X-Men '96 Annual

X-Men ’96 Annual
Writing: Larry Hama
Art: Roberto Flores and Anthony Castrillo

What Went Down: After the Onslaught crossover, the X-Men have decided to hold a cookout/get together with the members of X-Force and Generation X. The issue starts with them playing a friendly game of baseball. Storm is about to come in for a grand slam when the group spots a Sentinel and attacks it. The Sentinel doesn’t put up much of a fight and slams into some nearby powerlines. The robot claims that it was on its way to warn the heroes; it turns out it was an unarmed surveillance unit that learned to feel because of its advanced computer processor. After Onslaught took over the Sentinels, it broke away and managed to observe Xavier turning himself over to Val Cooper in X-Men #57. It’s about to warn humanity about some great threat before shutting down.

Jubilee stares right into the robot’s eyes as it dies; it tells everyone that it’s afraid. Jubilee feels sad because they killed a sentient being, and it reminds her of the Sentinels that learned to feel in Wolverine #73-74. Cable mentions that it was a robot programmed to hunt mutants, and he and Wolverine break into a fight about how not empathetic Cable is. The fight spreads to the various teammates, but Cyclops breaks it up and tells everyone how important it is that they stay together. Storm brings up honoring Professor X’s teachings, and Caliban makes an awkward speech about Professor X loving all of them.

The next sequence takes place at the pool as Cannonball tries to videotape the various heroes lounging around; most of the X-crew harass him or tell him to blow off. After falling into the pool, Joseph offers to help Cannonball, but the youth acts skittish around him because of his past as Magneto. Later the teams cook up some food and there is a three-page sequence that involves a ping-pong ball landing in potato salad and getting sucked clean…no, really. Domino also tells the girls of Gen-X that they are going to need to grow up fast. The members of X-Force ask Cannonball about Wolverine’s ordeal that resulted in him killing Genesis. Wolverine apologizes to Cable for killing Genesis, who was really his son Tyler, and the two share a beer.

Later all three teams gather for a group photo; Gateway even shows up for the picture. A bunch of energy users are flown up into the air for a fireworks show. Jean and Cable offer to join all the mutants in a superficial telepathic mind-meld to share all the positive feelings between teammates without revealing any personal secrets. Nobody refuses the mind-meld, and the mutants go inside after it’s done.

How It Was: Well the cover promises “sixty-four pages of all-out X-Men action,” and…it’s a complete and utter lie. Really there are like two pages of all out action, and the other sixty-two pages are the various members of the X-Men, X-Force, and Generation X participating in summer activities and talking about any recent storylines that Larry Hama has taken part in, i.e. Onslaught and the Wolverine/Genesis fight. The Sentinel fight is very brief and inconsequential; we never find out what the robot was warning them about (probably something to do with Operation: Zero Tolerance), Jubilee cries over it and brings up a two year old story from Wolverine, and then everyone literally forgets about it like it was nothing. It’s pretty bad when the characters themselves don’t even care enough to follow up on lazy plotting.

The rest of the book is just the various X-characters hanging out and talking, and it gets pretty dull. Granted Hama has a cast of about thirty mutants in this book, and he manages to keep their voices unique and give each of them something to say or do. But most of this is reiterating recent plot points, like that Joseph and Gambit don’t get along, or that everyone is sad that the heroes died during Onslaught.

Wolverine does apologize to Cable for killing his son, so that feels pretty significant, but the rest of this is just fluff. Adequately written fluff mind you, but fluff nonetheless. Then again, it is kind of nice to see the characters get a chance to be less serious, since the last couple of years have been Legacy Virus, Age of Apocalypse, and Xavier going insane. It’s just too much doing nothing, and a lot of it is humor that misfires: like why is Monet so disgusted that the ping-pong ball fell in potato salad? It’s just potato salad; it’s perfectly okay to eat, isn’t it. Plus it always irks me that Excalibur doesn’t get invited since there are a lot of former X-Men on that team; X-Factor makes a little more sense since Sabretooth and Mystique are members of that team, but it’s still a sad state of affairs when you have to pick and choose who you have at your X-Reunion. All in all it has a few moments, but it is really unnecessary unless you’re a huge fan of super heroes having fun in the sun.

D

X-Force #55

X-Force #55
Writing: Jeph Loeb
Art: Adam Pollina

What Went Down: We open on Shatterstar holding Meltdown, formerly Boom Boom, right above one of the SHIELD Hellicarrier’s engines. She throws a time-bomb in and counts it down. On the bridge, Dum-Dum Dugan is in charge; G.W. Bridge is currently running SHIELD because I believe Nick Fury died over in the Hulk series. Anyway, alarms start going off and Dugan starts yelling at people. A shadowy figure tells Dugan that he’ll take care of it and that mutants fall under his jurisdiction. Contessa Valentina shows up to tell Dugan not to freak out.

In other parts of the Hellicarrier, different squads of X-Force members break in. Cable is teamed with Caliban, who is tasked with locating a particular mutant. Cable brings up some recent X-Force events while they walk. Domino and Siryn discover a load of invisible lasers, but Dom is able to use her luck powers to avoid them while shooting out all the weapons emplacements.

Meltdown and Shatterstar are attacked by some SHIELD troops, but Meltdown discovers they’re all LMDs, so they can use lethal force on the robots. After defeating them, Tabitha searches the ship’s databases and discovers that Sabretooth is still alive, but his location is classified. She blows up the computer because she is still angry about Sabretooth’s betrayal of her sympathies.

Back on the bridge, Dum-Dum yells at his people some more. As X-Force makes their way through the ship, they tear out a variety of systems. Caliban leads Cable to a big round door, saying they’re objective is behind it. Cable contacts the rest of the team to meet them there, and they proceed to combine they’re powers to open the door. Inside, they find Cyclops strapped to a machine. Also, SHIELD has surrounded X-Force while they were opening the door.

G.W. Bridge appears to tell X-Force that Cyclops is a prisoner of the U.S. government. The team pretends to surrender, but Cable uses his powers to free Cyclops of his headpiece allowing him to take out all the SHIELD soldiers with his optic blasts. Bridge is the only one left standing, so Cable punches him out. The team escapes, and Jean Grey picks them all up in a jet. She shares a kiss with Cyclops afterwards.

In an epilogue, Warpath is enjoying a relaxing beach vacation with Risque after disappearing during a battle in a previous issue. The cliffhanger is that he doesn’t know if he wants to leave Risque to rejoin the team.

How It Was: Well, this feels like an unnecessary detour. Granted, it’s not taking up an X-Men issue, but it’s still hard to see why any of this was necessary. We never get to find out why the Friends of Humanity turn Cyclops over to SHIELD or what Kelly’s huge secret was. I also can’t picture X-Force fans being thrilled about having all the book’s plot lines derailed for a meaningless crossover with Uncanny X-Men.

Still, parts of this story still work as a kind of big, dumb heist caper. It’s nice to see the members of X-Force working together to infiltrate the ship so effectively, and there’s some decent action and interactions. Since I’m primarily an X-Men fan, it’s nice to see Meltdown following up on Sabretooth since that’s one of the few character arcs I’m familiar with. Almost everyone clearly has one or two subplots they’re going through, which is nice, but I get the distinct feeling that none of them are furthered with this issue. Also, I don’t like how Domino’s power becomes a plot device to easily overcome any obstacle.

The main problems come from the fact that the whole issue is dedicated to solely rescuing Cyclops and the incompetent portrayal of SHIELD. Yes there is some alluding to factional infighting within the organization, but SHIELD still comes off as being run by a bunch of idiots, which is usually the case when they’re in any book other than they’re own. All Dum-Dum Dugan does is yell for the whole issue, and as far as being worthless goes, the same goes for G.W. Bridge. It’s exciting to see that Bastion might get involved, but then he disappears after the beginning of the book and nothing comes of his telling off Dugan at all.

This is not really where the story in Uncanny #333 needed to go. It feels like a needless distraction for X-Force, and it’s hard to get excited about SHIELD in the 90s without Nick Fury. This feels like a competent team book, but it turns out to be nothing special, which is a shame since this was a golden opportunity to gain more readers. You can almost feel how hard this series wants to be X-Men with the logo at the top of the cover, or at the very least recapture its initial popularity.

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-Force Annual #1

I know I reviewed the majority of Shattershot months ago, but I just got the final issue through the mail over Christmas break. Mile High Comics rocks! So for your reading enjoyment, I present this summary of the conclusion to that story.  For the previous parts click here.

X-Force Annual #1
Writing: Fabian Nicieza, Gavin Curtis, and Dan Slott
Art: Greg Capullo, Gavin Curtis, and Sandu Florea

What Went Down: Shattershot Part 4: Instead of getting an immediate resolution to Arize’s story, this issue takes us a couple of decades into the future. A group known as the Freeman Armed Network is engaged in combat with a group of spineless ones, members of the same race as Mojo. This battle turns out to be a gladiator style performance for an audience on Mojoworld. The spineless ones are killed, and we discover that the new ruler of Mojoworld is Shatterstar, a member of X-Force in the present. Shatterstar has been the master programmer for a decade, after overthrowing Mojo V, but he is frustrated that he has essentially replaced Mojo’s rule with an equally barbaric one, except this time the spineless ones are the persecuted race instead of the humans.

Outside Xavier’s mansion (in the future, mind you), Arize and two spineless ones named Milton and Shecky teleport in. They are looking to acquire X-Force’s help in overthrowing Shatterstar’s reign. Because the spineless ones were formerly enemies, X-Force attacks them, and we get introductions to the future members of X-Force. The team consists of Cannonball, Siryn, Sunspot, Cyberlock—a combination of the deceased characters Cypher and Warlock, Darkchylde—a grown up Illyana Rasputin, and Powerpax—a descendent of the siblings that make up Power Pack. The team beats on the rebels until they realize their ally Arize is one of them. At the Freeman Network, Shatterstar and his scheduler discuss the missing Arize.

Back at the mansion, using an interface with Cyberlock, Arize shows the history of Mojoworld up to this point. It turns out that the signal he was trying to broadcast in previous issues of Shattershot became distorted through time and space and served as a catalyst for driving his people insane. Later, the group traveled into the future to depose Mojo V and Shatterstar was put in place as the ruler of Mojoworld. The Spineless One rebels are now striving for true equality and democracy, something that interests X-Force very much.

In Mojoworld, the Scheduler plots to kill Shatterstar. Elsewhere, X-Force sneaks into the coliseum. As the battle commences, a mysterious helmeted stranger joins the rebel side and helps to defeat the Freemen. After winning the battle, the stranger reveals himself to be Arize. The Scheduler tries to have him arrested, but X-Force gets in the guards’ way, allowing Arize to speak to his people. As Shatterstar tries to speak reason to his people, the Scheduler pushes him off of the balcony. It’s okay though, because Shatterstar is fine, despite landing on his head.

X-Force fights the Freemen, with Shatterstar joining in the effort. The Scheduler injures Arize with an axe, but Shatterstar defeats her, and then spares her life. Arize gives a nice speech about tolerance and the entire crowd cheers. A hooded individual pulls down his hood and reveals himself to be an elderly Longshot, smiling because he is seeing the fulfillment of his dream after so long.

What Else Went Down: The Wiz Kid, Artie, and Leech are at a private school playing. Taki, the Wiz Kid, has used his amazing technical know how to make TIE Fighters and a lightsaber out of Legos. When the teacher, Mrs. Huntington comes in, Taki turns off the Legos, but the teacher notices the mess and scolds the mutants. Taki has a crush on his teacher, and dutifully brings her the Legos after cleaning them up.

Mrs. Huntington gives Taki a lecture on the responsibility of his powers, then her boyfriend Patrick shows up. Taki is insanely jealous. During the night, he discovers Patrick going through the school’s files and talking to someone on the phone about eliminating filthy mutants. Artie, Leech, and Taki follow Patrick in a hovercraft made from the Wiz Kid’s wheel chair.

The children discover an anti-mutant group and Leech falls out of the hovercraft. While the racists shoot bullets at them, Taki grabs the stolen files just in time for the police to show up. Patrick and his friends are arrested and Mrs. Huntington learns that she was being used. The next day Taki offers himself as a potential future boyfriend in a couple of years.

What Else Also Went Down: Cable assembles his team X-Force for a test of sorts. On the screen he displays the various villains that X-Force has fought and asks different members of the team who they are and how to best defeat them. If this sounds really similar to the list of villains story in the X-Men Annual, well it is.

Anyway, the villains mentioned include: Masque, Garrison Kane, Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut, G.W. Bridge, Deadpool, The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Sunspot and Gideon, Proteus, Stryfe, and the X-Men. The team gets mad at Cable for the inclusion of Sunspot and the X-Men and they all storm out. Domino asks Cable what he was thinking, and Cable insists that his dream and Xavier’s dream are different and that he is trying to win a war.

How It Was: Well…it’s definitely an ending that I didn’t expect. The conclusion of Shattershot goes for a curve ball, and instead of concluding the story, it jumps to an alternate future to show Shatterstar replacing Mojo. It’s a very odd way to resolve Arize’s story. I usually enjoy alternate future/dimension stories, but this one doesn’t use the concept to the fullest. The beauty of the alternate reality is that anything can happen, and in this issue not a lot of anything happens.

The set up itself is okay. Having Shatterstar become what he has always fought against, an oppressive ruler that reinforces prejudice, is interesting, but the writing doesn’t really support this idea. Shatterstar obviously questions the oppression of the spineless ones, so it doesn’t really make sense as to why he’s allowed it to go on for a decade. The X-Force team is pretty cool and has some neat surprises on the roster. It’s a treat for fans to see a grown Illyana, a member of Power Pack, and Doug Ramsey/Warlock on the team. Unfortunately none of the members get any real characterization, and really the members of the team act as guest stars here in their own book. Shatterstar and Arize take center stage and do all of the work, leaving X-Force to stand around, fight a little, and comment out loud on what is happening.

Arize does get to step up as a fighter (complete with what looks like a lightsaber) and it is good to see him actually doing something in his own story. Really he has become an Xavier like figure for the Mojoworld, but it still works as a continuation of the evolution he went through in the first three issues. As for the villains, the Scheduler is pretty one-dimensional and the Freemen Network hardly puts up a fight. What makes this story laughable is that the ruling army has been in power for a decade, and it takes X-Force and Arize about five minutes to overthrow them. It makes you wonder why Arize waited so long at all. So a pathetic threat and an underutilized team that had potential make this one to skip.

As for the back ups, I would love to know who at Marvel decided to put a Wiz Kid story in the back of an annual of X-Force, the supposedly more edgier X-team. These characters all used to appear in the old X-Factor, and they sure are cheesy; I’m talking like Silver Age cheesy. The idea that three kids could overthrow some kind of mutant hate group probably means that the members weren’t all that competent to begin with. This kind of kiddy story is almost embarrassing to read; it’s got that kind of awkward, saccharine sweet tone to it that nobody but really young kids and the hardest of hard core fans could like.

As for the last story, Dan Slott writes the exact same story that he wrote in X-Men Annual #1. Sure the execution is slightly, and I mean slightly different, but the story concept was never really that strong to begin with. It’s not even really a story, it's a load of exposition that reads more like a series of trading cards than a narrative. And the end is really awful, since it involves Cable insisting that his vision is a complete departure from Xavier’s, when in practice it is the exact thing. Also the artist draws an uber-exagerated Cable with shoulders that he could rest televisions on. It looks really, really stupid. So to sum it up, three awful stories make for one obscure issue that isn’t really worth it unless you are a huuuuuuge fan.

D

X-Force #19

X-Force #19
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Greg Capullo


I know I usually only do books directly affecting the X-Men, but I just came upon this little gem at a moving sale, and it ties in pretty well to the X-Cutioner’s Song events. Plus I figure I owe my readers for taking a month break.

What Went Down: Boomer starts off by utilizing the X-Men’s advanced Shiar technology to make a new costume. Her broken jaw (that she received during the X-Cutioner’s Song) seems to have pretty much healed since she spends the scene talking to herself in the mirror. Lila Cheney takes the opportunity to confront her and explain that she no longer has feelings for Cannonball, and Boomer is free to ask him out.

Sunspot and Stevie Hunter have a talk outside about Roberto’s frustrations over his recent behavior and new powers. This doesn’t really matter unless you’re reading X-Force regularly.

Feral, Rictor, and Shatterstar spend the evening in the Danger Room while discussing the death of their leader, Cable, and their potential arrest. Feral is insistent that she’s not going to prison, no matter what. Beast observes them and comments on their savagery and lack of ethics.

Warpath and Siryn sneak into the X-Men’s war room and copy a lot of files, but Xavier is monitoring them the whole time.

Cannonball confronts Xavier about letting X-Force go. This is followed by a one-page subplot about supporting character Copycat being ill.

Cut to the SHIELD helicarrier where G.W. Bridge resigns to Henry Gyrich over X-Force’s involvement in a theft (probably in recent issues).

Back at the mansion, Boomer makes new costumes for the rest of the team. Siryn and Xavier have a heart to heart outside while Cannonball talks with Sunspot and searches through some leaves.

Sam once again confronts the Professor. This time, utilizing both a field mouse he found in the leaves and a metaphor about an open hand and a closed fist, Sam convinces Xavier to let them leave. Outside, Feral kills the mouse Sam used to prove his point and eats it.

Lila Cheney makes a teleportation portal to send X-Force back to their base. Before Cannonball leaves, Xavier reveals the war room theft to Cannonball and wishes him good luck.

How It Was: Presenting X-Force, minus Cable. Yeah, it doesn’t sound too promising to me either, but Nicieza gives a go at presenting the team without their driving force. This issue is a pretty mixed bag; it offers some interesting character moments and some potentially interesting subplots, but there are a lot of dull moments as well. The scenes with Sunspot are particularly boring as I can only assume he is using Stevie to remind readers of everything that happened to him prior to X-Cutioner’s Song. Also, what’s up with the X-Men having a machine that designs clothing? If they own such a machine, why do they shop at all? While Tabitha’s crush on Cannonball and her animosity towards Lila get resolved a little, it seems like a waste just to have her make new clothes for everybody. And some of the costumes are horribly dated: I’m looking at you Warpath—not only do you dress like an Indian, you want to add fringe to that look?

What works in this issue is Cannonball. This is a real coming of age issue for him. Not only does he stand up to Xavier, but he also calls him out for leaving the New Mutants under the charge of Magneto. It’s wonderful to see Cable’s influence rub off on Sam, and Nicieza sets him up really well as a potential successor to Cable’s leadership. It’s issues like this that make Cannonball’s recruitment by the X-Men years later all the harder to swallow as later he is portrayed as an awkward, intimidated wuss. If those creators had read this issue before writing those stories, I can only imagine how much better they would have turned out. I also like how Sam is being set up as the good intentioned leader of a group that he may not be able to trust because they are morally and ethically compromised.

Capullo’s art is really nice, although his Danger Room doesn’t show enough of the room to let the reader really know what is going on. And of course, I guess he deserves some of the blame for those costumes. A mediocre issue brought up by a strong portrayal of Cannonball.

B-

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-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-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.