X-MEN ANNUAL #3 – 1994

Heart and Soul

Credits: Ian Edginton (writer), Gene Ha (penciler), Rubinstein/Lowe/Green/Wiacek/Sellers/Pepoy/Moy (inkers), Pat Brosseau (letterer), Joe Rosas (colorist)

Summary

Storm receives roses from Shinobi Shaw, with a message inviting her to dinner. She cuts her finger on a thorn and begins to behave strangely. Against Xavier’s wishes, she joins Shaw for dinner at the Hellfire Club. After the meal, Shaw explains to her that he’s changed his ways after Psylocke’s psychic knife opened up his repressed memories, forcing him to realize that he was pointlessly following his father’s example. He now wants to use the Hellfire Club’s power to stop famine and war throughout the world. He asks Storm to join him, and she agrees to sleep on the decision. After she leaves, Candra comes out of hiding. Shaw brags that Storm will soon belong to him, but Candra says that she will belong to her, just as he does. That night, Storm has a nightmare about having her powers taken away and given to a young African refugee, who will use them to help more people. Storm leaves her bed and returns to the Hellfire Club’s mansion. She meets Shaw and the new members of the Hellfire Club. Shaw reveals that he drugged the flowers and her meal, causing her to let go of her inhibitions and embrace her darker nature. When Storm tries to resist Shaw, she’s kidnapped. The X-Men arrive as Shaw is attempting to inject her with more drugs. They fight the new Hellfire Club, until Storm corners Shaw. If he uses his phasing powers to stop her heart, the electromagnetic field she’s generated will electrocute him. When Storm asks him if he’s willing to die for his beliefs, Shaw lets her go. Back at the mansion, Xavier explains to Storm that the feelings Shaw exploited exist within everyone, and that sparing Shaw’s life showed how strong her will truly is.

Continuity Notes

The new Hellfire Club members, Benedict Kine, Benazier Kaur, and Reeva Payge, are introduced. Kine can manipulate nervous systems, Kaur apparently can accelerate diseases, and Payge uses sonic powers to control the brain’s neurochemistry. These are characters so obscure I don’t think even Frank Tieri bothered to kill them off.

For some reason, I decided as a kid that this comic must take place before the Phalanx crossover. Looking back, I have no idea why I placed it before those issues even though it came out months later. Does anyone have any ideas?

Commercial Break

There’s an ad for the “First Annual Marvel Survey”, which asks such prescient questions as “Should Wolverine get his adamantium skeleton and claws back?”, “Would you buy two Wolverine titles per month?”, and, of course, “Do you think Spider-Man should stay married or get a divorce from Mary Jane?”. To show their gratitude towards the respondents, Marvel only charged two dollars to participate in the survey. (The two dollars was to cover the shipping cost of an X-Men poster and a Wolverine newsletter, but I still find it funny that Marvel expected people to pay money to participate in a survey).

Review

Like most annuals, this is a self-contained story that doesn’t tie into any of the existing plotlines, but it looks like it might have been laying ground for some ideas that never took off. It does introduce a new version of the Hellfire Club, but I’m almost positive these characters were never seen again (looking online, it appears as if only one of the new members showed up again, in the first issue of Spider-Man Team Up). The story also reveals that Shinobi Shaw is secretly working for Candra, but this idea was also dropped without explanation. Candra’s role is especially odd, since she’s only in two pages and then disappears from the story. I have no idea if there were any plans to go anywhere with these ideas, but it seems odd that a writer not working on the monthly books was able to introduce new continuity threads in an annual story. Edginton won’t return to the X-books until X-Force is revamped in 2000, I believe.

Blurring the lines between Uncanny X-Men and X-Men, Storm is given the spotlight in this story, even though she’s officially a lead in Uncanny X-Men (Uncanny’s annual for this year also starred none of its cast members). I don’t know if there was a point where the books officially disavowed the “blue” and “gold” teams appearing in separate books, but it certainly seems as if Marvel had given up on the idea at this point. Storm hasn’t received a lot of attention in the post-Claremont era, and this story is an admirable effort to do something with the character. The basic idea is that Storm, on some level, resents the X-Men for not doing more to help people suffering throughout the world. Shaw wants to exploit those feelings in order to bring Storm over to his side. It’s not a bad idea, but the execution has some major flaws. For one, the story seems to assume that Storm has this great history with the Hellfire Club. Shaw even claims that he chose Storm due to her “prior association” with the club. What is he talking about? There was a story in the early ‘80s where Emma Frost briefly switched bodies with Storm, but I doubt that’s what he’s talking about. A few years later, Magneto tried to align the X-Men with the Hellfire Club, but that idea went nowhere, and I don’t recall Storm playing a large role in the story. Unless I’m totally blanking on something, it seems as if Edginton is referencing some prior story that never happened.

Another flaw in Shaw’s plan is the idea that bringing out Storm’s “dark side” would help convince her of his humanitarian motives. How does that work? I don’t see how bringing out the worse in Storm would make it easier to sell her on the idea of turning the Hellfire Club into the Peace Corps. Who thinks of humanitarian aid in Africa when they’re turning to their darkest instincts? If Shaw simply drugged her to make her less guarded and more open to his ideas, that would be one thing, but the story goes out of its way to point out that the bad side of Storm is coming out. The “Bad Storm” element just seems like a weak retread of the earlier chapters of the “Dark Phoenix Saga”, so the story would have been better off without it.

Showing that the X-Men don’t do enough to help real world problems is an interesting concept, but it’s the type of idea that rarely works in superhero comics. Realistically, Reed Richards would have cured cancer by now, Sentinels would be replacing American troops in war, and Storm would have stopped the droughts in Africa. The only reason why these things don’t happen is because Marvel doesn’t want its universe to differ that drastically from the real world. Bringing up these problems in the comics actually makes the characters seem kind of heartless for not stopping the situations sooner. There’s actually no resolution to this conflict in the story, not even a token scene where the X-Men say that they’ll be paying more attention to these problems in the future. Despite these flaws, though, there is some nice character work with Storm and Xavier. Edginton does seem to have a decent grasp on the X-Men, and I actually wouldn’t have minded seeing more from him at this time. Ha’s art is, thankfully, miles away from the Image look the X-books kept going back to during this era, so it’s also a decent looking comic.

A Moment of Silence

Credits: Jim Krueger (writer), Steve Yeowell (artist), Dave Sharpe (letterer), Dana Moreshead (colorist)

Summary

Banshee infiltrates a Hydra base to be with a dying scientist during his final moments. Years earlier, when Banshee was an Interpol agent, the scientist allowed Hydra to capture him in order to give Banshee his freedom.

Review

Typical annual backup material, which probably stars Banshee only because Marvel decided to start using the character again at this time. I might have placed this comic before the Phalanx story and formation of Generation X because of this backup, but I don’t see why Banshee couldn’t have starred in the story after Generation X formed.

X-MEN #33 – June 1994

The Heart of Thieves

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Andy Kubert (penciler), Mat Ryan (inker), Bill Oakley (letterer), Digital Chameleon (colorist)

Summary

Sabretooth tells Rogue the story of his first meeting with Gambit. In Paris, a seventeen-year-old Gambit saves a young woman named Genevieve from Sabretooth. Sabretooth was hired to take back the pendant she stole from the wealthy businessman, Herzog. Gambit’s brother, Henri, explains to him that he has to steal the pendant for the Thieves Guild as an initiation. Rather than directly stealing the pendant from Genevieve, Gambit wants her to fall in love with him first. The two spend time together throughout the city as Sabretooth watches. Eventually, after sleeping together, Gambit steals the pendant from Genevieve during the night. A few hours later, Sabretooth kidnaps her. Gambit follows the note Sabretooth left at his apartment to Notre Dame. Sabretooth is holding Henri and Genevieve hostage on a balcony. He tells Gambit to throw the pendant to him and he’ll get to choose which one to catch. After Gambit throws the pendant at Sabretooth’s feet, he drops both of them. Gambit saves his brother, but can’t save Genevieve. As she dies, she tells him that she would have given him the pendant if he asked. Back in the present, Rogue tells Gambit that she doesn’t know what kind of person he is, and he tells her that he needs her to find out. Beast visits Sabretooth’s cell, telling him that he’ll need his help to infiltrate Mr. Sinister’s lab.

Continuity Notes

After hearing Gambit’s accent, Sabretooth assumes that he’s a member of the Thieves Guild, telling him that he hasn’t run into a member of his “clan” in years.

Gambit says that his arranged marriage to Bella Donna is four months away on his birthday, meaning that he was eighteen in the flashback in X-Men #8.

Miscellaneous Note

This story is only nineteen pages for some reason, instead of the regular twenty-two.

Review

This is one of Nicieza’s strongest issues of X-Men. It mainly serves as a one-shot story about Gambit, but it also ties into the ongoing subplot about his relationship with Rogue, while giving Sabretooth something nasty to do at the mansion. There’s not a lot of action, but Kubert’s art still brings a lot of energy to each page. Having Sabretooth do more than just physically intimidate the team is a smart move, and Nicieza’s able to sell him as an effective manipulator. The story Sabretooth tells is overwhelmingly bleak, where most of the characters are adulterers and thieves, and his own cynicism about love is justified. Herzog is truly in love with Genevieve, but he’s still cheating on his wife. Genevieve is playing Herzog for his jewelry, but ends up falling for Gambit. Gambit manipulates Genevieve (while cheating on Bella Donna, his fiancée), and the game he plays ends up getting her killed. It’s one of the darkest comics I read as a kid, and I can remember being surprised at the grim ending.

For the first time, Gambit’s past as a thief is presented in a negative light, as the flashback shows how heartless the character can be. Setting the story in Gambit’s teenage years is a good idea, as it creates enough distance from his current self to make it conceivable that he’s changed. It creates an interesting dilemma for Rogue -- does she judge Gambit by his past, or what she knows today? Is she in any position to condemn him given her own past as a criminal? (An idea that isn’t brought up in this issue, but should have been.) Do you judge any adult by what they did at seventeen? I’ve never cared for the Rogue/Gambit relationship, but this issue shows that it could have lead somewhere interesting. By this point, a lot of the elements that ended up damaging Gambit as a character have emerged (the thick accent, most of the Guilds material), so it’s nice that Nicieza’s able to do at least one story that shows Gambit’s potential.

CABLE #12 – June 1994

Fear and Loathing Part 1 – The Quick and the Dead

Credits: Scott Lobdell (plot), Glenn Herdling (script), Mike Miller (penciler), Conrad/Hanna/Sellers (inkers), Starkings/Comicraft (lettering), Marie Javins (colorist)

Summary

Lee Forrester is on the run from Senyaka, who has already killed every other member of her crew. After hitting him with a flare gun and falling into the water, she’s rescued by Cable. Senyaka attacks again, explaining that he wants revenge on Magneto and is killing everyone who was ever close to him. Cable has an opportunity to shoot him, but Senyaka attacks with his psionic coils before Cable pulls the trigger. Lee hits Senyaka from behind, briefly giving them time to run away. Cable tells Lee that they can’t teleport away because Senyaka’s psionic attack knocked out communications with his internal computer, the Professor. The two get closer during the night, when Senyaka suddenly appears. Cable uses his telekinetic powers to drive wooden stakes into Senyaka’s heart, apparently killing him. However, the two are still a hundred miles from civilization with no food or any way to call for help.

Continuity Notes

Lee Forrester was briefly Cyclops’ love interest after Jean Grey died (the first time). Years later, she rescued a wounded Magneto from the ocean and helped him recuperate. Senyaka wants revenge on Magneto after he “killed” him in Uncanny X-Men #304. Senyaka claims that he was barely alive after Magneto’s attack when SHIELD examined his body. When a medical examiner touched him, Senyaka used his powers to drain his psionic energy and escaped.

I Love the ‘90s

Lee Forrester’s journal says that this story takes place on April 5, 1994, which I believe is the day this issue went on sale (it’s also the day Kurt Cobain killed himself).

Review

And, yet another long-forgotten character from the past returns with this issue. It’s hard to believe that it’s a coincidence at this point. Lee Forrester disappeared from the titles around the time Magneto became headmaster of Xavier’s school (I don’t even remember if their brief romance was ended on-panel). She’s brought back in this issue and almost immediately set up as a potential love interest for Cable. Aside from the absurdity of this “average woman” going from Cyclops to Magneto to Cable, there’s also the unpleasant element that Cyclops is Cable’s father. I think the idea was only introduced for the sake of that shock value, because there’s no real reason for these two characters to get involved. I don’t remember any romance between these two characters going anywhere, thankfully.

Lee does serve one interesting purpose in this issue, and it’s a shame that it didn’t happen sooner. After she learns about Magneto’s actions during the “Fatal Attractions” storyline, Lee reacts with the appropriate shock and disgust. Since the character was only familiar with Magneto during his reformed days, it makes sense that she would react this way. It’s too bad this point of view wasn’t brought up during the actual storyline. I think that Herdling might be sympathetic towards the reformed version of Magneto, because he can’t give Cable any reason to justify Magneto’s behavior in that storyline. At least someone finally acknowledged how wildly out of character Magneto was behaving, even if it is months later in an unrelated spinoff.

This actually isn’t that bad of an issue, especially when compared to the earlier issues of the series. It does suffer from some of the same flaws, since the story isn’t really about Cable as a character at all, and the villain is another castoff from the other X-books, but the execution has gotten better. Miller’s fill-in art is competent enough, even though the overacting he gives Lee Forrester towards the end is ridiculous. Senyaka is given a formidable introduction, and he seems like a legitimate threat for most of the story. Casting him as some sort of monster from a horror movie works pretty well. Having him chase after Lee Forrester, of all characters, due to her short relationship with Magneto is a little much, though. There are probably dozens of characters closer to Magneto than Lee, so singling her out is a stretch. Cable is shown to be willing to kill Senyaka “in cold blood”, which seems to be closer to his original characterization and not in line with what Nicieza was doing at the time, but the story does offer some justification for his actions. It’s not a great comic, but it is an improvement over what came before.

X-FORCE #36 – July 1994

Genocidal Tendencies

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (penciler), Kevin Conrad/Joe Rubinstein/Harry Candelario (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marie Javins (colorist)

Summary

Cable and Domino attempt to fight Nimrod, but have little luck until the rest of X-Force arrives. After Shatterstar and Domino detonate a plasma charge, Siryn uses her sonic scream to temporarily disrupt Nimrod’s programming. While Nimrod repairs himself, Cable uses his techno-organic arm to enter the military complex’s computer system. He connects his mind with the scientists working there and enters Nimrod’s consciousness. The scientists are shocked to discover that Nimrod has sentient awareness. Nimrod explains that when he first came to this era, he downloaded a self-awareness program into the military’s database. His sleeper virus was activated when Project Wideawake began developing new Sentinel bodies, and he began developing the future technology needed to revive himself. Cable and the scientists ask Nimrod to consider the role he plays in defending humans if he exists sixty years before his time. Convinced that he will actually lead to more human deaths if he escalates a human/mutant war early, Nimrod shuts down his own programming. The scientists keep Nimrod’s body and give Cable his internal network as a compromise. Meanwhile, in Kentucky, the Externals visit Cannonball and Boomer.

Continuity Notes

Cable is shown morphing his arm and using it to plug into a computer network. It’s the first time his arm has been shown doing something like this.

Review

For the most part, this is a satisfying conclusion to the two-parter. After reading the first few pages, I was afraid that this would just be an issue-long fight scene, but Nicieza comes up with a clever resolution for the story. If you stay true to Nimrod’s premise that he’s a self-repairing, unstoppable killing machine, there’s no way brute force can convincingly be used to stop him. Having the characters appeal to him logically and trick him into shutting down only works if you have a clever reason for him to do it, and I think Nicieza pulls that off here. Nimrod’s method for reviving himself is also handled well, and it works without stepping over his previous appearances. The scientists in this issue are thankfully treated as three-dimensional characters, and not as psychotic mutant-haters.

Just a few issues after his telepathic abilities were hinted at, Cable is now proficient enough with the powers to link to other people’s minds, enter the Astral Plane, and connect to an artificial intelligence. It’s pretty ridiculous, and it’s an early sign of the major power-up Cable will receive in the mid-90s. I don’t understand the reasoning behind this, since Cable was already an enormously popular character before any of his powers were revealed. The fact that he was a “tough guy” mutant who didn’t even need to use powers was a part of his early appeal, I think. Giving him new powers doesn’t really add anything to the character, and it’s lead to countless attempts to power-down and then re-power him, making Cable’s continuity even more confusing. I wonder if Cable would have maintained more of his popularity if Marvel had left his powers alone during this era.

UNCANNY X-MEN #314 –July 1994

Early Frost

Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Lee Weeks (penciler), Bill Sienkewiecz (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Steve Buccellato (colorist)

Summary

Emma Frost escapes from the X-Men’s mansion, inside Iceman’s body. Storm and Archangel try to stop her, but she freezes the Hudson River and emerges three miles away. Xavier and Banshee track her in the X-Men’s Blackbird jet. Emma breaks into the offices of Frost Enterprises, and is shot in the chest by the security guards. The hole in her chest doesn’t faze her, as she heads into the records room to find out what happened to her students, the Hellions. She discovers that they were all killed by Fitzroy during the attack that left her in a coma. Overcome with grief, she asks the guards to kill her. Xavier and Banshee appear, and Banshee is able to talk Emma into not giving up. Meanwhile, Bishop has created a hologram replica of his sister, Shard, in the Danger Room. When Jubilee asks him why Shard wasn’t with him when he traveled through time, Bishop replies that he killed her.

Continuity Notes

This is, essentially, the reformation issue for Emma Frost. Her role as a hero continues to this day.

Shard tells Jubilee that no one knows how she got the label “the last X-Man” in the future. She says that “the few details we had of this era were sketchy at best”. As for Bishop killing Shard, I think later stories backed away from that idea. This hologram of Shard will, inexplicably, join X-Factor in a few years.

Emma Frost tells Xavier that she rearranged the Hellion’s “brain engrams” to prevent him, or anyone else, from finding them. This is obviously done to explain why Xavier never recruited the Hellions characters while founding the New Mutants.

“Huh?” Moment

I probably shouldn’t be pointing out anyone else’s typos, but on page two, Emma is described as “loosing herself in the memories of others”.

Review

This is the first issue to explicitly set up the Generation X series. The “Child’s Play” crossover did reintroduce the idea of training young mutants (and debut one of the series’ regulars), but this issue is the first one to directly hint at what the future series will contain. Between “Child’s Play”, this storyline, and the upcoming Phalanx crossovers, Generation X certainly received a lot of buildup. Most of the setup doesn’t feel too awkward, but there’s obviously no reason for Banshee to be in this story, other than the fact that he’s going to be co-starring in the new series with Emma Frost. Having Banshee be the one to talk Emma out of suicide, when the two characters have never even met, is certainly forced. However, the story does do an effective job of showing how Emma’s guilt over the death of her students could lead her to join Xavier’s side. The Hellions were needlessly killed off as shock value a few years earlier, so it’s nice that someone eventually used their deaths as the starting point for new stories. Lee Weeks shows up as the fill-in artist, doing a great job with some impressive inks by Sienkewiecz.

This issue is also notable for showcasing new uses of Iceman’s powers, an idea Lobdell played with earlier in his run. Previously, Mikhail Rasputin used his reality warping powers to alter Iceman’s body, leading him to experiment with his ice powers over the next few issues. I guess Lobdell felt that he didn’t take the idea far enough, as now another character showcases new uses of Iceman’s power. The story acts as if everyone should have known how powerful Iceman could be, but that’s overlooking the fact that the original explanation of his power was that he covered his body in ice, not that he was actually made of ice. There’s a huge difference between the two. The idea that Emma can suddenly take over his body and use it in new ways isn’t necessarily bad, but I think Lobdell takes it too far. If Iceman is really powerful enough to do things like teleport through water, it’s hard to believe that he would’ve stuck to such a limited power set for so long. After years of training as an X-Man, it’s implausible that a stranger could take over his body and suddenly use his powers so much better than he ever could. It’s not that I mind the new powers, I just don’t understand how Emma could have developed them so quickly. I think later there was some explanation that her mental powers allowed her to see Iceman’s potential, but if that’s the case, wouldn’t Xavier have seen this years ago? It’s also worth noting that, as far as I know, Iceman still isn’t using the exaggerated powers exhibited in this issue. This storyline did lead to a permanent redesign of Iceman, though, taking him away from the square ice cube look he had since the mid-‘60s.

THE ADVENTURES OF CYCLOPS & PHOENIX #3 – July 1994

Through the Years

Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Gene Ha (penciler), Vey/Pennington/Austin/Rubinstein (inkers), Kevin Somers (colorist), Starkings/Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Eight years after being sent into the future, Scott and Jean are still posing as “Slym” and “Redd” while raising a young Nathan Dayspring (Cable). Meanwhile, Apocalypse’s prelate, Ch’vayre, begins to have doubts about the brutal way Stryfe is being raised. With the help of the human rebellion, Scott and Jean infiltrate one of Apocalypse’s genetic labs and learn that he’s planning on releasing the Legacy Virus into the human population. Ch’vayre and Apocalypse’s men suddenly appear, forcing Scott and Jean to reveal their mutant powers. Stryfe is with them, disobeying Ch’vayre’s orders that the rebellion members are to be taken alive. Overlooking the lab, Nathan beings to receive mental instructions from Rachel Summers on how to detonate the building. Stryfe discovers him, and the two fight. Rachel’s voice guides Nathan on how to use his psionic powers to stop Stryfe. He defeats Stryfe, but the techno-organic virus briefly overtakes his body. The rebellion escapes the lab shortly before it explodes. Later, Scott visits Rachel’s comatose body inside a secret location, while Ch’vayre begins to make plans to stop Stryfe before he becomes the “Chaos Bringer”.

Continuity Notes

Jean shows Nathan how to “morph” his body to disguise his metal arm. I can’t tell if he’s only using a mental projection to make his arm look normal, or if he’s actually changing the metal to flesh. Later on in the story, Nate loses control of the techno-organic virus and we see it consuming most of his body. This is setting up the idea that Cable’s psionic powers keep the virus in the check, although I have no idea why his powers would be preventing it from covering all of his body except his arm. The story seems to be assuming that only Cable’s arm is metal, while the rest of him could be consumed by the techno-organic virus if his psionic powers didn’t stop its growth. Previous stories in X-Force showed that half of Cable’s body, including his face, is metal and that he covers most of it with synthetic skin. In an early issue of Cable, he tells Moira McTaggert that he leaves his metal arm exposed because it reminds him of where he’s been. I guess it’s possible that, despite his powers, the virus overtook more of his body as he grew older, which is really the only way to rationalize all of this.

This issue is the first chronological meeting between Cable and Stryfe. Apocalypse has already accelerated Stryfe’s powers while Cable’s are still dormant (until Rachel shows him how to use them).

Ch’vayre claims that Apocalypse has always professed that “the true strength of homo superior …lies in the compassion and understanding of all life forms.” This implies that Apocalypse has always been hiding his true goals, but since he came to power in the first place through a brutal war, why would he bother?

Review

It’s more of the same, really. The series still doesn’t actually focus on the title characters, and the information given on Cable’s backstory isn’t interesting. I guess the point of this issue is to highlight his first meeting with Stryfe, but the confrontation is very short and there’s nothing in it to lead you to believe that these characters will become mortal enemies someday. There’s some attempt to develop Ch’vayre as a character, as he turns against Apocalypse. If he’s only now realizing that Apocalypse is sadistically evil, though, you’ve got to figure that he’s an idiot. At this point, it looks like this entire miniseries could have been done as a one-shot special or in an annual. Aside from collecting a few more dollars from the audience, I don’t see the justification for four full issues of this story.

WOLVERINE #82 – June 1994

Omnia Mutantur (Everything Changes)

Credits: Larry Hama (writer), Adam Kubert w/Bob McLeod (pencilers), Mark Farmer & Joe Kubert (inkers), Pat Brosseau (letters), Steve Buccellato (colors)

Summary

Wolverine returns to Japan to honor the memory of Mariko, his dead fiancé. Yukio visits him in the temple where they planned to marry, warning him that he has enemies in Japan. The Hand suddenly attack, but Yukio is able to convince them that this can’t be the real Wolverine because he doesn’t have metal claws, plus his wounds aren’t healing. After visiting with Yukio, he goes to check on his adopted daughter, Amiko. He discovers that her foster parents are squandering the money set aside for her, forcing Amiko to stay in a small, barren room, and verbally abusing her. He returns in costume, posing as a Hand ninja. He claims that Amiko is under their protection, but the parents recognize him as the gaijin that visited earlier. He intimidates them with his sword work and leaves with Amiko. Later, he asks Yukio if she will look after her. He makes a deal to exchange the Clan Yashida Honor Sword to the Silver Samurai for his assistance in getting the government to transfer custody of Amiko. Yukio promises to look after Amiko as if she were her own. Meanwhile, Bloodscream discovers the androids Elsie Dee and Albert in the wilds of Canada. They’ve just returned from a mysterious time travel adventure.

Continuity Notes

Wolverine promised to take care of Amiko after her mother was killed in a dragon attack in Uncanny X-Men #181. According to this issue, Landau, Luckman, and Lake has been sending money to provide for her.

Moira McTaggert says that Wolverine’s immune system is deteriorating and that he’s going through a “physical regression to some ancient gene-memory”. This seems to be more foreshadowing for the “feral Wolverine” storyline. Zoe Culloden says that she has a lead that could help him, and that as an employee of Landau, Luckman, and Lake, it’s her job to see to Wolverine’s future.

Review

First of all, I have to say that this issue’s cover is one of my favorite Wolverine images ever. Its only connection to the story is the fact that Wolverine’s forehead is slashed in this issue, but that’s easily forgivable. Marvel made a t-shirt (and I think a poster) out of this image, but basically ruined it by coloring it in. Did anyone really look at this cover and think, “that would look great…if only it was in color!”? Someone at Marvel editorial must have thought enough of the art to totally change the cover layout to accommodate it, which almost never happened back then.

Another obscure element from the ‘80s material returns in this issue with Wolverine’s ward, Amiko. I have no idea why Claremont gave Wolverine an adopted daughter during his run, but he certainly didn’t go anywhere with the idea (I suspect it might have been done to give Wolverine another reason to visit Japan regularly, but it never worked out that way). Hama portrays her as an average little girl with stereotypically awful foster parents. It’s certainly a cliché, but Hama gets enough humor out of the parents to make it work. He also has a few cute moments with Amiko, like when she says that she remembers Wolverine because of his costume and hairy arms, but he thankfully doesn’t go overboard. The excessive cuteness is reserved for Elsie Dee’s cameo in this issue. A sentient little girl android who tawks wike dis gets old fast, but I can tolerate her in small doses.

The ending of this issue is a little strange, as Wolverine hands over his adopted daughter to Yukio. Yukio wasn’t a well established character, so a writer could conceivably reveal that she has some hidden maternal instincts, but her previous appearances really don’t lead you to believe that she would be much of a mother. This is briefly acknowledged, but dismissed quickly. The two do have a nice conversation earlier in this story that does establish her feelings for Wolverine, but it still seems sudden for him to offer her his ward. Basically, Wolverine just asks her to do it, and she agrees. If Yukio’s going to give up her life of adventure, there’s no indication. If the idea is that Wolverine wants Amiko to be raised in a chaotic atmosphere, that’s not presented clearly either (and, really, why would he?). I think we’re supposed to take Yukio at her word, and assume that her loyalty to Wolverine will be enough to keep her out of a dangerous lifestyle. This wouldn’t be a bad arc for the character (resisting her urge for trouble while trying to raise a child), but it didn’t lead to a lot of future material.

Adam Kubert does a fine job on the art, with his legendary father showing up for the final six pages as inker. It looks good, but it doesn’t exactly blend in with what Mark Farmer was doing for the majority of the issue. This is also one of the first issues to be digitally colored, which unfortunately gives some of the pages a blurry, off-register look. Overall, it’s still a strong looking issue, though.

X-FORCE #35 – June 1994

Beg Tomorrow

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (penciler), Holdredge, Candelario, Conrad, Green, Champagne, Rubinstein (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marshall, Lopez, Thomas (colors)

Summary

Domino and Shatterstar investigate Strong Industries after learning that it has landed a Pentagon contract to develop “self-actualizing computers”. One of their scientists shows them a computer chip that is a major advance in the creation of sentient robots. In Tennessee, Rictor and Warpath secretly take photos of a scientist’s work. Cable meets with Forge in Washington and shows him the computer chip developed by Strong Industries. Forge agrees with Cable that this advancement in artificial intelligence should have been years away. In Massachusetts, Siryn meets with her father, Banshee, and asks him about Nimrod, a Sentinel from the future who has faced the X-Men in the past. Soon, Cable explains to X-Force that squadrons of Sentinels murdered thousands of mutants in his time. They plan on destroying this new technology before a Nimrod can be created in this timeline. After infiltrating Camp Hayden in Kentucky, X-Force is shocked to discover a new Nimrod model has already been developed.

Continuity Notes

Shatterstar tells Domino that he “lived among the shadows” for two years after escaping the “arena masters” in his dimension.

The computer files Siryn and Warpath stole from the X-Men in issue #19 apparently didn’t have any data on Nimrod, for some reason. She asks Banshee for information about Nimrod, but he actually wasn’t on the team when they faced him (although I guess it wouldn’t be too hard for him to find out the info she needs).

I Love the ‘90s

Domino tells Shatterstar that he’s been watching too much Yo! MTV Raps after he uses the phrase “24/7”.

Review

This is a good example of what X-Force was intended to be, a group of proactive mutants aggressively going after threats to mutantkind. There was some lip service paid to this direction in the early issues of this series, but this quickly devolved into poorly executed issue-long fight scenes (the longest one involving the team reacting to an attack, not going after any threats at all). The action here is reserved for the final scene, as the majority of the story is spent on having the team investigate the development of new Sentinels. While the team members follow their leads, Nicieza uses the opportunity to develop characterization and advance a few character arcs. Cop shows do this all of the time, and Nicieza is able to make it work here. I wish the series had tried more stories like this.

Bringing back Nimrod is another example of the “Totally ‘80s” attitude that seemed to be sweeping the books at this time. Nimrod was built up as a major threat during Claremont’s first UXM run, but was forgotten over the years. Showing how present day technology lead to his creation isn’t a bad idea, and Cable’s own past as a time traveler is a nice way to connect the villain to this series.

Tony Daniel is given six inkers in this issue, which averages out to less than four pages per inker. I actually don’t mind Daniel’s cartoony style at this point, and I like the energy he brings to a lot of the pages. Unfortunately, many of the pages also come across as rushed and sloppy. Having six inkers in one job also doesn’t help, although this issue does look fairly consistent until the final few pages. This issue also has three credited colorists (who can’t seem to keep a lot of the characters’ hair colors or ethnicities straight) and a few lettering mistakes, so I’m assuming that this one was rushed out of the offices pretty quickly.

UNCANNY X-MEN #313 – June 1994

Hands Across The Water

Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Joe Madureira (penciler), Dan Green (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Buccellato/Somers (colors)

Summary

Gambit rescues Yukio from the Phalanx, while Storm faces the remaining members. They explain to her that they were once human, but sacrificed their humanity in order to keep the human gene pool pure. Yukio tricks the Phalanx into thinking that she wants to be assimilated, while Gambit uses his powers to charge up a giant piece of equipment. The explosion destroys the Phalanx members. Their battle is being observed by Steven Lang and Cameron Hodge, two former human enemies of the X-Men who have joined the Phalanx. Douglas Ramsey, a former New Mutant, is overseeing the creation of new Phalanx members, but is fighting against his programming. Meanwhile at the X-Men’s mansion, Emma Frost awakes inside Iceman’s body.

Continuity Notes

This is the first full appearance of “Douglock”, an amalgam of two former New Mutants characters, Douglas Ramsey and Warlock. This is the character Marvel considered a laughably bad idea when suggested by a fan in an early X-Force letters page. I don’t know if the editors were being sarcastic because they already had plans for this character, or if they were just being jerks.

Steven Lang is re-introduced as a Phalanx member. He fought the X-Men during the early Claremont issues, and was rescued from a mental hospital by a mysterious group during the early Lobdell issues. As a kid, I was thrilled to see one of those ominous, yet brief, subplot scenes actually resolved.

Jubilee tells Banshee that after seeing what’s happened to Iceman and Wolverine, she doesn’t know if she’s ready to be an X-Man. Banshee thinks that with Professor Xavier spending more time studying the Legacy Virus, someone should be concentrating on the mutant children. All of this is done to set up the Generation X series.

I Love the ‘90s

Bob Harras is credited as “Bobbit Harras” on the title page.

“Huh?” Moment

Gambit speaks while underwater on page 3. His word balloons have an odd design, but I’m not sure what they’re supposed to indicate.

Review

It’s another action-heavy issue, which really relies on Madureira’s pencils to work. As an introduction to the Phalanx, it’s not that bad, but you can see the creators already backtracking before the story’s over. The Phalanx make a big deal about being able to counter any mutant’s power, yet they’re still defeated by a giant explosion caused by Gambit. If they’re immune to Gambit’s power, then it shouldn’t matter how large the explosion is, they should still survive it. Lobdell works some characterization into the action by emphasizing Storms’ respect for life and her reluctance to kill the Phalanx. This is actually Lobdell’s best treatment of Storm yet; introducing the idea that if the X-Men are pledged to protect all life, then the Phalanx might have to be considered living, also. It’s a nice bit of moral ambiguity that brings more than just mindless action to the story.

It’s interesting to see mostly forgotten characters like Yukio, Steven Lang, Doug Ramsey, and Cameron Hodge all in the same issue. Shortly before this story was published, the “Child’s Play” crossover also reunited the surviving New Mutants and Hellions characters, plus Margali Szardos and Amanda Sefton began showing up in Excalibur during this time. The books seem to have a weird relationship with the older material, as Claremont’s interpretations of characters like Mystique and Magneto are twisted beyond recognition, but tons of obscure characters from his era keep showing up unexpectedly (not all of them his creations, but most are). Even the Phalanx themselves are an extrapolation of ideas Claremont introduced in New Mutants. Considering that the early post-Claremont issues killed over a dozen established characters in order to build up the new villains, it’s kind of odd to see so many forgotten characters brought back and treated as more than cannon fodder. The attitude seems to have gone from “let’s kill these old losers off” to “wasn’t that old stuff cool?”.

EXCALIBUR #77 – May 1994

Lowest Common Denominator

Credits: Scott Lobdell & Richard Ashford (plot), Chris Cooper (script), Robert Brown & Ken Lashley (pencilers), Elliott/Champagne/Gorder/Hudson (inkers), Dave Sharpe (letters), Chris Matthys (colors)

Summary

In the past, a young Nightcrawler meets his friend, Christian, in the woods. The boy tells him that they can’t be friends anymore; revealing the bruises his father gave him. His father doesn’t want him to befriend a demon, saying that he’ll kill him before he lets the demon take his soul. Nightcrawler’s foster mother, Margali Szardos, tries to comfort him by telling him that love is stronger than hate, but her words mean little to him. In the present, Nightcrawler manages to teleport away with the young Gypsy boy he saved from a group of skinheads. D’Spayre appears, taunting Nightcrawler. He’s kidnapped Margali and claims that by dawn, the hatred created by the mobs will give him enough energy to steal her power. D’Spayre disappears as soon as Amanda Sefton returns. She sends Nightcrawler to follow D’Spayre and promises to stop the mob violence. In the tombs beneath Germany, Nightcrawler finds D’Spayre. Amanda rescues Margali while Nightcrawler confronts D’Spayre. When the demon attacks, Nightcrawler recalls the memory of his friend, Christian, returning to see him as an adult. He brings his son along and asks forgiveness for abandoning Nightcrawler as a child. Focusing on love instead of hate weakens D’Spayre’s attack, and when he tries to draw energy from the mobs, he sees that Amanda has already stopped the riots. D’Spayre disappears, and Nightcrawler reconciles with Margali, realizing that her earlier message about love is true. Meanwhile, Zero is being hunted down by robots programmed to destroy all of Stryfe’s data and materials. He teleports away, but not before he’s damaged. He calls for help and a techno-organic Doug Ramsey (Douglock) arrives.

Continuity Notes

Zero was a robot owned by Stryfe. He somehow ended up in the possession of Cable’s son, Tolliver, in the Deadpool miniseries. There, he was re-awakened as a peacekeeping “ultimate weapon”, meaning that he can nullify any other weapon. He tells Douglock that he has freed him from the Phalanx and that they are both techno-organic.

Since this issue has a May cover date, it actually predates UXM #313 as Douglock’s first appearance. Since Zero tells him that he’s been freed of the Phalanx, it must take place after the UXM story, though. Looking around online, it seems that UXM #313 is considered to be his first real appearance.

Review

Well, it’s a cheesy story about love conquering hate. There’s nothing egregiously wrong with the execution, but the story never gets very interesting, either. Most of the plotting is at least competent, except for Amanda Sefton stopping an outbreak of violence throughout Germany with no explanation outside of “I’m a sorceress”. If she could stop the violence that easily, why didn’t she do so before sending Nightcrawler into it? Considering the lack of Excalibur as a team in this story, I wonder if it was originally supposed to be a Nightcrawler solo story in X-Men Unlimited or Marvel Comics Presents. Taking into account the fact that this issue has three writers, two pencilers, and four inkers, I guess it’s lucky that it’s on the low end of mediocre rather than a true train wreck. It mainly comes across as filler while the book’s waiting for a good time to tie in to the Phalanx storyline.

THE ADVENTURES OF CYCLOPS & PHOENIX #2 – June 1994

Tenure

Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Gene Ha (penciler), Al Vey & Terry Austin (inkers), Kevin Somers (colorist), Starkings/Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Five years after being brought into the future, Scott and Jean continue to raise Nathan. Assuming the human identities of "Slym and Redd Dayspring", they travel to the city of Coastcrest to comply with Apocalypse’s law that “every ten years…every non-mutant unit must return to the city of their origin for a genetic scan”. While on the trail, a fellow traveler overhears them speaking in “Old Englishe”. When they arrive at the gates of the city, the guards have been tipped off, believing that only people with something to hide would use the old language. The guards are prepared to kill the Daysprings when the cyborg Prior Turrin appears. Turrin convinces the guards to let the family pass, and allows them to kill the man who turned the Daysprings in. Turrin is apparently a human who has been allowed to oversee the city, which he describes as a morgue. Turrin thinks that Nathan can bring hope to the city of “humans, synthcons, and low-grade mutants”. Meanwhile, Apocalypse (in another new body) has accelerated Stryfe’s power, as Prelate Ch’vayre oversees his education. Stryfe uses his power to disintegrate a teacher he doesn’t like. Ch’vayre tries to discipline him, but Apocalypse encourages Stryfe’s behavior.

Miscellaneous Notes

In order to reinforce the series’ religious imagery, Apocalypse’s men are given designations taken from Christianity. A “prelate” is a high-ranking member of the clergy, and a “prior” is either “an officer in a monastery of a rank below abbot,” or just a religious superior in general.

Continuity Note

The city the Daysprings are traveling to is referred to as both “Coastcrest” and “Crestcoast”.

“Huh?” Moments

There’s an odd use of foreign language brackets (these things: <……..>) during Scott and Jean’s dialogue. In an early scene, only Jean’s dialogue has them when she’s talking to Nathan and Scott. Later on, Scott suddenly has them in the middle of a conversation with Nathan. I understand the idea that our English is supposed to be outdated, but even if the brackets are supposed to represent another language, they’re used totally at random. Why would Jean speak in one language when the two people she’s having a conversation with are speaking another?

In a flashback page set at the Scott/Jean wedding, Ha draws Cable with a short ponytail for some reason.

Review

Wow, this is a dull comic. The creators seem to be under the assumption that they’ve created this enthralling future world, which I guess makes any story set inside of it automatically more interesting. It doesn’t. For some reason, Cable’s future is now portrayed as the New Testament with a few cyborgs thrown in. I understand that casting Scott, Jean, and Nathan as Joseph, Mary, and Jesus is supposed to parallel Nathan’s role as a savior, but this is going pretty far. Not only do Scott and Jean travel to their birthplace, just as Joseph and Mary travel to Joseph's ancestral home in Bethlehem in the Christmas story, but they even dress in ancient Middle Eastern garb and take a mule with them. Good grief, we get the point. I guess Gene Ha’s art is supposed to sell the idea of the past and future coming together, but it doesn’t really look that interesting to me.

The series continues to go in a science fiction direction by giving all of the characters some type of future speak, which mainly serves to distance the reader even further from the story and just get on my nerves. Lines like “be a download if’n we got no more Y chromes” and kid Nathan’s expressions like “Oath!” and “Hyperbolic!” get old fast. Scott and Jean are allowed to still speak normally, but it’s not as if they’re given interesting to say to one another. So far, very little of this story has even focused on the characters. It’s mainly served to establish the setting and to flesh out Cable’s backstory. Scott and Jean do have a connection to Cable, of course, but just placing them in a parental role doesn’t mean the story’s really about the characters themselves or their relationship.

X-FORCE #34 – May 1994

Guns and Poses

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (penciler), Holdredge/La Rosa/Candelario (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marie Javins (colorist)

Summary

Following the events of the Upstarts’ “Younghunt”, Dani Moonstar asks X-Force to trust what she’s doing with the MLF, Paige Guthrie tells Cable that she wants Professor Xavier to train her, and Magma leaves Empath. Shatterstar tells Rictor about a newscast involving his family. According to the report, Rictor’s uncle and cousin were injured in a gunfight with the police. Rictor reluctantly goes home to visit his family, years after leaving to get away from their arms dealing business. Rictor flashes back to the day Stryfe killed his father after an arms deal went bad. Rictor’s family recognizes Cable’s face as he’s waiting outside their home. Thinking that he’s Stryfe, they attack, but Rictor uses his powers to stop them. Rictor leaves, telling his mother that he hates his father for selling guns, and that he might even hate her for following in his footsteps. He visits his cousin in the hospital and tells him that he has to go to jail. As he leaves Mexico, he encourages a group of young boys to use their brain as a weapon.

Continuity Note

Shatterstar tells Rictor that he has no parents, “save for a fertilization chamber.”

Review

It’s another character driven issue, although it has too much action to really qualify as a “quiet” issue. Rictor is used as the vehicle for an anti-violence story, which mostly works but starts to fall apart at the end. As he uses his powers to stop his family, Rictor begins to compare his mutant power to guns and reflect on the fact that he also uses violence. This might’ve worked during the original, hyper-violent issues of this series, but it seems overly melodramatic now. X-Force doesn’t behave any differently than most other superhero teams at this point, and Rictor was never one of the bloodthirsty members like Shatterstar or Feral. His family is group of gunrunners; he works as a superhero to protect innocent people. Trying to connect the two is kind of ridiculous. There have been cases of heroes questioning the use of violence that have worked rather well (I’m thinking of Ann Nocenti’s Daredevil run), but this story doesn’t get into the issue deep enough to pull the idea off. I will give the book credit for evolving to the point where it can attempt an issue like this, though. The early issues of X-Force certainly wouldn’t lead you to believe that you would ever see an issue with an anti-violence message.

EXCALIBUR #76 – April 1994

Dog Years

Credits: Richard Ashford (writer), Scott Lobdell (plot assist), Ken Lashley (penciler), Randy Elliott (inker), Pat Brosseau (letterer), Matthys & Garrahy (colors)

Summary

Violence has erupted throughout Germany, prompted by the demon D’Spayre. Amanda Sefton meets Nightcrawler at a hospital in Mississippi, telling him that her mother, Margali Szardos, has been kidnapped by D’Spayre. She asks Nightcrawler to rescue her, even though he’s reluctant to get involved due to Margali’s past manipulations. Meanwhile, Kitty Pryde’s father leaves her a cryptic message, while Britanic leaves alone on a mysterious mission. Amanda takes Nightcrawler to Germany, where he tries to rescue a young gypsy from a group of skinheads. He’s knocked unconscious, while D’Spayre and an imprisoned Margali watch through a scrying pool.

I Love the ‘90s

Germany was reunited “four years ago”, and the tensions from the reunification are fueling D’Spayre.

Continuity Notes

Kitty’s father is extremely off-model, based on his previous appearances.

Nightcrawler is in the hospital following the events of X-Men Unlimited #4.

Review

There’s not a lot going on in this issue, as it mostly sets up the D’Spayre story and a few subplots. It’s more generic than truly bad, which is better than I would expect from Excalibur during this transition era. It feels a little padded, especially when a shot of Kitty falling asleep as Lockheed covers her with a blanket is given an entire splash page. Continuing Marvel’s efforts to bring the book closer to the other X-titles, Nightcrawler spends a lot of time reacting to the events of X-Men Unlimited #4. That issue did have a large impact on his continuity, so it’s understandable that it’s being brought up here, but Ashford doesn’t really get anything interesting out of it. Lashley’s pencils are mostly weak, mainly due to his inability to draw human faces properly. All of his female characters also have the same generic look, which gets old quickly.

WOLVERINE #81 – May 1994

Storm Warning!

Credits: Larry Hama (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), Mike Sellers & Mark Farmer (inkers), Pat Brosseau (lettering), Marie Javins (coloring)

Summary

After being poisoned by one of Cyber’s claws, Wolverine is hallucinating and lashing out against Excalibur. Moira McTaggert and Kitty Pryde sedate him, while Cyber hijacks a boat and heads for Muir Island. When Wolverine breaks free of his restraints and almost slashes Kitty’s throat, the team tries to carry him to a holding cell. Cyber arrives on the island and cuts off the power, as Wolverine breaks free. He slashes at Kitty again, and soon realizes that he probably killed her. When Kitty tells him that she phased in time, Wolverine begins to regain sanity. Cyber breaks into the lab and fights Wolverine. With Zoe Culloden’s help, Cyber is trapped inside a holding cell while the team manually seals him inside. Wolverine leaves to have a talk with Kitty.

Continuity Note

The bone claws that Cyber broke off in issue #79 are already growing back in this issue.

Review

It’s not a bad action issue, but three issues of Cyber in a row are more than enough. Kubert does a nice job on the fight scenes, and the way he alters his style for Wolverine’s hallucinations is pretty cool. He also draws one of the best renditions of Nightcrawler ever. This is one of the few times Wolverine and Kitty Pryde met after the formation of Excalibur, but they’re not given much of a reunion in this issue. I’m sure anyone looking to see a touching reunion where the two characters reflect on all of the changes in their lives was disappointed to see almost an entire issue of Wolverine foaming at the mouth while a monstrous goon with metal arms chases after him. Hama does work in a few character moments, including a nice one with Zoe Culloden and Kitty (which even brings up Wolverine’s “interdependent relationships” with adolescent girls), but the focus in this issue is really on the action. The story moves fast so it doesn’t get tedious, thankfully, and Kubert’s art keeps things interesting.