GAMBIT AND THE X-TERNALS #4 – June 1995

The Maze

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Salvador Larrocca (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marie Javins (colorist)

Summary

In the Morlock tunnels, Dazzler and Exodus find the remains of Nanny. She’s supposed to guard Magneto’s son, but Charles is missing. Elsewhere in the sewers, Gambit and Lila Cheney run from Rictor. Lila teleported Rictor along with the X-Ternals back to Earth as the M’Kraan Crystal exploded, but Sunspot died while trying to absorb the Crystal’s energy. Unbeknownst to Rictor, Jubilee is carrying both Charles and a shard of the M’Kraan Crystal nearby. On Gambit’s orders, she’s trying to find the X-Men’s headquarters. She runs into Guido, who reveals that he was implanted with a bomb months ago by Apocalypse’s men. In exchange for turning in Gambit, he was told that the bomb wouldn’t go off and none of the other X-Ternals would be harmed. Knowing that Nanny would lead them back to the X-Men, he destroyed her. He takes Charles and the shard away from Jubilee and leaves to find Rictor. Soon, Gambit and Lila are confronted by Rictor and Guido. Rictor reneges on his word and creates an earthquake to kill Guido, along with Gambit and Lila. Guido uses his strength to hold up the main support column and urges Gambit to save Lila. Gambit has an opportunity to steal the baby and the shard back from Guido, but saves Lila instead. Later, Guido hands over Charles and the shard to Apocalypse in exchange for his and Lila’s safety. Rictor is killed by Apocalypse for his incompetence.

Continuity Notes

A narrative caption reveals Exodus’ full name, “Paris Bennett”.

It’s revealed that Apocalypse has been secretly tracking the team through Guido, which would explain how the Madri found them in the first issue.

Review

For the final issue, Nicieza lays off on the action a little and focuses more on character moments. It does make the issue less tedious to read, although the story now jumps back and forth in time, which is just gimmicky and frustrating. Rictor is still chasing Gambit back on Earth, with the odd explanation that Lila brought him back from space with them. The X-characters in this reality have shown no aversion to killing their opponents, so it’s strange that she didn’t leave him behind in space (and Rictor’s dialogue specifically says she “saved” him, so it doesn’t seem as if he snuck along like in the first issue). Rictor’s arc is resolved in a somewhat predictable way, but Nicieza spends a lot of time building up the suspense so it doesn’t come across too flat. Revealing that Guido is a double agent is nice twist, which did receive a small amount of foreshadowing in the previous issues when it was established that he resented Gambit’s relationship with Lila. Gambit’s decision to save Lila over the Crystal and the baby is well done, and the scene does a good job of conveying his conflicting emotions over the choice. If the previous issues of this series focused more on characterization and less on frenzied action scenes, it probably would’ve worked a lot better. Overall, I think it turned out to be the weakest of the monthly titles during the AoA.

GAMBIT AND THE X-TERNALS #3 – May 1995

To the Limits of Infinity

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Salvador Larroca (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Javins/Rosas/Webb/Thomas & Electric Crayon (colors)

Summary

The Starjammers take the X-Ternals to the Shi’ar planet where the M’Kraan Crystal is being harvested for power. Deathbird teleports with the X-Ternals to the planet’s surface, where they face an army of Shi’ar soldiers. Gambit, Lila Cheney, and Deathbird race to find the M’Kraan Crystal while the others distract the guards. Gambit is shocked to learn that the Crystal is three stories tall, but Deathbird tells him that he only needs to steal a shard of it for their plan to work. Suddenly, an arm from inside the Crystal grabs Lila and pulls her inside. Gambit and Deathbird follow her inside the Crystal and meet Jahf. Jahf explains that he is the guardian of the M’Kraan Crystal, which is now fracturing and causing reality to blink out of existence. According to Jahf, it was never repaired in this reality because Jean Grey never became Phoenix. He tells Gambit that the collapse of the original reality is causing every reality to be affected, which will soon result in the end of everything. Stealing a shard of the Crystal and stopping the death of Professor Xavier will stop reality from blinking out of existence. However, Gambit must sacrifice a part of himself to gain a shard of the Crystal. Outside, the X-Ternals are confronted by Gladiator and Rictor. In the course of the battle, Sunspot begins to turn white after absorbing the Crystal’s energy. He’s afraid that he won’t be able to absorb more of the Crystal’s energy, so they follow Gambit inside it. Gambit offers the only thing he says he has to offer, and breaks his staff against the neutron sun in the heart of the Crystal. The M’Kraan Cystal explodes, as the neutron sun escapes from the Shi’ar device that was draining its energies. Sunspot begins to burn up after absorbing so much energy, while Lila Cheney vows to return everyone home.

Continuity Notes

Since Jahf lives inside the M’Kraan Crystal, which is the “nexus point between all matter and all anti-matter”, he remembers the original reality. The M’Kraan Crystal was damaged and causing reality to blink out of existence back in Uncanny X-Men #108, before Jean Grey used the Phoenix Force to fix it. According to Jahf, Bishop is a “chronal anomaly” who was present when the different realities diverged, causing him to remember the way things are supposed to be.

Even though it’s not outright stated, I have to assume that Rictor and Gladiator are the two lifeforms who escaped from the crystallized planet in the last issue.

Creative Differences

Several pages in this issue are done in Comicraft’s computer font, even though the rest of the comic is hand lettered by Chris Eliopoulos. The pages that have been re-lettered mostly involve Jahf’s explanation of how reality fractured, and how Gambit can fix it. The climax of the story, when Gambit hits his staff against the neutron heart and the Crystal explodes, is also re-lettered.

Review

I enjoyed this issue more than the previous two, even if the series does still have a slightly chaotic feel to it. Salvador Larroca replaces Tony Daniel with this issue, which I believe makes Gambit and the X-Ternals the only AoA book that didn’t finish with its initial creative team. Larroca’s art looks stiff and awkward in a lot of places, with a lot of stereotypical early ‘90s stylized characters, but he does lay out a more attractive page than Daniel did in the last two issues. Even though there was obviously some last minute tinkering going on, I liked the way Jahf’s explanation of the M’Kraan Crystal’s fracturing and the creation of the AoA is presented in a clear, straightforward manner. Not dropping a thousand vague hints and actually presenting the information in a clear-cut way is a nice change of pace for the titles at this time. Unfortunately, it leads directly into the nonsensical ending that has Gambit hitting his staff against the M’Kraan Crystal as some sort of exchange for a shard. I guess that’s what he’s doing, since the story and art aren’t very clear on this. The way the story presents this as some dramatic sacrifice for Gambit is also odd. Gambit says that he’s doing this Rogue, which doesn’t help to clear things up (Please don’t tell me he’s somehow symbolically sacrificing his love for Rogue to the Crystal in this scene. That would be too trite for words). Since these pages have been re-lettered, it’s likely that Nicieza intended something else that never made it into the final version, but it’s hard to guess what he was going for. What exactly Magneto wants with the M’Kraan crystal in the first place is never revealed either, although I guess this is an intentional mystery that’s supposed to be resolved at the end of the storyline.

GAMBIT AND THE X-TERNALS #2 – April 1995

Where No External Has Gone Before!

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (penciler), Conrad/Milgrom/Christian (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marie Javins & Digital Chameleon (colors)

Summary

The X-Ternals appear inside the Shi’ar Imperium, along with Apocalypse’s prelate, Rictor. They’re drawn into a fight with the Imperial Guard, but manage to escape into a nearby forest. Rictor offers to help the Imperial Guard find the team. Inside the forest, the X-Ternals learn that the planet’s vegetation is actually sentient. Lila senses that the entire planet wanted the team to arrive there. They meet a former Shi’ar soldier named Jonath, who was banished to the farming planet after failing to prevent the murder of the previous emperor. He explains that D’Ken and his sister Deathbird took control of the Shi’ar Imperium after killing their father. When D’Ken discovered the M’Kraan Crystal, he used its power to kill Deathbird and their other sister, Lilandra. D’Ken didn’t realize that wielding the crystal’s power caused its energies to radiate out into the universe and to nullify sections of space. The Imperial Guard finally catch up to the X-Ternals, as reality begins to blink out of existence. A crystal wave begins to consume the planet, but the X-Ternals are teleported away by Deathbird and the Starjammers. Onboard their ship, the team watches footage of the planet turning into crystal on the Starjammers’ video screen. Deathbird explains that the M’Kraan Crystal wanted the team to witness the planet’s destruction. According to the Starjammers’ sensors, two lifeforms escaped the plant before it crystallized, but Deathbird isn’t interested in them. Gambit declares that if the task has fallen to them, the X-Ternals will save the universe.

Continuity Notes

Deathbird apparently didn’t die, despite Jonath’s claims. No one in this story points this out when she shows up, though. Jonath describes himself as half Shi’ar and half Mephisitoid. I have no idea if he’s supposed to be a blood relative of Mephisto, or if “Mephisitoid” is some other alien race that may or may not have a connection to Mephisto. Am I the only one who thinks that connecting Mephisto to the Shi’ar is a terrible idea?

Review

I guess when Marvel brought in the M’Kraan Crystal to justify Legion’s reconstruction of reality, it was inevitable that all of the Claremont/Cockrum space material would show up. I’ve never cared too much for the various outer space characters in the X-canon, so seeing D’Ken, the Imperial Guard, the Starjammers, etc. doesn’t automatically elicit much of a response from me. Nicieza crams them all together in this issue, and it reads like a bit of a mess. Daniel’s art isn’t as muddled and chaotic as the previous issue, but he still has a hard time handling so many characters. (Daniel left for Spawn right after this issue, which was probably a relief to him. Drawing a masked man with a giant cape sitting around a dark alley feeling sorry for himself had to be easier than this).

Aside from reintroducing a glut of characters, there’s also a decent chunk of exposition delivered here. The story Jonath tells isn’t that hard to follow, but really, who is Jonath, and why should we care? Nicieza attempts to give him a character arc that involves embracing the simple life of a farmer and leaving violence behind, but it’s buried underneath the massive amount of characters and story involved. The effort put into developing Jonath feels awkward and rushed, and I don’t see how his personal story really has anything to do with the main narrative involving the M’Kraan Crystal. Nicieza also tries to sell the idea that the X-Ternals are going to evolve from mutant thieves to world saviors, but all of the characters are so underdeveloped it’s hard to buy into their story either. This is definitely turning out to be one of the weak links in the AoA event.

GAMBIT & THE X-TERNALS #1 – March 1995

Some of Us Looking to the Stars

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (penciler), Kevin Conrad (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marie Javins (colorist)

Summary

Jubilee is caught by a group of Apocalypse’s Infinites while stealing medical supplies. Sunspot and Guido arrive to help her escape. They travel to their safehouse where Lila Cheney disburses the supplies to the human refugees. The X-Ternals head underground to the Morlock Tunnels to meet their leader, Gambit. The team is shocked to discover Magneto is waiting there with Gambit. Meanwhile, an angry Rictor receives word that Jubilee escaped. If Rictor captures the X-Ternals, he’s convinced that he’ll be promoted by Apocalypse. Inside the Morlock Tunnels, Magneto leads the team to Apocalypse’s hidden “science chamber”. He’s surprised to learn that Gambit and Lila Cheney are an item. When Sunspot asks Magneto how he can be sure this isn’t a trap, Magneto responds that he once saved the life of the chamber’s human librarian. Lila picks the lock, and the X-Ternals learn that the chamber is filled with displays of various galaxies. Suddenly, Apocalypse’s Madri guard, all duplicates of Jamie Madrox, teleport in. The team fights off the Madri while Sunspot finds Dr. Peter Corbeau, the human in charge of the lab. Corbeau tells Magneto that he’s found the Shi’ar galaxy. Magneto reveals to Lila Cheney that she has latent mutant powers, and will be the one to take the X-Ternals on their journey to steal the M’Kraan Crystal. She’s connected to a visor that links her to the lab’s navigational charts so that she can locate where she needs to teleport to. Her powers suddenly flare, as Rictor enters with backup. The team abandons the fight and escapes through Lila’s teleportation chamber. Enraged, Rictor follows them. Magneto wonders if he’s sent the X-Ternals to their deaths, then apologizes to Corbeau for setting him against Apocalypse. Corbeau knows Apocalypse will kill him, but he programs a systems crash to spite him.

Continuity Notes

According to the first page’s narrative captions, Apocalypse conquered North America on Jubilee’s sixth birthday. When her powers later emerged at age twelve, she had the opportunity to join Apocalypse, but went off with Gambit instead. “Everett” is listed as one of her former teammates who died (this is presumably Synch).

According to the narrative captions that introduce Gambit, he fled the Thieves Guild and joined the X-Men after Holocaust killed Candra “in one of the last battles for succession”. He left the X-Men two years ago and formed the X-Ternals after Magneto married Rogue.

Dr. Peter Corbeau is a supporting character who used to show up sporadically back in the ‘70s. Even though he was never used that much, he did play an important role in the original Phoenix story, and even showed up in the '90s X-Men cartoon.

Miscellaneous Note

Am I the only one who thinks the title is missing a word? There’s an empty black circle at the start of the title, where perhaps another word should’ve gone (I don’t know what would really fit there, though).

Review

And, finally, we have Gambit and the X-Ternals to round out the inaugural launch of AoA titles. While the rest of the AoA titles had some obvious connection to their predecessors, the only cast member this series has in common with X-Force is Sunspot (who had actually been written out of that title over a year earlier). Rictor is introduced as the team’s antagonist, which at least offers some connection to the regular series, but it’s not much of one. One of the earlier X-Force storylines involved the X-Ternals, but I don’t see any obvious connection between that story and the name of this team. I guess Marvel felt that Gambit’s popularity justified casting him as a leader of an X-team, but placing him as the leader of an alternate X-Force seems pretty random. Pairing Guido, Sunspot, Jubilee, and Lila Cheney with him just makes the cast feel totally arbitrary. If Nicieza’s devised some exciting group dynamics for the new team, they’re barely on display in the first issue. The story’s essentially two fight scenes with a plot setup in the middle, not offering any real opportunities for characterization. The fight scenes, at least, aren’t totally gratuitous (although how exactly the Madri found the team isn’t explained, unless we’re supposed to believe that Corbeau really did betray them). The first fight scene helps to establish the new world, while the second one sets Rictor up for a future role in the storyline. The heavy action does evoke the feel of the regular X-Force series, even if the cast doesn’t.

I didn’t mind Daniel’s art when he first began on the title, but his work at this point is looking haphazard and rushed. A lot of the faces look flat-out ugly (especially Gambit’s), and most of the page layouts are too cramped and claustrophobic. His decision to make almost the entire issue full-bleed just makes things feel even more jumbled. With the exception of just five pages, all of the art in this issue extends to the end of the page, directly bumping up against the artwork on the opposing page. It feels like every event overlaps the next, with no time to actually absorb what’s going on. I flipped through the book and didn’t really feel like reading it, as it just looked confused and messy. The story’s not exactly a strong introduction to the team, but the art really makes things feel even more chaotic. Out of all of the AoA debut issues, I’d say this one ranks down there with X-Man and X-Men Chronicles, with the art making it the weakest overall.