EXCALIBUR #95 – March 1996

Amplified Heart

Credits: Warren Ellis (writer), Carlos Pacheco (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Joe Rosas & Malibu’s Hues (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

X-Man, convinced that Moira MacTaggert is working with Professor Xavier to kill him before he turns twenty-one, uses his powers to destroy the communications suite. The members of Excalibur notice the large explosion and race to rescue Moira. Moira lectures X-Man, telling him to actually read Spoor’s mind and see if his claims about Excalibur are true. X-Man learns the truth, but still fights back against the team when they approach him. Moira demands that X-Man read her mind and see that she means him no harm. He looks further and sees her worries that he may end up corrupted with power, like Proteus and Phoenix before him. The members of Excalibur ask him to read their minds to show him that they only want to help. Realizing the truth, X-Man flies away.

I Love the ‘90s

The title of this issue is apparently a reference to an album by UK dance act Everything But The Girl. The opening narration talks about the end of the 20th century.

Production Note

Like the previous two issues, this issue is only nineteen pages, with another three-page letters column used to fill up the empty space.

Continuity Note

This is the second part of a crossover with X-Man #12, although there are no footnotes to indicate that.

Review

A crossover with X-Man means that the ongoing storylines continue to stall, although Ellis does touch base on the various character arcs in the moments before the explosion. Using X-Man’s psychic powers to make a statement about each cast member of the book also helps to make his appearance seem less gratuitous. Other than these few highlights, though, the story is pretty meaningless. Not only is this the third story in a row that’s missing three pages, but the opening three pages are dedicated to recapping the entire X-concept in general and X-Man’s backstory specifically. Ellis is able to give what could’ve been a dull recap page personality (“Those with the X-Factor are crossed out from normal society, slandered as monsters when they are only mutants – unusual humans better equipped for the century to come.”), but it still feels as if he’s padding a story he knows is too thin for a full issue. I’d complain about X-Man behaving like an idiot for the entire story, but I guess that’s just him acting in-character by this point. The giant explosions and action scenes are capably handled by Pacheco, whose stylized art manages to be well-drawn and energetic, even if the storytelling is occasionally off. I’ve heard some people comment over the years that Ellis really went after X-Man in this issue, and I can see a little of that, but it’s not a full-scale attack on the character. Basically, Moira just calls him out for acting like a child and Peter Wisdom gets an insult or two in. If you’re looking for an all-out roasting of the much-hated character, it’s not in here.

CABLE #28 – February 1996

Tick…Tick…Tick!

Credits: Jeph Loeb (writer), Wilfred (penciler), Scott Hanna & Rachael Hawkey (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (lettering), Adam Wallenta (colors)

Summary

Sugar Man sets a nuclear reactor to explode in sixty seconds. Pipeline tries to convince Cable to let him teleport everyone away, but Cable is adamant about staying and shutting the reactor down. Cable and the rebels race towards the area where several Mutates are fleeing in fear. They finally encounter the Sugar Man, who is trying to escape. Cable tries to read his mind, but only sees vague images of another timeline. Sugar Man fights Cable off and heads to the top of the core. Philip Moreau follows him and demands to learn the truth about his father. Sugar Man tells him that he made a deal with Moreau’s father years ago to give him advance scientific knowledge, while the Sugar Man built his powerbase in Genosha. Sugar Man grabs Moreau and teleports away. Cable figures out the Sugar Man’s override password is “Sugar” and stops the meltdown. Sinister appears and tells Cable that he brought him to Genosha so that he could reclaim his work, and then teleports him away. Sinister then examines Sugar Man’s drawing of X-Man and tells Threnody that he needs to know more.

Continuity Notes

Sinister claims that the Genoshan Mutates are based on his experimentation and that this is the “second such perversion of my work”. The first would be the Morlocks, which have now been retconned into being genetically manipulated by the Dark Beast (whether or not he actually created them has been left vague in the stories, although a response in X-Factor’s letters page said that he did not create the Morlocks, just experimented on them). Sinister also tells Cable that he doesn’t even know Domino’s real name, questioning what he “really knows” about her.

Creative Differences

A few added thought balloons on the last page establish that Sinister knows that Threnody is lying about her unawareness of X-Man.

Review

This is one of those stories that’s supposed to be set in real time, which might be a clever gimmick, but the delivery is totally botched here. Rather than setting the story in the course of a realistic amount of time it might take to read this issue, like ten minutes or so, all of the story’s events are supposed to be taking place in the course of…sixty seconds. This means that most of the events described in the summary above, which consists of almost two hundred words, take place in a minute’s time. Not only is that asinine, but we’re constantly reminded of how dumb this is with giant numbers counting down from sixty on each page. This means that there’s a page with multiple dialogue exchanges with just the number “50” written at the top, and a later page with twenty word balloons that’s supposed to take place in just three seconds. Did this book not have an editor? No one caught this? Why on earth was one minute chosen as the countdown time when ten or fifteen minutes would’ve worked just as well?

Other elements of the issue don’t really stand up to a lot of scrutiny, either. The climax of the story involves the Sugar Man running to the top of the core, grabbing Philip Moreau, and teleporting away. First of all, how can the Sugar Man teleport? I guess there are multiple pseudo-scientific justifications for this in the Marvel Universe, and it might even turn out to be his mutant power, but it still feels like a copout ending. Also, why did he wait so long to do it? Why run away and then teleport? Apparently, he wanted Philip Moreau for some reason, so I guess you could argue that he ran away to lure Moreau towards him. Even then, the story offers no explanation for why Sugar Man wanted Moreau in the first place, so it just adds to the awkwardness of the ending. There’s also the question of how exactly Sinister brought Cable out of the timeline and placed him into Genosha, but I guess Sinister exhibiting vaguely defined powers is nothing new. Reminding readers that Sinister has an interest in Cable (the implication in this issue is that he’s been manipulating Cable more than he knows) is at least an acknowledgment of a long-running subplot that this series shouldn’t be ignoring, but that’s only a small part of a rather disappointing issue.

EXCALIBUR #94 – February 1996

Days of Future Tense

Credits: Warren Ellis (writer), Casey Jones (penciler), Tom Simmons (inker), Ariane Lenshoek & Malibu (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

In the year 2013, the future members of Excalibur live in the ruins of Braddock Manor as England is ruled by Black Air, in accord with the Sentinels. Excalibur’s leader, the crippled Peter Wisdom, calls the team together for a mission. He’s learned where Black Air is holding Douglock and is sending Captain Britain, Psylocke, Wolfsbane, Tangerine, and Meggan to rescue him. While sneaking through Black Air’s headquarters, the team is attacked by techno-organic versions of the Brood. After fighting them off, the team breaks into Douglock’s chamber. They discover Douglock has been dissected, and that the technology Black Air unlocked from his body enabled them to take over the country. Armed guards set their sights on Excalibur. In the present, Brian Braddock wakes up and realizes that he’s witnessed another flash of the future.

Miscellaneous Notes

This is the second issue in a row that’s only nineteen pages. The remaining pages are made up by a three-page letters column, which features some very large fonts. The Statement of Ownership lists average sales for the year at 167,243 with the most recent issue selling 164,727 copies.

I Love the ‘90s

The present day Excalibur is referred to as “circa 1995”. Wisdom is totally bald on top in 2013, which means he would at least have a receding hairline by now if these characters aged in real time.

Review

For whatever reason, it looks like Ellis felt the need to stall for several issues after Peter Wisdom officially joined the team. It’s not as if there was a whole lot going on in the book that’s being ignored, but dropping the aftermath of Rory Campbell’s accident for so many issues is annoying. As the letters column points out, there’s also the lingering subplot about the Soul Sword that hasn’t been referenced in months. Setting an entire issue in yet another dystopian future feels like filler, even if the final page ties it back to the ongoing storyline about Brian Braddock’s flashes of the future. The story itself is decent enough, if you’re willing to overlook the fact that stories set in dark, depressing futures had already been done several times in the X-books by this point. Maybe I’ve gotten too cynical after so many years of reading comics, but once it becomes obvious that these bleak visions of the future will never actually happen, it’s hard to keep caring. Ellis does a fine job with the character interactions and the ominous narration though, so judged on its own merits, it’s enjoyable enough.

X-MAN #10 - #13, December 1995- March 1996

Continuing the mini-reviews of X-Man, the spinoff I didn’t mind missing out on, even as a completist teenager.

#10 (Ostrander/Skroce/Duursema/Jones/LaRosa/Atkin/Hunter/Thomas/Webb/Malibu/Comicraft) – Good lord, look at those credits. This is Xavier’s first meeting with X-Man, a confrontation the series has been building up to for a few issues. It mainly consists of Xavier seeking out X-Man in his astral form, X-Man irrationally attacking him, and Xavier playing possum so that he can escape. I’m not sure what Marvel was thinking with this; establishing that a new, teenage character is a more powerful telepath than Professor Xavier. Isn’t Xavier a more valuable character if it’s firmly established that no one can top his mental expertise? Isn’t Xavier a more important commodity to Marvel than X-Man? Building up a new character by giving him such over the top powers feels cheap. The art in this issue is also a mess, as Skroce turns in a rush job and two other pencilers and multiple inkers have to come in and finish it off.

#11 (Ostrander/Skroce/LaRosa/Thomas/Brosseau) – X-Man, conveniently enough, runs into Rogue at the beach. Of course, he behaves irrationally and his powers explode, since there’s apparently some edict to have this happen in every issue. Rogue calms him down and the two become friendly. The X-Cutioner, blaming Rogue for the death of her first kiss Cody, appears and attacks her. Rogue and X-Man team up against him, and he teleports away soon enough. Skroce does energetic work on the fight scene, and the fight thankfully consists of more than just splash pages of X-Man’s powers exploding (although that happens too). The issue ends with Rogue suggesting X-Man seek out Moira MacTaggert, since he seems to distrust Xavier so much. This isn’t as awkward as the previous issues, but it does increase the sense of aimlessness the series has. It now seems as if the new direction is to have X-Man meet a different X-character from another book in each issue. This issue is filled with re-lettered word balloons, which makes me curious about what might’ve been happening behind the scenes.

#12 (Ostrander/Skroce/LaRosa/Thomas/Comicraft) – This issue opens with a gratuitous fight scene between X-Man and Excalibur. The idea that the team would automatically attack a stranger approaching the island is already dodgy, but having super-powerful characters like Colossus just punching the crap out of someone with no provocation is ridiculous. For all Colossus knows, he could’ve easily just killed X-Man. The fight thankfully gets brushed aside after the first few pages (because Moira just “forgot” to tell Excalibur that X-Man was coming). The next few pages aren’t bad, as Ostrander establishes that Moira is afraid of X-Man turning out like her son, the power-mad Proteus. That’s a smart use of past continuity, and Ostrander is able to get some decent emotions out of it. Wolfsbane develops a crush on X-Man and they spend a few pages together exploring the sea. This is probably the first creative use of X-Man’s powers we’ve seen so far, as X-Man uses telekinetics to part the water around a sunken ship like the Red Sea. The rest of the issue just goes back to X-Man acting irrational and having his powers explode, unfortunately. After meeting Excalibur’s prisoner Spoor, X-Man is slightly suspicious of Moira. When he reaches into her mind to verify Spoor’s claims, he sees that she’s been communicating with Professor Xavier (who he illogically distrusts because he still thinks that Magneto is the X-Men’s leader and Xavier’s a fraud). He also learns that his powers will cause his body to burn out before he turns twenty-one. Because he’s X-Man, this leads him to get angry and cause a giant explosion. This leads to a crossover with Excalibur, which I’m sure I’ll get to in a few days.

#13 (Ostrander/Ross/Hunter/Thomas/Comicraft) – Threnody, on the run from the Marauders after leaving Mr. Sinister, calls out to X-Man. He finds her in the sewers underneath Paris. The result is a pretty lengthy fight sequence, but this one at least has X-Man using his powers in creative ways. Using his telepathic powers to confuse the Marauders, and his telekinetic powers to sabotage their weapons, he ends up killing all of them but one. (The story doesn’t even treat this as a morally dubious action, perhaps because the narration goes out of its way to remind us that these are clones. I guess clones aren’t a part of Marvel’s culture of life). The remaining Marauder is given a psychic implant, which will force him to hide X-Man’s identity and Threnody’s location from Sinister. Just as a straightforward action story, this is better than the previous issues. Connecting X-Man to Threnody isn’t a bad idea, since it links X-Man back to his origin as a Sinister creation, and it gives Threnody something to do. The art is a major drawback, as it features a young Luke Ross trying to integrate Madureria’s manga style with the early Image look. It ain’t pretty. Like most of the issues preceding it, this issue is filled with obviously re-lettered word balloons. These are the hand-lettered corrections that are very obvious when compared to Comicraft’s computer font. Either Comicraft was making a ton of mistakes, or someone at Marvel felt an overwhelming desire to perform last-minute rewrites on every issue of this series.

X-FORCE #49 – December 1995

Target: X-Force

Credits: Jeph Loeb (writer), Terry Dodson (penciler), Lanning/Morales/Russell (inkers), Marie Javins & Electric Crayon (colors), Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Sebastian Shaw reunites with Tessa and builds new armor for his ally, Holocaust. Soon, while Sunspot is spending time with Caliban in the sewers, Holocaust kidnaps both of them. Later, Warpath and Siryn are abducted by Sebastian Shaw in Manhattan. Outside of a nightclub, Shatterstar stops a group of thugs from beating up a young man. He’s suddenly attacked from behind. In Pennsylvania, Boomer returns to her hometown and attempts to reconcile with her father. Soon after he reveals to her that her mother is actually alive, Shaw and Holocaust arrive. Holocaust destroys her father’s trailer and then carries Boomer away.

Continuity Notes

This issue has a fairly thin plot, but the dialogue is filled with little hints about various plotlines. Sebastian Shaw was killed off in X-Factor #67, when his son used his intangibility powers to give him a heart attack while he was trapped inside an exploding building. There’s no explanation of how Shaw survived, but he now has a scar on his face, which I guess is supposed to be an acknowledgment of his death scene.

Tessa is referred to as a telepath, and even uses telepathic powers, which is a mistake. She was originally described as someone with a “computer-like” mind, and wasn’t even explicitly referred to as a mutant. I think the modern retcon explanation is that she has low-level TP powers but rarely uses them.

According to Sunspot, he can’t turn back to his human form. He also claims that his powers disrupt any holographic image inducers. Warpath claims that he almost died during X-Force’s off-panel fight with Reignfire. His near-death experience inspired him to stop living in his brother’s shadow, explaining his change in appearance. Later on in the issue, he begins to use a new power he’s somehow developed, enhanced hearing.

Loeb drops a few hints that Shatterstar might be gay in this issue. After turning down a woman outside of a nightclub, he thinks to himself about how much he misses Rictor, and then stops what’s inferred to be a gay bashing. I’ll again point out that Loeb’s interpretation that Shatterstar’s gay is apparently based on a misreading of X-Force #43, which established that he had no concept of sexuality. This, combined with the Tessa mistake in this issue and his characterization of Caliban, makes me wonder if Loeb was just skimming through back issues before writing these characters, or perhaps basing his interpretations on vague memories of the actual stories.

Review

This is really just a setup for next issue’s fight with Shaw and Holocaust, with some character moments thrown in. If all of the little hints slipped into the characters’ dialogue actually went somewhere, maybe this wouldn’t feel like such a thin read, but read individually it doesn’t add up to much. Most of the character beats are just reiterations of what’s been established in previous issues, so we end up with more pages to establish that Caliban is childlike, Sunspot is feeling isolated, Warpath acts like a sap around Siryn, Shatterstar misses Rictor, and Boomer’s upset about what happened with Sabretooth. The only new revelation is that Boomer’s mother might be alive. I don’t recall this going anywhere, but I like the fact that someone’s exploring Boomer’s family life for the first time. Revealing that her father isn’t a rabid bigot and feels bad about the way he treated her is also a nice variation on an old cliché. The superhero elements of the issue don’t really work, simply because Shaw has no motive to attack X-Force at this point. The only explanation given is that Shaw is reclaiming his life and that “Xavier, the X-Men, the Hellfire Club, (and) Shinobi” will all pay. Well, this is X-Force, not X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Unlimited or any of the annuals or specials starring the team. Drafting X-Force into a fight with another team’s nemesis with no discernable justification feels lame, and it just exasperates the loss of identity this title has experienced in the preceding months.

CABLE #27 – January 1996

Rebels

Credits: Jeph Loeb (writer), Ian Churchill & Ben Herrera (pencilers), Scott Hanna & Al Milgrom (inkers), Comicraft (lettering), Mike Thomas (colors)

Summary

Cable and the Genoshan rebels fight back against the Magistrates. Realizing that they’re being overpowered, Pipeline teleports the other Magistrates away. Before Pipeline can go, Cable knocks him out. When he comes to, Cable uses his telepathic powers to force Pipeline over to the rebels’ side. Using information given to them by Essex, Philip Moreau and Jenny Ransome travel with Cable, Domino, and Pipeline to the Ridgeback Mountains. While exploring the mountains, they find the entrance to a man-made passage. They’re shocked to discover a technologically advanced Mutate processing station. Pipeline claims that something like this should’ve been monitored by the Magistrates, but this area was off-limits to them. Nearby, the Sugar Man watches, ready for a fight.

Miscellaneous Note

According to the Statement of Ownership, average sales for the year were 161,714 copies with the most recent issue selling 179,815. Looks like actually having a consistent creative team helped sales.

Review

Not a lot happens in this issue, since it mainly just resolves the previous issue’s cliffhanger and moves the characters to the next location. It’s the middle chapter of a storyline, so this type of thing isn’t that unusual. Parts of it certainly feel padded, though, as Sugar Man gets one page with giant panels boasting about how evil he is in the middle of the issue, and then gets two more pages to do the exact same thing at the end. The fight scene is also filled with a lot of giant panels and posing, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for any actual action. Churchill, to his credit, is still growing as an artist and is able to do the flashy ‘90s style without a lot of the sheer ugliness that usually accompanied it. Like I’ve said before, it hasn’t aged that well but I can understand why I liked it at the time.

Loeb does have Cable do something the other X-telepaths rarely do, which is take over someone’s mind. The fact that Cable is still willing to cross lines that other characters probably wouldn’t is a nice avenue to explore, but it’s treated almost like an afterthought here. In fact, as small as it is, it’s one of the very few things in the story that makes Cable stand out from any other hero. There’s also a very brief reference to Cable’s past as a soldier, which should tie in to a story about a civil war, but it doesn’t go anywhere either. Like a lot of the earlier issues of this series, it’s starting to feel as if Cable’s been plunked into a story that wouldn’t be any different if any other X-character was the hero.

X-FACTOR #118 – January 1996

Havok’s Fall

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Paul Neary (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver (colorist)

Summary

While on their way to X-Factor’s headquarters, the Adversary locates Roma and Naze. Naze tries to fight back against Adversary, but he’s not powerful enough. Adversary tells Roma that she’s responsible for mystically hiding Forge, and that he will learn his location. Adversary’s power pushes Naze off of a cliff, forcing Roma to teleport in desperation to X-Factor’s headquarters. Adversary tries to follow her, but Roma manages to push him back at the last second. Meanwhile, Random fights Havok at a nearby processing plant. After Havok unleashes his powers, he accidentally buries Random and himself under a pile of debris. Random reduces his body to a teenage form and escapes, as Fatale teleports in and abducts Havok. Fatale sends a forged goodbye letter to Polaris to cover his absence.

Production Note

The pages covering the Roma/Adversary story are clearly not drawn by Hitch, but there’s no credit for the alternate artist.

Continuity Notes

This is the first appearance of “Teen Random”, one of the more absurd ideas to come from this run. The implication here is that this is Random’s true form and that the tough bounty hunter persona was a façade. After they capture Havok, Fatale tells him that “this was the reason” Dark Beast set him up in X-Factor in the first place. After Fatale tells Random that he’s scored points with Dark Beast, she then says, “But I’m warning you, stay away from Mandrake…he’s mine!” I have no idea what this is supposed to mean.

Review

And X-Factor continues to sink further down the well. As I mentioned above, the abominable “Teen Random” debuts here. Aside from introducing a horrible redesign of the character, this story establishes that Random was always supposed to get close to X-Factor because Dark Beast wanted Havok all along. This makes no sense for several reasons. Random never really joined the team, didn’t use his past experiences with the team to actually reach Havok, and was recently shown to be Dark Beast’s second choice in abducting Havok. Plus, according to recent issues, it was the explosion of Havok’s powers in X-Men Prime that brought him to the Dark Beast’s attention. So what was Random doing in the two-plus years of stories before that issue?

The story is divided between two lengthy fight scenes, which presumably would inject a lot of energy into a book that’s been plodding along for a while now, but even the action sequences feel dull. One reason is Mackie’s script, which fills every panel with generic dialogue and tedious narrative captions. Instead of just letting Hitch’s art sell the fight, Mackie feels the need to have the characters repeatedly reiterate their own powers and history with one another during most of the action. The Adversary fight just consists of a generically evil bad guy menacing two other characters without a personality for about ten pages. Most of the artwork is fine, but the colors (in my copy at least) are so faded and dull you don’t even want to look at the pages for long. Since Glynis Oliver usually delivered excellent color work that was ahead of its time, I'm assuming that something went wrong with the separations or printing of this issue. It’s hard to believe that this comic was published within a week of this month’s Uncanny X-Men, which featured brilliant, intricate coloring on each page. This book is fading fast, and if memory serves, it’s only going to get worse.

EXCALIBUR #93 – January 1996

The Spire

Credits: Warren Ellis (writer), Casey Jones (penciler), Tom Simmons (inker), Lenshoek & Malibu’s Hues (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Wolfsbane spots a fire on the mainland near Muir Island. Meggan uses her expanding elemental powers to sense the source of the fire, and determines that it was possibly caused by a mutant. Wolfsbane and Meggan travel with Shadowcat to Kinross, where Meggan uses her powers to stop the blaze. Wolfsbane finds the person responsible, a scared fourteen-year-old girl named Bridget Shane. Bridget tells her that she’s ashamed to be a mutant, and that Reverend Craig has called her an abomination. Wolfsbane travels to town and decides to confront Reverend Craig, her former guardian, over his abusive tactics. Wolfsbane reveals to him that she’s used the internet to look into his past. She’s learned that her mother was a free-spirited local in Ullapool who came to Craig’s attention. She died during childbirth, leaving Craig as Wolfsbane’s guardian. For mysterious reasons, the church soon stationed Craig far away in Kinross. She tells him that she knows his secret, and that she’s noticed that Bridget has red hair too. Wolfsbane leaves the weeping Reverend Craig alone in the empty church.

Production Note

This story only has 19 pages. The missing pages are made up by a two-page letter column and an expanded “X-Facts” hype page.

Continuity Note

The implication here is that Reverend Craig is Wolfsbane’s biological father, and likely the father of the new character, Bridget Shane. Meggan is able to sense Bridget’s fire due to her ability to “see and hear the workings of all electromagnetics”, which now allows her to sense psychic powers.

Review

This isn’t a bad story, but it’s certainly a thin issue. It reads like an annual backup that got stretched out to fill a regular issue, and even then it came out three pages short. The opening scene, which has Peter Wisdom impersonating Charles Xavier with Moira’s swimming cap, is pretty funny, and Ellis continues to show a strong grasp of the characters. Ellis could’ve turned this into a clichéd anti-religion story, but he keeps the focus mainly on the characters and doesn’t take cheap shots at Wolfsbane’s faith. The big reveal in this issue, that the abusive Reverend Craig is actually Wolfsbane’s father and is even potentially genetically prone to create mutants, is a strong hook that works well with past continuity. After establishing the idea, though, it looks like Ellis ran out of things to say and just shut the story down. The new mutant is forgotten about, and nothing really comes from the revelation outside of Reverend Craig getting a good cry. Casey Jones continues to work as the fill-in artist. His opening pages have a nice style that almost reminds me of Mike Wieringo, but his art gets more and more inconsistent as the issue goes on. He shows up as a regular fill-in artist during this time, and since I remember liking his work, I think he greatly improves over the months.

PROFESSOR XAVIER AND THE X-MEN #1 – November 1995

Trial by Fire!

Credits: Fred Schiller (writer), Jan Duursema (penciler), Rick Magyar & Mike Sellers (inkers), Matt Webb (colorist), Pat Brosseau (letterer)

Summary

Jean Grey arrives at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters for the first time. She’s introduced to her fellow X-Men and soon given her own uniform and code name, Marvel Girl. Professor Xavier sends the team on their first mission, to stop Magneto from sabotaging another satellite launch at Cape Citadel. The team arrives at the base and is given ten minutes by the authorities to deal with Magneto. They defend themselves from Magneto’s attacks, and eventually push him into retreating. Jean decides that she made the right decision in joining the team.

Review

I only own two issues of this series, so I have no plans on reviewing it on a regular basis, but I thought I should at least mention the first issue. This is the start of Marvel’s ill-fated 99-cent line. The line was one of Marvel’s numerous attempts to bring back readers after sales plummeted in 1994, creating a line of books in the hopes that self-contained stories at a lower price could bring in more casual readers. As far as sales stunts go, I guess this one was pretty admirable. The line was poorly conceived from the beginning, though, and it’s only remembered now as the imprint that birthed Untold Tales of Spider-Man. The first problem with the line was that Marvel created it without realizing that mainstream retailers had no interest in dollar comics anymore. In order to be sold on newsstands, Marvel had to bundle two of the titles together and charge $1.95, which automatically defeats the whole 99-cent angle. The second major problem was content, as the line was filled with retellings of old comics, throwaway inventory stories, cartoon adaptations, and just one lone title that tried to create new stories that took place in old continuity. With the exception of Untold Tales of Spider-Man, which tried to appeal to both older and younger readers, it’s hard to believe that Marvel thought that any of these books could last.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, this issue is a retelling of Uncanny X-Men #1 (or X-Men #1, since “Uncanny” became the retroactive adjective for the original title). The hook is that it’s narrated by Jean Grey, who was originally a token female character without much of a personality. Chris Claremont had revealed years later that Jean and the Professor knew each other before the X-Men were formed, so presumably retelling the first issue from her perspective has some potential. Instead, we get a rushed recap of the first issue, with a couple of narrative captions thrown in that basically put Jean through an arc that consists of “I’m not sure if I should come here; I’m not sure if I like it here; wow, I love it here”. Since Jean doesn’t really do anything in the original story, and the retelling doesn’t give her anything more to do in the final fight with Magneto, the decision to have her narrate the issue doesn’t work. It reads as if the story is actually about Jean for most of the issue, then she drops out for several pages while the team fights Magneto, then she has a brief narrative caption in the final panel declaring that she’s decided she likes being a superhero.

The odd approach taken to continuity in this issue is also confusing. The characters don’t use the same dialogue or wear the same clothes they wore in the original story, but the plot follows the same basic outline. In doing so, it incorporates some of the plot holes and nonsensical elements that haven’t held up over the years. Viewed through modern continuity, it’s impossible to believe that Xavier would’ve sent barely trained (in Jean’s case, totally untrained) teenagers off to fight Magneto, especially when you consider the retcon that Xavier and Magneto already knew each other at this time. And would the Magneto we know today just fly off after a couple of teenagers wage a meager attack against him? Trying to cram the hundred-plus panels of story that appeared in the original issue into a modern comic that only has an average of four or five panels per page also seems foolish. Even though I usually don’t mind Duursema’s art, her depictions of the X-Men as teenagers here are just absurd. Cyclops has a neck the size of a tree trunk, and Jean has the proportions of a twenty-six year old stripper.

I’m not sure why Marvel decided to go in this direction, since Untold Tales of Spider-Man clearly felt no need to retell old stories, opting instead to insert stories in-between existing issues. Why not take that approach to the X-Men? Why create a series that appears to be a dubious attempt at overwriting the original issues, especially one that does so in such a halfhearted way? Actually, the one other issue I have is #4, which is written by Fabian Nicieza. It doesn’t retell UXM #4, but instead tells the story of Magneto recruiting the original Brotherhood, while incorporating all of the modern retcons about Magneto’s past. Basically, it’s Untold Tales of the X-Men, written by someone who had written quite a few X-comics. This actually has potential. I have no idea if the rest of the series followed in this tradition, but considering the low reputation it’s earned over the years, I doubt it. This series, combined with X-Man, helped to force me away from completism, since I knew it was being published but honestly felt no desire to ever read it.

SABRETOOTH SPECIAL#1 – January 1996

In the Red Zone

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Gary Frank (penciler), Jon Holdredge w/Mark McKenna (inkers), Dana Moreshead & Electric Crayon (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Caliban tracks Sabretooth down in the sewers, but Sabretooth manages to knock him unconscious and escape. Phoenix tries to telepathically locate Sabretooth, but can’t. Cyclops and Iceman investigate one of his old safe houses while Beast and Archangel position themselves around the city. Sabretooth returns home while Cyclops and Iceman are there. He jumps out of the window and takes a hostage on the street, forcing Iceman to let him escape on the subway. Beast confronts him on the subway train, but Sabretooth manages to escape again. Archangel spots him and tries to capture him, but Sabretooth rips open one of his wings instead. Cyclops orders Iceman to take Archangel to the hospital, while Jean senses that the police have discovered a train ticket for Boston in the remains of Sabretooth’s clothing. The X-Men discern that Sabretooth is headed for Xavier’s school in Massachusetts to kill the younger students. Cyclops, Phoenix, and Beast catch him at the train station. When Sabretooth sees the brigade of police nearby, he antagonizes them into shooting him repeatedly. Val Cooper takes his apparently dead body away, as Cyclops laments that Sabretooth ended up getting exactly what he wanted.

Continuity Note

According to Professor Xavier, Sabretooth can’t be located telepathically ever since his healing factor repaired his brain damage and removed his need for a psychic “glow”. I don’t know if that’s been kept consistent over the years, but this explanation doesn’t make any sense to me.

Gimmicks

This issue has a wraparound chromium cover and is forty-eight pages with no ads. The cover price is $4.95, a dollar more than X-Men Alpha, which had the same format a year earlier. I could be wrong, but I think this was the last chromium X-book.

I Love the ‘90s

Sabretooth refers to X-Force as the “MTV slacker group”. Phoenix stations herself on top of the World Trade Center. Beast admits that he enjoys The Richard Bay Show. “Veruca Salt” appears as graphiti on the subway.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority

Sabretooth says “sucks” at one point, which is a word Joe Quesada later claimed the Code had a problem with.

Review

I’m not quite sure what the point of this comic is, outside of Marvel just saying, “Hey, we haven’t done a big, expensive chromium cover comic in a few months”. Maybe the idea was that after so many months of having Sabretooth live in the mansion, there should be a giant “X-Men vs. Sabretooth” comic to end the storyline. The story isn’t that bad, even though the plot mechanics get on my nerves. Gary Frank delivers a solid art job throughout the issue, but his clean, smooth style seems like an odd choice for a Sabretooth special. Nicieza uses the story as a vehicle for Sabretooth’s sadistic point of view, emphasizing again and again that he has no desire to change and that he likes what he is. It’s a legitimate avenue to take, but it starts to get old after awhile since the story mainly consists of Sabretooth having brief confrontations with each of the X-Men and then running away.

For no internally logical reason, only the original X-Men are sent after Sabretooth. I get that Nicieza wants to pit the original team against a creature so nasty he couldn’t have existed in the Silver Age, but hardly any of these characters really have any unique perspective to bring to the conflict. And the mechanics required to keep the story going for almost fifty pages are also silly. Not only can’t Phoenix mentally track him because Sabretooth’s suddenly developed some defense against telepathy, but in the end she can’t even keep him afloat with her telekinesis because she’s “too tired”. Cyclops hits him point blank with his optic blasts more than once and it barely has any effect. The idea that all five of these X-Men would have such a hard time capturing Sabretooth is silly. Four out of the five of them could just attack him from a distance, since Beast is the only one that can’t fire some type of projectile. Given Iceman’s recent power-up, it’s hard to believe that he couldn’t have just frozen Sabretooth at some point in the story. I don’t usually complain about the way characters use their powers in a fight scene, but this is ridiculous.

The story does have its moments, though, as Sabretooth has a few interesting exchanges with Archangel and Phoenix. Archangel talks about suppressing his own dark desires to kill Sabretooth, which is the first acknowledgment of his own internal conflicts in a long time. The idea that Sabretooth is constantly pushing the X-Men to cross their own moral boundaries also works well. The story’s central idea, that Sabretooth is really a coward because he’s unwilling to fight against any of his urges and see if he ever could change, is fine but it’s repeated so often it starts to wear on you. Overall, the story has its moments but it’s obviously padded to fit into the double-sized format, and some of the plot elements don’t hold up to much scrutiny.

UNCANNY X-MEN #328 – January 1996

Precipice

Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Joe Madureira (penciler), Tim Townsend (inker), Steve Buccellato & Electric Crayon (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary

Phoenix performs a psi-scan on Sabretooth and learns that he mentally interpreted the holographic forest in the Danger Room as graphic depictions of animals killing each other. Professor Xavier confronts Sabretooth and sees that his old personality has emerged. Feeling that he’s done everything he can, Xavier contacts Valerie Cooper and arranges for him to be taken into federal custody. After he leaves, Boomer confronts Sabretooth about lying to her. He taunts her until she launches her time bombs at him. The explosion inadvertently frees him from his shackles. Psylocke rushes to save her, but learns that Sabretooth’s brain damage has erased the effect of her psychic “glow”. He nearly eviscerates Psylocke and then escapes.

Continuity Notes

Bishop is still struggling with his memories of the Age of Apocalypse. Cyclops theorizes that he and Phoenix had an easier time dealing with “time compression” after their time in future because of their psychic bond with one another. This is treated as if it’s going to be an important storyline, but it’s soon forgotten about.

Sabretooth claims that Cannonball wouldn’t love Boomer if he knew “what you used to be”. This ties in to issues of X-Force from around this time that imply that she might've been a prostitute, if I recall correctly.

Review

Now, over two years after it began, the “Sabretooth lives with the X-Men” storyline ends. I remember really liking Madureira’s art when I first read this issue, but hating the story because it was such a cheat. After months of acting like a wounded animal, the real Sabretooth is back with no explanation. I would have an easier time buying this issue’s assertion that he was faking the whole time, if there hadn’t been a recent issue of Wolverine which showed that he really had been lobotomized, and if the third-person narrative captions in several other issues hadn’t claimed that he was truly changed. It’s possible that his healing factor healed his brain damage and that his personality began to secretly reemerge over the weeks, and that might even be what the creators intended, but it’s not clear at all here. It reads like someone at Marvel just decided that they liked Sabretooth better the other way, so he suddenly changes back in this issue. Outside of the aforementioned Wolverine issue, which briefly played up the irony that Sabretooth was now a domesticated housecat while Wolverine was growing nastier and alienating his friends, I really have no idea what the point of the “tame Sabretooth” arc was even supposed to be. It seems like it was an idea thrown out as shock value after the books returned from the AoA that just stuck around for a few months because no one knew where to go with it. Judged on its own, this issue does have a few decent moments. Lobdell is able to portray Xavier’s disappointment over his failure effectively, and he handles Sabretooth’s malicious dialogue pretty well. Like I mentioned earlier, Madureira’s artwork is very impressive for most of the issue, even though the first half of the story is packed with so many splash pages and giant panels, the Psyclocke fight gets cramped into a lot of tiny panels towards the end. As the conclusion to a long-running storyline, though, it’s an awkward finale that doesn’t even mesh with the issues published just a few weeks earlier. Unfortunately, this type of scattershot storytelling will continue throughout the post-AoA era.

EXCALIBUR #92 – December 1995

I Want You

Credits: Warren Ellis (writer), Casey Jones (penciler), Miller/Simmons/Rubinstein/Carani (inkers), Ariane Lenshoek & Malibu Hues (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Colossus watches in a rage as Peter Wisdom and Kitty Pryde kiss. After Kitty goes inside, Colossus punches Wisdom in the stomach and then the face. Nearly dead, Wisdom fights back by projecting one of his "hot knives" into Colossus’ spine. Meggan and Britanic team up and knock Colossus unconscious. Both Wisdom and Colossus are taken to the med-lab, where Colossus’ spine is easily fixed. Wisdom requires intense surgery, however. Colossus is locked in a cell and attached to an inhibitor collar. Nightcrawler chastises Colossus for behaving like a child, telling him that after losing so much, he’s projected too much on to Kitty. Nightcrawler suggests that he redeem himself by staying on Muir Island and telling Professor Xavier that he’s still seeking treatment for his earlier brain damage. Kitty later visits Colossus and tells him that Wisdom will survive. Still angry, she asks Colossus to find himself again.

Review

Colossus joins the team in this issue, basically as damage control after he nearly kills Peter Wisdom, which has got to be one of the strangest justifications for adding a new team member ever. I’m not sure how I feel about Colossus’ portrayal in this issue. I remember liking this story when it was first published, since it seemed as if Ellis was actually trying to use Colossus’ recent continuity and build a story around it. Looking back on it, I have to wonder if it was worth the effort since Colossus’ treatment during this era was atrocious in the first place. Just ignoring it probably would’ve been the best option. Ellis seems dismissive of the “brain damage” justification for Colossus’ actions during “Fatal Attractions”, having Nightcrawler tell Colossus all of his recent actions have been childlike, implying that he still hasn’t grown up. That seems to trivialize Colossus, which doesn’t do anything to redeem the awful way he had been treated in recent years. The fight between Colossus and Wisdom has always stuck with me, since it’s the only time I can remember Colossus punching out someone who has normal strength. The story does a good job of depicting just how brutal that could be, and it’s nice that there’s at least some realistic repercussions for Wisdom. I also like the way Ellis handles the reactions from the rest of Excalibur, so it doesn’t feel as if this is just being done for cheap shock value. In hindsight, though, it just seems like another regrettable Colossus story.

WOLVERINE/GAMBIT: VICTIMS - September 1995 - December 1995

WOLVERINE/GAMBIT: VICTIMS #1 – September 1995

In Harm’s Way

Credits: Jeph Loeb (writer), Tim Sale (artist), Gregory Wright & Digital Chameleon (colors), Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

A female detective named Alexandra Davies is working undercover in London to stop a series of murders reminiscent of the Jack the Ripper killings. She becomes the fifth victim. Gambit flies to London to investigate her murder. He sneaks into the office of an Inspector Andrews to get information. When Andrews walks in, Gambit knocks him unconscious with one of his charged cards. Gambit travels to the home of Alexandra Davies’ parents, telling them that she was a friend of his, but he only succeeds in making them suspicious of him. At night, Gambit tries to stop another killing, but it turns out to be a police sting designed to catch him. Inspector Andrews and the London C.I.D. try to arrest him, as a woman screams nearby. Gambit races to the scene to protect the woman from a man in the shadows. The man turns out to be Wolverine. When Gambit asks him to explain the blood on his claws, he can’t.

Gimmicks

This is another installment in the “Marvel Select” series, so every issue has a cardstock cover with foil enhancements and costs $2.95.

“Huh?” Moment

Alexandra’s parents don’t seem to notice Gambit’s red, glowing eyes (he even takes his sunglasses off before speaking to them).

Review

This is the start of a prestige format miniseries, the last one in the overpriced “Marvel Select” format, I believe. The previous Bishop and Rogue minis were obvious cash grabs with stories that really didn’t justify the format, so I wasn’t thrilled to see another one come out. This doesn’t turn out to be an important story either, but it is at least successful in creating a mood and utilizing an art style that wasn’t seen in the normal monthly titles. I don’t think the world really needed a Gambit & Wolverine miniseries, but it is trying to do something different. Sale’s abstract art style and heavy shadows fit the story well, and Loeb is able to keep an issue that’s mostly setup pretty entertaining. Little moments, such as Gambit’s longing for a cigarette on his flight, are nice touches. Most of Sale’s art is very impressive throughout the issue, creating a stylized interpretation of Gambit that emphasizes his red eyes, sloppy hair, and flowing trenchcoat (although for some reason Sale draws his face almost like a corpse’s in a few scenes). The story is clearly meant to showcase the art, so the issue’s filled with several giant panels and splash pages. Sale makes good use of the large images, but they make the book feel like too much of a light read.

WOLVERINE/GAMBIT: VICTIMS #2 –October 1995

In Deep

Credits: Jeph Loeb (writer), Tim Sale (artist), Gregory Wright & Digital Chameleon (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

The London C.I.D. set their sights on Wolverine and Gambit, who are rescued by a mysterious woman who takes them away in a sports car. She introduces herself to the duo as Martinique Jason. After evading the C.I.D. agents, she drives their car into a river. Gambit and Wolverine reappear in a mysterious location, with Martinique’s dead body lying on the floor. Gambit accuses Wolverine of killing her in one of his blind rages, but he denies it. After escaping through the sewers, they run through the tunnels and end up in the same room, only now Martinique’s body is gone. She appears behind Wolverine with a gun, claiming that she only saved Wolverine so that she could claim justice for his victims. He slashes her throat, revealing her to be a robot. Arcade and the real Martinique, the new Mastermind, watch the events from a series of monitors.

Continuity Notes

This is the first appearance of the new Mastermind, the daughter of the original Mastermind. Unlike her father, she can use telepathy to directly insert illusions into someone’s mind.

Martinique claims that Muir Island has been quarantined since Moira MacTaggert’s Legacy Virus infection was revealed. There’s a footnote that points you towards recent Excalibur issues for details, but this hasn’t come up at all in the series.

Review

If the first issue didn’t make it obvious that this mini was intended as a showcase for Sale’s art, this one certainly does. The plot is left literally going in circles, while Sale gets to show off his large, stylized figures on almost every page. I actually don’t mind it that much in this issue, since the story still feels energetic, even if it’s not going very far. This type of comic has become more common over the years, so maybe I’ve just become inured to it. The conflict that the story is trying to sell, Wolverine’s doubts about possibly killing the women, doesn’t really work since it’s so over-the-top you know it’ll be disproven. The story is still able to coast on energy and its stylish artwork at this point, though, so it’s not a major issue yet.

WOLVERINE/GAMBIT: VICTIMS #3 – November 1995

No Way Out

Credits: Jeph Loeb (writer), Tim Sale (artist), Gregory Wright & Malibu Hues (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Gambit flashes back to his first meeting with Alexandra Davies. She catches him stealing a painting, but he promises her that it was stolen by the Nazis during WWII and that he’s returning it to its rightful owner. He vows to give her a “bigger fish” if she lets him go. The next day, he’s true to his word and gives her information that allows her to arrest Yukio. Later, he offers to work as her partner, but she refuses. He gives her a final kiss before he leaves. His mental image of Alexandra dissolves, leading Gambit to declare vengeance against Wolverine. Wolverine dreams of his time in Japan with Mariko. He walks outside of their home and is attacked by Gambit. Wolverine retaliates and stabs him in the stomach.

Review

This issue resolves the mystery of how Gambit knew Alexandra, and it manages to do so in a capabale way. Gambit’s charm and light-hearted attitude are attributes of the character that most writers seemed to forget about in the ‘90s, so seeing him charm his way out of this situation and outsmart Yukio is a welcome relief. This interpretation of Gambit I have no problem with. The perpetually gloomy mystery man who’s constantly angsting over his unknown past gets old fast. Having Gambit get into a physical fight with Wolverine seems too obvious, since pairing heroes together and then watching them fight is one of the oldest superhero clichés around, but Sale does a decent job with the fight scene. The Wolverine segment again tries to sell the idea that he might have been responsible for the murders in London, which is a plot thread that just isn’t working. Wolverine’s story is really just an afterthought in this issue, as Gambit gets eleven pages on his own and Wolverine only gets two before their fight.

WOLVERINE/GAMBIT: VICTIMS #4 – December 1995

A Woman Scorned

Credits: Jeph Loeb (writer), Tim Sale (artist), Gregory Wright & Malibu Hues (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Mastermind catches a glimpse of Arcade’s subconscious with her telepathic powers. She tells him that she agreed to help him because he told her that Wolverine killed his former assistant, Ms. Locke, but now she’s beginning to doubt him. Wolverine wakes up and realizes that his fight with Gambit was a mental illusion. They escape their cell and fight an army of Wolverine robots while on their way to face Arcade. When they finally reach him, Wolverine wants to kill Arcade for reminding him of the things he’s lost, but Gambit talks him out of it. Arcade tries to escape, but Mastermind uses her mental powers to expose what happened to Ms. Locke. While playing one of their “games”, Arcade killed her after she slashed half of his face off. Unable to admit his guilt, he invented a game to hide his shame. He placed her body on the streets and framed Wolverine by using duplicate robots to commit more murders. Mastermind seemingly disappears, leaving Arcade behind. He’s sent to a mental institution, where he must live with Mastermind’s mental illusion that surrounds him with images of Ms. Locke.

Review

And, after three issues of sparse plots and giant panels, we get a rushed ending. Now that Arcade’s plan is revealed, Loeb also has to work in the fact that Arcade has always resented Wolverine for beating his games, and that he hates him enough to project one of his own murders onto him. It’s obviously a stretch, and the story really doesn’t do a lot to justify Arcade’s motivation. Mastermind is also suddenly revealed to be an extreme feminist, as her dialogue suggests that she only cares about the victims because they were female, even telling Wolverine and Gambit that as men they can’t understand her pain. She did tell Wolverine in the second issue that she wanted revenge, but that issue didn’t get into any gender politics, so it seems odd that it’s suddenly her motivation. Arcade’s redesign, which has half of his face severely scarred, is explained here in a rushed five-panel scene. I don’t mind the revelation that Ms. Locke was responsible, but I never liked this look for Arcade as it seemed to be a forced attempt at making him appear scary or creepy. Arcade’s whole gimmick is that he takes things that appear to be harmless and makes them deadly, so making him look like a monster himself seems to miss the point.

One thing that isn’t resolved is why Wolverine had blood on his claws in the first place, and why he couldn’t remember how it got there. The obvious explanation is that Mastermind manipulated his mind, but there should’ve been a confirmation for closure’s sake. There is a nice scene at the end at Alexandra’s grave, which tries to draw a parallel between Wolverine and Gambit’s reactions to loss with Arcade’s cowardly response. It’s a little cliché, but at least there’s some attempt to use the story to actually say something about the characters. Like the previous installments, most of the issue rests on Sale’s artwork, and he is able to get some cool images out of the plot. Overall, it’s hard not to view this mini as another exploitation of the brand, but the story has its moments and the art is strong for most of the series. This probably would’ve worked best as a one-shot, since the story is fairly thin and the absurd tease of Wolverine actually becoming a Jack the Ripper-style killer gets old after four straight installments.