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+

X-Men #37

X-Men #37
Writing: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Andy Kubert

What Went Down: The next generation of mutants start out this issue with Clarice getting captured by Harvest and the Phalanx. Clarice uses her power to escape, and Monet punches the crap out of the bad guys. Too bad for our heroes that the bad guys just reform afterwards.

In the water below the boat, Banshee and Everett climb up the anchor chain to rescue the children. Inside the boat, Emma and Jubilee have somehow found their way inside, where they fight Phalanx infected rats and discuss Jubilee’s fears about her powers.

When all seems lost for the young mutants, they are saved in the nick of time by …Sabretooth? Yes Sabretooth takes the time to track down the Phalanx base and help rescue the children. Banshee and Everett join in, and together they annihilate Harvest for the second time.

Sabretooth refuses to explain how or why he came back to save the children. The heroes discuss how best to help Paige, who has been infected by the Phalanx, when Sabretooth takes it upon himself to tear her skin off. Luckily, her mutant power turns out to be the ability to shed her top layer of skin to reveal a different material, in this case metal skin. Harvest then returns for a third time to try to kill everyone.

As Emma tries to escape with the kids, they discover the bodies of some people and a dog absorbed by the Phalanx. This inspires Clarice to stop running and stand up to Harvest. Using her powers she tears Harvest apart, but for some reason she gets caught in the effect herself. So Clarice dies and the X-Men’s victory comes at the tragic cost of a character that was two issues old.

How It Was: Nicieza sets up a climactic battle to end the crossover, and it succeeds in feeling like a final, brutal story ending fight. The problem is that the final baddie is too powerful, and it makes for an uneven final chapter. The Phalanx, and Harvest in particular, are all shallow characters with little motivation or personality. They’re supposed to be unbeatable, which is good for setting up adversity for the heroes, but they’re so unbeatable that the fight doesn’t make sense. There is a difference between creating a novel challenge for the heroes and having the bad guy come back over and over again with no logic or reason behind it. And why does Clarice have to die to defeat the bad guy?  Why can't she use her powers like she did in part 3?

The reason of course is because the writer wants to get a cheap emotional ending without having really earned it; Clarice wasn’t really developed enough to care about, but that hasn’t stopped her from becoming very popular. This is mostly due to her return in Age of Apocalypse, which occurred four months after this book came out. It’s a much more successful take on the character whose only real purpose was to make the end of this story kind of sad.

Sabretooth’s return makes for an intriguing mystery of his allegiance. Unfortunately it is later forgotten, and Creed just says he was only pretending to be good even though there was no real reason behind it. The reveal of Paige’s power is well done, though.

This is an underwhelming conclusion with awful villains and some under-developed new characters. Plus there isn’t really any resolution at all to the question of where the X-Men have been taken to (that occurs in Wolverine and Cable of all places). It’s an epic finale, just not a very good epic finale.

C-

Uncanny X-Men #317

Uncanny X-Men #317
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Joe Madureira

What Went Down: Paige Guthrie wakes up to find herself a prisoner of the Phalanx, along with four other mutants: Monet, Clarice, Angelo, and Gregor. Angelo’s really negative and stretchy, Clarice cries a lot, Gregor is kind of hokey, and Monet just sits there. Paige is certain that the X-Men will come to rescue them all. Clarice points out that Paige has been infected with some kind of trans-mode virus, even though it appears on the outside of her clothes.

In San Francisco, Emma, Banshee, Jubilee, and Everett arrive at one of Emma’s luxurious town homes. Banshee lets Emma know that he doesn’t trust her and then destroys a number of targeting devices outside the house. Inside the absurdly large living area, Emma shows Banshee their next objective: a SHIELD safehouse in the San Francisco area.

Back in the Phalanx prison, Angelo tries to cheer Paige up. A member of the Phalanx named Harvest visits the captives and threatens all of them. Clarice uses her powers of teleportation to start to pull Harvest apart, but Gregor stops her because he is worried that she might be hurt. Harvest teleports away.

On what appears to be the Golden Gate Bridge, Jubilee talks with Everett about how worthless she feels for not being more adept with her powers, especially after Everett used them so effectively last issue. She is also fed up with all of the suffering that comes with the role of X-Man, even though she loves everyone on the team.

At the SHIELD base, Emma uses her powers to hide them from sight, while Banshee uses his powers to… errr hide them from the cameras somehow. In the prison, Monet takes the time to actually talk. She explains that she has manipulated her clothes, which are techno organic, into a weapon that can hide them from detection. She also kills Gregor because he was really a Phalanx spy.

Emma and Banshee find a techno organic reading using the SHIELD computers, but the agents discover them because Emma’s powers didn’t hide the rain puddles they brought in with them. Emma threatens the agents, but Banshee knocks them out first. Emma claims she was bluffing.

Monet uses her super strength to bust a hole in the prison and escape. Paige suggests that she should stay behind because she is infected, but Monet forces her to come with them. The group discovers that they are in the middle of the ocean on a giant boat.

How It Was: Alright then. We finally get a little bit of personality from the next generation of mutants. Angelo, the future Skin, is a pessimistic bastard. While most hideous characters like Beast or the Thing keep they’re regrets and sadness to themselves, Angelo is immature and allows it to taint his attitude and interactions; it actually comes off as fresh in a world of stoic comic book heroes, but it’s not necessarily fun to read. The rest of the characters aren’t nearly as interesting, but that’s okay because Lobdell ideally wants to save that development for the main Generation X series. The reveal of Gregor as a spy is well handled, although once again a little predictable due to his odd behavior.

Jubilee probably gets the most development in the brief scenes she appears in. Selling audiences on Jubilee wanting to leave the X-Men wasn’t an easy mandate, but I think Lobdell makes a compelling argument here. It is strange that the two characters go all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge to have their conversation, but oh well; meanwhile, Everett continues to be quiet and boring.

The plotline with Emma and Sean infiltrating SHIELD seems like a needless detour to pad out the story. If Emma has enough technology to find a top secret facility, why can’t she find the Phalanx ship as well? Shouldn’t they tell SHIELD about the Phalanx? And can’t Banshee just ask for their help, since they’re obviously aware of who is?

The art is pretty good, but for some reason Joe Mad has made Everett and Gregor’s bodies really over muscled. Everett’s girth might be a side effect of absorbing Sabretooth’s powers, but it still looks really weird. The layout of Emma’s home and the effects of Clarice’s powers on Harvest serve as stand out moments for the art. The spotlight on the young mutants isn’t great, and it leads to some stalling on the part of the heroes outside.

C+

X-Men #36

X-Men #36
Writing: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Andy Kubert

What Went Down: This issue starts with a prologue involving Monet being experimented on by the Phalanx members Stephen Lang and Cameron Hodge, both former enemies of the X-Men. It turns out that the Phalanx can’t assimilate mutants yet, so they are trying to find out how. Monet still hasn’t said or done anything since being captured. Hodge explains that they will eliminate the threat of mutants by absorbing all of humanity or killing all the mutants. Lang wonders if he has crossed a line.

We then get an opportunity to meet another new mutant and future member of Generation X. This time it is Everett K. Thomas, who is currently surrounded by a lot of police officers. The police are concerned because Everett has just shown signs of being a mutant by screaming and shattering all of the windows on the block. The boy tries to explain that a creature attacked him and it was just a reaction, but the cops don’t believe him until half of the cops reveal themselves as members of the Phalanx.

The Phalanx move in to capture Everett, but some of them are attacked by a sonic scream. Everett explains that because of his mutant power he was able to synch his body with Banshee’s. Anyways, Banshee and Sabretooth make short work of the Phalanx and escape before they can heal.

Elsewhere in the city, Jubilee argues with Emma over her teaching style with the Hellions. Of course members of the Phalanx, disguised as everyday civilians, also attack them.

All the way in Kentucky at the Guthrie household, Mama Guthrie is being attacked by a member of the Phalanx while her daughter Paige tries to save her. This turns out to be a trap as Paige, the actual target, is then captured for being a mutant.

Back in the city, Emma and Jubilee are pursued by the Phalanx. Since Emma’s telepathic powers are no longer effective, they are pretty much screwed until Banshee and Sabretooth show up. These Phalanx actually overwhelm the two X-Men, but Everett is able to save the day by synching with Jubilee’s powers and blowing up the bad guys. Before dying, one of the Phalanx turns into Stephen Lang and reveals that Sara Grey, Jean’s sister who had been missing since the early days of X-Factor, had actually been captured by the Phalanx, but was somehow able to retain her personality. He also reveals that they have captured Paige Guthrie.

After the Phalanx dies, Emma reveals that she was able to get a brief glimpse at the girl’s location. Then everybody realizes that Sabretooth has escaped because Banshee’s wrist detonator was damaged in the fight.

How It Was: Well we get to meet two more members of Generation X, and neither one is really super exciting at this point. Everett is a nice young boy who is on personal terms with the local cops in his neighborhood and has the ability to steal powers (like Rogue, but without the touching), even though they have to complicate it by calling it “synching” for his future codename to make sense. And Paige is southern, feisty, and heroic, so basically she is her brother Cannonball, but a girl. Don’t worry, they’ll all develop personalities later once they get into their own title. I promise.

As for the rest of the issue, it is more fighting the Phalanx. And because the Phalanx are supposed to adapt to mutant powers, Nicieza has to keep coming up with ways to defeat them. While this issue doesn’t necessarily focus on them, I’d say that Emma and Jubilee get the more interesting character moments this issue. I do like the set up of Jubilee not trusting Emma at all, both because of her past as a villain and the fate of the Hellions. Emma also gets some nice moments to be dry and snarky, which is always fun to read.

The majority of this issue is just exposition. The Phalanx explain their plans, Everett has to explain himself and his powers, Jubilee explains Emma’s past. It’s all necessary to understanding the characters and plot, but it can get tedious at times. And the reveal at the end of Sara Grey being forced to join the Phalanx comes completely out of left field. First off, we’re talking about the resolution to a five or six year old plot line that has no greater effect on this story, and one that most readers have probably forgotten. And second, Jean isn’t there, so the moment doesn’t have any emotional resonance at all. Nobody present really cares that much about Jean’s sister, and the whole thing is pretty much forgotten, except for a small moment in a couple of issues where Jean reflects about finding out the news. Then again, the cliffhanger at the end with Sabretooth escaping is really good.

So this issue isn’t quite as good as the first since there is less emphasis on character and more on the villains, who are still boring.

B-

Uncanny X-Men #316

Uncanny X-Men #316
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Joe Madureira

What Went Down: We are introduced to a young girl named Monet St. Croix and her bodyguard Colonel Cord-Becker, a husky English female, both of whom are traveling in a limo. Monet doesn’t move or speak due to some trauma involving her siblings. A member of the Phalanx attacks the limo; he assimilates the limo, driver, and bodyguard, and captures Monet.

Over at the mansion, Banshee is talking to Emma Frost because she is concerned that something is wrong with the X-Men. Before she can elaborate, Iceman and Storm put up a sonic disruptor to silence her. Banshee wonders if Iceman and Storm might be holding a grudge against the former White Queen, but they dismiss it.

Scott and Jean phone the mansion, and Banshee answers it. They explain that they have information about the Legacy Virus that the Professor needs, so Sean sends them to Muir Isle where Xavier is busy hanging out with Moira and Excalibur. Archangel bursts in and uncharacteristically yells at Banshee for answering the call when he is not a full X-Man. This makes Banshee feel like he has lost touch with the X-Men, but he suspects something more is up when he is able to spy on Psylocke walking out of the War Room.

Inside the War Room, Gambit and Bishop are dismantling various computers, explaining that they are upgrading them. Banshee checks a computer and discovers that none of the X-Men are in the building other than himself, Jubilee, Emma Frost, and Sabretooth. The other X-Men are imposters!

Returning to the Communications Room, Banshee hopes to send a message to Xavier, but he finds that the whole room has been dismantled impossibly quickly. Beast questions his reason for being in the room, but Banshee gives him an excuse. He then goes to free Sabretooth, who is being guarded by the Rogue imposter. Using a sonic scream, he discovers the imposter is a member of the Phalanx. After waking up, Sabretooth takes the time to kill the remains of the Phalanx entity.

Sending Sabretooth to rescue Jubilee and Emma, because he has a remote to a detonator located on Creed’s muzzle, Banshee grabs a gun and attacks the Gambit and Bishop imposters in the war room. Sean finds out that the Phalanx are using Cerebro to find young mutants to experiment on. He then sets the self-destruct and escapes in the nick of time. Banshee then vows that he will find the new mutants before the Phalanx can.

How It Was: Welcome to the next big X-Men crossover. This one is a little odd because the X-Men have all been captured, or they’re off doing other things, so the X-Men titles don’t feature a lot of X-Men or even the resolution of this story. Instead, these X-issues serve as set up for the upcoming series Generation X, basically a New Mutants style “young generation of mutants being trained”. And it is no coincidence that three of the stars of this crossover are also going to be the stars of the new series. But it’s still an important crossover, as signified by the shiny cardboard cover.

As for the story this issue, it is pretty good even though the cover completely spoils the twist that all the X-Men have been replaced by Phalanx. Primarily this issue serves as a reintroduction for Banshee, who hasn’t been in the spotlight in ages.  It does a great job of fleshing him out, showing him off as the hero, and setting up his feelings that lead to his joining Gen-X. His feelings of distance from the team are perfectly natural, since he hasn’t done anything important in about three years, and the issue also manages to find room for his feelings about his past, Moira, and other aspects of his history that also haven’t been touched on in years. The fake X-Men come off as a little obvious, but Lobdell’s script does a good job at playing off of Banshee’s own insecurities as to why he doesn’t figure it out sooner. While you don’t ever believe that they are the real X-Men, you do believe how Banshee could think they are.

Also exciting is Sabretooth actually getting to do something other than sit in his cell and act menacing. Granted he just starred in the annual and the flashback in X-Men #33, but this feels a lot more substantial. The really neat thing is the dynamic that Banshee can’t really trust his team, since Emma and Sabretooth are former villains and Jubilee is absolutely worthless. This actual tension makes up for the fact that the Phalanx are one-dimensional villains that aren’t really interesting,but they are fun to look at due to Joe Mad’s awesome art style.

You could also criticize some of the story elements since they fail to stand up to logic, but they are necessary for the story to work. If the Phalanx could capture all of the X-Men, why not just capture Banshee as well? Or Sabretooth and Emma? Why not take Jubilee to the same place that the other new mutants are being held? The prologue is also kind of a mixed bag. A character that doesn’t speak or do anything does set up some mystery, but it also isn’t very exciting. However, the female bodyguard does get an awesome scene; how can you not smile at a large British woman making a last stand with a giant pistol named Pickering?

With only a few characters to focus on this issue works really well. Five or six issues of fighting the Phalanx does start to wear after a while, but for now it is pretty exciting.

B+