Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Steve Epting
What Went Down: In spite of Iceman’s cruel swimming pool prank in X-Men #38, Rogue and Bobby have nevertheless bonded. Rogue has agreed to go along with Bobby to his parents’ house for dinner. We open on the two mutants staring in wonder at the impressive ice castle that Iceman has built on the beach. He then shares a depressing story about his father who disapproved of sandcastle building when Bobby was younger because he saw it as a form of dreaming. Then Bobby flips out about Emma Frost’s use of his body again.
Back at the mansion, Xavier is asleep. In his dream, he is sitting on a sand dune in Israel reflecting on how happy he was when he lived there. Magneto appears in the dream and asks Xavier what he thinks would have happened if Magneto wasn’t there to undermine his goals.
Iceman tries to change the subject by bringing up the fact that Gambit is a jerk for leading Rogue on. She doesn’t agree at first, but later relents in light of all of the evidence. As the two have a moment, Bobby’s rude and racist dad interrupts to complain that they’re late for dinner. Bobby’s mom, on the other hand, is incredibly nice and just ignores and represses everything about her husband.
Out in New York, Psylocke is singing at a fancy restaurant that Archangel owns. Warren congratulates her, and the two take the time to talk about their relationship. In a bit of retconning of a previous story, we learn that Cameron Hodge had taken over Worthington Enterprises, but not his personal family fortune. They also decide that they’re going to try to play their relationship straight, without all the melodrama and clichés of standard superhero relationships.
At the Drake’s, Bobby’s dad is convinced that he and Rogue are dating and brings up Bobby’s previous girlfriend, Opal, in a negative light. This sets Bobby off, and he uses his powers on his father’s newspaper. The two Drakes fight and Mr. Drake complains about his girlfriends being Japanese or mutants. Bobby storms off, and Rogue expresses her surprise that Bobby never mentioned his father was a bigot.
Over in Xavier’s dream, Magneto is showing Xavier a wasteland of bodies that represent the victims of their conflict. Xavier gets angry at Magneto, stating that there is no point in speculating on what might’ve been. The Magneto image reveals himself to be Legion, Xavier’s son from his relationship with Gabrielle Haller.
Back on Long Island, Bobby is making a sandcastle and talking with Rogue. She consoles him about his father, and they both come to the conclusion that dreaming is a beautiful thing.
At the mansion, Beast wakes up the Professor after being alerted by a psionic distress call. Xavier briefs Beast on the fact that Legion has returned, and that David’s multiple personalities have now fused into one single mind. All of this of course is setting up the Legion Quest next month.
How It Was: Another quiet, talky issue, but really this is the only one for a while that deals directly with actual subplots that will continue after Age of the Apocalypse. Also the end directly sets up Legion Quest, so realistically this story occurs after X-Men #39. If you think about it, the last couple of issues have been solely dealing with the Phalanx and the set up for Generation X, while the upcoming storyline deals solely with Legion and the Age of Apocalypse, so this is really the only glimpse of the greater picture of the X-Men for almost the whole year.
First up we have Rogue and Iceman, which actually sets up a series of stories after Legion Quest that involve the two driving around the country and helping each other deal with their issues. It also continues a storyline from Uncanny that involves Bobby’s dad being a huge bigot. It’s by the numbers and predictable, and it really is hard to imagine how Bobby and his mother could both be so oblivious to the fact that Mr. Drake is a racist up until this point. And there is some heavily forced symbolism involving sandcastles and hope/dreams, although it does give guest artist Steve Epting an excuse to draw a really beautiful ice castle. Of course the reader knows that the only place for Drake’s father to go is to redeem himself, or just fade to obscurity, but Lobdell manages to set up a good dynamic between Iceman and Rogue, two characters who on the surface seem completely different, but who both find common ground in this story.
The Psylocke/Archangel stuff is even less exciting. Basically it is the writers’ way of announcing that they are officially a couple. It is nice that Lobdell sets up the fact that they are going to play the relationship straight and try to avoid the melodrama of most comic book couples. Still, it’s two characters flying around and talking about their relationship, nothing really groundbreaking. The Xavier set up for Legion Quest works in the sense that it alerts the heroes to the conflict of the story, but doesn’t really serve any other purpose.
What really saves this issue is Steve Epting’s art, which is gorgeous. Yes Joe Mad is once again missing from his regular art duties, but in this instance I feel like it might have been a deliberate decision since Epting’s art fits a lot better with the low-key, talky tone of this story. Joe Mad’s action-flavored manga infused style wouldn’t have fit this story at all. This is really a gorgeous issue with the already mentioned ice castle, great depictions of the New York skyline at night, and even great panels of Rogue and Iceman sitting on the beach and looking at birds. All-in-all it’s an unexciting issue, but there is some great character definition and some dazzling visuals to behold.
B-
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