Cable #16

Cable #16
Writing: Larry Hama
Art: Steve Skroce

What Went Down: This issue opens on Cable and Wolverine arguing like a couple of young siblings in the back seat of the plane. Cyclops has been piloting the plane with no radar or radio all the way to the Phalanx base in Tibet. Also he has been piloting the plane upside down for some reason. Inside the base, Stephen Lang is seemingly trying to corrupt Psylocke, while actually he is telepathically revealing to her that he is on her side and does not want the Phalanx to absorb all carbon-based life on Earth. The plane crashes into the base, but the X-Men bailed out before the crash. Now they have to climb the mountain without using their powers, otherwise the Phalanx will detect them.

Inside the base, Cameron Hodge complains that they should kill all of the captive X-Men. He also insists that he senses mutants climbing up the mountain, but Lang convinces him that it is impossible for anyone to scale the mountain. Lang tells Psylocke that she most allow her mind to be infected by the Phalanx to free the other X-Men.

The heroes outside climb the mountain, with an especially harrowing sequence involving the scaling of an overhang with Cable almost falling. Hodge sees that Psylocke has effectively been infected by Lang, and the infected Psylocke reveals Lang’s traitorous ideas to Hodge. Cable, Jean, and Scott burst through the wall as a distraction while Logan goes off to free the X-Men. With the X-Men free, Cable and Jean channel their powers through Psylocke, which results in the destruction of Phalanx towers around the world, and the deaths of all the Phalanx members. The X-Men escape the collapsing fortress, and Lang also escapes, thinking to himself that now he is free to pursue his goal of destroying all mutants. At the last minute, Hodge pulls him back into the base before it explodes. On the other side of the galaxy it is revealed that there are more Phalanx ready to invade Earth, or other planets for that matter.

How It Was: The conclusion to the Phalanx Saga, and that is basically it…no more, no less. Whereas the previous issue had lots of information to fill its double-sized page count with, this issue struggles to find things to do with the characters. The X-Men climb the mountain for way too many pages, and Hama seems insistent on pushing this childish antagonistic relationship on Cable and Logan. Sure the characters aren’t supposed to like each other, but they don’t have to behave like immature brats the whole time when the fate of the world is hanging on them. Whether they’re threatening each other or arguing in the plane, their interactions come off as annoying.

The plot to overthrow the Phalanx is way too complex and wraps everything together a little too neatly. I can’t understand why the X-Men need to take the time to climb the mountain when their plan is essentially to burst through the walls and attack the Phalanx. Couldn’t they do this at the beginning of the issue with the plane crash? Also we find out that there are now hundreds of Phalanx towers all across the world (a plot point that managed to avoid explanation during all of the expository recap sequences throughout this story) and Psylocke just wipes them all out automatically at the end of the story. That’s kind of pathetic for an invading army of higher beings, and it’s hard to care since we never really knew about these to begin with. Plus all of the scheming and deception of Stephen Lang never pays off in any meaningful way. Unlike Fatal Attractions, Phalanx Covenant doesn’t really alter the status quo in any significant way, other than the start of Generation X, which is really a let down.

As for the art, Steve Skroce is pretty solid, and goes on to get even better years later in the Gambit ongoing series. Unlike most artists, he draws a very reasonably proportioned Cable. However he doesn’t really do anything creative with the Phalanx, drawing them as ordinary blocky yellow robot people. Still, the fight at the end is exciting, even if there aren’t any real surprises in it.

This issue serves as the conclusion to a story with boring villains that goes on a little too long for its own good. Not a lot to recommend, other than the fight at the end.
 
C-

Wolverine #85

Wolverine #85
Writing: Larry Hama
Art: Adam Kubert

What Went Down: Cyclops and Jean Grey are flying over Muir Island, hoping to get in touch with Professor X. Instead, three members of the Phalanx named Larissa, Egon, and Nkotha attack them; for some reason these Phalanx members are giants compared to the ones in other issues. The plane crashes and Cyclops and Jean attack the aliens, all the while wondering what happened to the Professor and Excalibur.

Wolverine received a telepathic message from Xavier about the problems on Muir Island, and he has chartered a plane piloted by a gentleman named Harry to fly over the island, so he can parachute down. During his descent, he is grabbed by one of the Phalanx, but Cyclops and Jean rescue him.

At the Phalanx base, Stephen Lang is trying to learn how to absorb Psylocke, since the Phalanx cannot absorb mutants. Lang has been having doubts about the Phalanx plan and worries that Larissa might have read his thoughts.

After escaping, the Phalanx follow the X-Men along some underground power cables. Wolverine remarks that the couple seems older somehow, which is an allusion to the Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini. The aliens are about to attack when they are shot by an unknown assailant who turns out to be Cable. Of course this is significant since Scott and Jean just spent twelve years in the future raising a young Cable, and it inspires a lot of conflicting emotions in the couple.

After destroying the Phalanx members, Wolverine accuses Cable of potentially being an imposter, but Jean insists it is him. The group recaps the story up to this point and brings up the twist that Cable is more susceptible to absorption since his body is already part techno-organic due to the T.O. disease he has. Also they need a macguffin inside the infected Lab Building in order to find the captured X-Men.

Cable and Jean use a telepathic bond to attack the Phalanx while Cyclops and Wolverine run in together; Jean worries about this because it might involve sharing memories, and she doesn’t want Cable to find out that she and Scott raised him because it might endanger the future somehow. While fighting the Phalanx on the astral plane Cable sees a memory of Redd, Jean’s identity as his foster mother in the future, and this opens up a weakness for the Phalanx to exploit. Inside the lab Logan and Scott fight the third Phalanx member.

Cable rallies thanks to another memory from Jean, but the two get kicked out of the astral plane. Jean tries to reengage, but Cable is through with telepathy and decides to start shooting his giant gun. Cyclops and Wolverine run out with the information, but accessing it has caused a self-destruct to initiate. The group has three minutes to get off the island. Fortunately, Harry the pilot has decided to come back for them. Cable decides to hold the Phalanx off for as long as he can while the others escape.

Jean is able to telekinetically stop the plane in mid-air so the heroes can get on. Wolverine goes back for Cable, who is about to be absorbed. He rescues Cable and they make a daring escape right before the facility explodes. The X-Men announce that they are going to Tibet to stop the Phalanx and save the other X-Men.

How It Was: It’s a celebration as Wolverine returns to the X-Men for the first time since Wolverine #75. Sure he doesn’t rejoin the team for another couple of issues, but this is still exciting. This also happens to be a double-sized issue, and there sure is a lot going on here for a book that only has four main characters.

First off, even though this issue is part of the Phalanx storyline and it occurs in Wolverine’s title, a lot of this issue focuses on the relationship between Cyclops, Jean, and Cable. There’s nothing wrong with this, it seems like a weird story and issue to bring all of this information up. Then again, I guess it is a crossover with Cable. Most of this comes through telepathic conversations between Scott and Jean, as well as some flashes of memory on the astral plane. It is definitely appropriate that Hama explores this material since it is the first meeting of Cable and the Summerses since The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix revealed Cable's origins, but I can’t really understand the rationale of keeping their history secret from Cable. Revealing their identity can’t really affect the future since it occurred in Cable’s past.  Plus he figures it out in a couple of months anyway.

Then there’s the simple fact that there are too many words in this book. Since it is his book, we are stuck with Wolverine’s internal monologue that shares with us such uninteresting facts as his associations with jumping out of a plane during World War II and his surprise at the power of the Phalanx. Plus there is a ton of exposition about the Phalanx plot line, The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini, the purpose of Muir Island, and the histories of the characters. While this is all necessary information for readers that solely read Wolverine, it is all reiteration for the majority of X-Men fans, and it really slows down a story that at its root is just the group assembling, learning the location of their goal from a computer, and then escaping.

As for the Phalanx, Hama doesn’t really make them any more interesting than any of the other writers before him. They’re still all one-dimensional alien invaders set on taking over the world. However visually they are really interesting thanks to the vision of penciler Adam Kubert. Adam Kubert, as opposed to his brother Andy who drew X-Men at this time, does some interesting things with the scale and design of the Phalanx. There is a really nice sequence where Wolverine cuts up one of the Phalanx’s faces, and the sections of face float around on tendrils and look really creepy. Unfortunately, like most of the artists of the time, Kubert also draws an absurdly exaggerated Cable with gigantic shoulders that are too big for his head, oversized guns, and hundreds of pouches all over his body. It is almost the quintessential Rob Liefield Cable.

It’s not a superb issue, but it does star some great characters and it has a good amount of action in it. Surprisingly it features more depth for the Cyclops/Jean/Cable relationship than later issues of X-Men would.

C+