Answers (And Questions)
Credits: Rob Liefeld (plot), Fabian Nicieza (script), Mark Pacella (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Dana Moreshead (colors)
Summary
Gideon explains to the other Externals (Saul, Nicodemus, Burke, and Absalom) that he knows who the new High-Lord is and how to retrieve him. Meanwhile, Stryfe unmasks in front of Kane, taking off his helmet to reveal Cable’s face. Stryfe knocks Kane out and teleports him back to Department K’s headquarters. Kane is convinced that Cable is Stryfe, and is determined to stop him. Department K teams Kane up with Rictor. Elsewhere, Tolliver sends Deadpool on a mission to retrieve Domino.
I Love the ‘90s
Marvel has an ad asking readers for their opinions on16 bit video games. Some of the questions include “Will you continue to buy 8 bit games?” and “Do other people ask your advice about which games to buy?” It’s a very dull looking text ad that I just read for the first time. You would think that Marvel would’ve at least pasted Spider-Man somewhere on the page. As I kid, I completely skipped over this ad. If you participate in the survey, you could win 16-bit games like “Super Castlevania IV”.
Continuity Notes
Cable’s arm has a little flap that opens up to reveal circuitry inside.
“External” is another term for “High-Lord”. In the long run, the word “External” won out.
Kane refers to a fight between Cable and Stryfe that happened seven years ago. He also says that he’s endured “seven years of hurt”. I’m pretty sure that this mystery is resolved in the Cable mini-series.
“Huh?” Moments
Cable explains to Cannonball that he’s an immortal High-Lord. One page later, Cable claims that High-Lords can die; they’re just hard to kill. That’s not very immortal.
Kane quotes “Get-Into-The-Groove” again. This is his fourth appearance and the third time he’s used that stupid catchphrase. It’s like he’s in a SNL skit or something.
Review
Another issue that mainly serves to set up future storylines. It’s not as bad as #5, since some of the ongoing storylines are getting resolved and there is a sense that the story is actually moving. It is amusing to read an entire issue about Cannonball and the Externals knowing that Marvel would soon dismiss this idea. This is Mark Pacella’s first full issue as penciler. Rob Liefeld never returns as artist, so Pacella sticks around for a few issues to do an impression of his style. This issue looks exactly like the comics Extreme Studios would soon be doing for Image, without the computer coloring. Pacella shares Liefeld’s aversion to drawing pupils and his shaky grasp of anatomy (Cable is about twelve heads tall on page eleven). I don’t know if Pacella is someone with his own style who was drafted into doing a Liefeld impression, like Herb Trimpe, or if he really wanted to draw this way.
Fabian Nicieza’s script improves over the previous issues, probably because he’s given more than just a fight scene to dialogue. He’s able to convey personalities for most of the Externals in a few pages, and does a decent job with Cannonball’s reaction to his own death and immortality. Unfortunately, Cannonball is drawn without pupils for the entire scene, which undermines any attempt to make you care about his reaction.
I was raised on 90's x-men stuff.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog you have here. Although the majority is crap I still have fond memories of these X-comics. In retrospect Peter David's X-factor is by far the best that came out at the time. It's an important decade in my collecting comics. After X-comics I grazed my attention on Image. Still buying Savage Dragon though.
Oh God, the Pacella run. At least during Liefeld's tenure, you could follow the artistic storytelling and Nicieza's plot would dance a bit. But from now until the Song, it's just one big muddy mess. See, this is where I think the Externals become such a big deal; because the rest of the threads are either a pointless-in-their-own-title X-Force or an unengaging and indecipherable Cable/Tolliver rigamarole (well, and Stryfe, but it soon becomes obvious he's being saved for the crossover), the Externals are the only thing left in the book to get excited about.
ReplyDeleteAmazing that I never noticed how annoying Kane was. The first time 'round, I think he was my favorite character in the book next to Sam. BTW, does Garrison EVER encounter the team whose title he hijacked?
I never read X-Force outside of a few crossover issues for the Fatal Attractions story, and boy, it looks like I made the right call on that move! This series sounds like a hoot, thank you so much for giving those of us who never sampled it some insight.
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