X-Men #52

X-Men #52
Writing: Mark Waid
Art: Andy Kubert

What Went Down: Continuing from the cliffhanger last issue, Gambit is charging the front car of a runaway train with explosive energy while Bishop yells at him for being crazy. Gambit reveals that his plan is to have Bishop absorb all of the energy until he has enough to release and stop the train. Somehow this actually works, but it leaves both heroes weakened so that Mr. Sinister can easily knock them out.

In South Carolina, Rogue rents an apartment from a single mother; the woman’s son tries to touch her, and she panics. On TV a news report discusses the runaway train with possible mutants witnessed at the scene. The woman comments about how awful mutants are, and Rogue regretfully agrees with her.

At the train station, police are interviewing all of the formerly mutated humans. A shadowy figure in a trenchcoat and hat walks by, and all the cops refer to him as an important government figure named Bastion.

In Sinister’s underground lab, the X-Men are all elaborately restrained. Sinister explains that he was using the train to test the effectiveness of his new mutant virus which creates minions for his disposal. He is also excited because he finally has Bishop in his possession. You see, because Bishop comes from the future, Sinister has no genetic records of him at all. And since Sinister has collected samples of every other genetic mutant ever, that just won’t do.

Sinister has a machine that projects thoughts, so he’s going to use it to learn Bishop’s origins. Dark Beasts panics because he knows that this test will show that he’s not the real Beast, and reveal to Sinister all his secrets from the Age of Apocalypse. Sinister learns about Bishop’s time traveling, the X-traitor, and the Age of Apocalypse while Beast insists that Gambit free them. Beast also notices that Sinister takes an interest in Gambit’s health when Gambit pretends to be coming down with the virus.

As Sinister approaches him, Gambit releases a charged card and blows up the machine, thus freeing his friends and destroying all of Sinister’s samples. The X-Men defeat Sinister in about two pages, and he teleports away. As they walk away, Gambit tells the group that they are just outside of St. Louis. Dark Beast picks up on this and realizes that Gambit must have a connection to Sinister. Rather than tell the X-Men, he decides to keep this information to himself for future use.

How It Was: First off, I’m no physics expert, but I’m ninety percent sure that Gambit’s plan wouldn’t have a chance in hell of working, due to the fact that the locomotive’s engine is continuously running, so any attempt to introduce an equal opposing force would be negated once Bishop’s energy was depleted. Then again, it’s a comic book about people with genetic anomalies that give them super powers, so I guess I don’t have a lot of grounds to judge it on realism.

How much does it suck to be Dark Beast? Getting captured by the one person you’re trying to hide from on your first mission with the X-Men has to be frustrating. Anyways, Bishop gets something of a resolution to his months long beat of hallucinating about the Age of the Apocalypse. After having his experiences confirmed by Sinister, Bishop is finally able to come to terms with them, and they’re rarely ever mentioned again.  It’s not the most satisfying conclusion, but hey, at least it’s something.

The dialogue between Rogue and her racist landlord is some of the worst to ever appear in an X-Men comic. Not only is it an unflattering portrayal of people in South Carolina (“Don’t tell me I’ve done rented to a mutant lover?”), showing yet another human that hates mutants a lot doesn’t really add anything to the story.

There’s also some more cryptic hinting at Gambit’s relationship with Sinister, but most of this is for the benefit of the Dark Beast so he can figure it out on his own. He says that he plans on using this information to his advantage someday, but again he’s going to be disappearing in a couple of issues and the plot point will fade away with him. Sinister’s reaction to capturing Bishop is well-handled, and the fact that Bishop would be his missing link is a nice touch. In fact, the conflict is really well-constructed in that all three mutants have secrets that they don’t want Sinister to discover or share, so the plot is a little more engaging than your standard “captured by a mad scientist” plotline.

An event that should feel more significant is the destruction of Sinister’s life’s work, a collection of every mutant’s genetic samples, by Gambit. Of course, it would be easier to get excited about if it hadn’t already happened a year ago in X-Men #34, and afterwards Sinister just said that he had duplicates. And yeah, this time Sinister is around to agonize about the loss and lash out at the X-Men, but this only lasts for a page until he’s blasted by Bishop and teleports away. This is a pretty easy victory for the X-Men as far as Sinister goes; usually he puts up more of a fight.

While a nice aside, in the long run this two issue story just doesn’t feel that significant. Sure it resolves Bishop’s whining about the Age of Apocalypse, and it features the Dark Beast and Gambit coming into contact with Sinister, but the story just rushes to the end and neither of the villains do anything with the new information they’ve gathered. After all, Sinister had gained knowledge of the future while Dark Beast knew of the villain’s relationship with Gambit, so something could’ve come of this.

B-

X-Men #51

X-Men #51
Writing: Mark Waid
Art: Pascal Ferry

What Went Down: Professor X and Bishop are in the mansion’s war room attempting to fix Cerebro after it was destroyed way back in the Phalanx storyline. Cerebro detects a massive spike in New Jersey before shorting out again. Even though Xavier believes it might be a malfunction, Bishop, Gambit, and Beast are sent out to investigate.

The coordinates lead the X-Men to a commuter train. Upon entering, they find a number of mutant monsters. Throughout all this, Beast keeps making inappropriate jokes because in reality he’s the Dark Beast in disguise. Bishop explains that the monsters are actually mutated humans, and they witness one human turning into a monster, showing that the mutation is contagious.

At the house of Jean Grey’s parents, Cyclops tests Jean’s niece and nephew for telepathy by hiding a quarter. Jean is not very excited to see this because she wants the children to live normal lives. Jean’s parents turn the TV to the news where we see Graydon Creed officially announce his candidacy for President of the United States.

At the mansion, Xavier calls Mutant Underground member Louis St. Croix to discuss the recent turn of events. Xavier cryptically mentions that he may have to take drastic measures against Creed. On the train, our heroes fight the monsters for a while and then split up. Gambit and Bishop head off towards the engine to stop the train while Beast looks for a way to subdue the passengers. Gambit and Bishop find a really big monster waiting for them in the engine.

Incredibly, Dark Beast is able to create an anesthetic from random ingredients on the train; once unconscious, all the monsters become human again. Beast looks over his work, but Mr. Sinister ambushes him; ironically Dark Beast replaced the regular Beast in an attempt to hide from Mr. Sinister. Back at the front of the train, the controls are smashed, so the X-Men have no way to stop it. Gambit gets an idea and begins charging the front car with kinetic energy. Bishop yells at him for creating a speeding bomb.

How It Was: Gambit and Bishop continue their bromance as they team up yet again to stop a crazy train full of monsters. In case you forgot, the writers are trying to keep the X-traitor storyline on our minds, since it’s going to play a big role in the upcoming Onslaught crossover. Mark Waid does a solid job with characters, especially the Dark Beast, but the plot leaves a little something to desire. The entire “turning humans into mutants” angle feels a little too “mad scientist-y” even for Mr. Sinister, and the manner in which the monsters are defeated is too convenient. After all, why would a train have all the chemicals needed for an airborne anesthetic to be created; it’s not like the Beast has a lot of pockets to keep all of those ingredients in.

I’m glad to see that the Dark Beast doesn’t really fit in with the X-Men, and Waid does a great job of capturing his revulsion and paranoia. Still, since the identity theft only lasts another four issues, not a lot comes of this. And I can’t really understand the whole rationale behind it; why would McCoy think that infiltrating the X-Men would keep him safer from Sinister, rather than just staying in hiding? Of course, we discover how terrible his plan actually is when Sinister captures him during his very first mission with the X-Men.

Bishop and Gambit aren’t given a whole lot characterwise, but since they’re both the focus next issue it’s not a big deal. Ferry’s art works surprisingly well with the monsters; he draws them with a very horror comic aesthetic reminiscent of something you might’ve seen back in the days of EC. Graydon Creed’s announcement feels pretty significant, but as we’ll see after Onslaught, it doesn’t go on for too long, so don’t get too excited. It’s an inauspicious debut for Mark Waid, and it’s hard to get since he’s not staying onboard for too long.

C+

Uncanny X-Men ‘96 Annual

Uncanny X-Men ‘96
Writing: Terry Kavagnagh and Howard Mackie
Art: David Perrin and Nick Gnazzo

What Went Down: Preacher, the precognitive mutant artist from last year’s annual, is in a secluded cabin painting and trying to understand what his paintings mean. Two of his paintings, one of Bishop and the other of his sister Shard, connect. This leads Preacher to believe that the shadowy future in the background is to be either caused or prevented by the two heroes. Preacher then lights the cabin on fire because he is being chased by government officials who want to use him to control the future.

Some soldiers break-in just in time to salvage some of the paintings. More shady government types discuss how they recently infiltrated X-Factor, and they decide to go after Shard and Preacher by releasing a Hound.

Meanwhile, Strom brings Bishop to Las Vegas to meet with his deceased sister Shard, or rather a hologram that contains all of her memories and personality traits. Wild Child from X-Factor is bringing Shard. Bishop recalls that he and Shard grew up together in Las Vegas in the future, raised by an old man named Hancock before joining the XSE.

Shard eagerly awaits the reunion with her brother, but Bishop remains unconvinced that she is anything more than an elaborate computer program. The government releases the Hound, a genetically engineered monster, while Storm and Wild Child go off for drinks to leave the siblings alone.

Shard retells the story of Bishop’s first use of his powers with flashbacks; it happened after their guardian Hancock was killed by some gang members, and it led to the two joining the XSE. Bishop still isn’t willing to care about a projection, but they are both interrupted by Preacher. Preacher recognizes Bishop, and shows them a tattoo of a horrible future with the hound chasing them in Vegas. As the mutants talk, the Hound attacks.

Bishop and Shard fight it for a couple of pages, but it manages to knock Bishop out and steal the projector that projects Shard. Storm and Wild Child wake him from a flashback of Shard’s original death. They all decide to rescue Shard, with help from a building drawing in the dirt left by Preacher. The drawing is of Area 51.

In an underground lab, Dr. L. Stephens runs tests on this new hologram/lifeform. Shard feels pain as scientists try to “depixilate” her in order to gain all her knowledge of the future. Storm, Bishop, and Wild Child bust in and fight the Hound. Shard vaporizes her own projector to prevent the bad guys from gaining any more information, and the X-Men continue to fight the Hound. Bishop sets the lab on autodestruct, and Storm flies everyone away before it blows. The Hound makes a final leap to pursue, but doesn’t quite make it and falls to its presumed destruction.

In the Blackbird everyone feels remorse over Shard’s destruction; even Bishop now believes that it truly was his sister, and that she sacrificed herself. As they talk, Shard shows up from the back of the plane. Apparently blowing up her projector somehow gave her a new photon-based solid body. She hugs Bishop and everybody celebrates.

Back in a new hideout, Preacher is busy painting new visions of the future. These particular paintings involve superheroes fighting Onslaught. In the end we learn that Preacher is still being pursued by Bastion and Operation Zero Tolerance.

How It Was: For starters, this one feels like more of a premise for an X-Factor Annual than an Uncanny Annual, but this is the nineties, where nothing makes sense. And because Uncanny had a bigger audience base, it does make sense to introduce this here in an attempt to gain more X-Factor readers. Lord knows there weren’t that many at this point.

The story really shines in its depiction of Shard as the synthetic being trying to come to terms with her identity. She knows she’s not real, she knows she’s supposed to be dead, but she can’t help that she has all of these thoughts, memories, and feelings. This may’ve been done multiple times before with characters like the Vision, but there is still enough here character-wise to make this stand out and work really well. Despite his reaction, Bishop also comes across as sympathetic due to the fact that we’ve seen him struggle to accept his sister’s death in the past, only to have this sentient hologram show up and reopen all his old wounds. Really interesting stuff here.

Ultimately, the rest of the annual just isn’t very gripping. We have a number of flashbacks from Bishop’s mini-series that are unnecessary, a generic villain that adapts to mutant powers—but uglier, and an ending that wraps everything up a little too nicely. Oh, and Preacher stops by from last annual to tell the protagonists that they’re going to be chased by a Hound about a second before the Hound begins its attack, so good for him.

I can see the necessity of getting Shard in a solid body so that she can be better utilized over in X-Factor, but in the end it is way too convenient that destroying her holographic projector happens to turn her solid. As for the Hound, well if it could jump high enough to almost reach Storm once, why would it be hampered in trying the same stunt a second time? Throw in a generic tease for the Onslaught story and this one is nothing to really write home about. Plus, to my knowledge, Shard doesn’t show up in the X-Men titles ever again, so this story only really matters to fans of X-Factor, of which this annual is not a part of.

C