X-Force #18

X-Force #18
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Greg Capullo

What Went Down: Part 12 of the X-Cutioner’s Song. Finally, the final issue. We open with the customary Cable splash page for X-Force issues, which is Cable holding a big gun and wearing a costume covered in pouches and pockets. The big energy tower is now showing flashbacks that actually relate to this story, such as Cyclops giving up his son Nathan and scenes from the Askani’son future.

Stryfe reveals that Cable is a “scientific abomination” that was an attempt to preserve the young Nathan’s life. The implication seems to be that the baby Nathan Summers was cloned, and Cable is that clone. After months of fans complaining, this was reversed and it was revealed that Cable is the true son and Stryfe is the clone. But never mind that for now.

Anyways, this angers Cable, and the two begin to fight. Back at Stryfe’s Moon base, the Dark Riders escape, leaving Wolverine, Storm, and Psylocke standing around looking like idiots. Psylocke reveals that she senses Apocalypse is dying.

Iceman, Bishop, and Archangel are elsewhere, looking for more villains. Psylocke contacts Warren, and he flies off to go rub it in Apocalypse’s face. Bishop comments that Warren is no longer among the living, which confuses Iceman.

Polaris and Cannonball wake up outside the force field, but there is nothing they can do to help as Cable and Stryfe continue to fight.

Xavier is awake at the mansion, claiming that Scott and Jean’s lives will be the cost of this conflict.

Archangel finds Apocalypse mortally wounded; the villain asks Warren to finish him off, but Warren leaves him to suffer instead, because he is not a monster. Because Apocalypse desired a clean, fast death, this is obviously a very big disappointment for him.

Stryfe is about to defeat Cable, while Jean is trying to free herself and Cyclops. Havok saves Cable at the last minute, followed by a blast from Cyclops. Jean offers help in healing Stryfe’s wounds, but he doesn’t believe them and chooses to destroy the tower. Jean erects a teke shield to protect them, but Cable and Stryfe are outside of it.

Cable throws Cyclops a remote to hit; then he tackles Stryfe and starts an auto-destruct countdown. Cyclops is hesitant, but then he hits the button, and the explosion is contained by a time vortex. Everyone is sad because Cable apparently died a hero, especially because the story started with everybody thinking he was an assassin.

An epilogue shows Mr. Sinister’s assistant Gordon opening the package Stryfe gave him in exchange for Cyclops and Jean Grey. The canister appears empty, enraging Sinister. Actually, it contained the Legacy Virus; the fact that Sinister’s assistant starts coughing signifies that he is the first one infected, but there will be more on this story later.

How It Was: How about that for some huge ramifications?  Well, this story is only really huge if you were a big X-Force fan. If you were just an X-Men fan, then it was a fun little story that didn’t change a whole lot. Yes Cable’s sacrifice did change the dynamic in X-Force for a while, but don’t feel too bad for Cable. He gets his own solo series and he’ll return in about a year after traipsing around the future for a bit.

Getting to the complaints of this issue. First off, the majority of the X-Men have absolutely nothing to do in this story. Everybody is searching for the Dark Riders, but since the villains escaped, their arcs just kind of fizzle out. The only one who gets a decent scene is Archangel over the mortally wounded Apocalypse. This is a pretty great scene, if rather predictable. And it does offer somewhat of a conclusion to Warren’s struggle with his inner demons.

The end also falls a little flat because despite the characters’ sadness at the sacrifice of Cable, all of the readers knew that Marvel wasn’t going to just kill off a really popular character. Also, the revelation that Cable is a clone is lame. Not because of reasons expressed earlier, but simply because clones are cheap, lame plot devices that writers resort to when they’ve written themselves into a wall (See also Joseph/Magneto and X-23/Wolverine). Personally, I prefer the initial call by writers of making Stryfe the original son and Cable the clone; there is a lot more dramatic mileage for the story if Scott feels massive guilt about trying to save his son and accidentally turning him into a power hungry evil maniac. Plus making Cable the son pretty much negated Stryfe’s purpose, so the villain just faded into obscurity.

All in all, it does give some closure to what happened to Cyclops’ son, and the part where Scott can’t bring himself to push the button is rather well done. Stryfe finally meets his match after being undefeatable for the whole story, and there is the beginning of the Legacy plot, which started out interesting until it went on for almost a decade. As for the entire story itself, if you can ignore the C-list villain teams that all but disappear from the X-books afterward, this is a nice little crossover that highlights just about all of the X-Characters at the time (Except for Excalibur, who apparently don’t count because their team name doesn’t actually start with an X). It makes good use of continuity and furthers a good deal of plot points and character relationships.

B+

X-Men #16

X-Men #16
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Andy Kubert

What Went Down: Part 11 of the X-Cutioner’s Song. This issue opens up with a really amazing fight between Bishop, Cable, and Wolverine and a bunch of cannon fodder soldiers plus the Dark Riders. Lots of shooting and stabbing ensues. Just when it appears that the good guys are about to be overwhelmed the rest of the X-Men’s forces show up to bail them out.

As the fight continues, Stryfe and his silent android servant Zero observe a hologram of it. Stryfe admires the ferocity and bravery of the X-Men, and then laughs at the fact that he has been able to “manufacture” his own past. He strolls to another room, grabs Cyclops and Jean, and drags them outside the walls, encased in a telekinetic bubble.

Down at the mansion, the Beast is cataloguing Xavier’s recovery.

After the X-Men defeat all of the soldiers, they split off into different strike teams to find Scott and Jean, as well as keep the villains from escaping. Apocalypse goes off by himself.

Wolverine, Storm, and Psylocke track the prisoners to a room in the base; Psylocke insists that they are beyond the door, and when they open it they are all almost sucked out into space.

Apocalypse encounters the Dark Riders, who now work for Stryfe since he beat up their previous master. So Apocalypse attacks them all.

Cable, Cannonball, Polaris, and Havok use Apocalypse’s spacecraft to track Stryfe to a big energy tower thing.

Xavier wakes up screaming after having had a nightmare. He claims that Cable, Stryfe, Cyclops, and Jean are all connected, which all of the readers pretty much knew at this point.

Havok’s crew put on space suits and venture out to the tower. They pass through a force field that knocks out Polaris and Cannonball, yet lets Havok and Cable through (because they’re both part of the Summers’ bloodline). A very nice splash page ends the issue featuring the main villain, the prisoners, and a bunch of flashback scenes that have absolutely nothing to do with this story. Stryfe calls Cable his failed brother and beckons the group to continue.

How It Was: A fantastic issue filled to the brim with action. Penultimate issues usually have the blessing of being able to pull off a fast pace in order to set up the final confrontation. This issue is no exception. So the remaining uninjured X-Characters finally confront the Dark Riders, and everything starts to fall into place.

There isn’t really a lot going on here storywise, so the art definitely carries this issue. Which is fine, since we haven’t really had a full out action issue for a while. Nicieza also throws in some nice little character moments, such as Sam’s anger at Cable for keeping X-Force in the dark, or the banter between Wolverine and his squad at the beginning of the issue. Even Apocalypse gets a rather exciting last stand against his former minions, the Dark Riders. Really, this issue just continues the trend of giving each character one or two very solid moments while focusing mostly on the animosity between Cable and Stryfe.

B+

X-Factor #86

X-Factor #86
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Jae Lee

What Went Down: Part 10 of the X-Cutioner’s Song. Last issue, Cyclops and Jean Grey escaped Stryfe’s base; unfortunately, his base was on the Moon, so now the couple starts off this issue dying of exposure in outer space.

On Earth, Wolverine is filling in the rest of the X-Men on the “discovery” that Stryfe’s base is on the Moon from last issue. Havok even pokes fun at the ridiculousness of the reasoning behind the reveal. The remaining X-teams organize themselves into squads, and Storm tells Cable, Bishop, and Wolverine to wait for them. Before they go, they want Apocalypse to fulfill his end of the bargain and cure Xavier.

Back at the Moon, Stryfe shows up to rescue Cyclops and Jean with a bubble full of air. Stryfe tells them that their escape was planned and that he will save them if they beg for their lives. When they refuse, Stryfe gets a little ticked.

All the X-Men threaten Apocalypse in case he decides to double-cross them, while Multiple Man alerts Havok that the X-Patriots most likely escaped the hospital. They lie to their boss Val Cooper about there being anything wrong.

Apocalypse begins the process of curing Xavier, but he refuses to tell anybody what he’s doing. Everybody panics because it looks like the virus is enveloping the Professor, but Archangel insists that Apocalypse is their only hope. Then Apocalypse sucks it in himself, a big flash of light occurs, and then Xavier is cured.

There’s a brief scene of a doctor discovering Multiple Man’s duplicate unconscious in the hospital bed. As I’ve said before, I don’t know where this plotline goes from here.

Cable’s group decides to go ahead and teleport to the Moon. After they arrive, they discuss stealthily infiltrating the base before being confronted by the Dark Riders and an army of soldiers.

How It Was: Everything starts coming together rather nicely towards the end as a bunch of the conflicts do get resolved. Everybody learns where Scott and Jean are (and I love how David pokes fun at the stupidity behind the logic they use), and Xavier gets cured. Of course, Apocalypse’s cure does read as a bit of a lucky convenience, i.e. deus ex machina, but it’s a comic book virus so I guess it makes as much sense as anything. The conflict over Xavier’s cure due to the villain’s refusal to explain his tactics is pretty unnecessary, and the tension doesn’t really work at all.

The scenes on the Moon with Scott and Jean aren’t really that compelling either, as once again we see Stryfe underestimate the couple when they refuse to beg for their lives. But I will say that Jae Lee’s art does look particularly good when depicting space; both the gritty dark backgrounds and the panels utilizing negative space provide a very cool effect to look at. The scenes where Apocalypse is curing Xavier are also pretty unique to look at. But there are still some very awkward expressions, such as Havok’s on the second page. And unfortunately, Wolverine, Cable, and Bishop sit around doing nothing for like the third straight issue in a row.

While a lot of subplots get resolved, there isn’t really a lot to this issue; most of the scenes seem a little too long and not a lot actually happens. I don’t think it should take three pages to establish that the kidnapped X-Men are on the Moon, nor do I think that four pages should be used to have the X-Men yell a variety of threats and ultimatums at the only guy who can help them. There are some really good moments, but it just feels like the book is just stalling for time until the next issue. At least things actually take place.

Random Fact: The following issue of X-Factor featured a new regular artist by the name of Joe Quesada. Of course, this is the same man who would go on to become the current Editor and Chief of Marvel Comics. Who would of thought?

B-

Uncanny X-Men #296

Uncanny X-Men #296
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Brandon Peterson

What Went Down: Part 9 of the X-Cutioner’s Song. Our issue starts out with Cyclops holding Jean Grey with his visor off. The Dark Riders think she is dead, but really she is using her powers to suppress Cyclops’ beams. Together they ambush the Dark Riders and continue running, but Stryfe is observing them on the viewscreen, letting the audience know that this is all planned.

At the X-Men’s home, Beast has successfully extracted the bullet, but the Professor is still sick. Polaris reveals that they are aware of Cable, Bishop, and Wolverine’s team up and tries to keep Beast’s spirits high.

Over on Greymalkin, Cable’s crew is using their page space to recap all of the events of the crossover up to this point; they explain it as if they are trying to go over clues in order to discover Stryfe’s base, but really it’s for those readers who haven’t picked up every issue.

Cyclops and Jean lose their pursuers and discover a baby boy hooked up to Stryfe’s base.

Apocalypse finishes recuperating and offers to save Xavier. Archangel reluctantly backs up Apocalypse’s claim that he is the only one who can help.

As Scott and Jean search for a way to free the baby, Stryfe contacts them telepathically and tells them that by killing the baby, they will kill him as well. Stryfe is convinced that the X-Men will think nothing of sacrificing a baby, and he is taken aback when they refuse. The Dark Riders show up, and the heroes jump off of the balcony rather than endanger the infant. Cyclops shoots a hole in the wall, and some force sucks the couple outside. It is revealed that the baby was really an illusion made by Stryfe and that the whole thing was really a bluff to prove that Cyclops is really evil.

Back on Graymalkin, Wolverine decides that Cyclops and Jean Grey must be on the moon, since they couldn’t possibly be anywhere on Earth; the logic on this one is spotty at best, but it turns out to be true as the last page is a splash of Cyclops and Jean out in space, gasping for air.

How It Was: Lots and lots of talking in this one. The only real action comes from Cyclops and Jean’s escape, but even parts of that are made overly complicated by the writing. Why is it more effective for Jean to hold back Cyclops’ powers and then attack? Why not just attack outright? Also, even though Cyclops is my favorite character, I dislike action scenes with him and Jean because the dialogue often degrades to silly pet names and constant reaffirmations of their love; they’re constantly kissing, holding hands or calling each other “my love” and it can get a little hokey. The scene with the baby is a little overly melodramatic as well, but it does hit the right emotional points for Scott’s character.

Meanwhile Cable, Wolverine, and Bishop are trapped in the plotline that will not advance. The story recap is way too long for its own good, and I still have no idea how Wolverine comes to the conclusion that the villains are on the moon. First the group establishes that Stryfe has to be hiding in plain sight…because he has to be. Then they rule out any locations on Earth because Cerebro and Graymalkin never picked up any signals, despite the fact that Stryfe is a villain from the future and has access to technology that could probably block scans or whatever. So obviously it has to be the moon! Every single scene with these three, arguably the three most popular characters in the X-books, in this issue is pure crap.

On the bright side, the scenes with Apocalypse are nice and ominous, and the reasoning behind them is sound since Apocalypse was already established to know about techno-organics from building Archangel’s wings and infecting Cyclops’ son.

On the art side, the scenes with Apocalypse and Archangel are very dark, but bold, setting the perfect tone. The scenes with Cyclops and Jean fighting are also suitably flashy and bright. My only complaint is that the baby always looked a little creepy to me, but I guess it’s hard to draw a baby with wires sticking out of it and not have it be a little creepy.

Probably the weakest issue of the crossover due to so many pages being taken up by needless exposition.

C

X-Force #17

X-Force #17
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Greg Capullo

What Went Down: Because the X-Office thought it would be cool: Stryfe versus Apocalypse. While Stryfe’s motivation remains unknown at this point, most readers assumed he was ticked off at Apocalypse for giving Nathan Summers the virus; later stories would also establish that Stryfe was raised and betrayed by Apocalypse as well. Anyway, the fight is totally one sided since Apocalypse hasn’t finished recharging after being let out too early, so Stryfe stabs him with a knife, but Apocalypse manages to teleport away. The Dark Riders agree to follow Stryfe, since their whole gimmick is that they always follow the strongest.

In his space station, Cable uses his sentient computer named The Professor to explain to Bishop and Wolverine how Cable knows Stryfe and that Stryfe looks exactly like him. Nobody knows why.

At the mansion Stevie Hunter is taking care of injured X-characters from the MLF fight. Havok asks Cannonball to talk to his team, and it is established that Beast is attempting to surgically remove Stryfe’s bullet from Professor X’s head to try to stop the virus from spreading. X-Force appears in their own book for two whole pages where they basically complain about being held prisoner. Siryn and Multiple Man do have a fun scene where they discuss her relationship with one of his multiples; this subplot does actually pop up in later stories, most recently the relaunch of X-Factor.

Cyclops and Jean break out of their cell after Stryfe leaves; apparently Stryfe himself was responsible for keeping their powers in check, not the cell.

Apocalypse’s teleport destination is revealed. It turns out he was heading for the mansion. Archangel attacks, but Apocalypse reveals that he is there to cure Professor X and work with the X-Men.

How It Was: Well Stryfe is really being pushed as a badass at this point. After defeating the Dark Riders single handedly last issue, Stryfe proceeds to beat the tar out of Apocalypse, one of the most powerful X-villains ever. Of course, Apocalypse isn’t at full strength, so conceivably fans would want to see some type of rematch later. In fact, it does eventually happen, much later, in 2009 during the Messiah War crossover, over ten years after the initial story.

So once again we have another totally one-sided fight, making it hard to get excited about. Even harder to get excited about are the five pages of exposition that follow as Cable explains everything about Stryfe to Wolverine and Bishop. It’s definitely a necessary scene since Stryfe hadn’t really existed outside of the New Mutants and X-Force up until this point, yet it’s still really clunky and dull. The only real plot advancement in this issue is the escape of Cyclops and Jean Grey and the arrival of Apocalypse at the mansion.

I’m sure the X-Force staff also endeared their readers by having the eponymous team appear in their own book for a whole two pages. After this issue, Cable and Cannonball are the only two members to participate in the crossover, even the final issue that also happens to be an issue of X-Force. Oh well.

The art is once again very good and fits in perfectly with the styles of all the other X-books, sans X-Factor.

B-

X-Men #15

X-Men #15
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Andy Kubert

What Went Down:  Part 7 of the X-Cutioner’s Song. This issue starts off right where last issue ended: Reaper standing over the fallen Quicksilver and Gambit, about to deliver the killing blow. Fortunately for them, Psylocke and Havok show up and save them. Storm, Polaris, and Rogue are once again chasing Dragoness (even though they took her out in the last issue). Once again, they defeat her. Also, the fight is now taking place indoors, even though the fight was outside in X-Factor.

Cannonball and Boomer chase down brainwashed allies Rusty and Skids to capture. Before being apprehended, Skids breaks Boomer’s jaw, and a humorous scene proceeds with Boomer still talking despite the fact that nobody can understand her.

While fighting the army of MLF henchmen (now wearing armor suits, even though they weren’t last issue), Rogue is blinded by villain Strobe. This takes Rogue out of the crossover, and her blindness persists for a couple of months after the crossover ends. Iceman confronts Archangel about killing Kamikaze, but Warren just brushes it off as an accident. They agree to talk about it later, but to the best of my knowledge they never do.

Over in Canada, Bishop, Cable, and Wolverine are running from Department K airships. After they’re surrounded, Cable teleports them to his space station, Greymalkin.

Outside the mansion, Colossus is feeling sorry about the death of his brother, Mikhail. X-Factor’s Strong Guy brings him some coffee with whisky in it. Inside, the Beast and Moira are still stumped by the disease that Charles is infected with.

Stryfe is overseeing everyone from monitors in his base. Then he goes into Cyclops and Jean Grey’s cell and forces them to eat some brown goop that is supposed to be warm milk supplement. He drops some more hints about raising children, which indicate that he may be Nathan Summers, Cyclops’ lost son from the future.

After this, Stryfe decides that he needs to kill Apocalypse because he has a grudge against him, too; this also lends credence to the Nathan Summers theory since Apocalypse is the one who infected Nathan with the virus that made it necessary for Cyclops to send his son to the future. Stryfe easily defeats the Dark Riders and then breaks into Apocalypse’s chamber. Apocalypse has no idea who Stryfe is, but it is clear that both of them are about to fight before the issue ends.

How It Was: I’ll admit that this issue holds a special place in my heart since it was the first X-Men comic I ever got; special thanks to my mother for purchasing it at the A-Plus gas station back when I was eight years old. This comic is the one responsible for starting me off on a hobby that continues to consume what little money I have. Quite frankly, I still love this comic.

Trying to look objectively at the issue, outside of my own nostalgia, it isn’t particularly significant. It contains fights with not one, but two obscure C-list nineties super villain teams that are both defeated incredibly easily by their opponents. All that really happens is that the MLF are defeated and a couple of X-characters are knocked out of commission for the duration of the story. The pages spent on Cable’s team are a waste; it’s just two pages of filler before Cable decides to Easy Button the team to his base.

The only real tension in this issue comes from the Stryfe sections, and the fact that Professor X is still “dying,” although that hardly counts since everyone knew he was going to make it. Stryfe has a cool design, and I’ve always found him interesting even though most people probably see him as just whiny. I think he’s perfectly justified in feeling betrayed for being sent to a post-apocalyptic future to be raised in hardship, and I like the idea that Cyclops made the wrong call and turned his son into a petty, twisted super villain. Maybe it doesn’t come off as well in this story, but I always thought it had loads of story potential. Of course this was all before the X-offices decided to make Cable the true son of Cyclops, completely negating the purpose of Stryfe and forcing him into triviality.

The continuity between issues of the crossover could have used another editorial once over since many environment and character designs, as well as events, don’t match up with the previous issue. It’s nothing severe; it’s just annoying. Andy Kubert’s art looks really nice, especially his Iceman, Colossus, and Stryfe portrayals. Unfortunately, his penchant for drawing weird giant clouds of dust behind characters is also present: on the first page no less.

It’s really just an okay issue, but I like to think of it as an above average middle chapter. And it was obviously good enough to convince an eight year old kid to spend the next sixteen years of his life buying comics, so bonus points for that.

A-

X-Factor #85

X-Factor #85
Writer: Peter David
Art: Jae Lee

What Went Down: Part 6 of the X-Cutioner’s Song. It’s time for another round of Pointless Fighting Between Heroes. This week, Reason #32—one or more heroes thinks that another hero did something wrong when he didn’t. So right from the start, we know how the Bishop and Wolverine versus Cable fight is going to end; they’ll fight for an issue, then Cable will explain that he was not the one who shot Xavier, and they’ll believe it. And that is exactly what happens. There just isn’t much else to say about this plotline other than it’s a big flashy fight that lasts the whole issue.

For the rest of the issue we have X-Factor and the Gold Team, joined by the recently freed Cannonball and Boomer of X-Force, searching for the Mutant Liberation Front headquarters. Their method of search involves just going up to local townspeople and asking if they know where the MLF is. Surprisingly, this actually works and the townspeople attack the X-Group.

All the way in Switzerland, Apocalypse has stumbled across one of Cable’s safehouses… somehow. He muses that Cable’s guns are of the same technology as the alien spaceship where he received his own technology. He also wonders if Cable was once a member of X-Factor since they used to live on his ship.

During the fight with the random henchmen, the actual MLF shows up. Dragoness gets taken down by Storm, Polaris, and Rogue, which is strange because next issue she gets taken down again by the same three characters.

In a two page sequence that has some great atmosphere, Stryfe torments Cyclops by tricking him into shooting illusions of children and Jean. After Scott goes on a guilt trip, Stryfe knocks him out and taunts him.

In a pretty important scene, Archangel is busy fighting four armed mutant Forearm when MLF member Kamikaze comes up behind him and gets decapitated by his wings. Boomer finds the head and is reasonably grossed out.

In a non-crossover related storyline, the X-Patriots members chloroform one of Multiple Man’s doubles and escape from the hospital. I’m not really sure what happens after this because I never really read X-Factor.

The issue ends with Quicksilver saving Gambit from villain Wildchild and then getting ambushed by Reaper and stabbed in the leg. The reader is left to wonder if Quicksilver and Gambit will die next issue.

How It Was: Because you demanded it, lots and lots of fighting. But it’s all pretty good fighting, if fairly standard. Plus there’s a hero vs. hero fight, so you have to turn off that part of your brain that keeps pointing out that they could easily resolve the conflict by discussing their problems instead of just exchanging quips and threats. Nothing in the whole issue will really surprise you, other than Warren accidentally lobbing off D-list villain Kamikaze’s head. I know what you’re thinking with the name, but they make that joke in the comic, so I’m not going to touch it.

The art still isn’t my favorite, although there are some sequences that I do think work really well in the style. One panel within the Cyclops scene stands out as incredibly unique because only the yellow parts of his uniform are visible. More often than not, the character poses and expressions look very odd and unnatural; a panel with Bishop has him doing a half split/half squat while shooting an energy blast. All in all, it’s one of those styles that you’ll either love or hate.

It’s lots of action with some fairly forgettable villains. It does the job of moving the plot along, although the way it goes about doing it is rather questionable; the crew just happens upon the base and the henchmen of the MLF. This issue definitely suffers from being in the middle act since the plot can’t proceed too far in order to leave something for the end.

C+

Uncanny X-Men #295

Uncanny X-Men #295
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Art: Brandon Peterson

What Went Down: Part 5 of The X-Cutioner’s Song. Apocalypse isn’t doing too well since he was brought out of his healing chamber too early, yet despite the pain he is still climbing his way to his old base. When he finally reaches the building, he finds the Gold Team, Beast, and Quicksilver waiting for him with the unconscious Horsemen on the ground; evidently the X-Men beat up the other two Horsemen in between issues.

Back at the mansion, X-Force is being held prisoner down in the Danger Room, and Strong Guy is kicking Jubilee out for getting into an argument with Shatterstar. Polaris is up in the booth feeling sorry for them since they are just kids; Havok comes and comforts her.

Down in the medical lab, Moira is monitoring Charles’ life signs while Psylocke visits. Psylocke’s internal monologue explains that she intends to kill the Professor as an act of mercy to avoid the inevitable violation of his body and mind that is to come, but she is interrupted by a summons to the war room.

The Gold Team has a big fight with Apocalypse. Apparently Beast is all better from being turned into a starving weakling since he participates in the fight.

At Stryfe’s base, Jean Grey is being violated by hundreds of metal hands. She manages to escape, only to be knocked unconscious by Stryfe. Stryfe makes a bunch of vague allusions about abandoned children.

Over at the X-Men’s war room, Val Cooper briefs all of the teams on everything that has happened up until now. I guess the paper Sinister gave her had Stryfe’s picture on it, because Val also briefs them on the villain. Jubilee brings up the fact that Cable and Stryfe might be the same person, which seems to concern everyone.

Bishop and Wolverine managed to sneak out of the mansion to go to Canada. They are laying siege to Department K, a recurring antagonist for Cable, to find any files that might lead them to their prey. Bishop thanks Wolverine for trusting him enough to let him come, but Wolverine tells him he only did it because Bishop has a record, and he didn’t want to get any of the other X-Men in legal trouble.

Elsewhere, Colossus and Archangel have Apocalypse on the ropes, but he manages to reach a machine that repowers him. He decides that there is no honor in killing his enemies while they are unconscious, so he just teleports away.

In the mansion’s study, Havok and Gambit offer Cannonball an opportunity to help them hunt Cable or the bad guys responsible for this story. Sam agrees.

Finally, Cable shows up at Department K. He is happy to see that the facility is already under assault as it will make it easier for him to obtain the files he came for. That is until Bishop and Wolverine run into him, which cues the cliffhanger for next issue’s big fight.

How It Was: Very exciting: that’s one way to put it. The fight against Apocalypse is pretty cool. Because he’s depowered, the X-Men seem like they have a chance, which builds the tension a little bit. And of course, is there anything cooler than Bishop and Wolverine beating the tar out of anonymous solders? I think not. Yes, the toughest two characters from each of the X-Men squads finally get to team up and the results are action packed, although not necessarily epic.

As for the rest, Val’s little exposition sequence in the middle is kind of dry, but entirely necessary for those readers who don’t follow X-Force or Cable. And Psylocke’s attempt to euthanize the Professor just comes off as really weird, although it does set up her attitude for future stories.

This issue also sees the benching of X-Force. Other than Cannonball, Boomer, and Cable, none of the other X-Force members do anything of note for the rest of this story. That’s okay though because this crossover already has more than enough characters in it. Peterson’s art once again is decent, although there are a couple of slip ups. On page 9 Alex is wiping away a tear on Lorna, but her eye is drawn on her forehead to make it fit.

A fun little issue right before the halfway point.

B

X-Force #16

X-Force #16
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Greg Capullo

What Went Down: Part 4 of the X-Cutioner's Song.  X-Force, X-Factor, and the X-Men’s Blue Team start off by having a nice calm conversation about their differences…that lasts for an entire page. Then the big fight begins. X-Force gets the upper hand because they initialize the attack. Siryn also reveals that she had a relationship with Multiple Man (probably when they were both on Muir Island), although he doesn’t seem to remember. Eventually Wolverine stabs Shatterstar, and the rest of X-Force retreats.

Meanwhile the Gold Team, the Beast, and Quicksilver make their way to what they believe to be Apocalypse’s base by tracking Caliban through Cerebro. They are ambushed by two of the Horsemen, Famine and Caliban. Poor Beast gets hit by Famine and turns very skinny. The X-Men dispatch the Horsemen and discover a hologram of Mr. Sinister; the hologram tells them that he did kidnap Cyclops and Jean Grey and that Apocalypse is also involved in the plot.

At the mansion, Bishop blows a hole in Sinister’s head Terminator 2 style. Sinister overpowers him and Jubilee, then drops a piece of paper in front of Val with the identity of someone on it.

Cable is gathering a laughably large arsenal in his base so he can go after the person who assumed his identity.

In an unknown location, Cyclops and Jean are being dragged by the mutant with four arms named Forearm. The two X-Men wonder how they got in their uniforms, and then the main villain of the crossover reveals himself—it’s the Cable villain Stryfe.

Back in Texas, X-Force is running for their lives when Wolverine catches up with them. He delays them long enough for the rest of the X-Men to catch up. Then X-Force surrenders. The issue ends with Havok asking an important question, “What do we do now?”

How It Was: If you like X-Force fighting other mutant teams, than this is the crossover for you. The majority of the issue is given to a fight where X-Force is severely outnumbered. I guess from the perspective of the regular X-Force reader, this is a really interesting story because it’s the team you like against the odds. But if you’re normally just an X-Men reader like I am, than it’s just the X-Men overpowering a weaker force.

The other two plots keep the story moving. The problem is that the X-Men don’t do anything to further the plot; Sinister just tells them what they need to know for the story to continue. The Gold Team finds a hologram telling them what to do next, and then Sinister leaves a clue right in the mansion for everyone to see.

Also, besides the Bishop fight, we’ve already seen both of these fights before; there’s already been an X-Force fight and a Horsemen fight in this story, so that’s kind of disappointing. And the reveal of Stryfe is kind of ruined if you read X-Men #13 prior to this, although I’m not sure how much X-Force readers already knew about Stryfe.

This series is probably my only encounter with Greg Capullo’s art. The characters are nice and vibrant, but some of the expressions are pretty odd looking, such as Wolverine when he’s stabbing Shatterstar. Still, it’s a fast paced issue and once again the creative team does a good job of differentiating the characters and making sure they each have their moment to shine.

B

X-Men #14

X-Men #14
Writing: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Andy Kubert

What Went Down: Part 3 of the X-Cutioner’s Song. The Beast is running a series of tests on the Professor while Moira MacTaggert joins in via video conference; nobody brings up the inexplicable fit she had when she left in X-Men #4, so it’s pretty much forgotten. Since it’s early in the story, Beast and Moira are obviously stumped.

X-Factor and both X-Men teams meet to discuss strategy. It is decided that the Gold Team and Beast will look for Apocalypse while everybody else goes after X-Force. Bishop decides to stay behind to protect the Professor.

All the way in Panama Forearm and Reaper, two members of Stryfe’s Mutant Liberation Front or MLF, are waiting around for Mr. Sinister. Sinister shows up and trades them Cyclops and Jean for a mystery canister that Sinister says holds a piece of the future.

Over Texas, X-Force’s ship is going down due to the damage Havok caused last issue; how they managed to get from New York to Texas in a damaged ship is beyond me. They crash land and then begin the trek back to X-Force’s base.

All the way in Egypt, the Dark Riders are overseeing the reanimation of Apocalypse from his healing chamber. Too bad for him, they take him out too soon, as he’s not quite back to full power yet. The Dark Riders explain that his Horsemen have been acting under the control of another person.

The Blue Team and X-Factor are flying in the Blackbird, and they take the time to debate the philosophies of their respective teams and X-Force.

Up in space, Cable teleports to his spaceship Greymalkin after having time travelled somewhere. His computer, called the Professor, alerts him to the events of the story that have transpired.

Back at the mansion, Bishop is standing guard outside, and Jubilee brings him some food and coffee. He thanks her and then the alarm goes off. Bishop enters the mansion to find Mr. Sinister holding Val Cooper and Stevie Hunter hostage.

And finally X-Factor and the Blue Team disembark the plane only to be ambushed by X-Force for the issue long fight next issue.

How It Was: Andy Kubert started his tenure as regular artist on X-Men with this issue, and there was much rejoicing. Kubert was a pretty decent artist already at this point in his career, but he definitely improved over the next few years. Two nitpicks about him would be that his large group shots aren’t as sharp or detailed as they should be, and he has a tendency to draw huge clouds of smoke or dust in the background of his characters. In some spots it is appropriate, like after Cable transports in from his time machine; conversely, Bishop should not have a huge dust cloud following him when he is standing on the front lawn of the mansion.

This is pretty much an issue to setup where characters are supposed to go. Everyone gets assignments, but nothing really happens until later issues. That’s not necessarily a bad thing…since it’s a crossover; the story effectively comes out weekly, so it doesn’t have to move along as much as a monthly story would. On the other hand, since the X-Office was forcing you to buy four issues a month, it would’ve been nice if something important would happen every issue.

Random question that bothers me: Why is Stevie Hunter there? I know that she was Kitty Pryde’s dance instructor during the seventies and eighties, but I have no idea what she’s doing hanging around the mansion now. Surely it would make more sense to use a character like Charlotte Jones instead because she is more relevant to the current X-Men, and she’s a cop so she has a reason to be there.

It’s not a bad issue; it’s just that it’s only setting up more interesting stories.

C

X-Factor #84

X-Factor #84
Writer: Peter David
Art: Jae Lee

What Went Down: Part 2 of the X-Cutioner’s Song, and my first non-X-Men book review. Anywho, X-Force starts off the issue pretty perplexed after the events of last issue. They decide that they owe it to Cable to find out what’s going on, so Cannonball, Rictor, Boomer, and Feral go off to the crime scene to look for clues. Also, Sunspot is injured in this issue, but he’ll be better by the next issue of the story.

Professor X is rushed to the hospital with X-Factor and Val Cooper right behind. When they are barred from going into the emergency room, Wolfsbane scares some orderlies.

Storm and Bishop meet up with X-Factor in the waiting room. Quicksilver, Polaris, and Multiple Man are guarding a member of the X-Patriots in another hospital room (I’m unfamiliar with this storyline, so I can’t tell you much about it). Strong Guy and his girlfriend Jo Beth also show up; I am also unfamiliar with Jo Beth, but since she was nowhere to be seen in the previous issue, I believe that this is a continuity error. Strong Guy and Wolfsbane are dispatched to the crime scene to see if they can pick up Cable’s trail.

Archangel is moping around again, this time because he failed to save the Professor; at least he isn’t crying. Guido and Rahne arrive at the scene before X-Force, so they decide to hide. Wolfsbane approaches the team since most of them used to be her teammates in the New Mutants. Guido tries to arrest X-Force, and Cannonball offers Rahne a chance to join his team. She refuses because she doesn’t trust them.

A fight ensues. Quicksilver joins them, followed shortly by the rest of X-Factor. We also get our first Feral vs Wolfsbane fight, for you fans of similarly designed characters with different color schemes. Rictor shoots X-Factor’s plane out of the sky. X-Force gets away, but Havok is able to hit their plane with an energy blast. Right after X-Force escapes, the blue team shows up to ask if they can help. Alex asks where his brother is, and Wolverine is reluctant to tell him Scott’s been captured.

At the same time the Horsemen are delivering Scott and Jean to someone who looks like Apocalypse, but it is really Mr. Sinister in disguise.

The final scene has the doctor of the hospital explaining Xavier’s condition to some of the X-Men and Val…he has been infected with a techno virus. The X-Men decide to take him back to the mansion. Also, the New York hospital appears to have placed Xavier in a bacta tank from Star Wars; what ever happened to a normal hospital bed?

How It Was: The first thing that is going to jump out at you is Jae Lee’s art because it definitely stands out from your traditional Marvel House Style. It’s bold, heavily shadowed, and the characters’ features are pretty exaggerated. It’s not bad, but it’s not for me. While it’s definitely interesting to look at, the style makes a lot of the characters look older and some of the expressions just make them look maniacal; to me it almost gives off the tone of a horror book.

As for the story, it’s still chugging right along. We have our first of two battles with X-Force, some more villains are revealed, and it is revealed that the Professor has an incurable virus to cure. There is also a nice New Mutants reunion for the fans. Peter David’s strong suits were always character interaction and humor. Plus all of the characters get a chance to shine in this issue.

Definitely worth your time.

B+

Uncanny X-Men #294

Uncanny X-Men #294
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Art: Brandon Peterson

What Went Down: This comic marks the first issue of a twelve issue crossover event known as the X-Cutioner’s Song. To capitalize the significance of this storyline, Marvel packaged all of the issues in plastic bags with a trading card inside each, so that’s what you’re looking for if you want these comics in mint.

This first issue centers on a concert for the sake of brotherhood; Lila Cheney is the main performer, with Professor X taking an opportunity to address the audience on the topic of tolerance and race relations.

Archangel picks up his date Detective Charlotte Jones in a limousine; she is surprised that his skin is not blue because he is using a holographic image inducer.

Bishop is grumbling about security being impossible due to the sheer density of people at the concert. Rogue tells him to lighten up, and he apologizes for the pie incident in X-Men #8. Both of them are wearing ridiculous outfits to blend in as civilians.

Underneath the stage, two anti-mutant terrorists are planting a bomb, but both are killed by a man who looks as if he might be Cable, star of X-Force.

Cyclops is at Harry’s Hidaway, the local restaurant that the X-Men frequent. He is multitasking by both worrying about Wolverine after the death of his girlfriend Mariko and fantasizing about Psylocke. Regrettably for him, Jean walks in and realizes that he was thinking about Betsy, even though he tries to lie about it…to his girlfriend the telepath.

In some random grocery store, Colossus and Iceman are doing some shopping, and Bobby is taking the time to discuss how his girlfriend Opal wants to take a break. When he asks if Peter wants to talk about anything, Iceman gets the brush off.

Gambit and Storm have a moment where they acknowledge that they haven’t seen each other in a while and vow to make more of an effort.

At some hotel, X-Factor is watching the concert on a big screen. Madrox mocks former Lila Cheney bodyguard Strong Guy, who picks up the TV and leaves.

Cyclops and Jean Grey reconcile, but then they are attacked by Caliban, one of the Four Horseman of Apocalypse, and a former Morlock. Iceman and Colossus go to assist them, but they are intercepted by Famine and War.

Meanwhile, at the concert Xavier is giving a long speech about the importance of accepting people and not judging them for things that they cannot change; rather than politely sitting through it, the audience chooses to boo him, despite the fact that they are at a free concert. During the commotion, Cable shoots the Professor from within the crowd. Archangel flips out and attacks Cable in the middle of the audience, but Cable shoots him and injures his wing, then teleports away.

Cyclops tries to convince Caliban that Apocalypse is dead, but he defeats and captures the couple anyway and destroys the bar in the process. Colossus and Iceman fight the other Horsemen for a bit longer until they teleport away.

Finally, Cable’s team, X-Force, is trying to tune their TV to get the concert. Upon fixing it, they are all shocked to see the news reports about their leader shooting the Professor.

How It Was: A welcome beginning to the epic crossover. The X-Cutioner’s Song tries to do a lot of things over the span of its run. There are a lot of hints thrown around about Cable and Stryfe’s origin, some clues that it somehow all connects to Cyclops and Jean Grey, there is some stuff about Apocalypse, and three—count ‘em three super villain teams to beat. Plus there are four teams worth of characters to handle. It was a full plate for a relatively new X-creative office and they did a pretty admirable job. But on to the issue.

This issue has it all. There are a couple of the quiet character driven moments that Lobdell is so well known for, although none of these count among his best. The Gambit and Storm conversation seems like nothing but filler; however, it is nice to see Bishop be right for once. The appearance by Charlotte Jones in this issue is strange because she doesn’t appear at all in the rest of the story.

There are also some nice action scenes to break up the talking and they’re just right. They’re not too overblown to overshadow the rest of the story, yet they’re not too brief either.

Of course the heart of the story is Professor X getting shot, and the scene is done really well. The idea of being gunned down while delivering a message few are prepared to hear does heavily evoke MLK, but I think there is enough traditional comic book action to keep the story from getting too heavy. Plus we all know that they aren’t going to kill off Professor X after they just brought him back from space.

The art by Brandon Peterson is quite nice; he’s filling in until John Romita Jr. becomes the permanent penciler. My only qualms are that some of the designs for the X-Men’s street clothes look a little ridiculous; Rogue, for example, would have blended in more in her uniform as opposed to the yellow and pink spandex jumpsuit she is wearing.

A very nice start, to an action packed story.

B+

Intro to X-Cutioner's Song

It’s hard to believe I’ve already posted reviews for over a year’s worth of x-books; who knew my attention span was going to last this long? As some of you probably know, the next story in continuity is the massive twelve issue X-Cutioner’s Song that sees both X-Men books crossing over with X-Force and X-Factor. Despite the irritatingly annoying name, this is a pretty awesome story overall. However, if you are only a casual fan of the X-Men, then there are a lot of characters that I’m going to be writing about that you have no idea about. So here’s a brief description of X-Factor and X-Force.

X-Factor: This book actually began in the late eighties as a vehicle for the original X-Men to star in. In order to make this comic happen, Jean Grey was resurrected and Cyclops’ marriage to Madelyne Pryor was quickly and awkwardly abandoned. The stories revolved around X-Factor pretending to be mutant hunters, yet they were actually helping the mutants that they captured. The series was notable for introducing the villain Apocalypse and transforming Angel into Archangel.

After the original members of X-Factor rejoined the X-Men, the incredibly talented Peter David took over the book and focused it on a team of mutants working for the U.S. government under the supervision of Dr. Valerie Cooper. The team included former X-Man (and Cyclops’ brother) Havok as the leader, his girlfriend (and also a former X-Man) Polaris, the former New Mutant Wolfsbane, former Avenger and founding member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Quicksilver, and X-Men supporting characters/comic relief Strong Guy and Multiple Man. While it might not sound like the most exciting super hero book, David was able to get a lot of humor and personality out of the team.

X-Force: X-Force was a team composed mainly of former New Mutants. In case you don’t know who the New Mutants were, they were a group of teenaged mutants who lived in the mansion with the X-Men and were trained by Professor X and for a time Magneto. Basically they were the teen X-Men, or X-Men: The New Class. Anyway, the mutant Cable recruited them to fight for a world that feared and hated them, only in a more extreme and violent way. In practice, X-Force wasn’t that much more radical than the X-Men, other than the fact that a lot of the members carried large guns and swords; the present day iteration of X-Force is far more violent, but then again this book took place in the nineties, where there was still such a thing as the Comics Code.

The members of X-Force were Cable—a mutant telepath/telekinetic with a penchant for carrying big guns, a warrior who carried around double bladed swords named Shatterstar, a former member of the Hellions (and brother of Thunderbird, the first official X-Man to die in battle) Warpath, Wolfsbane ripoff Feral, and Siryn, who is the daughter of former X-Man Banshee. The rest of the members were former New Mutants: Cannonball, Boom Boom, Rictor, and Sunspot.

Hope this clears up any confusion, and sorry for those of you who already knew this for wasting your time. Feel free to ask any questions in the Comments Section, and I’ll get to them eventually.