GENERATION X #31 - October 1997

Rites of Passage

Credits: James Robinson (writer), Chris Bachalo (artist), Comicraft (letters), Digital Chameleon (colors)

Summary: As Gen X continues to fight the Prime Sentinels, Synch mimics M’s powers, which allows him to learn her secret. Skin’s cousin Gil blows up the garage, hoping to destroy the Prime Sentinels. The team emerges from the wreckage and discovers two girls where M used to be. Meanwhile, Banshee regains consciousness and punches Emma before she can hand Penance over to Emplate. A weakened Emplate disappears after Banshee uses his sonic scream. Emma claims that she was never going to give Penance to Emplate, but Banshee doesn’t believe her. Elsewhere, Daria sacrifices herself so that Jubilee can escape.

Continuity Notes: Skin learns that Tores is a mutant during the fight. Tores, who is apparently Skin’s ex-girlfriend, has the ability to “harness psychic energy and direct it as a weapon.”

Review: That cover is a lie! We don’t learn the secret of M in this issue; we just see her emerge as two girls after an explosion. At the very least, it is a step towards answering the questions about her past, but I’m not sure why exactly it shows up in this issue. James Robinson was apparently just a fill-in writer during the OZT crossover (which raises its own questions, since he was a new writer to the X-books and I doubt he had anything to do with the planning of the Bastion storyline), so it’s strange that he’s dropping origin hints in his final issue. This is Chris Bachalo’s last issue, so maybe he wanted to at least do something with the M mystery before he left.

Just like the previous issues, this is a competently handled action story with art that makes the cast look like background extras on Sesame Street. When M emerges as two different people, I can’t tell if they’re supposed to be little girls, or if Bachalo is just drawing teenage M like a pre-schooler again. And, just like Cable’s tie-in, I don’t think the story justified three full issues. I also wonder why Tores has to be revealed as a mutant, too. Can’t the X-related characters know any normal people? Not only do they currently only hang out with other mutants, but even the figures from their past turn out to be mutants. I do like the Banshee/Emma subplot, which shows Banshee responding realistically to one of Emma’s heel turns. The audience can probably figure out that she isn’t really a traitor, but the actual characters in the story aren’t going to automatically know that. It’s another storyline that’s set up and isn’t resolved, so I’m beginning to wonder if Robinson was supposed to have a longer run on the title.

GENERATION X #29 - #30, August - September 1997

Previously…in Generation X: The students found themselves in Skin’s old neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Jubilee was captured by Bastion. After getting separated during Black Tom’s attack, Banshee, Penance, and Emma Frost searched for the missing team.

No Surrender

Credits: James Robinson (writer), Chris Bachalo w/Pop Mhan (pencilers), Al Vey w/Eric Cannon, Tim Townsend, & Al Milgrom (inkers), Comicraft (letters), Marie Javins (colors)

Summary: In LA, Gen X heads to the home of Skin’s cousin, Gil. The next morning, they’re attacked by armed men led by Tores, Skin’s former gang rival. Bastion’s Prime Sentinels destroy the home, and target Tores when she chastises them for going too far. Skin grabs Tores and takes her along as the team escapes. Meanwhile, Banshee, Emma, and Penance hide out from the Zero Tolerance agents guarding Emma’s home. D.O.A. appears, offering to tell them where the students are if they hand Penance over to Emplate. Elsewhere, Jubilee helps Daria control her nanotech powers.

Continuity Notes: Tores is a mystery character from Skin’s past. She was contacted by Zero Tolerance and agreed to work with them when she learned Skin was alive. Gil is the only family member who knows Skin faked his death. After last issue, Banshee and Emma were supposed to be responding to the X-Men’s distress call (after Zero Tolerance shot them out of the sky). That’s briefly acknowledged, but the story has been dropped very quickly.

Review: James Robinson’s brief sojourn with the X-titles continues, as he follows up the Zero Tolerance subplots generated by Scott Lobdell before his departure. This probably isn’t the best storyline for Robinson to begin with (and the “Flashback” issues weren’t a great staring place, either) but he does a solid job. Actually, it’s hard to tell Lobdell is even gone at this point. While Robinson is writing the cast as younger and less cynical than Lobdell, he’s definitely following the template Lobdell established. Large sections of the book are dedicated to character interaction, Bachalo is given a lot of room to draw the random craziness he enjoys in the background, and the ongoing storylines continue unabated. We also see more of Bachalo’s multiple panels per page gimmick, which allows the various story threads to get at least a little room during the twenty-three pages.

Some Things Hurt More Than Cars and Girls

Credits: James Robinson (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Al Vey & Eric Cannon (inkers), Comicraft (letters), Marie Javins & Digital Chameleon (colors)

Summary: Gen X follows Tores to her uncle’s auto shop. They hide inside the shop as the Prime Sentinels search outside. M convinces Chamber to pursue his relationship with Husk, and later shares her first kiss with Synch when they both realize they could die soon. Soon, the Prime Sentinels invade. Elsewhere, Emma and Banshee argue over turning Penance over to Emplate. When Banshee refuses, Emma psi-blasts him and asks Emplate if they have a deal. Meanwhile, Daria helps Jubilee escape Bastion’s custody.

Miscellaneous Note: The title of this issue is a reference to a song I've never heard of, "Cars and Girls."

Review: If these covers didn’t give you enough of a clue, we’ve now reached the point where Chris Bachalo is in full-on kiddie mode. He was clearly headed in that direction in the previous issues, but #30 seems to be the tipping point. I like Bachalo’s art, especially his work in the early issues of this title, but I never understood this digression. Making the teenage characters more childlike might be defensible, but Emma Frost, their teacher, should not look like a member of Power Pack. As I’ve mentioned before, since Bachalo has always been a large part of this book’s appeal, the issues he doesn’t draw -- or he does draw, just in a radically different style -- don’t feel right.

I wonder if the kiddie redesigns influenced Robinson’s stories, since the cast now acts closer to thirteen than sixteen. Synch and M even share their first kiss, which seems like a pubescent right-of-passage that’s a little young for the characters Lobdell created. (At the same time, Peter David’s casual treatment of M’s sexual activity in the modern X-Factor book didn’t feel right, either). Even though the team might be acting too young, Robinson is still handling the book rather well. The crossover doesn’t feel like a pointless diversion, since he’s leaving room for character interactions and the ongoing storylines are allowed to continue. Like X-Force, the Sentinels are there to be the villains for a few issues, while the main titles are left to deal with Bastion and OZT. It’s not a big shock that Daria helps Jubilee and Emma attempts to fake-out Emplate, but the execution is fine.

GENERATION X #-1 - July 1997

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship!

Credits: James Robinson (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Al Vey (inker), Marie Javins (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Sixteen-year-old runaway Emma Frost invades Manhattan high society. While using her telepathic powers to gain stock tips, she’s drawn to Harry Leland of the Hellfire Club. Soon, the strain of using her powers forces Emma to collapse. When she recovers, she’s harassed by the party guests’ bodyguards. They turn violent when she rejects them. Emma is rescued by the Dark Beast, who offers her a partnership. NYPD detective Sean Cassidy noticed Emma needed help and finally catches up to her as she’s about to shake Dark Beast’s hand. Sean attacks the Dark Beast, who responds violently. Sean’s partner arrives with Harry Leland, and Emma uses her psychic powers to send them home. When alone with the Dark Beast, she accepts his offer.

Continuity Notes: I’m not sure when Banshee’s tenure as an NYPD detective is supposed to fit in his backstory, but I’ve seen it referenced before. He’s following Harry Leland, who is suspected of murder. Emma Frost is described as sixteen, and if you go along with the premise that Flashback Month was supposed to be ten years ago, it’s fitting that Grant Morrison later had Emma declare she was twenty-seven in New X-Men. Dark Beast, for unknown reasons, is suffering from amnesia and is speaking with a simplified speech pattern. I guess the idea is that he’s still disoriented by coming to this timeline, but that happened ten years ago by this point. Also, it seems like he couldn’t have “created” the Morlocks in this mental condition.

Review: I’ve always liked the idea that Emma Frost used her powers unscrupulously to become wealthy at a young age, so I enjoyed the beginning of this story. However, as it progresses, the story seems to take a backseat to the gimmicky introduction of random characters. I guess you could get away with saying Emma Frost and Banshee first met years earlier (I don’t think they were in the same comic until the UXM issues that set up Generation X), but what is the Dark Beast doing here? A cameo by Harry Leland makes sense given Emma’s future with the Hellfire Club, but why does he come back in the end? Why establish that he’s being investigated for murder? Maybe there’s a significance here I’m not aware of, but judging this issue on its own merits, these elements just seem out of place. I do now remember a hint in the early Generation X issues that Dark Beast had a grudge against Emma Frost, so I guess his appearance here was a step in answering that mystery. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go very far towards resolving the dangling subplot, and I don’t think anyone’s touched the idea since. At the very least, this issue has solid work from Chris Bachalo. I actually had no idea Bachalo drew this issue. For years, for some reason, I thought this was a fill-in drawn in a Jeff Matsuda-style. Discovering it wasn’t a fill-in was a nice surprise.

UXM #365 & X-MEN #85– February 1999

Uncanny X-Men #365

Ghost of X-Mas Past!

Credits: Steve Seagle (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Thibert/Townsend/Sowd (inkers), Liquid! & Monica Kubina (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: A voice calls out to Colossus on Christmas Eve night. As he wanders the mansion investigating, his sketches disappear from his drawing table, and return with a fairy tale written on them. Finally, Colossus follows the voice to the attic, where a teleportation ring takes him to a ghost world. There, he meets the ghost of his sister, Illyana. She asks him to “remember” and then disappears. Colossus realizes that he’s left her photos unpacked with the rest of his belongings. He pulls out her picture, and the voice finally says goodbye. The next morning, Marrow reveals that she wrote the fairy tale because she wanted to collaborate with him.

Continuity Note: Obviously, this story was written when Illyana was still dead. She tells Colossus that “the powers in charge” won’t let her outright tell him what she wants him to do. If she speaks about it directly, she’ll lose her “chance to move on”. I don’t know if these were meant to be hints for a future storyline, or just generic references to the afterlife (it’s hard to tell in comics, after all).

Review: It’s a one-shot Christmas story, so it’s not surprising that this is a sentimental, quiet issue. Most of the story consists of conversation scenes between the team members, reminding me of the “quiet” issues of Lobdell’s run. While Lobdell seemed to be content with just the conversation scenes, Seagle tries to work a short story around the conversations. It’s not particularly deep, but it’s a nice acknowledgment of Colossus’ past, and helps to make him feel like a real member of the team and not an editorial add-on. Revealing that Marrow, and not the ghost, was the one stealing his sketches is another nice touch. This is the final issue for both Seagle and Bachalo, although the only acknowledgement of this comes from a cartoon of the creators on the bottom of the final page. Bachalo’s work here isn’t as strong as his previous Generation X run, but it is a marked improvement over his more recent issues of this series. Seagle’s exit caused quite a stir online at the time, as most fans were convinced that he was chased away by overbearing editors. It’s hard to judge his run as a whole since it mostly consists of setups for storylines that were never resolved, and the stories that were resolved were rushed and unsatisfying. I’m sure he had the potential to do greater work, but I have to admit that the stories become more coherent after his exit.

X-Men #85

A Tale of Two Mutants

Credits: Joe Kelly (writer), Alan Davis (penciler), Mark Farmer (inker), Liquid! Graphics (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Magneto disguises himself as a civilian and talks to “average citizen” William Jones in order to learn his thoughts on mutants. Magneto is surprised to discover that William is unwilling to condemn all mutants by the actions of a few. When William turns the conversation towards Hitler, an enraged Magneto lashes out and reveals himself. Terrified, William responds to Magneto’s prodding and tells him that he wants him dead. Magneto, satisfied by the response, returns to the North Pole and enacts his new plan. Meanwhile, the X-Men rescue babies from a burning hospital, but are targeted by the local police. Xavier fears that he must control the officer’s minds, but Storm manages to calm them down, reviving Xavier’s faith in his dream.

Review: This is a transition issue, as Joe Kelly exists while Alan Davis debuts. Kelly goes out on what is likely his strongest issue, with a simple, yet clever, Magneto piece that’s vastly superior to most of the post-Claremont Magneto stories. The final result has Magneto firmly as a villain again, but at least the story attempts to justify his point of view, rather than presenting him as the one-note psychopath he’s become by this point. The portrayal of the average citizen not as a bigot, but as someone with real fears, is also a nice twist.

The Magneto story is intercut with a fairly mundane “X-Men rescue civilians” story, which predictably has Xavier regaining faith in his dream after briefly doubting it. Kelly adds a little edge, as Xavier is reassured of his belief in humanity while Magneto’s negative point of view is confirmed (at least in his mind). This is really an entire issue used to tease the next crossover, but the execution is very well done. Alan Davis’ art is great as usual, and it will remain one of the selling points of the book for the next year.

UXM #362 & X-MEN #82 – December 1998

Uncanny X-Men #362

Meltdown

Credits: Steve Seagle (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Art Thibert & Tim Townsend (inkers), Liquid! Graphics (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Pyro, whose powers are out of control due to the Legacy Virus, is causing havoc in the Midwest. He asks for Professor Xavier, so Nick Fury summons the X-Men for help. Wolverine is finally able to confront Pyro, just as a mystery figure attempts to kidnap him. Pyro forces it to teleport away. His powers then explode, and Nick Fury takes his unconscious body away. The X-Men return home and try to locate Xavier with the Cerebro unit recently mailed to them by Moira MacTaggert. Shadowcat finds two identical readings for Xavier, one in San Francisco, and the other in Tajikistan.

Review: This is the beginning of the “Hunt for Xavier” crossover, which isn’t exactly considered a highlight of the Seagle/Kelly issues. This issue has a rather thin plot, but somehow Seagle manages to fit an excessive amount of word balloons into every page of the story. Bachalo is also cramming almost every page with small panels, which is apparently a quirk that he enjoys. In the end, you’re left with very tiny X-Men buried under a weight of word balloons. The story is already pretty dull, and the cramped look of almost every page doesn’t exactly encourage you to keep reading. Seagle does work in a few nice character moments, such as Marrow’s cynical attitude towards the Professor and Cecilia Reyes’ introduction to Gambit, but this one is mostly boring.

X-Men #82

The Hunt for Charly!

Credits: Joe Kelly (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), John Dell & Jesse Delperdang (inkers), Richard Isanove (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Storm, Rogue, Colossus, and Gambit arrive in Tajikistan, where they find a hidden monastery in the snow. After breaking through the door, they discover dead bodies covering the ground. When Colossus touches a mirror, his finger goes through it. The X-Men investigate and find themselves inside a “non-logic” world. By concentrating on their deepest feelings, they’re able to return to reality. They’re greeted by Nina and Renee Majcomb. Nina apologizes for attacking the team, because she mistook them for a monster. She then tells the team that they’ve allowed a real monster to come in, as an animated Cerebro enters.

Production Note: All of the scenes inside the “non-logic” world are digitally painted by Richard Isanove. This is the first time the technique has been used in an X-book (it will show up a few times in the next year, I think exclusively in Adam Kubert’s issues).

Review: This is much more cryptic than the previous chapter, but it’s more fun to read. The combination of Kubert’s art and Isanove’s intricate colors creates a visually stunning issue. Even if much of the story details are left vague, Kelly’s script is strong enough to make the characters interesting, and he uses the “non-logic” world as a way to offer insight into each cast member. None of it is particularly new (Storm feels deeply about the X-Men as a family, Colossus misses his sister, Rogue is still fixated on her night with Gambit months earlier in Antarctica, and Gambit is wrapped up in another mystery -- the Green Mist Lady), but it’s another example of Kelly’s ability to make the story about the characters. Unfortunately, all of the things I like about this issue really have nothing to do with the main story, which is a bad omen for what’s ahead.

UXM #360 & X-MEN #80– October 1998

Uncanny X-Men #360

Children of the Atom

Credits: Steve Seagle (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Tim Townsend w/Jordi Ensign, Aaron Sowd, Jon Sibal, & Peter Palmiotti (inkers), Shannon Blanchard & Mike Rockwitz (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Professor Xavier recruits a new X-Men team (Grey King, Crux, Landslide, Chaos, Rapture, and Mercury) from across the globe. The new team attacks a cruise ship where Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, and Colossus are vacationing. They kidnap Shadowcat and take her to Florida, where Xavier says he needs her help. Shadowcat shuts down a computer virus that was allegedly connected to Xavier by Bastion. Xavier then orders the new X-Men to place her in storage. Meanwhile, the real X-Men travel to Washington, DC to meet with Peter Corbeau. Corbeau is missing from his Pentagon office, allegedly kidnapped by the X-Men. The team meets with Val Cooper, who explains that Corbeau was working on the Benassi Rocket, which is rumored to have a mutant connection. She arranges for a jet to fly them to Cape Citadel, where the rocket is being launched. Elsewhere, the government fakes the assassination of a scientist on the rocket project in order to divert attention away from the rocket’s true purpose (to launch a device that can “track and terminate mutants globally”). Later, Nightcrawler and Colossus arrive at the X-Men’s mansion and meet Cecilia Reyes. Reyes informs them that the rest of the team is headed for Cape Citadel, so Nightcrawler repairs the spare Blackbird jet and departs with Colossus. They arrive in the skies above Cape Citadel as the X-Men are attacked by Xavier’s new team. The team regroups inside the Blackbird, but it’s quickly shot down by the new X-Men’s Aurora aircraft.

Continuity Notes: Apparently, a decent amount of time has passed between the previous issue and this one. Cecilia Reyes has left the team off-panel, and set up her own medical practice in Salem Center. She’s checking on the mansion as a favor to Storm while the team is away on a mission. Colossus comments that Storm’s plants resemble a jungle, which is apparently a clue that the X-Men have been gone for a while.

Reyes comments that Beast has left, but there’s no explanation why. Maggott is also gone without explanation (Beast suggested that he consider joining Generation X in last month’s X-Men, but there’s no follow-up here).

The new team of X-Men are intentionally derivative of other mutants, which is a hint towards their origin.

Gimmicks: This is a forty-eight page issue with a “foil-etched” cover, which brings the cover price up to $3.99. It’s interesting that Marvel tried to phase out the gimmick covers in the mid-90s, but they still popped up occasionally.

I Love the ‘90s: Nightcrawler is impersonating “Leo” onboard the cruise ship “Titania”.

Review: This is the first wave in a series of 35^th anniversary issues, which is amusing because I don’t recall the X-Men’s 40^th anniversary receiving a lot of attention (Wasn’t it during the Quesada/Jemas “We’re cooler than everybody and only hip young people read our comics” phase?). The story is set on the anniversary of the day Magneto attacked Cape Citadel (and announced the existence of mutants to the public, according to this issue), which is the only real connection to the first issue of the series. I suppose reuniting three former cast members with the team is intended as another nod to the past, as is the “familiar” nature of the new X-Men. As I’ve mentioned before, the editorial influence on the titles is painfully evident in this storyline, as three of the team members are missing with little or no explanation. The real reason they’re gone is so that Shadowcat, Colossus, and Nightcrawler can take their place, but there’s practically no effort put into providing a legitimate explanation for their absence. Cecilia Reyes’ off-hand dismissal that she was an X-Man “for all of five minutes” is particularly annoying, since it undermines the work that was spent on selling her as a real member of the team. Ever since the “Zero Tolerance” crossover, we were supposed to be buying into this character’s journey as a new X-Man. Now, the editors have changed their minds, so Cecilia has decided to leave the team in-between issues. On what planet is this considered competent storytelling?

The X-Men have also ended up in Washington, DC through the sheer willpower of editorial desire. Oddly enough, the script actually draws attention to the X-Men’s lack of transportation, as Wolverine explains to Val Cooper that “we’re a little short on long-range transportation these days…most everything’s running, but not our wings.” Then how exactly did they get to Washington in the first place? I assumed that reintroducing the Blackbird a few issues earlier was done to cover travel if a story required it, but that plane is instead being used to bring Colossus and Nightcrawler to Cape Citadel. In the end, we end up with explanations for how the X-Men get from Washington to Florida, how Colossus and Nightcrawler get from New York to Florida, but no explanation for how the X-Men got from New York to Washington in the first place. This has always annoyed me, especially since it could’ve been covered by a simple line of dialogue (I’m sure Beast could’ve arranged transport with the Avengers, or one of Wolverine’s numerous “old friends” might’ve helped).

Even if you’re willing to ignore the jarring transition from the previous issues, the story’s not particularly impressive. Every page is extremely cluttered, as Bachalo opens with nine-panel grids for the first few pages, and barely decreases the number of panels per page for the rest of the issue. Every tiny panel is as crammed full of word balloons as possible, making this feel as if four issues of material have been shoved into one double-sized special. I don’t have a problem with the villains, since the derivative nature of their powers is an interesting mystery and I like their designs (Carlos Pacheco’s sketches for the characters had been appearing in the issues leading up to this one). It just doesn’t feel as if there’s enough room to showcase the various characters, which makes all of the faux-X-Men rather unimpressive. Bachalo’s art is also a problem, as the multiple inkers change the look from page to page, and the page layouts are so busy it’s often hard to tell what’s going on. Bachalo is also firmly in “draw every character like a little kid” mode, which just doesn’t work with most of this cast.

X-Men #80

Children of the Atom, Part Two

Credits: Joe Kelly (writer), Brandon Peterson (penciler), Art Thibert w/Dan Panosian (inkers), Liquid! (color), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Shadowcat escapes from Xavier’s new team of X-Men and lands in the sewers. There, she meets Peter Corbeau, who tells her about Xavier’s plan to disrupt the launch of the Benassi Rocket. Meanwhile, the X-Men crash land in a Florida swamp. They eventually make their way to Cape Citadel, just as the false X-Men are ambushing Shadowcat. The two teams fight on the tarmac, as Xavier enters the control booth. He stops the launch, enabling the Grey King to remove the mutant-tracking satellite from the rocket. Wolverine confronts Xavier, calling him out as a fraud. Xavier suddenly turns into an energy-form, forces the control panel to launch the rocket, and disappears. Knowing that the rocket has a nuclear core, Rogue absorbs the powers of Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Colossus, and forces the rocket to crash in the ocean. Meanwhile, the remaining X-Men force the Grey King to drop the satellite. The false X-Men disappear, and are soon reunited with Xavier’s impostor. The energy-form absorbs their bodies, and reveals himself as Cerebro in robot form.

Continuity Note: Rogue’s costume has changed in-between chapters of the story. She’s now wearing the Shi’ar space suit again, for no reason outside of Brandon Peterson getting the wrong reference. If you’ve noticed that Rogue is drawn smaller and with less detail on the cover, it’s because she wasn’t on the original solicited version of this cover (which was used to announce the new team of X-Men).

Gimmicks: This is another double-sized issue with a foil-etched cover. I have the non-enhanced version (which I think was released two weeks after the enhanced one), which costs $2.99.

Review: This is at least easier to read than the first chapter, as Kelly’s script is less verbose and the page layouts are clearer. I seem to recall Brandon Peterson being announced as Pacheco’s replacement on this book, but he pulled out to do a title with Alan Moore for one of Liefeld’s short-lived companies (I think it was supposed to be a Suprema series that never happened). His work here is barely recognizable from his earlier UXM issues, and I can’t say it’s particularly improved. His rendition of Wolverine isn’t bad, but the rest of the cast looks pretty dull (and the spaghetti hair he gives the female characters has always annoyed me).

Kelly continues to excel with the character interactions, as Wolverine is still resentful of Colossus for joining the Acolytes, Colossus is suspicious of Marrow (after encountering Gene Nation in UXM #325), Marrow taunts Colossus with knowledge of his brother, and Storm is forced to hold everything together. The general thinking at the time was that Joe Kelly resented having to work with this lineup (in Kelly’s Deadpool series, this team is referred to as “out with the new, in with the old”), which might’ve been an exaggeration from upset fans, but also seems plausible. There’s a lot of nostalgia in the story, as Nightcrawler and Colossus work in all of their catchphrases, and Wolverine and Colossus even pull a “fastball special” during the climax. It’s not hard to read this as self-aware humor, as if Kelly is just saying, “Fine. If you guys just want the ‘80s all over again, here it is.”

The rest of the story dutifully resolves the main conflict, while setting up a future Cerebro storyline (which I remember everyone just hating). The lack of a real resolution shouldn’t be a shock at this point, but knowing how poorly the mysteries of Cerebro and his false X-Men are resolved, it’s hard to cut the ending a lot of slack. The basic idea for the story is fine, and it does manage to return the three Excalibur members in a credible way, but the shoddy dismissal of the former members and the knowledge of what’s coming next make it hard to have any real enthusiasm for this storyline.

UXM #359 & X-MEN #79 – September 1998

Uncanny X-Men #359

Power Play

Credits: Joe Kelly & Steve Seagle (writers), Chris Bachalo & Ryan Benjamin (pencilers), Tim Towsend/Scott Hanna/Jon Holdredge (inkers), Shannon Blanchard (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Government agent Henry Gyrich watches on with Senator Brickman as Rogue begins Dr. Agee’s cure for mutancy. Mystique, who disguised herself as Brickman’s wife, swaps places with Agee’s nurse and opens fire on him. Rogue saves his life, and takes Mystique away to talk. Mystique argues with Rogue against removing her powers, which leads to Rogue touching Mystique and absorbing her consciousness. Rogue tracks Dr. Agee to the Mutopia building, where Mystique’s presence in her mind forces her to fight the government agents. Rogue absorbs Dr. Agee’s memories and learns that the first mutant he tested the equipment on died, and that his sister was only briefly cured. Knowing that the government would eventually use it on mutants against their will, Rogue destroys Agee’s equipment.

Continuity Note: Phoenix reveals to Cyclops that she has lost her mental powers, and the couple decides to stay in Alaska as she recuperates. This is a reference to the “Psi-War” storyline in X-Men, which I think was supposed to remove every telepath’s power. This is likely an indication that “Psi-War” was supposed to be a larger event, because I definitely don’t remember any character (outside of Psylocke) losing their powers for long. And we now have Cyclops and Phoenix deciding to stay in Alaska, one issue after they abruptly decided to move. I have no idea what the point of this back and forth was supposed to be (I would assume some last minute editorial decisions have happened in-between issues).

Production Note: When Mystique reveals that Dr. Agee’s research is based on the power inhibitor Forge built for the government, the editorial caption reads, “Whatever you want to say – Mark”. I’m sure it was supposed to point us towards the back issues of UXM where this actually happened. There are also a couple of word balloons in this issue that are so poorly printed they’re hard to read. Plus, Dr. Agee’s word balloons are incorrectly pointing towards Mystique during the issue’s climax.

Review: With a questionable plot, rotating artists, and numerous production mistakes, this one feels like a rush job. It might’ve been more tolerable if Bachalo drew the entire issue, or if a more compatible artist had been paired with him. Dan Norton, the cartoony fill-in artist from a few issues ago would’ve been a nice fit, but instead Bachalo’s paired with Wildstorm artist Ryan Benjamin. His early Image look is so hopelessly out of place next to Bachalo’s art, you’ve got to wonder what they were thinking when they made this choice.

We’re starting to enter the editorially driven era of the Seagle/Kelly run, so the Rogue storyline that Seagle’s been toying with for months is quickly resolved so that another brave new direction for the X-Men can begin. Having Mystique appear and talk Rogue out of the procedure is a decent idea, but the delivery here is botched by horrid dialogue and nonsensical plotting. Instead of a believable mother/daughter conversation between Mystique and Rogue, we’re saddled with lines like “Come with me…or perish,” “Don’t try to divert me from my rage, Rogue,” and “Has the momentary promise of your forbidden fruit freed you of your faculties?” A cameo by Alpha Flight’s Shaman (as the doctor examining Phoenix) also brings us this gem, “I no longer use the medicine magic of my people to serve Canada as the hero Shaman, but it was Alpha Flight that brought me to Anchorage.” Both Seagle and Kelly are credited with writing this issue, but I don’t recall such stilted dialogue from either writer in the past.

The actual plotting of the story is as shaky as the dialogue. For some reason, Rogue decides to touch Mystique during their conversation (I guess to validate her claims that the government is behind Agee’s research, although that’s not made clear), which leads to Mystique taking command of Rogue’s body a few pages later. This goes beyond a simple continuity mistake, it’s an outright misunderstanding of how her powers work. Making matters worse, Mystique soon reappears, claiming that Rogue didn’t absorb “enough” of her. So she has enough of Mystique’s consciousness that it overtakes her mind, but not enough to knock Mystique out for more than a few seconds? The story also can’t seem to decide if Dr. Agee’s sister is alive or dead. Agee claims that he “owed the machine’s perfection to her memory” right after Rogue absorbs his memories. This is odd enough, since she isn’t the character that died during his flashback. Two pages later, Rogue tells Agee to leave and take care of his sister. So, I guess she isn’t dead. The sister line is used to justify why Agee won’t rebuild his machine, which assumes that the reader buys into the idea that he’ll be so preoccupied with his sister he’ll lose all interest in his research. It’s a copout ending, and it also makes Rogue pretty callous for not seeking justice for the mutant who died when Agee first tried his treatment. (This reminds me that two skeletons are shown in the flashback to this character’s death. Why?) This is really a mess all around, and a clear sign that something odd was happening behind the scenes.

X-Men #79

Little Morlock Lost

Credits: Joe Kelly (writer), German Garcia (penciler), Holdredge/Mendoza/Alquiza (inkers), Liquid! (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Callisto enters the X-Men’s mansion, telling Marrow that she needs to stay with the team. Soon, Marrow overhears Cannonball’s plans to go back home, which pushes her over the edge. She races into the city, terrorizing the humans she comes across. Storm, Callisto, and Cannonball track her to Battery Park. Marrow encounters two police officers she put in the hospital months earlier. When they tell their story, Marrow realizes that she has behaved like a monster and apologizes. Storm makes peace with Marrow, as a shadowy figure watches on.

Continuity Notes: The shadowy figure is the same one who’s been looking over Callisto (for ominous reasons) in the previous issues. He claims that he has plans for Marrow, and at the story’s end, says that leaving the X-Men as her only family was his plan all along. It’s widely believed that the mystery figure was supposed to be the Dark Beast, although I don’t know if Kelly ever confirmed it, or if his specific plan was ever revealed.

The stage is being set for next issue’s overhaul of the team. Beast suggests Maggott join the Generation X team (which never happened), and Cannonball receives word that his mother is sick and needs his help.

The two policemen in this issue are supposed to be the ones Marrow knocked out in the opening pages of X-Men #68. These weren’t Prime Sentinels, as it’s emphasized in this issue that they were normal cops doing their jobs.

Review: It’s been widely accepted over the years that the September issues were the last “real” ones of the Seagle/Kelly era. Beginning next month, Excalibur is cancelled and Shadowcat, Colossus, and Nightcrawler join the team. The amount of internal logic in the stories takes a nosedive, as it becomes increasingly obvious that events are happening because the editors just want them to happen. Marrow is the only new member allowed to stay, which might explain why this is an entire issue dedicated to reassuring her place on the team. Marvel is still taking an odd approach to her past continuity, as the two cops she knocked out in a brief scene during the “Zero Tolerance” crossover are brought back to inspire some guilt and repentance. Marrow committed much larger sins than this during her early appearances, but these have been mostly ignored since she was forced on to the team. If you’re willing to go along with the whitewashing of her past, this is an acceptable story about Marrow finally embracing her role as an X-Man. I never bought the selective use of her backstory, though, and still feel as if Maggott or Reyes would’ve been more suitable members.

X-MEN #78 & UXM #358 – August 1998

X-Men #78

Stormfront Part 2

Credits: Joe Kelly (writer), German Garcia (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Liquid! (colors), Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: Powered by Psylocke’s psionic attack, the Shadow King now has access to every mind on earth. He tries to tempt the new X-Men over to his side, while Psylocke unexpectedly reemerges in a shadow form. Realizing that the mystic Crimson Dawn is powering her inside the psionic plane, she rescues Ainet. With her help, Psylocke is able to free Storm from her psychic prison. As Storm rescues the other X-Men, Psylocke faces the Shadow King. When he tries to infect every mind on earth, Psylocke targets his unprotected “nexus point” with her shadow powers. The Shadow King disappears, but Psylocke realizes that if she uses her telepathy again, he could be set free.

Continuity Notes: The Shadow King explains that he was masking his presence from Xavier for months, until Xavier lost his telepathy after becoming Onslaught. He also claims that the psychic feedback caused by Psylocke’s attack “devastated the minds of all unshielded telepaths.” I think that this was supposed to be something of a big deal within the Marvel Universe, but it was only briefly referenced in a few of the X-titles.

Review: This two-parter might turn out to be Kelly’s strongest work on the title. There is a sense that this was probably supposed to be a larger story arc, but the slightly rushed conclusion doesn’t distract from the imaginative use of the Shadow King’s powers and some strong character work. Kelly’s skill with dialogue has previously given the characters some sharp one-liners that also reflect some aspect of their personality. This storyline goes deeper, as the X-Men are forced by the Shadow King to live out their greatest fears or deepest desires. This is a fairly standard route to take with telepathic villains, but Kelly is able to make it more engaging than the cliché “villain invades the hero’s mind” story. Not only is Storm forced to reenact the childhood trauma that created her claustrophobia, but she also expresses her guilt over failing her parents, being forced to “kill” Marrow, and using her powers irresponsibly as a youth. This is only a two-page scene, but it offers more insight into her character than any other '90s issue I can think of.

Psylocke also has her moments, as the previously pointless Crimson Dawn powers are actually used effectively. I wonder if Lobdell was planning all along to do a story where Psylocke loses her telepathic powers and has to embrace her new ones. It’s a pretty obvious way to go, but since Lobdell never even took the idea this far, the Crimson Dawn powers stuck around for years with no discernable purpose. Kelly actually uses the powers to move the character in a new direction, as the shadow powers enable her to redeem herself for last issue’s mistake. I’m sure the story was created with the goal of “doing something” about Psylocke, but Kelly never leaves you with the impression that he resents having to use the character. Making the story as much about Psylocke’s need to redeem herself as it is about stopping the villain gives it more weight, reminding me of the type of stories Claremont told during his original run.

Uncanny X-Men #358

Lost in Space

Credits: Steve Seagle (plot), Joseph Harris (script), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Tim Townsend (inker), Steve Buccellato (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Bishop and Deathbird are shot down by the alien Chnitt. They meet Karel, an alien from another planet that’s been ravaged by the Chnitt. Karel is collecting weapons to use against the Chnitt on his home planet. Bishop and Deathbird travel with him to the city of Kuth, where they hope to find a warp gate. When the trio arrives in Kuth, it’s under attack by the Chnitt. Bishop volunteers to stay behind and protect the city while the others head for the warp gate. After Bishop defeats the Chnitt, he finally reaches the warp gate. It collapses after Karel escapes, leaving Bishop alone with Deathbird.

Continuity Note: Cyclops and Phoenix have decided in-between issues to move from Alaska. Iceman, Beast, and Archangel are helping them move when Cyclops receives news that the realtor can’t sell their house. A child throws a brick through their window, shortly before Phoenix collapses (due to the events of the “Psi-War” storyline). It looks like Seagle was setting up a story about the town turning against Cyclops and Phoenix, but I don’t recall it going anywhere. I’m not sure why exactly the decision had been made to have them move so quickly. It’s even stranger knowing that Cyclops and Phoenix aren’t a part of the next team of X-Men anyway.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority: The Bullpen Bulletins announces the arrival of a new assistant editor, Zena Tsarfin, coming from High Times magazine. “There will be plenty of high times in the new Slingers book, but probably not the kind Zena is used to writing about!”

Review: After months as a subplot, Deathbird and Bishop are given the main story for an issue. Ideally, this would’ve offered some resolution to their subplot and actually moved their story forward, but instead the characters are essentially left in the same place they’ve been for the previous year – stuck in space with one another. A caption on the last page points readers towards an upcoming one-shot called Team X 2000, which is supposed to continue their story. I have no idea how this storyline was eventually resolved, but I do know that Bishop had his own solo series, set thousands of years in the future, within the next year. Joseph Harris, a new writer finding work at Marvel at the time and the scripter of this issue, wrote the series, so maybe it was already in the works when this issue was published.

Even though this story doesn’t actually resolve their long-running subplot, it’s an enjoyable action story that offers some insight into Bishop’s personality. The fact that he’s made no friends amongst the X-Men and has often stayed in the background is used as a characterization point, as Bishop spends the entire issue lamenting his status as a loner and perpetual outcast. He accepts his role as a loner by the end, declaring that his purpose is “fighting, protecting,” which is at least an attempt to make him seem more heroic. A potential romance with Deathbird is still being teased, but Harris’ script makes it more plausible by portraying Bishop's reluctance, and by casting Deathbird’s interest more as an obsessive crush than true love. Bachalo’s art is well suited for the outer space setting, as he excels at drawing the freakish alien monsters. It’s a little surprising that he ended up on an intermission issue, while he missed some issues that actually moved the main stories along, but his art helps to give the story some weight.

UXM #356 - #357, June - July 1998

Uncanny X-Men #356

Reunion

Credits: Steve Seagle (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Tim Townsend (inker), Steve Buccellato (colors), Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: Archangel, Iceman, and Beast travel to Alaska to visit Cyclops and Phoenix. Cyclops wants to talk to the others about developing a new version of Xavier’s dream. He confides to Beast that he’s also concerned about Phoenix. Strange birds follow the X-Men around the town, often dropping dead. Iceman is convinced that a man is following them. Meanwhile, Rogue catches Dr. Agee leaving the offices of a company named Mutopia.

Continuity Notes: Rogue is now wearing her original costume, which concerns Wolverine because of its “darker” implications. This is the third costume she’s worn in the past few months (she wore the space outfit last issue, and her standard ‘90s outfit in X-Men #75).

All of this talk about reconsidering Xavier’s dream goes nowhere, making it dropped plotline #248. I seem to recall the original solicitations for these issues actually made a big deal about Cyclops developing a new plan for the X-Men, but I don’t know what Seagle had in mind.

Review: This is another issue that would probably read better if the storylines it introduced actually went anywhere. Without a payoff to the Phoenix or “new dream” storylines, it feels mostly pointless. Seagle does handle the interactions between the characters well enough, so at least the lengthy conversation scenes aren't dull. The conversation between Cyclops and Beast also manages to make Cyclops’ concern over Jean feel more legitimate than it has in the previous issues, in part because it acknowledges the established continuity that Jean never was Phoenix and allows Beast to play devil’s advocate. But, once again, it’s setting up an idea that went nowhere, making the scene more frustrating than anything. Bachalo’s art is getting cartoonier and cartoonier, which looks nice on Beast, Wolverine, and most of the female characters, but also creates bizarre interpretations of Cyclops and Archangel.

Uncanny X-Men #357

The Sky Is Falling

Credits: Steve Seagle (writer), Dan Norton (penciler), Dexter Vines & Scott Hanna (inkers), Steve Buccellato (colors), Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: The city of Ptarmigan Creek is attacked by a murder of crows. The X-Men chase the birds away and soon split up to investigate. They later converge when the crows amass a giant bird form inside the town. Cyclops blasts the bird congregation and it disappears. Iceman claims that he defeated the birds because he knocked out Moon Wolf, the shaman who allegedly summoned them to punish the town for stealing Inuit land. Phoenix thinks that destroying the mechanical crow she found in the murder ended the threat. Archangel and Beast wonder if local pollution caused the problem. Iceman questions why no one believes his theory, as a mystical bird flies out of the eyes of the unconscious shaman.

Continuity Notes: Dr. Agee is discussing Rogue with his sister Rebecca, whose mutation he claims to have cured. Rebecca is finally revealed as an inhuman-looking monster living inside a tube.

Bishop and Deathbird are hurtling into a sun, which doesn’t exactly fit where their subplot left off. Bishop tells Deathbird he loves her in order to convince her to free him, which allows him to pull their ship out of the sun’s orbit. He claims that the nearby planet won’t be so lucky, which I assume is a reference to the planet they were caught in the pull of in their last appearance.

Melissa, the sister-in-law of the local sheriff (who’s also Cyclops and Phoenix’s neighbor), receives a decent amount of attention during this storyline. She stumbles across the team’s secret and shows that she’s trustworthy, while also serving as a potential love interest for Archangel. Seagle likely had plans for the character, which of course means she disappeared very quickly.

Creative Differences: The Bullpen Bulletins acknowledges that the description of the previous issue, “the original five X-Men confront the threat of the PHOENIX reborn”, wasn’t accurate. The writer claims that the X-Creators came up with another great idea for this issue, but “maybe we can convince the X-Writers to do this story after all – it sounds like a goodie to us!”

Seven issues into the new direction, and Marvel’s already dropping hints that things are changing soon. After printing a letter from a fan upset by the new lineup, the response says that the title will undergo another change in issue #360.

Review: This is the most frustrating issue of Seagle’s run so far. Remember last issue’s cliffhanger, which had Cyclops ready to discuss a new direction for the X-Men? Hope you weren’t too intrigued, as the story is dropped in three panels by the second page (Phoenix kicks Cyclops under the table, because there’s no need to “rush the serious stuff”). As horrible as it sounds, that’s actually a more satisfactory resolution for the story than many of the other subplots received during this era. The action sequences consist of what you would probably expect to see in an “X-Men versus birds” fight, although Seagle adds the wrinkle that the team doesn’t want to use its powers in public. This doesn’t exactly work if you can remember all of the times the various X-telepaths used their powers to cloud the public’s perceptions of an open fight, but the story’s really committed to the secrecy angle.

The intentionally vague resolution, which presents three different explanations for why the bird invasion stopped (and another explanation for what caused it), also doesn’t work. If this wasn’t in the middle of a run filled with vague hints and dangling plotlines, it might’ve come across as clever, but that’s clearly not the context the story appeared in. The ending points towards Moon Wolf as the real culprit, although that’s hard to square with the sheriff’s claims that the man takes responsibility for everything, including the Unibomber attacks. Seagle was probably going with the idea that the Inuit god just happened to possess this man who’s insane, but keeping it as an intentional mystery is just annoying. The fill-in art comes from Dan Norton, who turns in a Joe Madureira/J. Scott Campbell pastiche. It’s actually not bad, which leads me to wonder why he didn’t show up on the X-titles more often.

X-MEN #73 - March 1998 & UXM #355 - May 1998

X-Men #73

The Elements Within Us

Credits: Joe Kelly (writer), Joe Casey (script assist), Jeff Johnson (penciler), Dan Panosian (inker), Comicraft (lettering), Steve Oliff & Digital Chameleon (colors)

Summary: The X-Men receive a letter from Professor Xavier, but Wolverine is suspicious of its origin. Later, Joseph asks to speak to Maggott about his relationship with Magneto. Maggott is reluctant, because he knows Joseph isn’t Magneto after coming across the real Magneto in Antarctica. Their conversation is interrupted by Sabra, who attacks Joseph. Maggott stops the fight by convincing her that he isn’t really Magneto. Joseph abruptly decides to leave with Sabra, hoping that he can learn the truth about his past from her.

Continuity Notes: The continuity in this issue doesn’t work with the events of Uncanny at the time. UXM #353-#354 all feature Joseph, so they must take place before he leaves the mansion in this issue. However, #355 takes places directly after #354 (which ends with Rogue leaving the mansion), and it explicitly says that Joseph has left the team by this point. The only way for this to work is for the final few pages of #354, Rogue’s departure scene, to take place after this issue.

The story takes place on New Year’s Eve, and has the team making resolutions. Beast’s is to cure the Legacy Virus, which Cecilia Reyes bets him he cannot do within the year. This ties in with the house ad that hyped a resolution to the storyline in 1998, but it didn’t happen until three years later.

There are, of course, numerous subplot scenes in this issue. Sebastian Shaw receives a lot of focus in the issue, debating his future, before finally deciding to join forces with a mystical entity. This one is particularly frustrating, since it takes up so much space and is never resolved. The package addressed to Storm is making its way to America, and somehow African tribesmen are in a German post office, ensuring that it gets through (they might be a mental projection, it’s hard to tell). Senator Kelly is searching for Professor Xavier at Bastion’s abandoned New Mexico base, but he isn’t there. Finally, Marrow returns to the mansion after her fight with Wolverine and steals Cecilia Reyes’ doctor’s bag (since Marrow also made cameos in UXM during this time, this makes the continuity even harder to work out).

Review: This one looks pretty rough in retrospect, although I recall liking it at the time. Kelly tries to move some storylines along while still focusing on the characters, so we end up with the X-Men making New Year’s resolutions as a multitude of subplots carry on in the background. None of the resolutions are particularly insightful, (Wolverine’s is to “be the best there is at what I do…soon as I figure out just what that is”, a line I seem to recall Kelly mocking in his writing column for the early Newsarama) but there are a few nice moments with Beast.

Maggott and Joseph’s conversation seems to be a “let’s just get this done” formality, and it somehow turns into a rushed exit scene for Joseph. This is really just awkward all around, as Maggott was given an unexplained motive for finding Magneto in his early appearances, which was quickly dismissed when he joined the team (for equally vague reasons). Joseph was supposed to be Magneto, although no one bothered to explain how he ended up in his current state. Then, suddenly, he wasn’t Magneto, but was left on the team with nothing to do. It seems like the creators just want to ditch him at this point, so he gets the token conversation with Maggott out of the way, and then runs off with Sabra. Sabra’s addition doesn’t make a lot of sense either, as the Mossad agent is now working on her own, determined to kill Magneto. She’s never been concerned about him before, but now she’s hell-bent on killing him after he murdered a counterfeiter (not even in Israel, but in Prague). She claims that she has to do this “for my people” (presumably because she thinks Magneto’s a poor representative for Jews), but that’s not a very convincing motivation. And I have no idea why Joseph thinks she can help him learn about his past, or why he feels the need to leave without even saying goodbye to the others. It just reads as if someone wanted Joseph gone and no one actually worked out the logistics of how it was supposed to happen.

Uncanny X-Men #355

North & South

Credits: Steve Seagle (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Tim Townsend w/Beatty & Smith (inkers), Comicraft (lettering), Steve Buccellato (colors)

Summary: As Wolverine takes the captive Sauron to Manhattan, he’s attacked by Alpha Flight. Meanwhile, Rogue visits Dr. Agee, who claims that he can remove genetic mutations. After her consultation, she flies past Wolverine’s fight. She recruits the other X-Men for help, and Alpha Flight is quickly defeated. Heather Hudson realizes that Department H lied to the team, claiming that Wolverine had killed Alpha Flight member Madison Jeffries. Wolverine shakes hands with Heather and the teams part amicably. Meanwhile, Cyclops expresses his concerns to Phoenix over her decision to wear the original Phoenix costume.

Continuity Notes: This is supposed to represent the X-Men’s perspective during their appearance in Alpha Flight from around this time. This was mentioned in an earlier Bullpen Bulletins, but I don’t see any indication within the issue itself. The reason why Alpha Flight is behaving strangely is apparently because they’re being brainwashed (I never followed Seagle’s Alpha Flight, and it’s my understanding that it’s also filled with unresolved mysteries).

Phoenix is wearing her original costume because she’s “tired of suppressing (her) abilities” and wants to “empower” herself. Cyclops is afraid that this might be a sign that she’s following the original Phoenix’s path. Speaking of costumes, Rogue is back to wearing the space suit she wore during the previous year’s Phalanx storyline for no apparent reason.

Review: This is mostly a commercial for the second volume of Alpha Flight, and it’s not a very good one since most of the characters aren’t very interesting and I don’t really understand what’s going on. I can understand why Seagle thought an Alpha Flight appearance could work as an excuse for a fight scene and as promotion for the title, but it just comes across as pointless. Bachalo’s art saves some of this, but for the most part it’s pretty dull.

The Rogue subplot continues, as she makes the first step in removing her powers. This is pretty much the most obvious story you can do with Rogue (as evidenced by the fact that the original cartoon and the third movie used the same idea), so it’s surprising that the comics themselves had never gone in this direction. Rogue was even targeted with a power-neutralizing gun during the original Claremont run, but he didn't take the obvious bait and have Rogue consider if getting hit would’ve been a good thing. I don’t have a problem with obvious ideas as long as the writer gets decent material out of them, so I can’t hold this against Seagle. Unfortunately, Rogue’s story is barely touched on in this issue, as the Alpha Flight fight takes up most of the space.

The Phoenix storyline is another one that I remember getting a lot of play before being totally ignored. Cyclops’ fears resurrect all kinds of continuity issues that probably should’ve been left alone. At the time, the established continuity was that the Phoenix was a cosmic entity who copied Jean Grey’s form, and that Jean never was the Phoenix. Seagle seems to be going back to the pre-retcon idea that the Phoenix represents Jean’s ultimate potential as a mutant, which makes Cyclops wonder if history is going to repeat itself. I don’t see how this story can work without retconning the retcons, because if you accept that Jean never was Phoenix, there’s not a lot of conflict here. Unless Cyclops thinks that the cosmic entity has returned (which isn’t where Seagle seems to be going with this), that means that he’s upset about his wife changing outfits. And if Jean never was Phoenix, then it’s hard to explain why exactly she’s creating fiery bird imagery and wants to wear the old costume (as for the name change, this was explained years earlier as a tribute to Rachel Summers, who did carry the Phoenix Force for a while). Maybe Seagle did have a plan that made sense within continuity and actually said something about Jean Grey’s character, but it just seems like shock value at this point. And since this turned out to be another dropped plot, it’s even more annoying in retrospect.

UXM #353 - #354, March - April 1998

Uncanny X-Men #353

Blackbirds

Credits: Steve Seagle (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Tim Townsend (inker), Comicraft (lettering), Steve Buccellato (colors)

Summary: After having dreams where she absorbs Wolverine’s persona, Rogue begins to feel an urge to use her powers on her teammates. She tries to convince Joseph to let her touch him, in order to release his memories of his past, but he refuses. Meanwhile, Wolverine comes across Margaret Stone, a Board of Education inspector. She’s extremely suspicious of the school and places it on probation. Wolverine briefly rejoins the others for a picnic, but leaves after an altercation with Iceman. While napping, he’s attacked by a mystery figure. The team soon realizes the culprit is Sauron.

Continuity Notes: This issue is filled with tiny scenes that have nothing to do with the main story. Rogue claims that Wolverine has a son during her dream sequence, which might’ve tied into plans Seagle initially had for the Wolverine series (or Alpha Flight, because I think a character in that series was implied to be his son). Joseph falls over in pain after he rebuffs Rogue, declaring that “he is near!” Archangel questions what’s important in his life, and is angered at Psylocke for jumping off the roof and forcing him to save her (her melodramatic way of proving a point). Bishop, who is still stranded in space with Deathbird, has visions of killing Cyclops (no clue what this is about). While swimming in the pond, Iceman discovers an older model of the Blackbird that Forge hid years earlier (I assume this was done to give the team another mode of transportation). Finally, in Alaska, Phoenix telekinetically removes a mountain of snow, leaving a bird image on the ground.

Commercial Break: An insert promoting 1998 storylines hypes a Legacy Virus resolution in the X-books (didn’t happen), the fate of Graydon Creed’s killer in X-Factor #150 (didn’t happen), a new spinoff named only X-? #1 (don’t think this happened, unless they mean Mutant X), Captain America vs. Iron Man in issues #6 and #5 of their new series (didn’t happen, but I think this story might’ve become an annual), new titles such as Orleans and Endtime (no memory of these), a Blade series that might’ve happened, but it’s hard to keep track at this point, a Micronauts relaunch (nope), and new projects such as Marvel Sci-Fi, Seeker 300, Guardians, Killraven, and Excelsior Comics (nope again, although Alan Davis’ Killraven was eventually released, and Excelsior Comics morphed into the MC2 line).

Review: It’s hard to say much about this issue, since it’s largely a collection of setup scenes, many of which never paid off. It is nice to see the focus return to Rogue, who had been ignored in the months following UXM #350. Seagle seems to be going with the idea that after finally touching someone in Antarctica, she’s looking for excuses to do it again. That’s a reasonable direction to take, but it’s hard to pull off without making Rogue too unsympathetic. It’s one thing to give her dreams about absorbing Wolverine’s persona, but having her trying to trick Joseph into touching her is a bit of a stretch. At this stage, Seagle doesn’t have some of the characters down, as Archangel continues to act erratically and Wolverine tries to stab Iceman for throwing a snowball at him (which might’ve been in-character up until the early ‘80s, but felt out of place by the late ‘90s). Most of the storylines introduced do have promise, but I’ve never understood the point of the Board of Education inspector subplot. Since the X-Men weren’t really keeping the pretense of running a school anymore, I don’t see how getting placed on probation matters to them. They could just claim that they’re running a boarding house for adults, since all of the teenagers are gone. Generation X would’ve been a better series to try this idea, even though that title pretty firmly established that the characters are attending classes. Chris Bachalo debuts as regular artist, and his work meshes well with Tim Townsend’s thick inks. Some of the characters look too babyfaced, and there are a couple of storytelling issues, but overall it’s a nice job.

Uncanny X-Men #354

Prehistory

Credits: Steve Seagle (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Tim Townsend (inker), Comicraft (lettering), Steve Buccellato (colors)

Summary: The X-Men face Sauron, as Rogue runs to the mansion in tears. She discovers Joseph’s lifeless body and performs mouth-to-mouth. Marrow catches her, and accuses her of finding an excuse to touch someone again. The team eventually defeats Sauron, while Rogue hails a taxi and leaves. As she heads to Manhattan, she remembers coming across Wolverine’s unconscious body a few hours earlier and touching his skin.

Continuity Notes: Some of the alternating subplots are still continuing. Bishop is now suspicious of Deathbird, and wonders why she only teleported him away after the X-Men’s craft fell apart. The pair is then pulled into the gravity of a Death Star-esque planet. In Alaska, Cyclops is shocked to discover Jean wearing the original Phoenix costume. Why exactly Joseph collapsed isn’t explained, and I seem to recall that it never was.

Gimmicks: This issue also has an alternate cover with Phoenix in her new/old costume.

Review: This is mostly an all-fight issue, although Seagle tries to class it up a bit with a lengthy string of slightly pretentious narrative captions. The Sauron fight has its moments, but the ending is certainly rushed (one good blast from Jubilee, depicted in a tiny panel, is apparently enough to take him down). The Rogue subplot continues, as we now see her acting on her impulses and using her powers against her teammates. This might have worked if more time had been spent establishing her mental state post #350, but without the proper setup, it’s a more dubious characterization. The logistics of her using mouth-to-mouth to revive someone, when her powers automatically knock someone unconscious, are also suspect (I didn’t really buy it when the cartoon pulled that stunt, either).

UNCANNY X-MEN #349 – November 1997

The Crawl
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Comicraft (lettering), Dan Brown & Digital Chamelon (colors)

Summary: Maggott continues his search for Magneto in New York City. He comes across Psylocke, who attacks him because she senses a “great darkness” within him. Using her psychic knife against him causes her to briefly pass out. Soon, Archangel arrives to help. Meanwhile in Antarctica, Trish Tilby comes across the Beast, who has returned to his human form. They continue their search for the X-Men, who are still Nanny’s captives. Joseph escapes from his restraints and reunites with the others. They attempt to escape, but are ambushed by Nanny. Before she can attack, Trish Tilby knocks her head off with a crowbar. Disabling Nanny allows the mutants’ powers to return, but they still don’t know why they’ve been brought to Antarctica. Gambit, declaring that he can’t live with the shame anymore, turns himself over to Spat. He claims that the truth will now be revealed.

Continuity Notes: It’s common knowledge that Beast only received blue fur after he drank an experimental potion, so many people complained when he lost his fur when his powers were negated. However, the potion did have some connection to mutancy, and he’s lost his fur on other occasions when his powers were neutralized (I don’t think it’s been kept consistent over the years).

Maggott, somehow, is able to look into the recent past when he’s staring down at NYC through a telescope. I don’t think this was ever explained. I assume the “darkness” inside Maggott is a reference to the mutant slugs that are a part of his powers (I'm also assuming his mental connection to the slugs prevents Psylocke's psychic knife from working).

Grovel describes himself as a “Klyruvian”, so I guess he’s an alien and not a mutant.

A narrative caption says that Rogue and Gambit were finally able to “fully express their love”, although I’m pretty sure the next issue backs away from the idea that they had sex.

I Love the ‘90s: All of the New York City scenes take place at the World Trade Center.

We Get Letters: A letter writer wonders why Rogue and Gambit were in promo ads for the OZT crossover. The editorial response admits that the characters were originally supposed to participate, but the current storyline in UXM went on longer than expected.

Review: And it’s still not UXM #350, so here’s some time-killer. Reading this, I almost forgot that it's Scott Lobdell's last official issue as writer, as there's no indication inside that he's leaving. I don't think the full story has ever been revealed, but the story that went around at the time was that he had a falling out with Bob Harras and was abruptly removed from the book.

This actually isn’t all bad, as Rogue is given an interesting dilemma. She’s close to learning the dark secret her boyfriend has been keeping from her for years, but only on the same day she’s finally able to touch him. Spat also works well enough as a spoiler, egging Rogue on to discover the truth. Sadly, the story doesn’t do an awful lot with these ideas, but you can see where Lobdell might’ve been going with this. The Maggott/Psylocke fight, however, is sadly a waste of time that never amounts to anything. It pads the issue out with an action scene, but Psylocke has such a vague motivation for attacking Maggott it’s hard to care anything about what’s going on. Chris Bachalo shows up as the fill-in artist, a few months before he’s set to officially take over the title. Some of the action sequences are a little confusing, but for the most part this is on the same level as his earlier Generation X issues. At the very least, it’s not as rushed looking as the past couple of issues. Overall, this isn’t as frustrating as the past few installments, but it’s clearly stalling.

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.