X-FORCE #6 – January 1992

Under The Gun

Credits: Rob Liefeld (plot/art), Fabian Nicieza (script), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Steve Buccellato (colors)

Summary

Toad’s new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants team up with Masque and the Morlocks. The Morlocks are still angry at Feral for leaving them to join X-Force, so the Brotherhood agree to take the team down in honor of their alliance. After a training sequence, Siryn, Shatterstar, and Warpath are attacked by Toad, Blob, and Sauron.

Continuity Note

Phantazia was on the cover of the previous issue, but debuts in this one. Only her name is given, as she does absolutely nothing in this issue.

“Huh?” Moments

Warpath has a ponytail that disappears from panel to panel. He also calls the two cylindered tubes Shatterstar is holding with his bare hands “swords”. Maybe Nicieza was scripting this before the inks were completed?

Miscellaneous Note

This issue has only eighteen pages of story. The other four pages are more “Cable Guide” dossier pages. This is the second story in three issues that’s been cut short.

Review

This is the second issue in a row that’s mostly build-up and not a lot of plot advancement. It’s not as bad as the previous two issues, though. There’s finally a reaction to Feral cutting Cannonball, only four issues after it happened. Having the Brotherhood team up with the Morlocks isn’t a bad idea, and introducing Sauron as a new member makes sense. Toad and Sauron were two villains that had been largely ignored for years, so using them again isn’t a bad idea. They’re just not used for anything interesting.

It’s revealed that Cable orders his weapons from AIM, and he thinks that it’s “hypocritical” to get into the ethics of where you’re buying guns from. Does Cable really believe that Smith & Wesson are as bad as a terrorist group? I don’t think that even the most ardent gun control advocate would go that far. I really have no idea what the point of this scene is. Are we supposed to view Cable as a rebellious bad boy because he helps to financially support a terrorist organization? Is Cable saying that he’s just as bad as a terrorist group for using guns himself? Maybe the point is to show that Cable is a firm believer in “the ends justify the means” and that his mission justifies supporting AIM. Was this scene supposed to be this disturbing?

There’s another scene where Warpath says that he’s driven solely by revenge. Not exactly the most heroic motivation on Earth. I almost wonder if these scenes were setups to future storylines where these characters would learn the errors of their ways. Unfortunately, I think we’re supposed to take this stuff at face value.

X-FACTOR #78 – May 1992

Playing With Fire!

Credits: Peter David (writer), Larry Stroman and Brandon Peterson (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Dave Sharpe (letters), Mike Thomas (colors)

Summary

Tempo of the Mutant Liberation Front warns Dr. Tucker about the MLF’s upcoming attack. X-Factor is called in to protect Dr. Tucker, but Quicksilver and Wolfsbane object. The remaining members of X-Factor fight the MLF in Dr. Tucker’s clinic. The MLF mortally wounds Dr. Tucker, but are chased away before they can locate his research. Wolfsbane destroys Dr. Tucker’s research before the information can be saved on disc.

I Love the ‘90s

Guido brags about dating Sean Young.

Commercial Break

“Dissing fellow pros in print” is at the bottom of the Bullpen Bulletins Coolometer. I wonder if this is a reference to Erik Larsen’s notorious “Name Withheld” letter in CBG.
In the Stan's Soapbox column, Stan Lee announces the X-Men cartoon. He lists James Cameron as one of the producers, but that never happened.

Review

I’ve always remembered this as a great issue, and it holds up very well. The idea of detecting mutation in fetuses is a smart use of the mutant concept, and it’s the type of thinking that the other X-books weren’t doing at this time. Peter David is able to give the characters strong points of view while remaining true to their established personalities. Wolfsbane isn’t arbitrarily chosen to present the opposing viewpoint; her stance is consistent with what we already know about her. Quicksilver’s opposition displays his evolution as a character. His monologue on the last page is really touching, and it ties together his past continuity with the current plot in a clever way.

You can begin to see this storyline’s editorial intervention with this issue. The story now says that Dr. Tucker can find the gene that creates mutation and remove it. This wasn’t stated at all in the previous issue. In the last issue, Tucker could only determine the possibility of a mutant birth. The implied conflict was that Tucker’s research could lead to the abortion of suspected mutants. If Tucker can actually remove the gene for mutation before birth, that creates a different conflict. One parallels issues relating to birth defects and abortion. The other involves genetic engineering. Both are interesting, but having the story switch midstream is awkward. It definitely reads as if editorial had last minute problems with the story. The abortion parallels are still evident in this issue, though. There’s a lot of talk about a mutant’s right to live, making decisions, and standing in the way of people’s choices.

I’ve never read any of the MLF appearances in New Mutants, so I don’t know if Tempo had been given any type of a personality before this issue. She’s revealed to be a former patient of Dr. Tucker and betrays the team by warning him of their attack. I always liked Tempo during the ‘90s, even though I don’t remember seeing her that often outside of this story and a few X-Force appearances. The idea of her reforming was brought up in almost all of her appearances, but I don’t know if Marvel went through with it. I’m actually surprised Fabian Nicieza never used her in Thunderbolts.

Brandon Peterson draws a lot of the later pages in this issue. His style doesn’t really blend in with Storman’s, but it’s not bad. Peterson would later pencil Uncanny X-Men after the Image exodus, before leaving for Image himself. Joe Quesada does this issue’s cover, but I don’t know if he had been named as the new artist at this point. I should point out that in spite of the cover, Sinister only appears on one page of this issue.

UNCANNY X-MEN #284 – January 1992

Into the Void

Credits: Whilce Portacio (plot, pencils), Art Thibert (inks), John Byrne (script), Michael Heisler (letters), Glynis Oliver & Joe Rosas

Summary

Sunfire investigates a giant void in the Sakhalin Islands. Monstrous-looking aliens (who look nothing like The Predator at all) emerge from the pit and attack him. The X-Men see reports of the attack and arrive to help him. One of the aliens loses her mask and is revealed to actually be humanoid. The void suddenly turns into a black hole and sucks in the X-Men. Meanwhile, Bishop and his men execute more of the escaped future fugitives.

Continuity Notes

Sunfire’s ‘90s-era armor debuts in this issue. Byrne’s script has even Sunfire making fun of the ridiculous new outfit. I think he wore this thing for several years.

Jean comments that if she returns from the dead one more time, she’ll be walking cliché.

Professor Xavier speculates that the White Queen could’ve transferred her mind into someone else’s body, also. Her body is specifically referred to as a corpse, there’s no mention of her being in a coma.

Review

Another issue with a barely discernable plot. There’s really nothing I can say about this issue that I haven't said in the previous Uncanny reviews. I guess this issue is slightly better than the previous ones, if only because it doesn’t casually kill off dozens of established characters. As a kid, I didn’t notice the sometimes shoddy plotting of Jim Lee’s X-Men, but these Uncanny issues always struck me as awful. Lee’s plots at least pay some attention to the characters and (usually) establish his ideas clearly. Uncanny at this point is just a total mess. There’s absolutely nothing engaging about the stories at all, and nothing to make you care about the characters in any way. X-Force is actually a more enjoyable comic at this point.

X-MEN #7 – April 1992

Inside…Out!

Credits: Jim Lee (plot & breakdowns), Art Thibert (finishes), Scott Lobdell (dialogue), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Joe Rosas (colors)

Summary

The Upstarts learn the location of the C-Synthesizer from Wolverine’s memory, as Psylocke reveals that she’s broken free of Matsuo’s control and fights back. Maverick frees the X-Men and they quickly deal with Sabretooth. Wolverine fights Omega Red until the building begins to explode and the team escapes. The C-Synthesizer is revealed to be inside the grave of Janice, the double agent Sabretooth killed earlier. At her gravesite, Maverick kills Dr. Cornelius, and Wolverine hands him the C-Synthesizer.

Review

This issue is at least better than the previous two issues of this storyline. It’s certainly less confusing than the other parts and isn’t as nonsensical. At least you can follow the action, and it doesn’t have the frenzied feel of the Uncanny X-Men issues of this time. I like seeing Sabretooth under Psylocke’s mental control. You would think that all of those telepaths in the mutant comics would do this more often.

There’s still not enough to save this mediocre storyline, though. The story never explains why exactly Maverick wants the C-Synthesizer (his thought balloons suggest that the X-Men wouldn’t like the reason why he’s there…why?). Plus, Sabretooth never contributes anything to this story, and just disappears in-between pages in this issue. I can understand why Lee wanted the story to have Maverick, Wolverine, and Sabretooth brought together in the present and in the flashbacks, but Sabretooth should’ve been given more to actually do. This is also the second X-book I’ve read in as many days that ends the main story because the building is blowing up.

This issue tries to continue the sympathetic portrayal that Dr. Cornelius received in the Weapon X serial, but it doesn’t really work. In Weapon X, Cornelius is recruited into the project and doesn’t immediately realize what exactly is being done. In this storyline, he just shows up working for Matsuo with no real explanation given. Lobdell does a nice job of conveying Cornelius’ guilt over his participation in the Weapon X experiment; but if he really felt bad, why is he still torturing Wolverine today?

UNCANNY X-MEN #283 – December 1991

Bishop’s Crossing

Credits: Whilce Portacio (plot, pencils), Art Thibert (inks), John Byrne (script), Tom Orzechowski and Lois Buhalis (letters), Joe Rosas (colors)

Summary

Bishop, Malcolm, and Randall emerge from a time portal and attempt to capture Fitzroy. The X-Men are shocked to see Bishop ruthlessly kill Fitzroy’s henchmen. Bishop is convinced that the X-Men are impostors and they begin to fight. Fitzroy is taken away by the Upstarts while Bishop fights the X-Men. The Upstarts detonate explosives in Fitzroy’s base, forcing the X-Men to leave without Bishop. Meanwhile, Xavier returns Jean’s mind to her own body. Finally, the individuals behind the Upstart competition are revealed to be Selene and the Gamesmaster.

Continuity Notes

Xavier senses another mind when returning Jean to her own body. I’m assuming this is Emma Frost.

Shaw’s upset with Fitzroy for stealing his ring of leadership and has him placed in manacles. I don’t think the idea of a leadership ring for the Upstarts is brought up again. Shaw toasts the other Upstarts in victory; none of these characters are identified or seen again, but they all have stylish outfits.

Selene threatens that the Upstarts won’t like the true nature of their prize.

Review

It’s the conclusion to the first story arc in the new direction of Uncanny X-Men, and it’s more of the same. This issue marks the first full appearance of Bishop (even though he was on the cover of the previous issue, he barely appeared there). According to legend, Bishop was the first X-Man created solely for marketing reasons. Marvel’s marketing department wanted a new X-Man, and they wanted him to be black. Gun toting tough guys were also really popular back then, so there you go.

Portacio’s plot remains questionable, leaving the scripting to cover up some of the shortcomings. Byrne tries to explain why Bishop is suddenly more interested in fighting the X-Men than capturing Fitzroy by saying that time travel is “disorienting”. He also tries to cover how exactly Jean developed the new power to transfer her mind into someone else’s body by having Forge say “necessity is the mother of invention”. Okay then. In another goofy scene, Shinobi Shaw tells Fitzroy that his Sentinels re-attached his severed fingers. Those giant robots must be very skilled surgeons. I’d love to see them perform such delicate surgery with their enormous robotic fingers. It would actually be more interesting than anything in this issue.

The introduction of the Upstarts themselves is handled just as sloppily as anything else in this arc. Considering the fact that the Upstart competition is driving the plot in this series and its spinoff, it should have received a much clearer introduction. Unless I missed something in one of Portacio’s X-Factor issues, I don’t think one single issue so far has given readers the basics of the competition. Apparently, they kill super-powered beings for points, and this issue introduces the Gamemaster as the arbitrator of the competition. What’s the prize of the competition? It’s a mystery. What does Gamemaster get out of this? It’s a mystery. Why is Selene in league with the Gamemaster? It’s a mystery.

Theoretically, this should be a very important storyline. It’s the first story since the original X-Men rejoined the team, something fans had been demanding for years. It’s the death of several established characters. It’s the introduction of several new villains. It’s the introduction of a brand new X-Man! Yet, due to the frantic pacing of each issue, it’s impossible to care about any of this.

X-FACTOR #77 – April 1992

Great X-Pectations

Credits: Peter David (writer), Larry Stroman (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Michael Heisler (letters), Glynis Oliver (colors)

Summary

The Mutant Liberation Front battles X-Factor and breaks Slab and Hairbag out of prison. Cannonball arrives and tries to talk Wolfsbane into joining X-Force. Havok attempts to arrest him, but Polaris allows him to escape as a favor to Wolfsbane. Meanwhile, the MLF selects their new target, a doctor who has developed a test for determining mutantcy in fetuses.

Commercial Break

Entertainment This Month runs a small ad for Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood. I'll post more about this later.

Review

This isn’t a direct crossover with X-Force, but it does feature the team’s major villains and guest stars one of its members. Peter David keeps it from feeling forced by focusing on Cannonball and Wolfsbane’s shared history, and the political motives of the MLF. I’m actually surprised the MLF didn’t have much staying power. Yes, most of the outfits are ridiculous, but it would’ve been easy to just re-design them. They also have political motives that can make for interesting storylines, as seen in this arc. They’re basically The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, with three times as many members. Considering the lack of credible X-villains and the abundance of mutant spin-offs, it seems like these characters would’ve made more appearances past 1995.

Stroman’s art becomes more stylized with this issue. I wonder if he felt the need to exaggerate his figures to fit in with the early ‘90s ethic, or maybe he was altering his style to fit the Liefeld designs of many of these characters. Maybe he was just naturally evolving into this look. For the most part it works, but some of the figures are starting to look unattractive.

I seem to recall Peter David commenting that this storyline was censored, but there don’t seem to be any obvious re-writes in this issue. The idea that a test could determine if a fetus is a mutant is very interesting, and the inference that this could lead to an abortion is here, but the “A” word is never used. This issue also introduces Vicki Wang, a lawyer fighting for the civil rights of supervilliains. I don’t remember if this went anywhere but it’s an interesting concept. David also puts the X-Force characters to good use. The scene between Wolfsbane and Cannonball is a nice payoff for New Mutants fans, and there’s a great sequence with Quicksilver going up against Tempo’s time-altering power.

X-FORCE #5 – December 1991

Under The Magnifying Glass

Credits: Rob Liefeld (plot & art), Fabian Nicieza (script), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Brian Murray and Renee Witterstaetter (colors)

Summary

Toad and Blob kidnap Dr. Karl Lykos and force him to transform into Sauron. Gideon tells the media that X-Force was involved with the World Trade Center bombing. G. W. Bridge meets with Val Cooper, Nick Fury, and Henry Gyrich to discuss Cable and X-Force. Cannonball begins to question Cable, Feral flirts with Shatterstar, Siryn officially joins the team, and Warpath runs around with his shirt off.

Miscellaneous Note

The letters page is starting to print a few negative comments. One letter writer complains about Cable’s various mysteries, and wants to know why Feral wears gloves over her claws. One letter writer brings up the idea of a character called “Douglock”, combining Doug Ramsey with Warlock. The editor’s response is “Douglock, Dan? Douglock!? Don’t you think we have enough characters with enough mysteries with enough complications without adding a resurrected terran/alien symbiote to the cast? Gee whiz!”

Douglock would first appear two years later in Uncanny X-Men #313 and soon join the cast of Excalibur.

Review

It’s been over a week since I reviewed an issue of X-Force. I knew something had been missing in my life. In this issue, Cable doesn’t shoot any unarmed men, so it’s at least better than the last installment. In fact, Cable doesn’t shoot anyone in this issue. This is actually the first issue of X-Force that doesn’t really contain any action. Practically nothing happens so it’s hard to write anything about it. There is a pretty embarrassing scene with Warpath running shirtless through the woods, angsting about the various indignities committed against Native Americans throughout history.

Some of the art in this issue just doesn’t look like Rob Liefeld. It’s Liefeld-ian, but I wouldn’t say that it’s Liefeld. I’ve heard over the years that Marat Michaels did ghost work for Liefeld on this series, but now I can’t find any information about this online. Does anyone have a source on this? Michaels says that he was Liefeld's "assistant" during this time on this official site, but that's all I've found.
I’ve posted some of the not-quite-Liefeld panels below. Liefeld or just Liefeld-ian?

UNCANNY X-MEN #282 – November 1991

Payback

Credits: Whilce Portacio (plotter, penciler), Art Thibert (inker), John Byrne (scripter), Dana Morseheaad (colorist), Tom Orzechowski (letters)

Summary

The X-Men return home with Jean’s dead body. Professor Xavier detects that Jean’s mind is actually still alive, and inside the White Queen’s body. They trace Fitzroy to Antarctica where he is absorbing energy from the Hellions and using it to open time portals. Jean Grey awakes inside the White Queen’s body, and the X-Men battle Fitzroy and the thugs coming from his time portals. Out of one portal, Bishop appears, grabbing Fitzroy by the throat.

Continuity Note
This is the first appearance of Bishop, although he only shows up on the final page.

Review

Another rushed, chaotic issue of Uncanny. Portacio is listed as the sole plotter of this issue, and you have to wonder what Marvel was thinking when they gave him this assignment. Did he have any writing experience before taking this job? I don’t have a problem with artists (or letterers or colorists) moving into writing, but giving someone Marvel’s traditional top seller since the early 1980s as their first writing assignment is insanity. I can understand an artist’s frustration with unclear directions from writers, or with being given tedious scenes to draw, so I'm certainly not opposed to artists having a least some plot input. But having a neophyte writer take over the direction of your top book, regardless of his artistic talent, probably isn't going to work. But, this was the early ‘90s, and the feeling at Marvel seemed to be that artists were the true selling point. I don’t really know when this idea originated, and it seems to contradict the culture of 1980s Marvel where editors were groomed to also become writers. The massive success of Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane in the late 1980s obviously played a part, but it feels like this change happened almost overnight. Portacio didn’t have the massive popularity of Lee, McFarlane, or Liefeld, so I wonder if Marvel was grooming him for the same superstardom by giving him this title.

It’s hard not to notice the weak plot elements in this issue. The first scene tries to explain away last issue’s sloppy ending and doesn’t pull it off. It goes downhill from there. Why are there suddenly two dozen Hellions for Fitzroy to feed off of? How does Jean have access to her own powers if she’s stuck in the White Queen’s body? Why are the X-Men now suddenly able to defeat Fitzroy’s super-powerful Sentinels so easily? Even a scene that’s meant to be charming, Forge blocking Xavier’s telepathic power during their chess match, doesn’t work. Why would Forge do this while the X-Men are away on a mission? Isn’t that pretty dangerous?

There is one scene that I do like and it has always stuck with me. To claim leadership of the Upstarts, Fitzroy cuts off Shinobi Shaw’s finger to steal his ring. It’s a disturbing scene that creeped me out as a kid. For whatever reason, this actually made Fitzroy’s sadism more real than killing dozens of people did.

X-MEN #6 – March 1992

Farther Still

Credits: Jim Lee (Plot/Art), Art Thibert (Finisher), Scott Lobdell (Scripter), Joe Rosas (Colorist), Tom Orzechowski (Letterer)

Summary

Omega Red, Matsuo, and Fenris capture the X-Men, while Sabretooth arrives to track down the escaped Wolverine. Maverick tries to revive Wolverine so that he can also learn the location of the C-Synthesizer. Through a sequence of flashbacks, we learn that Maverick, Sabretooth, and Wolverine were all part of a team of covert government agents. During one of their missions, Sabretooth murdered a double agent while trying to escape with the C-Synthesizer. In the present, Matsuo revives a post-hypnotic suggestion on Psylocke, forcing her to follow his orders. He sends her with Sabretooth to locate Wolverine. After a brief fight, they return with Wolverine and Maverick.

Commercial Break

Entertainment This Month’s ad says that the Marvel Swimsuit Special is one of their highest sellers ever. That’s nice to know.

Continuity Notes

Sabretooth’s new costume debuts in this issue. He wore this costume during the ‘90s X-Men cartoon, probably making it his best-known look. Birdy, his telepathic assistant, also shows up in this issue, given no introduction or explanation at all. Sabretooth’s history with Gambit is introduced here, and Sabretooth implies that Gambit used to be a villain. The creators might have still been going with Claremont’s original idea that Gambit was a sleeper agent for Mr. Sinister.

Review

Given everything that’s happened in the years since this issue was published, it’s hard to appreciate how significant it seemed at the time. Before this storyline, Wolverine was very rarely seen in flashbacks. The only clues to his past were vague comments made by himself or a few other characters. The only Wolverine flashbacks I can remember during the Claremont issues are Wolverine being discovered in the woods by the Hudsons, and the story of Sabretooth killing his girlfriend on his birthday. Shortly before this issue was released, Marvel published the flashback Weapon X serial, and a sequel storyline in Wolverine. I think another reason for the massive success of the X-line during this time was the focus on Wolverine, and the number of storylines that seemed to give answers about this past. Within a year, the audience knew more about Wolverine’s past than it ever had before. Over fifteen years later, Marvel is still going to the “Wolverine’s mysterious past” well. It’s hard to imagine that this ever felt new.

It’s also worth noting that Wolverine spends most of this storyline gravely injured after Omega Red gives him a healthy beating. This wasn’t unusual at the time; there was even a year-long period in Uncanny X-Men with Wolverine nursing himself back to health after being ambushed by the Reavers. Marvel’s current interpretation of the character is that he can survive anything short of an atomic bomb. He’s gone from being the gruff, short ugly scrapper who barely pulls it off in the end to the tall, handsome superman who can survive anything. I know which version I find more interesting.

The plot of this issue is still a bit messy, and can’t fully be reconciled with the previous parts of the storyline. In the last issue, Wolverine awakened from the dark, suddenly holding the C-Synthesizer. Now, in this issue, the C-Synthesizer from last issue is gone and forgotten. Now, Maverick wants to know how to find it. So the story has shifted back from Wolverine actually having the plot device to just knowing where it is. This issue makes clear that Omega Red needs the C-Synthesizer to survive, or else he has to keep feeding off the life energies of other people. Fine, but why does Maverick want it? Another mystery. The flashbacks also seem to be confused about the C-Synthesizer. In the scene where the team escapes, Maverick says that they have the C-Synthesizer. In the scene where the team is rescued, they’re admonished for losing it. When did they lose it? Why can’t the story keep track of this stupid thing?

Jim Lee’s art is starting to look cluttered and a little dreary. A lot of the energy from the earlier issues seems to be gone. Scott Lobdell replaces John Byrne on dialogue and does an okay job. I can understand the appeal of this arc. You get to learn more about Wolverine’s past. You’re introduced to a new villain who can challenge the X-Men. You get to see the team fight the Hand and Sabretooth before these characters became so over-used. It’s all just hung on a flimsy story.

UNCANNY X-MEN #281 – October 1991

Fresh Upstart

Credits: Jim Lee & Whilce Portacio (plot), John Byrne (script), Whilce Portacio (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Joe Rosas (colors)

Summary

The X-Men arrive at the Hellfire Club at the White Queen’s request. After several assassination attempts, she feels that the two groups are both at risk and should form an alliance. Suddenly, they are attacked by Trevor Fitzroy. In Australia, a group of Sentinels controlled by Fitzroy attacks the Reavers. Their leader Donald Pierce asks Gateway to teleport him to the location of the person responsible for the attack. Gateway sends him to the Hellfire Club in New York. The Sentinels follow Pierce through the portal and quickly kill him. The White Queen and her Hellions team up with the X-Men against Fitzroy and his Sentinels. During the battle, both the White Queen and Jean Grey are seemingly killed.

Continuity Notes

Fitzroy has a “well known” hatred of the White Queen. Why exactly is, of course, a mystery. Later on in the story, he tells her “you…can do no more than bluster when your opponent is more than a child.” I have no idea if he’s referring to himself or not.

This issue was released at the same time as the other launches in 1991, but takes place months later in continuity. A scene in X-Men #5 is used as a prologue to this issue. I assume this was done to help readers figure out which order the stories were taking place. It’s hard to imagine Marvel doing something like this today, but the idea of the X-Men appearing in multiple titles simultaneously was still new at this time.

Review

I’ve always thought that this issue’s cover is especially ugly. In fairness, the interior isn’t this bad, and most of the pages look okay. But the cover is just awful, especially Storm’s face. What kind of an expression is that?

More than any other X-comic I’ve reviewed so far, this issue reminds me of the early Image comics. There’s a million characters given little to no introduction, tons of violence, lots of senseless death, and a barely coherent story. The pacing of this issue is insane. There's no dramatic tension at all, it’s just one chaotic event rapidly followed by another. I’m sure the creators viewed this as an important issue, with the introduction of new villains, the deaths of many established characters, and the start of a new storyline. Instead of feeling like you’re reading an important new chapter of the X-Men, you feel like you’ve been thrown into a mess of a story where characters randomly appear, make weird faces, and then get killed.

Not only are the characters poorly introduced, but the stiff dialogue also makes it impossible to care about anything that happens to them. This is the first of the X-titles I’ve reviewed so far that doesn’t even try to give the characters any personality. The only characterization we see is Jean Grey feeling awkward about being in the Hellfire Club mansion, and Iceman flirting with a Hellion. Of course, since the story mainly consists of characters being attacked and watching other characters get killed, there wasn’t an awful lot for Byrne to work with.

The new villain introduced in the issue, Fitzroy, reads like something out of bad fan-fiction. Rather than being an interesting or threatening villain in his own right, he shows up attached to several existing concepts. The Sentinels had been used pretty sparingly during this time, and had been re-established as major threats in the Days of Future Past storyline. Fitzroy shows up already able to control his own Sentinels, which the story tells us are more lethal than any before. They easily kill off most of the Reavers and Hellions, who had already been established as credible villains. And, rather than having any type of interesting origin of his own, Fitzroy’s just given a mysterious connection to the White Queen. The next issue reveals that Fitzroy is from the future, tying him into yet another established X-Men storyline. All of the concepts Fitzroy ties into can stand on their own. Can Fitzroy? If he doesn’t have established villains to kill, control, or have a vague history with, what does he have?

On top of its other flaws, this issue also has a terrible ending. Fitzroy watches two of his Sentinels kill Jean Grey while the other X-Men fight outside. Fitzroy is thrilled that Jean's dead and says that he'd like to kill all of the X-Men. On the very next page, Fitzroy and the Sentinels are gone, and inside the wreckage of the Hellfire Club, we see Colossus cradling Jean’s dead body. Where did Fitzroy go? Why didn’t he just walk outside with his two super-powerful Sentinels and finish the job? He was clearly on a roll. There’s not even a scene of Fitzroy leaving, he just disappears from one page to the next. It’s the type of lazy ending this issue probably deserves.

X-FACTOR #76- March 1992

X-Communication

Credits: Peter David (script), Tom Raney & Kevin West (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Michael Heisler (letters), Glynis Oliver (colors)

Summary

Quicksilver searches for Wolfsbane while X-Factor battles the Pantheon in the Middle-Eastern country of Trans-Sabal. A young religious man and his sister kidnap Wolfsbane. The sister aides Wolfsbane in her escape and is killed by her brother. Wolfsbane, in a rage, responds by apparently killing the man.

Miscellaneous Notes

Pages two, seventeen and nineteen look like Larry Stroman drew them. They definitely don’t look like Tom Raney’s work. Kevin West is the other credited artist and these might be his pages, perhaps trying to match Stroman's style.

The Statement of Ownership in the letters page says the average number of copies sold during preceding 12 months is 265,252 and the actual number of copies single issue sold nearest to filing date is 392,000. This title gained over 100,000 readers in one year. I was one of those new readers, and I think this is a testament to commercial success of the 1991 relaunch of the X-titles.

Review

This issue could have turned into “a very special episode of X-Factor”, but it’s able to deal with serious issues without being tacky or preachy. I don’t know if a mainstream comic today would be able to do a story with a Middle Eastern antagonist and not cause controversy. Wolfbane’s growing inability to control her animal impulses had been a small subplot leading up to this issue, so having it suddenly become a major element of this story is a nice twist. Comparing Wolfsbane’s guilt over her actions to Feral’s psychotic glee in X-Force sums up the differences between the titles very nicely.

X-MEN #5 – February 1992

Blowback

Credits: Jim Lee (Plot); John Byrne (Script), Jim Lee (Pencils), Scott Williams, Art Thibert, and Joe Rubinstein (Inks), Joe Rosas (Colors), Tom Orzechowski and Lois Buhalis(Letters).

Summary

The X-Men rescue Gambit, Jubilee, Rogue, and Gambit from the Hand, but Omega Red has already escaped with Wolverine. The Hand’s leader, Matsuo Tsuaryaba, and Fenris monitor Omega Red’s stamina by having him battle Wolverine until he is near death. As the X-Men track Wolverine to Berlin, Dr. Cornelius uses “induced memory inversion” to dig through Wolverine’s memories to find the location of the Carbonadium Synthesizer. Before they can find any answers, Wolverine is rescued by the mysterious Maverick.

Continuity Notes

Dr. Cornelius is a character from the Weapon X serial, the original “Origin of Wolverine” story. He’s one of the scientists responsible for Wolverine’s adamantium bones. There actually isn’t a footnote or narrative caption explaining any of this. I had no idea who this character was when I first read this story.

Review

This is a good example of a nice looking, energetic comic that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. First of all, if the bad guys were only after Wolverine, why did they go through the effort to kidnap the other X-Men in the first place? Omega Red already had them unconscious at the end of the last issue, they could've easily just left them behind. It’s just a flimsy setup for a fight scene. I should also point out that the Hand ninjas in this issue are all American white guys. Where did they find these people?

The plot continues to go downhill from here. The reason given for kidnapping Wolverine is so that he can reveal the location of the Carbonadium Synthesizer. There’s no explanation of what this thing is, but I won’t criticize this since the story isn’t over with yet. However, the story wildly jumps from Wolverine being interrogated about its location, to Wolverine suddenly having the Carbonadium Synthesizer in his possession. The jump literally happens from one page to the next.

Does this make any sense?

Aside from some wonky plotting, this issue also introduces Maverick. He’s yet another mystery character with a connection to Wolverine. What exactly he’s doing in this story isn’t explained yet. Maverick starred in his own short-lived solo series in the late ‘90s. Apparently, the market can bear only so many gun-toting mysterious loners.

Lee’s artwork remains pretty strong, although there is one panel that’s always struck me as odd.

Is this supposed to be Wolverine? Did he lose his adamantium-laced dentures?