them. She notices a shadowy figure in the woods, who turns out to be Bobby Drake. Drake wants to learn how Emma used his powers so well, and Emma uses her powers to manipulate his powers a little more. Then she tells him to go learn how to do it himself. Out on the road, Beast reluctantly gives Angelo the keys to the car and tells him to do whatever he wants.
At the mansion, Jubilee has finished cleaning out her room, and Archangel shows up to say goodbye. Jubilee gets angry at him for not spending more time with her at the mansion, which they both attribute to him being distant and not able to readily express his feelings. Then they hug it out.
On the edge of the estate, the Professor has given Cyclops and Jean the boathouse to live in, so they can have privacy as a newlywed couple. Gambit is helping Cyclops move, and he expresses envy at Scott’s ability to be happy and free from his past. Cyclops asks about Rogue and gets brushed aside. We also find out that Cyclops is a fan of The Three Stooges…who knew?
Banshee and Jubilee say goodbye to the Professor—it’s all very touching. Angelo shows up at the end in the car, and asks if he can still go to the institute, which he does.
How It Was: So after the four issue lead up to the new Generation X series, we get another Generation X lead up story! At least the X-Men play a role in this issue’s events. It’s also the issue after a major crossover, so that means that it’s a quiet issue with no action and a lot of character building moments. And I mean a lot. Since Lobdell sets out for such a broad focus, the threads themselves are hit or miss; Lobdell’s best quiet issues are the ones that focus on no more than three different threads at a time.
We get a recap of Cyclops and Jean’s mini-series, which is mostly exposition for people who haven’t read that series. Most of it, even the emotional responses, was all ready relayed in X-Men #35 and Wolverine #85, but I guess there is the slight possibility that some fans could have been reading Uncanny and not X-Men or Wolverine. The focus on Xavier’s frustration over the loss of his life’s work is a little more interesting, but it’s hard to get excited about it since it all gets forgotten in a couple of issues and Xavier ends up replacing everything. The Beast/Angelo scenes are adequate—some of the Beast’s lines are funny and the script is setting Angelo up as the angry/sad member, in case you didn’t get that from his Phalanx appearances. Ultimately Lobdell is even able to avoid the clichéd freak of nature story by making Angelo have to struggle to focus his powers. Still, every beat is entirely predictable, so it’s not really that engaging.
The scenes with Emma and Iceman are a little better, in that they cast a lot of doubt as to whether or not Emma can handle this new responsibility as co-headmaster and by extension, super hero. It’s also nice to see a conflict with a character that isn’t necessarily life or death, more of a simple nagging doubt. Arguably the best scenes go to Jubilee, a fan favorite at the time. The hardest sell of the new Generation X series was explaining why Jubilee would leave her surrogate family, and I think that Lobdell presents a believable series of events. I really like how Lobdell throws the curve ball of her goodbye scenes; instead of doing the traditional sad partings with the entire team where the characters explain how they’ve touched each other’s lives, the writer goes for the exact opposite. He chooses to acknowledge a non-existent relationship, and uses it to build on the idea of what love really is. It’s a very pleasant surprise.
Roger Cruz does a pretty impressive job of mimicking Joe Mad’s art style; I had to check the credits to make sure it wasn’t Maduiera. He does a pretty decent job for an issue that is all talking heads, although there is one really exaggerated scene that slaps you out of the story where Beast has to pull over the car, and he ends up making it spin like 520 degrees. It’s not horrible; it’s really abrupt and stands out as unnecessary. The issue as a whole is well done. It’s nothing special, and it’s a little grating that the X-Men books are still using space to promote Generation X after months and months of it already.
B-
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