X-MEN: LIBERATORS#4 - February 1999

Gifted Youngsters

Credits: Joe Harris (writer), Phil Jimenez & John Stokes (art), Shannon Blanchard (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Omega Red refuses to leave Province 13, knowing that the X-Men are nearby. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler and Colossus discover Wolverine recuperating in the nearby woods. They return to Province 13 and rescue Nanya, the telepathic girl who haunts Sergei’s thoughts. After Nightcrawler prevents Sergei from killing her, Sergei commits suicide. Nearby, Ariana is used as bait for her son, Nikolas. After Omega Red falls in battle, Nikolas comes face to face with his mother. She ends his suffering by slitting his throat. Soon, the Russian government shuts down Province 13, and Ariana takes in Nanya.

Review: Well, this one certainly took a grim turn. I’m still not sure what the blonde girl’s story is supposed to be, although Harris drops some more hints in the final issue. Her name is Nanya, Sergei resents her for never speaking to him (although he resents all of the kids in Province 13, anyway), and she was the first child brought to the facility. Perhaps the idea is that she’s autistic and can only express herself through telepathy, but I’m not sure why Harris establishes her as the facility’s original subject. It’s hard to judge Nikolas’ age since he’s a deformed monster, but the advanced age of his mother implies he can’t be too young. Is the idea that Nanya can’t age, which makes her existence even more disturbing for Sergei? Regardless, her story has one of the few happy endings in this mini. Pairing her off with Ariana is a predictable move, but the sentiment behind the scene is nice enough. Colossus also has a few sappy pages to say goodbye, reflecting on the loss of his family and the importance of the X-Men as his adopted family. Nothing groundbreaking here, but it helps to reinforce some of the themes that often felt lost during the ‘90s X-boom.

X-MEN: LIBERATORS#3 - January 1999

A Game of Hide and Seek!

Credits: Joseph Harris (writer), Phil Jimenez (breakdowns), Keith Aiken & John Stokes (finishes), Shannon Blanchard (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Colossus discovers that his former neighbor, Ariana, hates him because he grew up in peace with his mutant siblings, while her son Nikolas was taken away as an infant. They’re soon confronted by Omega Red, who’s hunting Ariana’s son, the missing mutant from Province 13. When Nikolas appears, Omega Red throws him and Colossus down a mountain. Meanwhile, Wolverine slowly recovers from Nokolas’ death-touch. Nightcrawler follows him to Province 13, and encounters some of the children living there. When Sergei receives word that Province 13 is closing down, he orders Wolverine buried in the woods.

Review: Some of the threads are coming together (although I’d still like to know why Omega Red was in the Savage Land), and it seems as if this mini is shaping up fairly well. Ariana had a memorable debut last issue, and while it’s predictable that she would be revealed as the missing mutant’s mother, Harris handles the flashbacks to Nikolas’ birth well, and makes her resentment of the Rasputins feel real. From a continuity purist’s point of view, it is a little unusual that three mutants would be born to the same mother, so the revelation that nuclear testing caused many of the kids in Colossus’ collective to be born mutants makes sense.

Three issues in to the mini, I’m still not sure what purpose the blonde girl with telepathic powers is meant to serve, but for some reason Harris feels the need to establish that she’s likely the only mutant still living at Province 13. (Apparently, the government just takes kids indiscriminately from this area, although I’m still not sure why the Rasputins were allowed to grow up at home.) Eh, maybe he’s going somewhere with this.

Nightcrawler’s scenes this issue emphasize the parallels between Xavier’s school and Province 13, stressing how lucky Nightcrawler was to be trained by a benevolent teacher, as opposed to a cold-hearted government agency. Of course, he only thought Xavier was a nice guy at this point. He didn’t know about the mental manipulation, enslaved alien entities, and secret dead X-Men from the past. Because, you know, those stories that played on old continuity just made perfect sense, as opposed to this ‘90s silliness.

X-MEN: LIBERATORS #2 - December 1998

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Credits: Joseph Harris (writer), Phil Jimenez (breakdowns), Aiken, Leigh, & Pepoy (finishes), Shannon Blanchard (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Colossus visits his parents’ gravesite, and is shocked when an elderly lady in the chapel spits at him and curses his family. Soon, he’s attacked by Russian soldiers who assume that he’s the escaped mutant from Province 13. Nearby, Wolverine and Nightcrawler encounter more soldiers in the woods. Soon, they’re attacked by the escaped mutant, whose touch has an odd effect on Wolverine. The mutant evades capture, leaving the soldiers to take a disoriented Wolverine into custody. Meanwhile, Sergei reflects on a young girl from the program, and receives word that Province 13 could be shut down. Later, Russian soldiers enter the Savage Land, looking for Omega Red.

Review: It’s an issue full of “middle,” so it’s hard to judge how exactly all of these threads are coming together. As vague as some of this is, I will say that the small amount of info Harris has given us is pretty intriguing. The incident between Colossus and the angry woman is particularly interesting, since Colossus’ “family” might include the historical Rasputins, and not just the immediate family already established in the books. It’s also nice to see Colossus visiting a cemetery and mourning his parents, since their murders seemed especially gratuitous back in the early ‘90s, and he wasn’t allowed a lot of time back then for bereavement (he was too busy irrationally turning heel). The Omega Red in the Savage Land sequence is something I wasn’t expecting to see, and unless this is a continuity reference I’ve totally missed, I’m curious to see why exactly he’s there.

Harris also works in a few “quiet” moments for Wolverine and Nightcrawler, acknowledging the many years they’ve spent apart and taking more time to reestablish their friendship than the main titles ever did. I question Harris’ characterization of Wolverine as an adamant opponent to hunting, though. (One of the Russian soldiers is killing time by shooting at random animals in the woods, which infuriates Wolverine.) Needless killing would anger Wolverine, I’m sure, but Harris’ dialogue makes it clear that Wolverine doesn’t consider hunting for food and for sport to be so different. It’s possible Harris based this on Todd McFarlane’s portrayal of Wolverine in Spider-Man, but that's hardly the definitive Wolverine story. Given the times we’ve seen Wolverine kill animals in the woods, an anti-hunting stance just feels hypocritical.

X-MEN: LIBERATORS #1 - November 1998

Old Friends

Credits: Joe Harris (writer), Phil Jimenez & Keith Aiken (art), Shannon Blanchard (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine and Nightcrawler accompany Colossus on a trip to Siberia. They stop at a tavern while waiting for their train and inadvertently start a bar fight. Not far away is the military installation, Province 13. Sergei, the director, overlooks the mutants gathered by the government. One of the mutants escapes and makes his way to the train station as Colossus, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler are boarding.

Continuity Notes: This story reveals that Colossus was one of several mutants created in Siberia following Cold War nuclear tests.

Review: This is an ‘80s nostalgia project highlighting the friendship between Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler; one of the relationships dropped by the X-titles when the characters moved on to different teams and/or continents. At the time of this miniseries’ release, Nightcrawler and Colossus, along with Shadowcat, were rejoining the X-Men during one of Marvel’s retro-kicks, a move that probably wasn’t as popular as Marvel editorial predicted. One reason the new/old lineup didn’t seem too thrilling was because the creators of the main books were apparently saddled with the team at the last minute, requiring numerous storylines to be dropped while the books went into extended crossover mode for several issues. I can’t say Steven Seagle or Joe Kelly handled the addition of Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat poorly, but I never got the impression they were too excited to be using them. Joe Harris, on the other hand, is writing a story specifically tailored for (most of) the returning characters, so this feels different. There’s nothing special about the plot so far -- there’s an ‘80s flashback, some light-hearted scenes following the cast to the airport and a bar, and some cryptic teasers for a new mutant -- but the execution is competent enough. The art looks like something Marvel would’ve published circa 1982, so that’s fitting, and I get the impression that Jimenez is getting a kick out of using these characters, too.