UNCANNY X-MEN #337 – October 1996

Know thy Enemy
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Joe Madureira (penciler), Townsend & Russell (inkers), Comicraft (lettering), Steve Buccellato & Team Bucce! (colors)

Summary: Wolverine tries to reassure Professor Xavier, who is distraught in the wake of Onslaught’s destruction. Meanwhile, Bastion watches on as Graydon Creed makes a campaign stop in Central Park, where the heroes sacrificed themselves to stop Onslaught. J. Jonah Jameson is intrigued by Creed’s anger, and decides to look into his past. Bastion returns to his base, where his men are examining the Sentinels controlled by Onslaught. At the mansion, Phoenix comforts Quicksilver, who lost his wife and sister to Onslaught. The team gathers for breakfast, hoping that Xavier will join them. Wolverine enters, telling them that Xavier wants to be alone. The team tries to move on and continues with their meal.

Continuity Notes: A narrative caption says that Bastion remembers, “staring into the eyes of his creator…and knowing fully…his reason for being”. One of Bastion’s aides is a shapechanger named Harper. Bastion slaps him for imitating his appearance and tells him to get back to work. I don’t recall if Harper appears again, or is given any type of an origin.

I Love the ‘90s: Beast offers “a google thank yous” to Cyclops, which had a different meaning in those faraway days. There’s also an ad for the Crash Bandicoot video game that promises you a “free alternative music CD” if you preorder his Playstation game. That’s pretty ‘90s.

Review: This is another quiet, talkative post-crossover issue. Xavier understandably receives much of the focus, as Lobdell pairs him with Wolverine for an extended conversation scene. These two character rarely interacted in this era, which is too bad since Lobdell seems to understand their relationship well. Wolverine’s changed the most since joining the X-Men, which proves that the example Xavier has set has merit (Although, judging by spoilers I’ve read online, it’s been revealed that Xavier mentally coerced Wolverine into changing. They really can’t let go of this, can they?). Lobdell doesn’t go for a pat ending, refusing to confirm if Wolverine’s talk with Xavier had any impact on him. It’s a well-written scene that actually works as a coda to the preceding storyline. Some of these post-crossover chats come across as excuses to kill time, but this is a scene that had to be done after the Onslaught story was over, and Wolverine is a good choice to act as Xavier’s foil and reassure him that his work has meaning.

The remaining character moments are hit or miss. I don’t really care for the slapstick scene between Cyclops, Beast, and Iceman, but Gambit’s jealousy over Magneto’s second chance as Joseph is nicely conveyed. The scene with J. Jonah Jameson is an early attempt on Bob Harras’ part for a more integrated Marvel Universe, but it doesn’t go very far. The Bastion scene reads like the thousand other brief and cryptic subplots that have cropped up over the years, so it’s hard to care too much about it. Overall, this is one of the stronger quiet issues, and Madureira’s art is still nice (although the tiny head he gives Beast in one panel is even more egregious than some of Liefeld’s anatomy blunders).