EXCITING X-PATROL #1 - June 1997

The Curse of Brother Brood!

Credits: Barbara Kesel (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Paul Neary (inker), Joe Andreani & Digital Chameleon (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Shatterstarfire reluctantly leaves Niles Cable behind during a battle with Brother Brood, returning to the X-Patrol’s base for help. The team leaves on a rescue mission with their mysterious new member, Jericho. Landing on Zenosha, X-Patrol soon faces the Brood-infected Niles and Terra-X the Destroyer. While battling Niles, Jericho’s rocky disguise is destroyed, revealing Jericho as Niles’ younger self. Niles decides to let his techno-organic virus consume his body and kill the Brood infection. Near death, Niles is saved by the spirit of Raveniya the Healer. Inspired by his younger self, Niles vows to continue fighting.

Continuity Notes: The island of Zenosha is presumably an amalgam, yet plain ol’ Genosha was shown to exist in the Amalgam world in the previous year’s Magneto and the Magnetic Men. This reality’s version of Jericho is a combination of DC’s Jericho, the Thing, and X-Man. Brother Brood is Brother Blood infected by the Brood Queen. Terra-X the Destroyer is an amalgam of the Teen Titan’s bucktoothed traitor Terra and Galactus’ herald Terrax the Destroyer. Raveniya the Healer merges Raven with Mother Askani.

Review: Oh, another Bryan Hitch comic that isn’t marred by excessive detail lines and “realistic” faces. That’s like finding an old Greg Land comic without any traced porn. I’m sure someone at the time thought using “eXciting” on the cover was a cute parody, unaware that Marvel was a mere four years away from using a gratuitous X-dash in the actual title of a comic. Anyway, eXciting X-Patrol is the sequel to the previous year’s X-Patrol, the title that was nominally a merger of the Doom Patrol and various X-spinoffs. Apparently, someone just liked the name, because the Doom Patrol did not play a large role in the amalgams. This year’s special makes it even more obvious that the creators want to do a Teen Titans/X-Force mash-up -- which is fine, but why is this even called X-Patrol? Wouldn’t “X-Titans” or “Titans-X” work just as well?

I’m only familiar with the Titans from a few trade paperbacks, a handful of cartoon episodes, and the relentless Jericho hate online, but I think I’ve caught most of the jokes in this one. It’s hard to deny that Terra-X the Destroyer is a great gag. The Marvel characters chosen to be amalgamated surprised me, but as much as I dislike the Askani and X-Man in the mainstream continuity, Barbara Kesel works them into this story in surprising and funny ways. Her dialogue is a fairly accurate representation of ‘90s era X-team interactions, without crossing the line into snarky condescension. This is a dense read, packed with characters and action, but there’s enough humor to keep fans of either franchise entertained. I can’t imagine what someone unfamiliar with the material being referenced would think of this, though.

COLOSSUS #1 - October 1997

A Most Dangerous Game

Credits: Ben Raab (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Paul Neary (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters), Jason Wright (colors)

Summary: While on vacation in Paris, Colossus and Meggan are targeted by Arcade. After they’re kidnapped by his assistant Ms. Locke, Colossus awakens in Murderworld. Through various scenarios, he has to rescue Meggan. He eventually realizes Arcade is behind the deception and breaks through to the control panel. Arcade arranges for Colossus to stage his death in order to learn who ordered the hit. After Colossus performs a mock execution, Arcade escapes with the heroes. Arcade reveals he wanted to fake his own death because he’s now fearful of his clients, Black Air. The group tries to discretely escape on an ocean liner, unaware Black Air is following them.

Continuity Notes: Black Air wants to kill Colossus in retaliation for his role in stopping their plan in Excalibur #100. You would think they would also want Meggan taken out, but Arcade claims she wasn’t a part of the deal. Following the Victims miniseries, Ms. Locke is a robot replacement for the murdered original. Arcade’s face is now back to normal, without explanation.

“Huh?” Moment: While on a murderous rollercoaster ride, Meggan transforms a cluster of spikes into butterflies. Is transmutation one of her powers? I know she has elemental powers, super strength, can fly, change (her) shape, and occasionally imitate other mutant powers…but this, too? Also, even though the spikes clearly transformed into butterflies, Meggan says she’s turned them into flowers.

Review: What do you do with a Colossus one-shot? The Cold War is long gone by this point, so you can’t go the route of his early solo stories and use American/USSR relations as a plot point. He left the Acolytes years earlier and has already convincingly redeemed himself as a member of Excalibur. His sister is dead, and a time travel story about her and his insane brother is being used in the New Mutants miniseries. So…just pair him with a team member he rarely interacts with and give him an adventure with Arcade. Raab does attempt to tie the story specifically to Colossus, as Arcade’s simulations recall his past as an Acolyte, and revive “the Proletarian,” an identity he took when Arcade brainwashed him during their first encounter. Plus, Arcade somehow knows Colossus killed Proteus and Riptide back in the Claremont days, so his guilt is briefly referenced. But, really, this is a light-hearted adventure story that doesn’t attempt to say an awful lot about the character. This easily could’ve been an X-Men Unlimited issue, but we all know there just wasn’t enough X-product on the market at this time. Poor Marvel had to put something with the X-characters on the stands.

This is a fun read, although I wonder why the story’s structure sucks away so much of the potential drama. We know from the beginning that Arcade and Ms. Locke are after the heroes, so when Colossus awakens in his Acolyte uniform, we already know it’s a Murderworld simulation. Later on, Colossus and Arcade make an on-panel deal to fake Arcade’s death, which is faithfully executed a few pages later. However, Meggan is in a Virtual Reality simulator and doesn’t see the deal, so she really thinks Colossus is killing Arcade later on. Why leave only Meggan in the dark? Since the details of their arrangement are revealed later, we didn’t have to see their agreement upfront. It’s like the story is going for a “What’s going on?!” effect, but feels the need to just tell you everything that’s going to happen before it happens.

The art is provided by Bryan Hitch, and I think this is the best work he’s done at this point. The Alan Davis influence is still evident, but not as blatant as in his previous comics. The characters are all clean and attractive, the action scenes have energy, and the storytelling is clear. Plus, there’s not one visible photo-reference to be found. I don’t want to pull a “your old stuff was better”…but I like this so much more than the gallery of Google Image Search results his work often resembles now.

LINK: Dave’s Long Box once examined this comic, and the sexual politics of Meggan.

X-MEN VS. THE BROOD #2 - October 1996

Day of Wrath- Part Two

Credits: John Ostrander (writer), Bryan Hitch & Sal Velluto (pencilers), Paul Neary, Andy Lanning, & Harry Candelario (inkers), Joe Rosas & Malibu (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letterer)

Summary: Hannah Connover, sensing that more Brood assassins are coming, flees from the X-Men. Her followers find Hannah in the desert, and against her wishes, transform into Brood and attack the newly arrived Brood assassins. Meanwhile, more Brood assassins kidnap Hannah’s husband, William. When Hannah senses he’s in danger, she transforms into her Brood form and confronts the assassins. Hannah is injured in the fight and reverts to her human form. The X-Men arrive, distracting the Brood while Iceman places Hannah in a cryogenic freeze. The Brood lose mental contact with her and commit suicide, thinking their task completed. The X-Men say goodbye to William, who maintains hope that Hannah can be cured one day.

Review: The first issue seemed to be a nice fit for the forty-eight page format, but this one doesn’t work as well. There’s a lot of running around, as the X-Men are constantly trying to find Hannah, and the issue opens with a gratuitous “we’re fighting but we don’t really want to hurt you” fight between the X-Men and Hannah’s Brood followers. The art also isn’t as strong as the first chapter, as two additional inkers and a fill-in artist are brought in to finish the book. Some of the pages look like Bryan Hitch-Lite, which might be a case of Sal Velluto trying to mimic Hitch’s style, or perhaps the inking job is just rushed in a few places. The basic story still works, in part because Ostrander handles the character drama well. And while it’s nice that he’s avoiding the stereotypical portrayal of religious characters as hypocrites or psychopaths, I don’t think we needed two overblown narrative sequences describing the X-Men as angels. I like the internal conflict within the team, as Wolverine advocates killing Hannah while the X-Men want to find that good ol’ fashioned “better way.” Sure, the ending is a bit of a copout (I wonder if Bastion found Hannah’s body when he later raided the mansion), but I prefer it to a pessimistic conclusion like Hannah killing herself, or Wolverine finally killing her, which is probably how this story would end today.

X-MEN VS. THE BROOD #1 - September 1996

Day of Wrath- Part One

Credits: John Ostrander (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Paul Neary (inker), Joe Rosas & Malibu (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letterer)

Summary: While vacationing with Cyclops at the Grand Canyon, Phoenix psychically overhears a message sent from the Brood Empress to Hannah Connover, a minister’s wife in a nearby town. The duo follows the psychic trail, leading Phoenix to realize that Hannah is actually a Brood Queen. After turning to her faith in God, Hannah fought against the Brood infection and has tried to maintain her humanity. The Brood Empress sends an army of Brood assassins to kill the defiant Hannah. Their attack leads the humans Hannah infected to become Brood and defend their queen. The fight is soon interrupted by the newly arrived X-Men. After defeating the assassins, Wolverine advocates killing Hannah before she fully becomes a Brood. Realizing that she’s created an army of Brood-humans, Hannah asks the X-Men to kill her.

Continuity Notes: This mini is a direct sequel to a Claremont/Silvestri storyline that began in Uncanny X-Men #232. Hannah Connover is the wife of William Connover, head of the Glory Day Ministry and the “first major religious figure to align himself with mutant rights.” A Brood-infected human named Josey Thomas cured Hannah’s arthritis and gave her “healing” powers that actually infected people with the Brood. Josey Thomas is jealous that Hannah is a Brood Queen, and points the Brood assassins towards her. The Brood kill Josey because she’s been tainted by contact with the rebellious queen.

Where exactly this fits in continuity is a bit unclear. An editorial note says that it takes place before the “Onslaught” crossover, which was recently completed when the mini was actually published. I place it right after Bishop got his haircut in the X-Babies storyline (X-Men #46-#47). It can’t take place much later than this, as Wolverine isn’t in his (sigh) feral dog-state.

Bishop wonders if Hannah might be the first of a new race of Brood. He claims that there are several factions of the Brood in the future, including benign ones.

Beast says this is his first encounter with the Brood, which ignores his role in the X-Men/Ghost Rider crossover, which had the Brood infecting Gambit’s family.

Review: I’m not sure what the genesis of the limited series is, outside of the fact that Marvel was pushing out X-related minis and one-shots like crazy during this era. The format is a little strange, as it’s two issues with forty-eight pages each and no ads. It seems like something that should’ve been in a bookshelf format, even though it isn’t. Maybe the collapse of the comics market made Marvel skittish about the more expensive format.

Regardless of its origins, this is a self-contained story that isn’t earth-shattering, but does use the characters well and picks up on a long-forgotten plotline from the later Claremont years. In some ways, it’s very reminiscent of an ‘80s Marvel comic, as all of the cast is introduced in tidy narrative captions, characters have long inner-monologues explaining their deep conflicts, and the threat of nasty aliens coming to Earth is treated as serious drama. Hitch’s art, along with Neary’s inks, is also reminiscent of something Marvel might’ve published ten years prior to the mini’s release. Thankfully, a feeble Image or manga clone wasn’t used, and this is Hitch before the photo-referencing days. Some of the dialogue is pretty stilted, and perhaps added later by editorial (Cannonball: “Shoot! Wasn’t all that long ago Ah didn’t know how t’land mahself, and here I am pilotin’ a big ol’ jet. Times are strange!”), but Ostrander handles most of the cast well enough. He also makes Hannah Connover and her husband sympathetic characters, and paces the story so that all of the necessary exposition is covered while the plot keeps rolling. I think Ostrander’s work for the X-office only consists of this and a few issues of X-Man, but it seems like his style would’ve worked out well on one of the main titles.

UNCANNY X-MEN #-1 – July 1997

The Boy Who Saw Tomorrow!
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Paul Neary (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Steve Buccellato (colors)

Summary: A young Jean Grey watches a falling star from her window. The “star” flies towards South Dakota, where it reveals itself as the time travelling Rachel Summers. She’s following Sanctity, a mutant she found while lost in the timestream. Rachel discovers Master Mold, in the early stages of construction, near the home of Dr. Bolivar Trask. Rachel deduces that Sanctity has traveled back to this time to prevent the creation of the Sentinels. She talks to Sanctity and tries to convince her not to interfere with the timestream. When Sanctity fades away, Rachel realizes that she’s been speaking to a mental projection. Inside, Sanctity reveals to Trask that she is his missing daughter, Tanya. Before she can convince Trask to abandon his anti-mutant crusade, she realizes that Rachel has frozen his mental capacity so that he can’t hear her. Sanctity finally listens to Rachel and agrees to go home. Shortly after they leave, Trask’s son, Lawrence, finds his father recovering in his lab. Unbeknownst to everyone, Sanctity inserted a program into Master Mold, named “XII”.

Continuity Notes: This serves as an origin story for future Askani member Sanctity. It’s revealed that she is Tanya Trask, the daughter of Bolivar Trask, who has the power to “phase out of synch with time”. Because she had no control over her powers, she’s been missing for years. She met Rachel Summers while she was lost in the timestream (following Excalibur #75), in an “untold tale” according to an editor’s note. A narrative caption towards the end of the issue says that Rachel will “ultimately be betrayed” by Sanctity. I have no idea if this was ever resolved (it might just be a reference to the fact that Sanctity disobeyed Rachel and inserted info into Master Mold without her knowledge).

The “XII” program Sanctity inserted into Master Mold is a listing of “The Twelve”. I’ll be honest and admit that even discussing the Twelve bores me to death. Essentially, Master Mold once claimed in an old issue of X-Factor (while he was malfunctioning) that twelve mutants will shape the future. This wasn’t elaborated on, but it lead to years of fan speculation. Marvel apparently decided that this should be resolved, over ten years later, and this was the first step in reintroducing the concept. So if you wanted to know how Master Mold learned of the Twelve, this issue tells you. Sanctity, while making a list of horrible events she can prevent, says, “humanity waited so long for the Twelve…they so sorely disappointed us”. If you disliked the 1999 crossover “The Twelve”, you can insert your own joke here.

Young Jean Grey is described as eleven years old, while a few pages later a narrative caption says that the Sentinels will debut in “approximately three years”. This would make Jean fourteen or younger when she joined the X-Men, which doesn’t seem right. While I’m nitpicking, I’ll also point out that Marvel has apparently abandoned Mark Gruenwald’s rule that time travel can’t affect the main reality by this point.

“Huh?” Moment: Why is Master Mold wearing a domino mask on the cover? Is he afraid the other robots will recognize him?

Review: This is the start of “Flashback Month”, a gimmick that had every Marvel title doing a story that predated not only the first issue of its individual series, but the 1961 first issue of The Fantastic Four. It’s probably best known now for a behind-the-scenes fact; many fans viewed the “-#1” issues as an excuse to skip an issue of a series but maintain a full run, which makes it one of the few “event month” gimmicks to ever cause sales to decrease. (I remember the first issue of X-Force I chose not to buy was the #-1 issue. I was already getting burned out on the X-titles, and didn’t feel the need to buy a comic about Warpath’s childhood). Stan Lee appeared in all Flashback titles as the narrator (I believe he wrote his own dialogue, but can’t find any confirmation in this issue), mirroring his role in an earlier issue of Generation X. The art style on the covers was changed to reflect a ‘60s look (which might’ve added to the dent in sales), and artists were encouraged to go back to a simpler grid-style panel arrangement. Comicraft also altered the lettering fonts, presumably to make the word balloons look hand-lettered. Plus, the letters pages and Bullpen Bulletins switched back to simplistic layouts with plain white backgrounds (which thankfully made them easier to read). A lot of effort clearly went into this, and I can’t help but feel like the Marvel staff was a lot more excited about this than the actual readers were.

Strictly in terms of content this seems like a bad idea, since most of these characters weren’t involved in any type of superhero adventures before FF #1 (hence FF #1’s role as the start of the Marvel Universe). This automatically harmed a lot of titles, especially the Spider-Man books, which were left with issue after issue to fill with stories set during Peter Parker’s childhood (I’ve only read the Untold Tales of Spider-Man issue, which had to go all the way back to his parents’ days as government agents). Aesthetically, the event forced the entire line to devolve back to a 1960s look that the majority of Marvel’s audience probably dismissed as boring. I don’t want to pile on Bob Harras, but I wonder if this event is another example of him putting his nostalgia over the current audience’s expectations (he is the one who wanted the X-Men, Spider-Man, and the Hulk to revert to their “classic” status quos, after all).

The actual story in this issue is rather mediocre, although the art features Bryan Hitch’s strongest work yet. If I cared more about the various continuity elements, I imagine I would’ve gotten more out of this. Sanctity was one of those characters that I could never remember from appearance to appearance when these issues were first released, so learning that she has a connection to a group of Silver Age characters I knew nothing about didn’t make her more endearing. Lobdell’s description of her powers does actually sound interesting, but I have a hard time getting over her connection to the Askani, a concept that I’ve grown to intensely dislike over the years. The story doesn’t directly tie in to the Zero Tolerance crossover, but since it does feature a prequel story with the Sentinels, there is at least a small connection (which I’m sure didn’t escape Lobdell). Even if this one isn’t great, it’s still passable, which puts ahead of many of the other Flashback issues.

GENERATION X #28 – June 1997

Oh, Now I Get It…
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Al Vey (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Joe Andreani (colors)

Summary: On a mysterious ship, each member of Generation X finds themselves inside their own fantasy, with a talking seagull as narrator. Chamber’s body is back to normal, which enables him to sing a song for Husk. Synch owns a daycare center with his girlfriend Jubilee. M spends time alone with her brother Marius, who is no longer Emplate. Skin refuses to give in to the fantasy, which forces Glorian, Shaper of Dreams to reveal himself. Skin tells him that he only sees his team on the surface, and doesn’t understand what they truly want. Glorian demands to know what Skin really wants, and he reluctantly reveals what it is. The team suddenly materializes in Los Angeles, revealing Skin’s desire was to return home. Meanwhile, Jubilee continues to resist Daria’s offer of food.

Continuity Note: Glorian, Shaper of Dreams is an obscure character who once appeared in Fantastic Four and Incredible Hulk. He can alter reality, just like his mentor, the Shaper of Worlds.

Review: I guess this is one way to write yourself out of a hole. There’s no way the “lost at sea” cliffhanger could’ve been resolved without at least a little cheating, and bringing Glorian into the story is, if nothing else, something no one could’ve seen coming. This could’ve been a dull story that only served to move the characters out of an impossible situation, but I found myself enjoying it. Giving every cast member their own fantasy is an old cliché (one that showed up a few months earlier in X-Force), but Lobdell does add a twist to it. Glorian only knows the characters on a surface level, so he assumes that Husk wants to be protected, Chamber wants his past life back, Synch just wants to nurture, and M only wants to change someone else. Rather than using the fantasy sequences to make obvious statements about the characters, Lobdell at least raises the idea that they’re deeper than they appear. Bachalo’s art adds a lot of charm to the story, and using a seagull as narrator is the type of goofiness his cartooning can easily pull off.

Ye Double Feature
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Paul Neary (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Joe Andreani (colors)

Summary: Emma Frost scans Banshee’s memories for information on Krakoa, the sentient island he believes Black Tom sent his students to. On their way there, Banshee comforts Emma, who still feels the loss of the Hellions. They’re shocked to discover an old ship where Krakoa is supposed to be. After a scan reveals no life inside, they respond to Cyclops’ distress call and leave. Meanwhile, Jubilee lashes out at Daria. This forces Daria to create a nanotech defense against her.

Continuity Note: Emma still refers to herself as the White Queen, which is odd. This issue also goes out of its way to suggest that Daria isn’t serving Bastion willingly.

Review: This is a ten-page backup story that presumably exists because Bachalo wasn’t able to do the full issue. It pays off the previous issue’s suggestion that Banshee knows where the kids are, but doesn’t offer any details on why exactly he thinks Krakoa is involved. I think this was my last issue of Generation X, so I have no idea if Banshee and Emma actually do anything to help the X-Men (I don’t recall them showing up in the main crossover titles, and I also seem to remember Jubilee getting rescued in Wolverine). Hitch does a nice job during the opening flashback scene, but some of the later pages look stiff. This probably would’ve worked better as an alternating subplot with the main story, but Hitch’s art is so incompatible with Bachalo’s, I can understand why it shows up as a backup.

EXCALIBUR #105 – January 1997

Hard Truths
Credits: Keith Giffen (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Paul Neary w/Bryan Hitch & Robin Riggs (inkers), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Ariane Lenshoek & Malibu (colors), based on a story by John Acrudi

Summary: Even after viewing Doug Ramsey’s corpse, Kitty Pryde remains convinced that Douglock is Doug. They travel to a pizzeria the New Mutants used to frequent, where Kitty is stunned to learn that Douglock doesn’t like Doug’s favorite pizza. Meanwhile, the Mutant Liberation Front continues their assault on Muir Island. Moira and Nightcrawler try to close the vault doors that guard the Xavier Protocols, but are unsuccessful. When Nightcrawler teleports away to fight the MLF, Moira shuts down the forcefield that’s keeping the villains outside. Nightcrawler is forced to abandon the fight when the MLF use Meggan and Captain Britain as hostages. As the MLF approach the Xavier Protocols unit, the lack of security makes them suspicious. They throw the unconscious bodies of Meggan and Captain Britain in front of the unit as test subjects. Moira reactivates the forcefield, now that the entire team is inside its range. Moonstar, looking for a way to botch the MLF’s mission, declares that Excalibur now has the advantage and orders the team to teleport away. Elsewhere, Kitty visits Doug Ramsey’s home. When she sees that Doug’s parents have turned his bedroom into a den, she realizes that he really is gone. She returns to Doug’s grave to say goodbye, finally accepting the truth.

Continuity Notes: This issue raises the question of why Douglock takes Doug Ramsey’s form, but doesn’t give an answer. I don’t recall the initial Phalanx storyline explicitly spelling this out, but I’m fairly certain it ties into the early appearances of the Phalanx, which had them mimicking the forms of deceased associates of the X-Men (like Archangel’s dead girlfriend, Candy Southern). Douglock was their version of Doug Ramsey, yet he managed to break free of his programming in his earliest appearances in this title.

I Love the ‘90s: The letters page in this issue solicits responses in the form of email, which is the first time I’ve seen that happen in an issue I’ve reviewed. They don’t actually give an email address, though, they ask people to submit letters through the “Marvel: Online” site (without telling anyone how to actually access the site).

Review: The filler issues continue, as Keith Giffen is brought in to finish last issue’s story. It is an improvement over last issue’s script, as Giffen manages to give the characters personalities and write a few sharp lines. It’s a little too jokey in a few places, but it’s definitely preferable to the generic, dull script of the previous issue. I’m not aware of the behind-the-scenes circumstances that lead to Giffen finishing off another writer’s story, but he actually seems to be enjoying himself. When an emotional Kitty accuses Douglock of planting the body in Doug’s grave, Giffen has Douglock check off all of the reasons why her allegation is ridiculous. Rather than dwelling on it, Kitty acknowledges that she acted like a jerk and the characters move on. Kitty’s portrayal in this story is a tricky thing to pull off, since discovering Doug’s body is the most definitive confirmation of his death you’re likely to find, yet she still has to stay in denial until the end of the issue. Giffen manages to make Kitty appear more desperate than truly delusional, and uses the story to make the broader point that Kitty has a hard time letting go of the past (she’s shocked to learn that an employee at the pizzeria is gone, even though she hasn’t visited in over a year).

There are some plot points that bother me, such as the two most powerful members of the team getting easily knocked unconscious by the MLF, the MLF totally forgetting about last issue’s plans to steal Moira’s Legacy Virus research, and the nonsensical scene that has Moira dramatically ripping out the forcefield’s wiring, yet being able to just turn it back on a few pages later. The issue has its flaws, but it’s an enjoyable read, and it’s much better than I remembered it being. This turned out to be my final issue of Excalibur, as my local newsstand vendors dramatically reduced the number of comics they ordered. I visited the comic shop in a nearby town every month or so, but was so disenfranchised with the direction of most of the X-books, I made no effort to search the back issue bins for any of the titles I had been regularly buying.

EXCALIBUR #104 – December 1996

Buried Secret
Credits: John Acrudi (plot), James Felder (script), Bryan Hitch, Rob Haynes, & Scott Koblish (pencilers), Paul Neary, Scott Koblish, & Rick Ketchum (inkers), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: Following his dismantling and reconstruction, Douglock begins to dream of Doug Ramsey’s funeral. After Douglock interrupts a conversation between Kitty and Peter Wisdom, Wisdom interrogates him about his identity. Kitty is still convinced that Douglock is Doug Ramsey, but he denies it. Agitated, Douglock jumps out of the window to avoid the conversation. Kitty decides to take Wolfsbane and Douglock with her to investigate Doug Ramsey’s grave. Later, Muir Island is attacked by the Mutant Liberation Front, who want to steal Moira MacTaggert’s Legacy Virus research. MLF member Selby learns of the Xavier Protocols, which detail how to kill the X-Men. When Moonstar confronts Moira, she reveals her true identity. Meanwhile, Kitty phases inside Doug’s grave, and is shocked to discover his body.

Continuity Notes: Mutant Liberation Front member Selby debuts. His power is the ability to “intuit binary language”.

Review: This is the beginning of a filler run that’s bidding time until Ben Raab’s debut as writer. I believe this is the next to last issue of Excalibur I purchased, so don’t expect too many posts on this particular series in the future. I assume the goal of this storyline is to give Douglock a definitive origin, which is something the initial Phalanx storyline had already covered rather conclusively. Kitty’s sudden belief that Douglock is Doug Ramsey doesn’t really work, as previous stories have already shown her accepting the fact Doug is gone. There is some justification for the story’s impetus, as it’s pointed out that Douglock has been reconstructed after Black Air’s dissection and his personality is off, but it feels like a stretch. The dialogue reads like something out of the 70s, as most of the cast members have long inner monologues that recap their entire histories and their current character arcs. Nothing’s advanced, of course, but we’re treated to more pages of Colossus questioning his place in the world and Moira agonizing over her Legacy Virus infection. Most of the scripting is terribly awkward, creating gems like, “Dani! You were one of Xavier’s young pupils – his New Mutants. I can’t believe it…has the world gone mad?!” Bryan Hitch’s art rises this above the level of your average fill-in, but that’s all this issue has going for it.

UNCANNY X-MEN #331 – April 1996

The Splinter of Our Discontent
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Paul Neary (inker), Steve Buccellato (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: X-Force rescues the Dark Beast, in disguise as the X-Men’s Beast, from a lab explosion. Warpath and Shatterstar are slightly suspicious of his behavior. Meanwhile in Colorado, Archangel takes a leave of absence to help Psylocke recover from her wounds. In New York, Iceman confronts Emma Frost about her previous possession of his body. Most of his chest was shattered during his fight with Post, and he wants her to help him turn back to his human form. She tries to antagonize him with visions of his father and his ex-girlfriend, but he refuses to back down. She tells him to trust in himself and change back to his human form. He reluctantly does, and realizes that his body is fine. Frost explains to Iceman that she provoked him because she was angry that he squandered his potential and always survived, while her highly trained Hellions died in battle.

Production Note: This is yet another nineteen-page issue, the third one in a row for this series. Just like all of the other shortened comics from this time, the extra pages aren’t made up by outside ads, but an extended letters column and X-Facts hype pages.

Continuity Notes: Archangel and Psylocke move to Colorado in this issue, where I think they’ll stay until the Onslaught crossover. This puts the Archangel one-shot in a nebulous continuity position, since it takes place after Sabretooth’s attack while they were still living in the mansion and Psylocke appears to be fully recovered. In this issue, they move to Colorado while she’s still recovering. I decided to file Archangel before this story, rationalizing that even if the story made no reference to Psylocke’s wounds and she seemed fine, it’s possible she wasn’t fully healed yet.

In a brief subplot scene, Cyclops takes Phoenix to the location of his fight with Post. Cyclops wonders why the scenery is untouched, claiming that it should be covered in debris. The landscape is drawn like a mesa, and doesn’t look anything like landscape of X-Men #50 (which was drawn inconsistently even within that issue.) I have no idea if this was supposed to be intentional or not.

Meltdown is still referred to as Boomer, and wearing Boomer’s costume, even though she changed her name and look in X-Force #51, which took place right after Uncanny X-Men #328. See what happens when you read all of these X-comics in such a short amount of time?

In one scene, an agitated Archangel implies that Xavier might mentally coerce him into rejoining the X-Men. Xavier is offended, and Archangel defends his statement by citing the times Xavier erased people’s memories of the X-Men in their early appearances. This might’ve been an attempt to foreshadow the “dark side” of Xavier becoming Onslaught.

An offhand comment by Emma Frost lead to some speculation at the time that Iceman was gay. She comments that he’s used his mutant ability to pursue his first love, “interior decorating”. Some fans took this to mean that she learned he was gay while inside his mind. Those fans apparently chose to ignore the gigantic ice sculptures that Iceman has filled her office with, which is obviously what she’s referring to. Fabian Nicieza has confirmed that no one working on the titles intended for Iceman to be gay, but just imagine if Jeph Loeb followed Scott Lobdell on this book.

Review: This is an easily forgettable one, which mainly touches base on various subplots and gives Iceman a little bit of attention. Many of the pages are just spent referencing things that happened outside of Uncanny X-Men, such as the fight with Post and Dark Beast infiltrating the mansion (the fact that he’s hiding out amongst at least two telepaths isn’t brought up here, but I think it is acknowledged later). Iceman’s anxiety over his wound isn’t sold very convincingly, and it looks like an attempt to make the fight with Post seem more important than it really was. The subplot about Iceman seeing visions of Emma Frost is resolved pretty halfheartedly, as Iceman just bluntly tells her that he doesn’t know why she was doing it, he just wants her to stop. The justification that Emma taunts Iceman because she resents him for surviving while her Hellions died seems like a stretch, but Lobdell does have the characters play off each other pretty well.

The scene between Archangel and Xavier is a little strange, as Archangel just casually claims that Xavier might brainwash him into doing what he wants, and then dismisses his allegations by admitting that he’s in a bad mood. The idea that Xavier must have this sinister dark side based on his actions in early Silver Age comics has never worked for me. He erased the memories of people who learned where the X-Men lived or who came too close to finding them out. Since he wasn’t erasing years of their lives, just a few minutes, or altering their personalities, I don’t really see why it’s that big of a deal. Superheroes have been erasing people’s memories of their secret IDs for decades and I’ve never considered it to be that morally dubious. That idea that Xavier would brainwash one of his students just because he previously used his powers to protect their secrets is a huge leap in logic (and it seems as if Marvel’s using it again to justify the inane decisions they’ve made with his character in recent years). I have no idea if we’re supposed to be sympathetic to Archangel’s charges or not, since he quickly backtracks and claims that he’s just tired. There are a few nice character beats in this scene, though, as Gambit implies to Bishop that he might not be trustworthy at all and isn't worth apologizing to, and Xavier admits to himself that he hardly knows the newer X-Men. They’re very brief moments, but I find them more interesting than most of the rest of the comic.

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.

UNCANNY X-MEN ’95 – November 1995

Growing Pains

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Bob McLeod (inker), Glynis Oliver (colorist), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Cannonball flies to Massachusetts to pick up Husk, telling her that their sister, Joelle, needs help. Meanwhile, Joelle is inside a chapel with her boyfriend, a young man called Preacher. He’s painted an image of the Age of Apocalypse, but doesn’t know where his vision came from. Cannonball and Husk arrive with Storm, Wolverine, and Bishop at their Kentucky home. Cannonball’s mother explains that their sister has joined a “pro-human” group called Humanity’s Last Stand, and is now living at their compound. Cannonball tells Storm that he and Husk will rescue Joelle from the compound. While attending one of their rallies, Cannonball and Husk listen to a man named Garibaldi speak. He invites Preacher to address the crowd, who reveals his visions of a world ruled by mutants. A man watching from behind the scenes recognizes Cannonball and Husk and sends an army of robots to abduct them. Cannonball is attacked by the robots, but manages to escape. He overhears someone evoke the name of Trask before he flies away. Meanwhile, Husk follows Preacher as Garibaldi leads him towards Humanity’s Last Stand’s secret leader. She’s discovered and subdued by Garibaldi, but the fierceness of his assault unnerves Preacher. A wounded Cannonball returns to the Guthrie home and recruits the rest of the X-Men. Returning to the compound, Cannonball rescues Husk while Bishop locates Joelle. When Preacher sees Bishop, he can see in his eyes that he knows “the apocalypse”, too. The X-Men are soon attacked by the robots, which Wolverine recognizes as Nimrods. Preacher promises Joelle that he didn’t know about the group’s violent motives. Bishop absorbs the robots’ blasts and brings down a portion of the complex on top of them. Garibaldi emerges from the wreckage, threatening to call the authorities. Cannonball and the team leave with Joelle, content that the truth has been exposed. Later, Bishop wants to speak to Joelle about Preacher. Joelle doesn’t know where he’s gone, but she hopes he remembers her.

Continuity Notes

Wolverine calls the robots Nimrods, even though they don’t look anything like the established design. The secret leader of Humanity’s Last Stand is presumably a member of the Trask family, which would explain why Cannonball overheard his name and how the group ended up with Nimrods. Looking online, it seems that he was later revealed to be a new family member named Simon Trask.

Review

It’s another annual filler story, written by Terry Kavanagh, who was starting to find more and more work within the X-office by this point. It’s not terrible, but it just comes across as a throw-away in the end. This is definitely one of those comics I read once and then forgot about as soon as I finished it. Kavanagh does have a few decent ideas, such as Joelle’s jealousy of her sibling’s mutant powers, and the impact knowledge of the AoA could have on the anti-mutant movement, but it doesn’t amount to much. Nothing makes Humanity’s Last Stand different from all of the other anti-mutant groups, and attaching Trask and an army of Nimrods to the concept just feels like a weak attempt to add relevance. Implying that the leader is a Trask, but keeping him in shadow and not confirming his identity is also annoying, since it’s yet another mystery that didn’t need to be turned into one. Preacher isn’t particularly interesting, but I like the fact that he’s not portrayed as yet another anti-mutant bigot. The fact that he has visions of a world ruled by a ruthless mutant but is still unwilling to give in to his anti-mutant fears has potential for future stories. That actually is a unique conflict for one of the human characters to have, even if it's not really dealt with in this issue.

The biggest disappointment for me with the story is the weak portrayal of the Nimrod robots. I believe this is the first time the X-Men ever faced more than one Nimrod at the same time, and instead of presenting a real challenge to the team, they’re defeated in a couple of pages by falling rocks. I guess this is stereotypical fanboy nitpicking, but even one Nimrod is more than enough to present a serious threat to the entire team. By the time I read this issue for the first time, I had already read almost all of Nimrod’s previous appearances and had always been impressed by how much of a lethal foe he was. Not only could he automatically counteract anyone’s mutant powers, but his body also instantly repaired itself, meaning that the X-Men always had to come up with a creative way to defeat him. The brilliant maneuver used here to defeat an army of Nimrods is to drop rocks on top of them. I guess you could come up with the No-Prize explanation that these are weaker prototypes that were built before the future Nimrod was designed, but even ignoring the established continuity, this is still an anti-climatic ending. I’m also not impressed with Hitch’s redesign of the Nimrod concept, which looks like generic villains from a first-generation Playstation game. The fact that they don’t resemble the established Nimrod design at all just makes Kavanagh’s decision to bring Nimrods into the story seem even more arbitrary. The rest of Hitch’s work is okay, even though I don’t like the way he draws most of the faces at this point, and some of the figures look rubbery. Like the writing, it isn’t that bad, but nothing about it is really that impressive.

UNCANNY X-MEN #323 – August 1995

A Nation Rising

Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Bryan Hitch (penciler), Cam Smith (inker), Steve Buccellato & Electric Crayon (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Iceman and Rogue are stranded after getting a flat tire. Rogue enforces the “no powers” rule of their road trip and refuses to let Iceman use his powers to help, so they’re forced to walk to the nearest gas station. Later, a mental image of Emma Frost appears and taunts Iceman. Inside the Danger Room, a recuperating Gambit interrupts Psylocke and Archangel’s training session looking for Rogue. Cannonball takes Sabretooth for a walk and is confronted by Wolverine, who refuses to believe Sabretooth has changed. Storm interrupts and invites Wolverine to come along on a mission. Elsewhere, the Beast challenges Trish Tilby over exposing the Legacy Virus without consulting him first. They argue and end up blaming each other for the beating death of Dennis Hogan. Trish apologizes and Beast leaves. In front of City Hall, Graydon Creed is holding a rally to protest the recent massacre of humans at a nightclub. Nearby, Storm, Cannonball, and Wolverine are joined by Charlotte Jones at the morgue. The medical examiner investigating the nightclub murders claims that he doesn’t understand how many of the patrons suddenly died. Wolverine detects a foreign scent inside the doctor and begins cutting him up. The Gene Nation member Slack emerges from the doctor’s body, as his teammate Vessel enters the room.

Creative Differences

I still remember the original solicitation for this issue claimed that Rogue and Iceman had actually eloped since we last saw them pre-AoA. My friend and I refused to believe this, and I think we actually went to the dictionary to see if there was another definition for “elope” (and, apparently, it can just mean “escape” and not necessarily “marry”).

Continuity Notes

Gambit suddenly recovers from his coma in this issue. Psylocke senses “danger” around him, although I don’t know what this is supposed to mean. If it was supposed to be a hint about his past with Mr. Sinister, wouldn’t she have sensed that by now?

There’s a black man at Creed’s rally who’s given a long monologue about how dangerous Creed might be. I can’t tell if he’s supposed to be the Landau, Luckman, and Lake agent from the previous issue or not, since Hitch draws him about twenty years older than the other artists. According to the man, Creed had been written off as a fanatic, but after Gene Nation’s massacre at the nightclub, he’s gaining more support. This is presumably foreshadowing for his presidential run.

I’m starting to understand why I filed the books during this period in an unusual way. Now that Cable and X-Force are taking place at the mansion and featuring cameos from the X-Men, it’s a lot more difficult to fit these stories into a proper order without having certain details trip over each other. In the previous Uncanny, Siryn informs Storm of the nightclub massacre. Meanwhile, Cyclops and Phoenix are visiting the Greys. In X-Men #42 Storm tells Xavier about the massacre, and Cyclops and Phoenix are kidnapped by the Acolytes on their way back from her parents’ home. In the next two issues of that series, Cyclops and Phoenix are in outer space and then scattered across the globe. However, Phoenix is in Cable #21, which takes place after Siryn disappears. Cyclops is in X-Force #44 which also takes place after her disappearance. Cannonball also joins the X-Men in that issue. That means that the July, August, and September issues of X-Men all have to take place before the July issues of Cable and X-Force. Most of this shuffling is due to Siryn’s two-page cameo in the previous Uncanny. If she wasn’t in that issue, then Cable and X-Force could’ve taken place before Cyclops and Phoenix were abducted. On top of all of this, Gene Nation are making their first real appearances in Generation X at this time, in a storyline that ends with the characters hanging around the mansion, too. Plus, Wolverine #91 also features cameos by all of the X-Men, including Cyclops and Phoenix. Depending on your personality, this is either maddening, boring, or fun to work out.

We Get Letters

One fan writes in to complain about “trash” characters like Gambit, Rogue, Nimrod, Forge, and Sabretooth. He then tells the editors that they should rehire Chris Claremont (the creator of Gambit, Rogue, Nimrod, Forge, and Sabretooth). He’s also upset that Thunderbird was killed in 1975.

Commercial Break

Marvel’s 1995 Reader Survey shows up in this issue. One question asks how many X-Titles do you buy each month, with “10 or more” as the highest number (the same question is asked about the Spider-Man books, with “6 or more” as the upper limit). Other questions include, “Do you like the current Spider-Man ‘clone’ storyline?”, “Yes or no, would you buy an all new Gambit monthly series?”, “Have you ever played Magic: The Gathering or any other card game?”, “Do you own a home computer?” and “Do you own a CD Rom drive?”. There’s also a question about which online service do you use, which includes Delphi, World Wide Web, Compuserve, and Prodigy as options. Like last year’s survey, you’re expected to include two dollars to cover the shipping of your fee “load of great goodies”, which are better than the previous year’s options (now it’s a free comic, poster, trading card sheet, and a Marvel catalogue with a $2 gift certificate).

Review

This is another issue that’s supposed to build up Gene Nation, although the majority of the story is spent on alternating subplot pages. I’ve always liked this type of issue since it feels like there’s a lot going on, even though most of the threads here aren’t particularly great. The Rogue/Iceman subplot isn’t resolved in this title, but in X-Men instead (which so far has shown a contradictory story about Rogue behaving like Gambit and Iceman tracking her down). Gene Nation turn out to be rather lame villains, although I give the artists credit for giving them genuinely freaky designs that don’t look anything like the claws/chains/spikes/trenchcoat style of the preceding ‘90s villains. Beast’s scene with Trish Tilby raises a good point about whether or not it was ethical to cover up the Legacy Virus, but it’s only two pages long and doesn’t really get into the issue. Showing that Graydon Creed is receiving more credibility due to Gene Nation’s attack is a smart way to tie together two separate plot threads, but it’s unfortunately leading to the infamous “Who shot Graydon Creed?” debacle. Bryan Hitch fills in for Joe Madureria (who won’t return until UXM #325), with an inconsistent issue. The opening pages are fine, but the characters begin to take on a rubbery, soft form as the issue continues. It actually reminds me of Igor Kordey’s rushed fill-in work from a few years ago.

X-MEN PRIME – July 1995

Racing the Night

Credits: Scott Lobdell & Fabian Nicieza (writers), Bryan Hitch, Jeff Matsuda, Gary Frank, Mike McKone, Terry Dodson, Ben Herrera, & Paul Pelletier (pencilers), Milgom/Russell/Smith/Farmer/McKenna/Palmer/Townsend/Collazo (inkers), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Steve Buccellato & Electric Crayon (colors)

Summary

Jean Grey tries to speak to Wolverine in the woods outside the mansion, but he refuses to go inside until Sabretooth is gone. Xavier attempts to counsel Bishop, who still has flashes of memories of the Age of Apocalypse. Later, while Cyclops and Beast are preparing food for the comatose Gambit, a disoriented Bishop briefly attacks them before coming to his senses. Meanwhile, reporter Trish Tilby goes on air and reveals the existence of the Legacy Virus to the public. She also reveals that the virus has spread to at least one human. While watching the broadcast, Xavier and Psylocke suddenly feel a rush of psychic energy, indicating X-Man’s arrival in this reality. Elsewhere, a young mutant looking for the X-Men named Dennis Hogan stops at a bar while on his way to Salem Center. When news of the Legacy Virus comes on the television screen, he runs away in a panic. The suspicious bar patrons follow him.

In Wyoming, X-Factor and Val Cooper chase down Mystique. She’s attacked by a shadowy figure, which helps the team apprehend her. Forge speculates that whoever attacked Mystique wasn’t trying to kill her, but make a statement instead. Suddenly, Havok’s powers go haywire and explode, destroying the nearby dam. In Genosha, Excalibur tries to get information from the first Mutate, but he abruptly explodes. The Sugar Man watches the events on a monitor and declares that no one will learn the secrets of Genosha. Inside X-Force’s new headquarters, a holographic image of Arcade appears. He chastises the team for taking his home and sets a timer to blow it up. Warpath risks his life to save Sunspot from the explosion, surprising Siryn, who still doesn’t trust him. Cyclops appears with a message for Cable.

In Florida, Iceman and Rogue are partying at a bar when news of the Legacy Virus appears on the television. Inside the Morlock Tunnels, a homeless man is murdered by Marrow. She performs the Morlock’s Ceremony of Light, and to her surprise the Dark Beast appears. She tells him that there are more of his children who are tired of hiding. In England, Emplate visits a young woman in a wheelchair named Gayle Edgerton. He tells her that they have a mutual friend, Chamber. Outside of Avalon, the Acolytes discover a giant chunk of ice with a body inside.

As the bar patrons chase down Dennis, he loses his concentration and lets his mutant reptilian form show. Disgusted by his appearance, and fearful that he’s spreading the Legacy Virus, they begin to beat him mercilessly. Xavier senses his pain, and has Storm fly him to the location as the X-Men follow. Xavier sends his mind out of his body to connect with Dennis, feeling every blow he receives. As Dennis dies, he realizes that he’s too late. Dennis’ attackers flee from the scene, and the X-Men arrive a few minutes later to find his body. A despondent Xavier tells the team that they have to fight for a better future.

Gimmicks

This issue has a wraparound foil acetate cover, and is 48 pages without any interior ads (there are in-house ads on the inside covers, though). The overlay cover resembles the gimmick used for the painted Marvels series, bringing the price up to a whopping $4.95. This format is almost identical to the Alpha and Omega specials, which cost a dollar less.

Continuity Notes

This story picks up two weeks after the events of the “Legion Quest” storyline. Gambit has been in a coma ever since kissing Rogue, which seems excessive since she used to kiss villains all the time in order to steal their powers, and they never ended up in comas.

The shadowy figure who attacks Mystique is supposed to be Onslaught, making his first of many meaningless cameos. I vaguely remember that the figure was retconned into being someone else (after Marvel figured out who Onslaught actually was), but it was supposed to be him at this point.

Future Cable supporting cast member Blaquesmith makes a brief cameo for the first time, witnessing X-Man’s arrival through a video screen. Marrow (in her original ugly balding look) makes her first full appearance, after making a cameo as a child in Cable #15. According to the narrative captions, over twenty years have passed for her since then. This is the first issue to hint at the idea that the Dark Beast created the Morlocks, which doesn’t seem to fit with their initial appearances. Later on in the issue, Douglock refers to a Mutate as a Morlock, which is a mistake (how dare Marvel mix up their subcategories of mutants?!?).

How exactly Bishop still has memories of the AoA doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Since the older Bishop stopped Legion from killing Xavier, the AoA never happened. That means that the Bishop who lived through the AoA should’ve disappeared with everything else. “Our” Bishop never actually experienced that timeline.

Review

This is a five-dollar comic book. That blows my mind to this day. Marvel charged five dollars for this thing. Considering the fact that Marvel was still only charging $1.50 for its regular line of titles less than a year before this comic was released, it’s even more astounding. I was still in my early teens, struggling financially to keep up with the expanding X-line when this issue came out. I refused to pay the full cover price for it, and rationalized my purchase by combining my order for this book with over a dozen titles in order to get an overall discount from East Coast Comics. I would occasionally do this when I knew there were too many books coming out for me to afford, even though I knew I ran the risk of ECC running out of stock (I missed out on that Alan Moore Spawn miniseries that way; a hole in my collection that honestly used to bother me). The only real story in this issue is the death of Dennis Hogan, as the rest of the issue consists of brief set-ups for upcoming storylines in the various titles. This reinforces the “family” feel amongst the titles, an illusion that became harder and harder to maintain as the line continued to bloat. Marvel could’ve used this as an opportunity to promote the entire line and bring in any curious new readers by releasing this issue as a low-price special, but why bother? The X-books were already on top of the food chain, and if the fans were willing to pay $5 to see the return of the “real” X-Men, why not take their money from them? It’s not hard to see how this type of thinking lead the already declining comics industry to eventually bust.

Most of the previews for the upcoming storylines are so brief they can’t generate any real interest. A two-page subplot scene in the middle of a normal issue is a nice way to build suspense for an upcoming storyline, but a myriad of them pasted together with conflicting art styles just feels like a mess. Ben Herrera’s art should not be bumping up against Gary Frank’s under any reasonable circumstance. Probably the most significant of the cutaway scenes is the X-Force section, which casually reintroduces Sunspot to the team and destroys their new headquarters. Not only is it rushed and suspense-less, but it undermines the work Nicieza was setting up in the previous issues of that series. The editorial staff is in such a hurry to get X-Force out of their headquarters, they just go for the quickest, most obvious thing they could do, even if it doesn’t make a lot of sense (surely the team checked to see if the psychopath Arcade left any explosives lying around before taking over his headquarters). The abrupt shift in direction is annoying, and it’s the type of thing that eventually drove me away from X-completism.

The strongest part of the issue is the X-Men section drawn by Bryan Hitch. It introduces a suitable amount of mystery about what happened to some of the characters since we last saw them without going overboard (unfortunately, the more we learn about the mysteries, the lamer they become). The story of Dennis Hogan grounds the book in a grim reality, as the heroes arrive too late to save the innocent mutant. He’s not murdered by supervillains or giant robots, or even a mob with pitchforks and torches. It’s a group of people his own age, using their own fists and a baseball bat to beat him until he can’t move. It was pretty disturbing to me when I first read it, and it’s made even more unsettling given real life events that have happened since this comic was published. Allowing Xavier to feel every broken bone Dennis receives heightens the impact, and Lobdell’s narration helps to convey the gruesomeness of the attack. Unfortunately, he goes overboard with Xavier’s response, which has him give a blindingly obvious speech about hatred and the fear of those who are different killing the boy. The scene is already dramatic enough; it needs subtlety more than a theatrical speech.

If I’m going to nitpick this story, I’ll also point out that the premise is a little shoddy. Why is this kid following rumors and searching out the X-Men in the first place? Isn’t it actually the X-Men’s job to search out and find mutants? Doesn’t Xavier have an elaborate computer system he uses to find mutants? The story brings up one of the flaws in the X-Men’s premise that’s usually glossed over. Shouldn’t Xavier be using Cerebro on a regular basis to find new mutants? Unless there’s something wrong with it, the X-Men should theoretically never be surprised when the latest mystery mutant comes on the scene. Even after the teenage cast of Generation X was introduced, the idea of the X-Men searching out new mutants continued to be ignored. Not only did the X-Men fail to rescue Dennis, they didn’t even fulfill their basic mission statement and search him out when his powers surfaced. It’s a flaw that the story could’ve easily covered with a few lines of dialogue, too. Xavier could’ve offered him a place in the school earlier, and now Dennis is traveling to Salem Center to take him up on the offer. (The idea that there are rumors that the X-Men live around Salem Center also bothered me when I first read this, but thinking about it now I can see it working. Considering the number of mutants that have passed through the school over the years, it does make sense that word would’ve spread outside of their immediate family and friends.) Despite my gripes, this section of the issue hits the right emotional notes and at least works as an X-Men story. The rest of the comic is choppy and inconsistent, and even adjusting for inflation, there’s still no way it’s worth five dollars.

X-FACTOR #105 – August 1994

Final Sacrifice

Credits: J. M. DeMatteis & Todd Dezago (plot), Todd Dezago (script), Bryan Hitch (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Glynis Oliver (colors), Starking/Comicraft (letters)

Summary

The Nasty Boys fight Malice, as Mr. Sinister grabs the unconscious Polaris. Guido and Wolfsbane arrive and try to stop the Nasty Boys, refusing to believe Sinister when he tells them that Malice is possessing Havok’s body. Polaris recovers and stops their fight with the Nasty Boys. Malice releases Havok’s power, seriously injuring Guido, Wolfsbane, and the Nasty Boys. Polaris fights back, and Sinister orders a weakened Malice to leave Havok’s body and take over Polaris’. Polaris reluctantly agrees, realizing that this is the only way to free Havok. Malice threatens to take over Polaris’ body forever as punishment for interfering. As she leaves Havok’s body, he realizes what’s going on and fights to keep her out of Polaris. The conflict tears Malice apart, as her spirit form dissolves, leaving behind only her choker. Sinister tells Havok that he saved their lives for his own reasons, as he teleports away with the Nasty Boys. Meanwhile, a man who resembles Jaime Madrox enters X-Factor’s headquarters. He goes through their home and is shocked to discover a photo of Madrox with the team.

Continuity Note

Sinister tells Malice that he’s well aware of what Threnody is doing behind his back, which is a reference to the recent story X-Men #34.

Review

The Malice storyline finally ends, after dragging for at least an issue too long. The resolution is clever, but it all seems anticlimactic after such a long buildup. Bryan Hitch pencils the first of several fill-in jobs he’ll do for the X-books during the ‘90s. I don’t know if he was considered too slow for a monthly or if Marvel was just content with their regular artists, but his work here is strong. For some reason, I didn’t care for Hitch’s fill-ins when I first saw them as a kid, but they hold up a lot better than most of the art from this era.

What’s really notable about this issue is the return of Jaime Madrox…just five issues after his death. He returns so quickly, the letters column is only now printing letters about his death issue! I really have no idea what Marvel was thinking with Madrox’s death. It’s something they wanted to do since the Peter David issues, and they went through with it less than a year after he left as writer. Since Madrox would have the least convincing death of any member, I don’t know if Marvel chose him due to the ease of brining him back, or if they really thought that the audience would buy it. Bringing him back just five issues later leads me to believe that his return was planned all along -- and yet this scene is totally ignored for years. In fact, a later letter column will just tell readers to forget about this scene (which is still one of the strangest things I’ve ever read on a letters page). So it seems as if Marvel had second thoughts about bringing him back immediately after this issue came out (just as bringing him back in this issue also implies that they quickly had second thoughts about his death in the first place). Madrox did eventually come back, and I vaguely recall some lip service paid to this issue, but it was clear that the actual story of his return wasn’t planned at this stage. Despite their flaws, the storylines in the X-books at this time do tend to have a forward momentum, but this erratic backtracking with Madrox is a sign of some of the chaotic storytelling that affects the titles as the ‘90s go on.