X-Factor #126

X-Factor #126

Writing: Howard Mackie

Art: Stefano Raffaele

What Went Down:  Forge starts of this issue repaying Mystique and Sabretooth for saving him by painfully reactivating their inhibitors with technology around him.  They regroup with the rest of X-Factor to find that Havok and Random have been captured.  Polaris and Shard are left to guard the prisoners while the rest break up to look for Beast.

Mystique and Wild Child trade banter while overcoming some traps within the building, while Creed fights off some metal tendrils with Forge.  Forge deactivates them, and they continue on while Forge contemplates the series of strange orders Washington has been giving him, the most recent of which has been to work with Sabretooth.  Creed discovers the Beast hooked to manacles that shock him with every step taken on the floor.  Above, Fatale ambushes the two agents, but she is ambushed by Wild Child and knocked out. 

Outside, Polaris lectures Random for lying to her.  Random explains that Dark Beast was helping him control his powers and keeping him from becoming just a pile of goo.  In fact Dark Beast created the Random identity.  He also admits Dark Beast has been messing with Havok’s head. 

Once freed, Beast is eager to rejoin the X-Men to fight Onslaught.  Sabretooth notices that this Beast is actually Dark Beast.  Forge threatens to put Creed down, even though he acknowledges that Creed’s collar should be stopping him, and Wild Child confirms that it’s the Dark Beast.  Meanwhile Alex tricks Lorna into setting him free.  Random breaks out of his restraints in an attempt to save her from Havok.  Havok blasts Random, turning him to a puddle that oozes into the sewer.  Shard leaves Polaris to guard Havok while she goes after Random.  This gives Havok the perfect opportunity to knock out Polaris and admit his treachery. 

Back inside, Forge is still pointing a gun, convinced Sabretooth is attacking the real Beast.  Creed knocks down a wall, revealing the real Beast restrained in a different room.  Dark Beast still tries to convince Forge that he is the good one, but the original Hank McCoy attacks him and knocks him out. 

Shard returns to find Polaris unconscious and dying.  She gives CPR and tells Forge they need to get to the hospital.  Forge orders Fatale to teleport them all, and Dark Beast tells them to do it so that they can bid their time as prisoners, exactly where he wanted to be.

How It Was:  I’ve already written about how bizarre it is that the Beast/Dark Beast plot resolution appeared in, of all places, X-Factor.  So let’s forget about the randomness and ineptitude that lead to that decision and instead focus on the pay off.  After months of being held captive and chained up in a small room—after having dozens…potentially hundreds of people from his life, as well as innocent bystanders, murdered—Beast finally gets his payback on the cruel, sadistic version of himself.  So he kicks the villain once…and then the fight and issue are both over.  What??!!  It’s one thing to shunt the focus of the majority of this story to X-Factor, and Sabretooth and Mystique in particular, but to offer absolutely no satisfaction in the triumph of our hero who has been put through the ringer the last few months is the worst.  The absolute worst!  The only reason X-Men readers were picking up X-Factor was to see how Beast was rescued, and the abrupt and anticlimactic end robs the story of any sense of closure or gratification.  In fact Dark McCoy is gleeful to be captured, in regards to another conspiracy theory with no payoff.

Aside from the lousy Beast thread, nobody else comes out looking too great in this issue.  The plot decisions just seem antithetical to telling an interesting story.  The villains without restraints…that’s pretty cool, but it gets undone by the first page this issue.  Random’s betrayal…apparently he’s been working with Dark Beast since the beginning, retroactively tainting all his previous appearances.  Oh, and the tough bounty hunter is actually a teenager, which is a little weird and disappointing. 

If not for the Beast letdown, the worst offense would be the obvious ruse Havok uses on Polaris to get free, making her look all kinds of awful.  All she had to do was be patient and wait for the authorities to pick up the bad guys, but she frees Havok because…?  Similarly Forge refuses to believe both Sabretooth and Wild Child about Dark Beast, even though they have no reason to lie, and Creed’s inhibitor is letting him hurt the Beast.  Everything is just too predictable…it’s no fun if the audience expects what is going to happen.  It’s fun to have the villains pulling the strings, but not if the heroes are so obviously dumb that there’s no challenge or sense of tension. 

Completists Only

X-Factor #125

X-Factor #125

Writing: Howard Mackie

Art: Jeff Matsuda and Stefano Raffaele

These two issues take place prior to X-Men #55

What Went Down:  Dark Beast has taken Onslaught to his lab, and Onslaught is conducting a painful looking probe on McCoy.  Fatale tries to free her master, but fails miserably.  Former hero, and Cyclops’ brother, Havok shows up too, and Onslaught says he has plans for him.

Over at the Fall’s Edge base, X-Factor is being attacked by a training Sentinel that has somehow been reprogrammed.  Random suggests calling in the X-Men, but Forge orders Mystique to go free their “heavy-hitter” Sabretooth.  Mystique threatens to kill Sabretooth, but frees him anyway.  Both discuss how they are biding their time in X-Factor to fulfill their own agendas.  Creed mentions that Mystique might have feelings for Forge.  Suddenly Fatale appears and abducts both of them.  She also teleports the Sentinel away. 

Forge seems convinced one rogue Sentinel is more dangerous than a missing Mystique and Sabretooth, so he sets X-Factor to finding it.  Random tries to warn Polaris not to go on this mission.  Back at their base, the emergency transmission from Jean Grey warning about Onslaught plays for the empty room. 

X-Factor tracks the Sentinel’s signal to the abandoned Brand Corporation.  Havok and Fatale attack the team; Polaris is heartbroken that Alex has turned villain, while Random again tries to warn her away.  While Polaris shields everyone from Havok’s power, Random reveals that he is a traitor as well. 

Inside the Brand facility, Forge discovers an army of Sentinels.  He is attacked by someone off panel.  Outside, Polaris tries to reach Havok.  Fatale and Havok are about to kill the team, but Random protests about killing them.  Dark Beat appears to tell him the bargain has changed.  Forge and Onslaught’s henchman Post bursts through the wall, interrupting the proceedings and giving Polaris a chance to take out Havok.  Random tries to help Polaris, but Havok shoots him, revealing that Random is really a teenager.  Polaris again tries to reach Alex, and it appears to work; however, instead of trusting him, Polaris decides to knock him out.  Post grows bored and escapes, having succeeded in his mission to distract X-Factor long enough for the Sentinels to launch.

What Else Went Down:  The second story deals with what happens to Sabretooth and Mystique after being teleported.  After surviving a steep drop, the pair is confronted by the Dark Beast.  McCoy explains everything about Onslaught and holding his other self hostage.  Dark Beast wants them to join Onslaught, and offers to deactivate their inhibitors and let them kill Forge.  Mystique and Sabretooth consider it, but decide if they weren’t sanctioned operatives, they couldn’t use their positions for their own purposes. 

Sabretooth attacks Dark Beast; McCoy gets the upper hand, but Mystique uses her shape-shifting abilities to create pointy armor for herself.  Dark Beast almost kills both her and Forge, but Sabretooth saves them both and continues to fight.  Creed is about to kill him, but Forge stops him because they need information.  Dark Beast activates a teleporter, explaining that the real Beast will be dead before they can find him. 

How It Was:  A double-sized Onslaught tie-in issue.  How did I get so lucky?  After Peter David left X-Factor, the book struggled to find an identity.  No longer the quirky, funny book with the C-list X-Characters, it tried to become the edgy, violent book with C-list X-characters.  Too bad nobody at the X-offices realized that title was already called X-Force.  X-Factor’s attempt to stay interesting and relevant to fans was to have Mystique and Sabretooth recruited by the team and forced to work with more traditional mutant heroes. 

As for its attempt at ecking out its own identity, Mackie seems to be going the conspiracy angle with multiple characters having different conflicting goals and motivations, from the villains to the government funding X-Factor itself.  This is all well and good considering they are the government based X-team—why not introduce some X-Files like government conspiracies and political intrigue.  The problem of course exists that none of these motivations or conspiracies feel planned ahead; Sabretooth, Mystique, and Dark Beast all insist that they have specific reasons for the things they are doing, with no substantial hint as to what they might be.  Forge recognizes there might be strange motivations for including villains on the team, but again nothing is done with this. 

As an Onslaught tie-in, this story offers a unique opportunity to bring in new readers by showing how great and interesting the team is.  Instead we see a team that struggles to take down one Sentinel.  One!  And it’s a Sentinel that Forge was rebuilding.  Right off the start the X-Factor team isn’t looking great, especially when over in books like X-Men and Uncanny, the X-Men, Avengers, and FF are taking out Sentinels left and right by themselves. 

Another problem is how telegraphed the twists are.  Random warns Polaris twice that she shouldn’t go on the mission, and then we’re supposed to be surprised when he says he’s working for the villain of the issue?  None of this feels laid out or natural to the character as established.  Havok being a bad guy is interesting, since he is the character that became synonymous with X-Factor after the original X-Men left.  The downside is that his defection (at this point the story was that he was being brainwashed by Dark Beast) reduces Polaris to a simpering and whiny character that gets tiring after a while. 

This issue should feel bigger than it does: Post shows up for like four panels (?!), the Sentinels that attack New York are activated here, and Sabretooth and Mystique get their inhibitors deactivated.  Of course failing to stop the Sentinels makes the team look incompetent, and the other two things are quickly brushed to the side.  It feels like the plot is trying to cram in as many Onslaught related concepts in it as possible without actually contributing to or moving the story along in any meaningful way; of course, this was the main problem with the majority of Onslaught tie-ins.

Finally, we pick up on the captive Beast subplot that has appeared in all three X-Men titles.  Why the X-offices would choose to resolve this months’ long story in X-Factor is beyond me. None of the characters have a close connection with Hank; it just feels like the team had nothing better to do than resolve this plot line that has nothing to do with them.  Just some baffling choices.

Completists Only

X-Factor #130

X-Factor #130
Writing: Howard Mackie
Art: Eric Battle

What Went Down: Before I start, I just want to point out that the end of this issue is completely spoiled by the bottom left corner of the first page. If that’s not an indicator of the quality of a creative team, I don’t know what is?

Anywho, the issue starts off with Mystique performing target practice on a poster of her son Graydon Creed. Pyro is by her side, even though he was forcibly abducted in Uncanny X-Men #338. He asks her how they are going to complete their plan, and Mystique demonstrates that she has hacked her inhibitor collar to allow herself to morph into Val Cooper.

Val Cooper is at a hotel with Graydon Creed right before the election. Creed is insistent that he be allowed to perform his final speech even though he has received numerous death threats. Cooper tells him that he either has to accept X-Factor’s help or cancel the speech. The rest of the team bursts in through the window and starts searching for explosives; Creed is incredibly unhappy to see his psychotic father Sabretooth on the team. Creed’s bodyguards confront X-Factor, and Val and Forge recognize Cannonball as one of them. Forge demonstrates that Sabretooth has a collar that prevents him from getting too close to Graydon, so he reluctantly agrees.

Outside the rally, Val is ambushed by the real Val Cooper, and it is revealed that the one we’ve been following was Mystique. A group of protestors get into a riot with some of Creed’s supporters, and Mystique is able to slip away in the crowd. Val tells X-Factor to search for Mystique, and they catch her in disguise aiming a weapon at the presidential nominee. Polaris takes the gun, and Mystique is restrained and hauled away, even though she is claiming that she was trying to help.

Creed confronts his mother and tells the authorities to take her away, but the team insists on doing it themselves. In an armored truck, Mystique swears to Val that she was trying to save Creed, along with some vague mutterings about conspiracy theories in the government. Later, as Graydon Creed takes the stage, the X-Factor team spots Pyro in the crowd. Graydon Creed gets shot and incinerated. X-Factor captures Pyro and escapes, but they claim that Pyro and Mystique are innocent because their weapons turned out to be forcefield generators. Mystique even consoles Pyro by saying that they tried. On a computer screen, a mysterious text message appears claiming that Creed was the first, but Mystique is next.

How It Was: With the month of the actual election already past in the real world, the X-offices had to decide where exactly they were taking the “Creed runs for president” plotline. I can understand not wanting to have a fundamentalist racist as president of the Marvel Universe. This however stands as a good example of a neat idea that was not thought through all the way. While the fate of Creed is shocking, and it is understandable how the death of a presidential candidate would fuel anti-mutant sentiments, it is clear that the resolution of this thread hasn’t been created yet. So once again we get a couple of months of people talking about the assassination like it’s the major direction of all the X-books, and the influence of every villain, before it’s completely abandoned and forgotten about. Yes, it’s this old song again. If you’re curious, the identity of the assassin is actually revealed in Fabian Nicieza’s X-Men Forever mini-series from around 2000 or 2001. But enough about the ill preparedness of the X-offices, lets get onto the quality of the issue.

This is one of those events that should have happened in an X-Men book, but was probably editorially demanded to boost sales of the flagging X-Factor book. Not only does X-Factor come off looking really awful in this issue, there are a number of irregularities with what has already been established in the X-Men books. Uncanny #338 saw Pyro running for his life from “her”, who was obviously meant to be Mystique. This issue finds them working toward their goal mutually, and without the aid of Avalanche, who had been mentioned previously. Sam Guthrie does appear, but only in a one panel cameo as he’s recognized by Forge and Val; he literally has no impact on the story after months of set up, which couldn’t have been the initial plan. Realistically he gets pushed to the side because X-Factor has to be assigned to Creed at the last minute for this plot to make sense in an issue of X-Factor.

Then there is just the sheer ridiculousness of the plot structure. Mystique and Pyro are actually trying to save Creed, so they decide to hide in the crowd with force field weapons that look exactly like guns, and Mystique thinks the best way to accomplish her goal is to destroy what little trust her handlers have put in her and do everything herself. After she’s caught, she makes a halfhearted attempt to explain away the flaws in her plan as a contingency against some vast conspiracy, but what really comes off as stupid is how the members of X-Factor keep interrupting her as she’s trying to explain. And why did she even bother to take Val’s place in the first place? It’s just really silly how the script tries to add in all these twists that make no sense whatsoever. Even the sheer fact that the government would assign a mutant super hero team with two former terrorists on it to defend a presidential candidate strikes as pretty dumb. Yes that does fit into the vast conspiracy theory, but you’d think that Val or Forge might question this a little harder.

I didn’t read a lot of X-Factor during this period, but I have to say that this roster isn’t very interesting at all. Polaris seems to have nothing to do now that Havok has left the team. Forge and Val seem to have the same personality, while Wild Child just grunts a lot. Sabretooth does have some funny scenes where he mocks his son by pretending to be a proud father, but once again I have to question his purpose on a government super hero team. Mystique is super stoic, but you’d think she’d be a little more aggressive about saving her son if that was the initial storyline.

This is a legitimately interesting course for the X-Books to take; the execution is just forced and deviates too much from the initial setup. Worse is that the story feels like it has no real direction as red herring after red herring is introduced to try to build on the mystery of the assassin. And while this was a perfect opportunity for the Marvel offices to get people interested in X-Factor, I can’t say it does a very good job at that either. The characters just don’t do anything to make the audience care about them in this issue, and they don’t really have anything to do in the actual story. Overall it’s disappointing.

D-

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

X-Men: Prime

X-Men Prime
Writing: Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza
Art: I’m not writing seven names in here. Look it up somewhere else.

What Went Down: It’s been two weeks since the Legion Quest storyline. Jean is in the woods searching for Wolverine. Wolverine is staying in the woods partly because he broke his promise to the X-Men about not hurting Sabretooth and partly because this latest fight has unleashed more of his feral nature, and he’s having trouble controlling it.

In the mansion, Bishop is discussing recent nightmares that he’s been having; he doesn’t know that they are a side effect of the Age of Apocalypse storyline.

A man named Dennis, whose mutation is beginning to surface, is trying to get to the Xavier Institute in hopes of finding the X-Men. He stops at a diner to get some food.

In a newsroom, a man named Clay asks Beast’s girlfriend Trish Tilby if she’s sure she wants to air a story about the Legacy Virus.

At a damn in Wyoming, Forge is leading X-Factor on a mission that involves disarming a bomb and capturing the villain Mystique. Mystique is about to escape, but a mystery person, who I think is supposed to be Onslaught, attacks her.

Cyclops and Beast are making food when Bishop has a flashback to the A of A. Since Cyclops and Beast were both villains in that reality, Bishop attacks them, but then he realizes his mistake.

Inside the diner, Dennis gets nervous about the other customers possibly discovering he’s a mutant. Also, a woman named Marrow kills a homeless man. She announces that she is a former Morlock, and that she is lighting a candle to contact the very first of her people.

Back at the mansion, we learn that Gambit is in a coma after kissing Rogue during the crystal event. This also seems to have had an effect on Rogue since she’s run off on a road trip with Iceman. In Florida, she dances with a bunch of guys, but Iceman interrupts when he feels that they are getting too close to touching Rogue.

At that moment, Trish Tilby goes on air and breaks the story of the Legacy Virus and the fact that it has spread to a normal human, Moira Mactaggert. We get some response scenes from the Gen X kids, Senator Kelly, and Moira and Rory Campbell.

The customers in the diner became very agitated by the story, so Dennis decides to leave; the customers take note and decide to follow him because he might be a sick mutant.

The X-Men try to comfort Beast, but he is very distraught that his girlfriend has sold them out. Professor X tells Cyclops to contact Cable, but he is interrupted by a huge psychic event that affects both him and Psylocke. This event turns out to be the arrival of Nate Grey from the Age of the Apocalypse universe.

In England, a villain named Emplates visits a woman named Gayle Edgerton. He asks her about Chamber from Generation X. In New York, Dennis is running, but the mob of angry humans catches up to him. Dennis accidentally turns into a lizard person, which scares the mob into attacking him.

Professor X feels this attack, but he cannot pinpoint where it is coming from due to all the interference from Nate Grey’s arrival. Apparently X-Force has moved into Arcade’s headquarters, Murderworld. They are busy training when a self-destruct sequence activates, forcing the team to flee.

In the X-Factor storyline, Mystique tries to impersonate Val Cooper, but Forge figures out the ruse. The team is about to leave when Havok explodes.

In Genosha, Excalibur is searching for information about mutate acceleration with the first mutate ever. The Sugar Man is observing them, and he activates a device that incinerates the mutate. Sugar Man also announces that he has existed in our time for twenty years now.

Up in space, Colossus is leading a group of Acolytes to inspect a piece of space debris that unbeknownst to them turns out to be the frozen remains of Holocaust. Marrow signals the first Morlock, who turns out to be the Dark Beast from the AOA.

Xavier and Storm are trying to save Dennis, but they can’t find him. Because of his telepathy, Xavier can feel every injury Dennis receives. The X-Men find him, but they’re too late; Dennis is dead. Xavier gives a sad speech to end the issue.

How It Was: Presenting X-Men Prime: either because we’re back in the prime Marvel Universe, or because the X-Men are only divisible by one and themselves. Bad math jokes aside, this issue is pretty important because it sets the direction of the X-books for months and months to come. Well…at least for half of them. The rest of the scenes are basically filler to pad out the comic, since there are no ads, although the central X-Men storyline is solid and does a good job with the central themes of the book.

Since we’ve already established that the Legacy Virus is a blatant metaphor for the AIDS epidemic, the writers choose to center the book on the consequences of people learning about it. The fear, the hysteria, the unjustified hatred of people who have no control over their condition: this issue handles them all pretty well. And even though Dennis is a pretty boring, generic guy, the scene where Xavier feels every bruise and broken bone does build tension, empathy, and sympathy. The scene is very jarring in how it basically mirrors very real world current events where youths were beaten to death for being homosexuals. It’s a powerful moment that feels as relevant today as it did a decade ago, and I’m impressed that the writers were brave enough to not let the X-Men save the victim to emphasize the seriousness of prejudice.

Unfortunately, teasers for all of the other X-book storylines keep sporadically interrupting the main story. The other stories range in quality, but the major problem is that most of them don’t tie into the main story in any important or thematic way; they’re just shoved into random parts of the book. As for what we get, well there’s one page of Generation X sitting on the couch and two more pages that introduce a new villain, so completely unnecessary. X-Force’s new headquarters blows up, so they’re “exciting” new direction involves moving into the X-mansion with the X-Men for a while…yawn. However, X-Factor and Excalibur’s scenes seem to be very significant and do a good job of making the reader possibly want to buy those books.

As for the effects of the Age of Apocalypse, the characters from the reality are seemingly slipped into continuity in the most convenient and contrived ways possible. Sugar Man has actually been in the Marvel U for twenty years? What the heck was he doing that he’s chosen right after the crossover he debuted in to make his move. Having Dark Beast as the retroactive founder of the Morlocks is kind of interesting, but nothing is ever really done with this.

The art is a mess here. The scenes with the main X-Men are pretty good, but this definitely wasn’t Bryan Hitch’s best work, a lot of characters have noses that are too big, and Storm’s hair is the wrong color in her scenes for some reason. The worst art easily belongs to the scenes with Rogue and Iceman in the dance club; it looks like an art style better suited for a comic strip in a newspaper with all the awkward looking figures and expressions.

It’s hard to believe that there was a $5 comic in the 1990s, especially when the regular books were still being sold for $1.95. While there are some good sequences, most of the book feels tacked on and unnecessary. This definitely would have worked better if it had stuck to the PRIMEary X-Men (get it), but Marvel was trying to bring all the X-Teams closer together so more people would start buying the side books. With its gimmicky see-through lenticular cover and needless side scenes, this book represents some of the best and worst aspects of comic books in the 90s. Nevertheless, it’s worth a look if you can get it on the cheap like I did.

C+

X-Factor Annual #7

X-Factor Annual #7
Writing: Fabian Nicieza and Peter David
Art: Joe Quesada, Derrick Roberson, and Joe Madurieira

Update: Click Here for Part 4 of Shattershot.

What Went Down: The first six pages are dedicated to Mojo angrily recapping the story thus far and taking out his anger on his second in command, Major Domo. Note that the art is backwards, depicting the events of Uncanny when describing the X-Men issue and vice versa. It appears that even though the Death Sponsors failed in their task last issue, everyone assumed it was Mojo, so he has continued to lose favor with the people. He decides to contact Spiral and have her deal with Arize.

Since X-Factor doesn’t have a Danger Room, they don’t start the issue in the middle of a training session. Instead, we are given an overwrought scene where the team is preparing lunch, and none of the characters can open a jar of mayonnaise, including Strong Guy, who should have super strength, shouldn’t he? Anyway, the whole scene devolves into the team making a mess, and it’s all meant to be very funny, but it isn’t really. Val Cooper pops in to tell the team that they have a mission: they are going to hunt down Spiral because she has been spotted making trouble. Val feels responsible because Spiral was a member of Freedom Force, a government sponsored group of villains that Cooper was in charge of prior to the nationalization of X-Factor.

In case you were wondering what Arize was up to, he has been working out a plan to broadcast all of Earth’s television to the inhabitants of Mojoworld as an alternative to Mojo’s rule. At the same time, Spiral is threatening a group of villagers in order to discover Arize’s location. By the time X-Factor arrives, Spiral has set fire to the whole town.

Spiral teleports to Arize’s cabin and cuts the connection he was using. The whole time she blames him for some unspeakable evil. She attacks Arize, but Val interrupts and tries to talk Spiral down; she ends up shooting at Spiral. The rest of X-Factor joins the fight. After injuring Polaris, Havok flips out and blasts Spiral with a heck of an energy blast. Spiral is then given the chance to explain herself, so she tells her origin.

Spiral was once an Earth stuntwoman named Ricochet Rita. She fell in love with Longshot, followed him to his world, and learned that Longshot was known as the Fallen Messiah—meaning he was destined to perpetually fail over and over again. Mojo had Arize turn her into Spiral (in Arize’s future, but Spiral’s past), and then had her travel through time to push her past self towards Longshot, perpetuating the cycle, and driving Spiral insane. Arize expresses remorse and offers to help her finally put an end to Mojo’s rule. The future savior of that dimension is said to be Shatterstar, so Spiral and Arize travel to the future of Mojoworld together. X-Factor wonders if they should do anything, but decide that there is nothing they can do. Havok feels sorry that his former teammate is destined to always fail at his goal, but Val thinks that everybody can learn from his or her mistakes.

What Else Went Down: Val Cooper is overrun with paperwork, but she decides to put it off until the next day because she has tickets to a Salute to Motown concert. However she decides to stay and do her work after Multiple Man calls Val and impersonates President Bush. Val reluctantly gives the tickets to him and Wolfsbane and goes through all of the papers. After she finishes, a dragon made of papers attacks her. It chases her all over the office until she manages to get it into a paper shredder. Unfortunately, after she shreds it, the shreddings make up another monster that attacks her.

Jamie wakes up Val and tells her that he feels guilty about tricking her, revealing that Val was dreaming about the paper monsters. Val rewards his honesty by chasing him with scissors and a letter opener.

What Else Also Went Down: A young boy named Cal, who is obviously modeled after Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, is being bullied at school. He decides to go to Strong Guy’s house and hire him to be his bodyguard. After telling him his story, Cal convinces Guido to go intimidate the bullies for him. After giving the kids a good scare, Guido leaves.

A couple of weeks later, Strong Guy decides to check in on Cal, but he is shocked to discover that Cal is now the bully, threatening to sick Guido on anybody that doesn’t listen to him. Guido shakes him down and tells Cal that he doesn’t want to ever see him bullying again.

How It Was: Well… it’s something. I’ll start with the good. Joe Quesada’s art is very good; all of the panels have a nice sense of motion and action, so it’s a solid effort from Marvel’s future editor-in-chief. Also, the origin of Spiral is surprisingly gripping. At first it seems that she’s just out for revenge because Arize helped turn her into a freak of nature, but the fact that she is forced to relive her own downfall over and over again is actually a really interesting take on a character that controls time and space.

Now for the bad. As I stated before, the first two opening sequences are absolutely pointless and contribute very little to the overall story. But the major fault of this story is the boring fight that takes up most of the issue. I know before I complained about villains being one dimensional, and Spiral definitely isn’t. The main problem is that Spiral is outnumbered by six, and the fight is completely one sided. There’s just not a lot she can do against characters like Strong Guy, Quicksilver, and Havok. Furthermore, Arize’s plan to free people of Mojo’s signal seemed pretty dumb since Earth TV is just as monotonous and insubstantial as anything that Mojo could show.

Unlike the other issues, the back-up strips are actually better than the main story. Peter David’s humor is always what made X-Factor work, whether it’s with Madrox impersonating George Bush or Cal’s great line at the end of his story, David has a lot of fun with these quick, silly tales. They are by no means his greatest work, but they are a lot better to read than any part of Shattershot or any of the other mini stories thus far.

C-

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-

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+

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.