X-MEN #68 – October 1997

Heart of the Matter
Credits: Scott Lobdell (plot), Steve Seagle (script), Pascual Ferry (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Chris Lichtner, Aron Lusen, & Liquid Graphics (colors), Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: Marrow knocks out the two policemen sent to investigate the blackout. Upstairs, Iceman and Cecilia Reyes are attacked by more Prime Sentinels. When a Prime Sentinel aims at Iceman's back, Detective Charlotte Jones takes the bullet and dispatches the Sentinel. While Reyes treats her wounds, Jones reveals that Zero Tolerance kidnapped her son and blackmailed her into helping them. Marrow arrives, offering help. The three mutants leave the police station and walk the surprisingly abandoned New York streets. Iceman realizes that they’ve been set up, shortly before an army of OZT soldiers and Prime Sentinels emerge. Elsewhere, inside a palatial home, Charlotte Jones’ son waits for his mother. A mysterious woman watches over him. Meanwhile, Sabra arrives in America, while Senator Kelly tells Henry Gyrich that he’s fighting Zero Tolerance.

I Love the ‘90s: A Bullpen Bulletins article details a group of Marvel staffers skipping out of work on a Sunday afternoon to watch the new hit movie Men in Black. I had no idea Marvel’s offices were open on Sunday.

Review: Okay, it’s another issue of Iceman and Cecilia Reyes fighting Prime Sentinels. Marrow does finally meet up with them towards the end of the issue, but it’s obvious that this storyline is dragging. There’s an attempt to move the attention away from the characters directly fighting the Sentinels and instead focus on their efforts to protect civilians from the collateral damage, but it doesn’t add enough variety to the story. Steven Seagle makes his X-debut as guest scripter (I believe he was scheduled to take over Wolverine at this point and did this as a last minute fill-in). Some of the dialogue isn’t bad, but the excessive narration just gets annoying. Much of it tries to make the exposition more interesting than it really is (Seagle, or whoever wrote the narration, seems to be hung up on Marrow having two hearts), and occasionally it just drifts into odd tangents, like describing where the glass in the police observation room was made. Seagle apparently wasn’t brought up to date on all aspects of the crossover, as Henry Gyrich is now once again staunchly on OZT’s side, and resists Kelly’s efforts to stop the organization. The two already went through this in last month’s Wolverine, anyway. Pascual Ferry shows up as the guest artist, and turns in a capable job. It’s not as good as his previous UXM fill-in, but it’s better than I would expect from a middle-of-crossover fill-in.